Renewable energy obtained from wastewater

Researchers from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona have devised an efficient way to obtain electrical energy and hydrogen by using a wastewater treatment process. The proposed system, published inWater Research, uses bacteria which consumes the organic material and produces electricity which produces hydrogen, the energetic vector of the future. The results point to further developments of this technology at industrial scale.

Currently, there are treatments in which wastewater can flow out to the river or sea without causing any environmental problems. These technologies however entail high energy costs, mainly in aeration and pumping, and an elevated economic cost in treating the sludge left over from the treatment process.

Wastewater contains an elevated amount of chemical energy in the form of organic contaminants. In order to make use of this energy, researchers from around the world study ways to recover it in the form of hydrogen, a process which efficiently eliminates organic matter from wastewater. It not only reduces the amount of energy needed during the process, it also obtains energy from the produced hydrogen. The key to achieve this is what is known as microbial electrolysis cells (MEC). What is needed is a very special type of bacteria, exoelectrogenic bacteria, capable of oxidising organic material and generating electricity which in turn produces hydrogen. These cells only need a bit of added voltage, much less than what is used for water electrolysis, and which is recovered with the hydrogen, thereby generating clean energy.

Researchers from the Bioelectrochemistry group of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) Department of Chemical Engineering have improved the energetic efficiency of the cells. The experimental results were very positive and demonstrated that these systems would have a market niche at industrial scale. The scientists, coordinated by professors Albert Guisasola and Juan Antonio Baeza, used real wastewater instead of the biodegradable synthetic water used in most experiments, and achieved a biological production of hydrogen and, to a large extent, the recovery of a good part of the energy contained in the residues. To achieve this, researchers selected a set of bacteria capable of transforming complex substrates such as methanol, dairy waste, starch and glycerol, into simpler compounds which could, in turn, be degraded by exoelectrogens.

The results were very positive and high hydrogen production and energy intensity was obtained through the wastewater treatment. In the long term, the MEC fed with dairy wastewater yielded the best results in terms of current intensity (150 amps per cubic metre of reactor), in hydrogen production (0.94 cubic metres of hydrogen per cubic metre of reactor and day), and in recovery of electrons at the cathode (91%); all that with an applied voltage of only 0.8 V. These results are the basis for a potential industrial development of this technology and therefore for the creation of systems capable of producing hydrogen from wastewater treatment.

Culled from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

System to turn wastewater into fresh water developed

A Missouri University of Science and Technology professor has shown that improving wastewater treatment and saving energy are not only essential, but they're also compatible.

Dr. Jianmin Wang, professor of civil, architectural and environmental engineering at Missouri S&T, has developed multiple wastewater treatment technologies that produce freshwater that is not only cleaner than wastewater treated using traditional methods, but also requires less maintenance and energy. Additionally, his inventions can be used to retrofit existing waste water treatment plants.

On Feb. 6, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon announced nearly $1.1 million in grants for the Small Community Engineering Assistance Program, implemented through the Department of Natural Resources to help communities with wastewater engineering costs, whether it's commissioning a report or making repairs and upgrades.

Although his technology is too new, in regulatory terms, to be of use in the grant recipient communities, Wang says his technology is superior to existing ones in terms of cost and treatment efficiency.

Wang will discuss his treatment systems during a presentation titled, "Harnessing Energy and Freshwater from Wastewater: Reversing the Environmental Footprint" on Feb. 27 at the Missouri S&T campus. Part of his talk will focus on comparing how much energy existing systems use and how much his can save.

Wang says 0.8 percent of America's energy use is spent on wastewater treatment. Much of that energy is used to aerate the tanks where wastewater is treated. The energy is used to feed oxygen to the microorganisms that consume the waste, and traditionally wastewater treatment plants maintain an oxygen concentration of 2 milligrams per liter to feed the bugs in the tanks, "which makes them happy," Wang says.

The prevailing thought has been that providing less than 2 milligrams per liter of oxygen would make the microorganisms "unhappy." But Wang does not believe that is an issue, saying that if you feed them at a lower concentration, such as 0.5 milligram per liter, it makes them a little less happy, but the microorganisms will live longer and enrich more -- plus you use 30 percent less energy during oxygen infusion to produce the same results.

"You can make them a little unhappy," Wang says, "because bugs do not have a union." He has also developed another treatment system called an Alternating Anaerobic-Anoxic-Oxic (A3O) process that "can achieve superior effluent quality since it can remove organic pollutants plus nitrogen and phosphorus nutrients," Wang says. It does this without chemicals, and its effluent contains only 5 milligrams per liter of total nitrogen and 0.5 milligram per liter of total phosphorus. It also saves more than 10 percent of energy compared to the conventional pre-anoxic process, which has significantly less total nitrogen and total phosphorus removal.

With its high performance, high energy efficiency and low operational costs, on a large scale the technology could help curb global surface water eutrophication, which is one of the National Academy of Engineering's Grand Challenges -- the accessibility of freshwater.

Eutrophication is the enrichment of an ecosystem with chemical nutrients, typically nitrogen, phosphorus or both. When excessive nitrogen and phosphorus levels are present, undesirable side effects such as algae blooms can occur. When algae die, they decompose. The decomposition consumes oxygen, and with less oxygen, naturally occurring aquatic plants, fish, crustaceans and other organisms can die. Algae blooms also produce algal toxins that directly pollute the source of drinking water intake. "It is happening in Lake Erie, many other places in the nation and throughout the world," Wang says.

Wang has also developed a self-mixing anaerobic digester, which can effectively convert wastewater sludge and other organic waste to biogas energy. It improves environmental quality by removing the sludge, and it also recovers a useful resource during the process. Additionally, his high-rate digester operates itself, without an external energy hookup.

Based on his calculations, Wang says a combination of his technologies can produce a net 10 percent energy gain in contrast to the 27 percent net energy use the wastewater industry currently operates on.

Although the water his systems produce is suitable for irrigation, making it potable is also possible. "People are dying for the technology that turns wastewater into freshwater," Wang says.

Sometimes, literally dying.

In military battlefield camps, water must be hauled in by convoy, resulting in casualties along the known convoy routes. That's where Wang's small-scale deployable baffled bioreactor (dBBR) could make a difference, and that's why it is being tested at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Carderock, Maryland. The unit has been 88 percent more energy efficient than military guidelines when tested with municipal wastewater, and it produces high effluent quality with both low biochemical oxygen demand and suspended solids. In addition, it achieves tertiary treatment quality instead of the required secondary treatment guidelines with minimal operator attention.

Wang, who also co-funded Frontier Environmental Technology for technology demonstration and promotion, says he has received a military request to develop an operator training course for the dBBR.

"Advances such as these demonstrated by Professor Wang represent the next wave of wastewater management," says Dr. Glen Daigger, past president of the International Water Association, a recognized authority in wastewater technology and a member of the National Academy of Engineering, "Given growing water and resource constraints on the planet, we must turn to sources such as used water -- to both supplement our water supply and to do this with a reduced environment footprint".

Culled from Missouri University of Science and Technology

Popular soda ingredient, caramel color, poses cancer risk to consumers

Public health researchers have analyzed soda consumption data in order to characterize people's exposure to a potentially carcinogenic byproduct of some types of caramel color. Caramel color is a common ingredient in colas and other dark soft drinks. The results show that between 44 and 58 percent of people over the age of six typically have at least one can of soda per day, possibly more, potentially exposing them to 4-methylimidazole (4-MEI), a possible human carcinogen formed during the manufacture of some kinds of caramel color.The results were published online in PLOS One.

Building on an analysis of 4-MEI concentrations in 11 different soft drinks first published by Consumer Reports in 2014, researchers led by a team at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF) estimated exposure to 4-MEI from caramel-colored soft drinks and modeled the potential cancer burden related to routine soft drink consumption levels in the United States.

"Soft drink consumers are being exposed to an avoidable and unnecessary cancer risk from an ingredient that is being added to these beverages simply for aesthetic purposes," says Keeve Nachman, PhD, senior author of the study and director of the Food Production and Public Health Program at the CLF and an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "This unnecessary exposure poses a threat to public health and raises questions about the continued use of caramel coloring in soda."

In 2013 and early 2014, Consumer Reports partnered with the CLF to analyze 4-MEI concentrations of 110 soft drink samples purchased from retail stores in California and the New York metropolitan area. This study pairs those results with population beverage consumption data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) in order to estimate the population risks and cancer burden associated with 4-MEI exposures through soda.

While the 2014 study of the 110 samples of soda brands was not large enough to recommend one brand over another or draw conclusions about specific brands, results indicated that levels of 4-MEI could vary substantially across samples, even for the same type of beverage. "For example, for diet colas, certain samples had higher or more variable levels of the compound, while other samples had very low concentrations," says Tyler Smith, lead author of the study and a program officer with the CLF.

While there's currently no federal limit for 4-MEI in food or beverages, Consumer Reports petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to set limits for the potential carcinogen last year. It also shared the findings with the California Attorney General's office, which enforces the state's Proposition 65 law aimed at reducing consumers' exposure to toxic chemicals. Under this state law, any food or beverage sold in the state that exposes consumers to more than a specific amount of 4-MEI per day requires a health-warning label.

"This new analysis underscores our belief that people consume significant amounts of soda that unnecessarily elevate their risk of cancer over the course of a lifetime," says Urvashi Rangan, PhD, executive director for Consumer Reports' Food Safety and Sustainability Center. "We believe beverage makers and the government should take the steps needed to protect public health. California has already taken an important step by setting a threshold for prompting Prop 65 labeling based on daily 4-MEI exposure from a food or beverage, such as a soda. This study sought to answer a critical question: How much soda do American consumers drink on average?"

Researchers also found sharply contrasting levels of 4-MEI in some soft drinks purchased in the New York metropolitan area, versus California. "Our study also found that some of the soft drink products sold in California that we sampled had lower levels of 4-MEI than the samples we looked at of the same beverages sold outside the state, particularly in our earlier rounds of testing. It appears that regulations such as California's Proposition 65 may be effective at reducing exposure to 4-MEI from soft drinks, and that beverages can be manufactured in ways that produce less 4-MEI," suggests Nachman. "An FDA intervention, such as determining maximum levels for 4-MEI in beverages, could be a valuable approach to reducing excess cancer risk attributable to 4-MEI exposure in the U.S. population."

The research was supported by Consumers Union, Grace Communications Foundation, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (1K01HL096409).

Culled from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Link to InspireIT Founder Interview on World Pulse

I am a strong advocate for more women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and that is why I started InspireIT.

InspireIT is a free mentoring program for young girls and women studying or interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

I was interviewed by Lisa Anderson from World Pulse about InspireIT.

Please click on the link below to read the full interview:

https://www.worldpulse.com/en/global-issues/stories/world-needs-more-female-software-engineers

Olive oil more stable and healthful for frying food

Frying is one of the world's most popular ways to prepare food -- think fried chicken and french fries. Even candy bars and whole turkeys have joined the list. But before dunking your favorite food in a vat of just any old oil, consider using olive. Scientists report in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry that olive oil withstands the heat of the fryer or pan better than several seed oils to yield more healthful food.

Mohamed Bouaziz and colleagues note that different oils have a range of physical, chemical and nutritional properties that can degrade oil quality when heated. Some of these changes can lead to the formation of new compounds that are potentially toxic. By-products of heating oil can also lower the nutritional value of the food being fried. Bouaziz's team wanted to find out which cooking oil can maintain its quality under high heat and repeated use.

The researchers deep- and pan-fried raw potato pieces in four different refined oils -- olive, corn, soybean and sunflower -- and reused the oil 10 times. They found that olive oil was the most stable oil for deep-frying at 320 and 374 degrees Fahrenheit, while sunflower oil degraded the fastest when pan-fried at 356 degrees. They conclude that for frying foods, olive oil maintains quality and nutrition better than seed oils.

The authors acknowledge funding from the Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche Scientifique and the Ministère de l'Agriculture, Tunisia.

Source: American Chemical Society,2014 

Eating deep-fried food linked to increased risk of prostate cancer

Regular consumption of deep-fried foods such as French fries, fried chicken and doughnuts is associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer, and the effect appears to be slightly stronger with regard to more aggressive forms of the disease, according to a study by investigators at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
Corresponding author Janet L. Stanford, Ph.D., and colleagues Marni Stott-Miller, Ph.D., a postdoctoral research fellow and Marian Neuhouser, Ph.D., all of the Hutchinson Center's Public Health Sciences Division, have published their findings online in The Prostate. While previous studies have suggested that eating foods made with high-heat cooking methods, such as grilled meats, may increase the risk of prostate cancer, this is the first study to examine the addition of deep frying to the equation.

From French fries to doughnuts: Eating more than once a week may raise risk specifically, Stanford, co-director of the Hutchinson Center's Program in Prostate Cancer Research, and colleagues found that men who reported eating French fries, fried chicken, fried fish and/or doughnuts at least once a week were at an increased risk of prostate cancer as compared to men who said they ate such foods less than once a month.

In particular, men who ate one or more of these foods at least weekly had an increased risk of prostate cancer that ranged from 30 to 37 percent. Weekly consumption of these foods was associated also with a slightly greater risk of more aggressive prostate cancer. The researchers controlled for factors such as age, race, family history of prostate cancer, body-mass index and PSA screening history when calculating the association between eating deep-fried foods and prostate cancer risk.

"The link between prostate cancer and select deep-fried foods appeared to be limited to the highest level of consumption -- defined in our study as more than once a week -- which suggests that regular consumption of deep-fried foods confers particular risk for developing prostate cancer," Stanford said.

Deep frying may trigger formation of carcinogens in food Possible mechanisms behind the increased cancer risk, Stanford hypothesizes, include the fact that when oil is heated to temperatures suitable for deep frying, potentially carcinogenic compounds can form in the fried food. They include acrylamide (found in carbohydrate-rich foods such as French fries), heterocyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (chemicals formed when meat is cooked at high temperatures), aldehyde (an organic compound found in perfume) and acrolein (a chemical found in herbicides). These toxic compounds are increased with re-use of oil and increased length of frying time. Foods cooked with high heat also contain high levels of advanced glycation endproducts, or AGEs, which have been associated with chronic inflammation and oxidative stress. Deep-fried foods are among the highest in AGE content. A chicken breast deep fried for 20 minutes contains more than nine times the amount of AGEs as a chicken breast boiled for an hour, for example.

For the study, Stanford and colleagues analyzed data from two prior population-based case-control studies involving a total of 1,549 men diagnosed with prostate cancer and 1,492 age-matched healthy controls. The men were Caucasian and African-American Seattle-area residents and ranged in age from 35 to 74 years. Participants were asked to fill out a dietary questionnaire about their usual food intake, including specific deep-fried foods.

The first study of its kind "To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to look at the association between intake of deep-fried food and risk of prostate cancer," Stanford said. However, deep-fried foods have previously been linked to cancers of the breast, lung, pancreas, head and neck, and esophagus.

Because deep-fried foods are primarily eaten outside the home, it is possible that the link between these foods and prostate cancer risk may be a sign of high consumption of fast foods in general, the authors wrote, citing the dramatic increase in fast-food restaurants and fast-food consumption in the U.S. in the past several decades.

The project was supported by the National Cancer Institute and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Source: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 2013

Link between relative lengths of index and ring fingers in men and behavior towards women

Interesting!

Maybe you should take a good look at your partner's fingers before putting a ring on one. Men with short index fingers and long ring fingers are on average nicer towards women, and this unexpected phenomenon stems from the hormones these men have been exposed to in their mother's womb, according to a new study by researchers at McGill University. The findings might help explain why these men tend to have more children. The study, showing a link between a biological event in fetal life and adult behaviour, was published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.

Men's index fingers are generally shorter than their ring fingers. The difference is less pronounced in women. Previous research has found that digit ratio -- defined as the second digit length divided by the fourth digit length -- is an indication of the amount of male hormones, chiefly testosterone, someone has been exposed to as a fetus: the smaller the ratio, the more male hormones. The McGill study suggests that this has an impact on how adult men behave, especially with women.

"It is fascinating to see that moderate variations of hormones before birth can actually influence adult behaviour in a selective way," says Simon Young, a McGill Emeritus Professor in Psychiatry and coauthor of the study.

Smiles and compliments

Several studies have been conducted previously to try to assess the impact of digit ratio on adult behaviour. This one is the first to highlight how finger lengths affect behaviour differently depending on the sex of the person you are interacting with. "When with women, men with smaller ratios were more likely to listen attentively, smile and laugh, compromise or compliment the other person," says Debbie Moskowitz, lead author and Professor of Psychology at McGill. They acted that way in sexual relationships, but also with female friends or colleagues. These men were also less quarrelsome with women than with men, whereas the men with larger ratios were equally quarrelsome with both. For women though, digit ratio variation did not seem to predict how they behaved, the researchers report.

Digit ratio and children For 20 days, 155 participants in the study filled out forms for every social interaction that lasted 5 minutes or more, and checked off a list of behaviours they engaged in. Based on prior work, the scientists classified the behaviours as agreeable or quarrelsome. Men with small digit ratios reported approximately a third more agreeable behaviours and approximately a third fewer quarrelsome behaviours than men with large digit ratios.

A previous study had found that men with smaller digit ratios have more children. "Our research suggests they have more harmonious relationships with women; these behaviors support the formation and maintenance of relationships with women," Moskowitz says. "This might explain why they have more children on average."

The researchers were surprised to find no statistically relevant link between dominant behaviours and digit ratios. They suggest future research could study specific situations where male dominance varies -- such as competitive situations with other men -- to see whether a correlation can be established.

This study was funded by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council -- Canada.

Culled from McGill University, 2015

Drinking wine could help you burn fat, study suggests

Drinking red grape juice or wine -- in moderation -- could improve the health of overweight people by helping them burn fat better, according to a new study coauthored by an Oregon State University researcher.

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The findings suggest that consuming dark-colored grapes, whether eating them or drinking juice or wine, might help people better manage obesity and related metabolic disorders such as fatty liver.

Neil Shay, a biochemist and molecular biologist in OSU's College of Agricultural Sciences, was part of a study team that exposed human liver and fat cells grown in the lab to extracts of four natural chemicals found in Muscadine grapes, a dark-red variety native to the southeastern United States.

One of the chemicals, ellagic acid, proved particularly potent: It dramatically slowed the growth of existing fat cells and formation of new ones, and it boosted metabolism of fatty acids in liver cells.

These plant chemicals are not a weight-loss miracle, cautions Shay. "We didn't find, and we didn't expect to, that these compounds would improve body weight," he said. But by boosting the burning of fat, especially in the liver, they may improve liver function in overweight people.

"If we could develop a dietary strategy for reducing the harmful accumulation of fat in the liver, using common foods like grapes," Shay said, "that would be good news."

The study, which Shay conducted with colleagues at the University of Florida and University of Nebraska, complements work with mice he leads at his OSU laboratory. In one 2013 trial, he and his graduate students supplemented the diets of overweight mice with extracts from Pinot noir grapes harvested from Corvallis-area vineyards.

Some of the mice were fed a normal diet of "mouse chow," as Shay calls it, containing 10 percent fat. The rest were fed a diet of 60 percent fat -- the sort of unhealthy diet that would pile excess pounds on a human frame.

"Our mice like that high-fat diet," said Shay, "and they overconsume it. So they're a good model for the sedentary person who eats too much snack food and doesn't get enough exercise."

The grape extracts, scaled down to a mouse's nutritional needs, were about the equivalent of one and a half cups of grapes a day for a person. "The portions are reasonable," said Shay, "which makes our results more applicable to the human diet."

Over a 10-week trial, the high-fat-fed mice developed fatty liver and diabetic symptoms -- "the same metabolic consequences we see in many overweight, sedentary people," Shay said.

But the chubby mice that got the extracts accumulated less fat in their livers, and they had lower blood sugar, than those that consumed the high-fat diet alone. Ellagic acid proved to be a powerhouse in this experiment, too, lowering the high-fat-fed mice's blood sugar to nearly the levels of the lean, normally fed mice.

When Shay and his colleagues analyzed the tissues of the fat mice that ate the supplements, they noted higher activity levels of PPAR-alpha and PPAR-gamma, two proteins that work within cells to metabolize fat and sugar.

Shay hypothesizes that the ellagic acid and other chemicals bind to these PPAR-alpha and PPAR-gamma nuclear hormone receptors, causing them to switch on the genes that trigger the metabolism of dietary fat and glucose. Commonly prescribed drugs for lowering blood sugar and triglycerides act in this way, Shay said.

The goal of his work, he added, is not to replace needed medications but to guide people in choosing common, widely available foods that have particular health benefits, including boosting metabolic function.

"We are trying to validate the specific contributions of certain foods for health benefits," he said. "If you're out food shopping, and if you know a certain kind of fruit is good for a health condition you have, wouldn't you want to buy that fruit?"

The research was supported by the Institute of Food and Agricultural Science at the University of Florida and Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The study appears in the January issue of the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry.

Shay's research with mice was supported by the Blue Mountain Horticultural Society, the Erath Family Foundation, and the OSU College of Agricultural Sciences.

Story Source: Oregon State University.

Individuals with partial hearing loss may benefit from hybrid cochlear implant

Hearing loss can affect anyone, at any time. But it can be especially frightening for someone who suddenly starts to lose hearing during adulthood. A new study is investigating the effectiveness of a new cochlear implant device that aims to restore hearing for individuals with high-frequency hearing loss and functional low-frequency hearing.

Hearing loss can affect anyone at any time. But it can be especially frightening for someone who suddenly starts to lose hearing during adulthood. Tom Groves, 77, first noticed his diminishing hearing when he was in his early 40s. He was unable to hold conversations with large groups of people, found it nearly impossible to socialize in high-background noise environments like restaurants. and couldn't enjoy radio, TV and movies unless they were captioned. Now, Groves is hearing much better than he has in 30 years, thanks to an experimental hybrid cochlear implant. Northwestern Memorial Hospital is one of nine centers in the U.S., and the only in Illinois, that is participating in a study investigating the effectiveness of a new cochlear implant device that aims to restore hearing for individuals with high-frequency hearing loss and functional low-frequency hearing.

This group of patients doesn't meet the criteria for conventional cochlear implants because they have near perfect residual hearing in low pitches that allows them to perform well on tests used to determine candidacy for traditional implants. However, their hearing in high pitches is so poor that a hearing aid is not helpful, making them ideally suited for the hybrid implant, which addresses both issues.

"We are hopeful that the hybrid cochlear implant will provide a subset of people who were previously not candidates for an implantable device the opportunity to test the device to determine if they can experience sound again," said Northwestern Medicine neurotologist Andrew Fishman, MD, principal investigator of the study, staff in the departments of otolaryngology and neurosurgery at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, and Mr. Groves' cochlear implant surgeon. "The potential for patients with a significant amount of residual hearing, but a large amount of high-frequency hearing loss, to have an alternative to hearing aids would be a great improvement over what is currently available."

Cochlear implants were FDA approved in 1984 as a treatment option for restoring hearing in people with severe and profound hearing loss. The surgical implant system is designed to stimulate the auditory nerve by bypassing damaged parts of the ear. A small battery-operated mini "computer" and microphone are worn on the outside of the ear and convert sounds into electric signals. The signals are then transmitted to implant electrodes in the cochlea, which stimulate the nerve endings so sound can be perceived by the brain.

The hybrid cochlear implant works in the same way as traditional cochlear implants, stimulating nerve endings in the cochlear so that high-pitched sounds can be heard. In addition, it also involves amplification for low-pitched sounds, similar to a hearing aid. Like traditional cochlear implants, the hybrid version is worn outside the ear and converts sounds into acoustic and electric signals.

"The surgical implantation of cochlear devices is typically done on an outpatient basis, and usually with non-serious complications, aside from mild discomfort following surgery," said Northwestern Medicine otolaryngologist Alan Micco, MD, co-investigator of the study and chief of otology/neurotology at the Feinberg School of Medicine. "A few weeks following surgery, the activation process and fine-tuning take place to determine what audio thresholds work best for the individual, and sounds can usually be perceived shortly thereafter."

Post-activation evaluations take place at three, six and 12 months following the initial activation process to assess progress of the cochlear implant. An audiologist will also test the implant to determine if participants are able to understand words, sentences in noisy and quiet environments, as well as experience music recognition.

A few months post-surgery, Groves is happy to have some of his hearing restored. "I'm very excited and encouraged by my experience with the implant. I know I'm hearing better than I have for many, many years, and for that I'm very grateful."

Culled from Northwestern Memorial Hospital

Hearing experts break sound barrier for children born without hearing nerve

Medical researchers are breaking sound barriers for children born without a hearing nerve. Hearing loss manifests in various forms, most of which can be partially restored through hearing aids and cochlear implants. Those devices cannot help a small population of individuals who do not have a cochlear, or hearing, nerve -- these people are unable to perceive sound, no matter how loud, outside of feeling vibration. The ABI is considered revolutionary because it stimulates neurons directly at the human brainstem, bypassing the inner ear entirely. 

A multi-institutional team of hearing and communication experts led by the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) is breaking sound barriers for children born without a hearing nerve in a clinical trial backed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Launched in March 2014, the three-year study has enrolled five of 10 participants and successfully implanted an auditory brainstem implant (ABI) device in four children who previously could not hear.

The research team will present preliminary findings at the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS) 2015 Annual Meeting in San Jose, California, on Feb. 14.

"Initial activation of the ABI is like a newborn entering the world and hearing for the first time, which means these children will need time to learn to interpret what they are sensing through the device as 'sound,'" said audiologist Laurie Eisenberg, Ph.D., a Keck School of Medicine of USC otolaryngology professor and study co-leader. "All of our study participants whose ABIs have been activated are progressing at expected or better rates. We are optimistic that, with intensive training and family support, these children will eventually be able to talk on the phone."

Hearing loss manifests in various forms, most of which can be partially restored through hearing aids and cochlear implants. Those devices cannot help a small population of individuals who do not have a cochlear, or hearing, nerve -- these people are unable to perceive sound, no matter how loud, outside of feeling vibration. The ABI is considered revolutionary because it stimulates neurons directly at the human brainstem, bypassing the inner ear entirely.

Surgeons outside the United States have been doing ABI surgeries in children for more than 10 years, but there was never a formal safety or feasibility study under regulatory oversight. In the United States, the ABI is approved for use only in patients 12 years or older with neurofibromatosis type II, an inherited disease that causes a non-malignant brain tumor on the hearing nerve, but it has shown limited effectiveness in adults.

Scientists believe that the ABI would be more effective in younger children, when their brains are more adaptable. The clinical trial will attempt to prove that the surgery is safe in young children and allow researchers to study how the brain develops over time and how it learns to hear sound and develop speech.

"Hearing loss can be devastating to a child's social development, and for some children, the ABI is their last viable chance to hear," said Keck School of Medicine of USC Professor Robert V. Shannon, Ph.D., an investigator for the trial and a leading scientist in the development of ABI technology since 1989. "Several of the young children who had ABIs implanted outside the United States have sought help at the USC-CHLA Center for Childhood Communication and we know that they now have the potential to understand speech. This really shows how powerful and flexible the brain is. By studying how the brain and the hearing system work together through this device, our team will set the gold standard for use of this technology".

Culled from University of Southern California - Health Sciences

Alzheimer's drug may reduce urge to binge eat

The Alzheimer's drug memantine may perform double-duty helping binge eaters control their compulsion. Researchers have demonstrated that memantine, a neuroprotective drug, may reduce the addictive and impulsive behavior associated with binge eating.

The Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) study, which appears online in Neuopsychopharmacology, also found that a specific area in the brain, the nucleus accumbens, which is responsible for addictive behaviors, facilitates the effects of memantine.

Binge-eating disorder is a prevalent illness in America, affecting more than 10 million people. It is characterized by periods of excessive uncontrolled consumption of food, followed by uncomfortable fullness and feelings of self-disgust. New evidence indicates that changes in brain chemistry reflecting the addictive nature of binge eating may parallel drug and alcohol addiction.

Using an experimental model to simulate binge-eating behavior, researchers were able to identify the area of the brain associated with binge-eating and then suppress the behavior by applying memantine directly into that area.

"We found that memantine, which blocks glutamate NMDA receptors, blocks binge eating of junk food, blocks the strength of cues associated with junk food and blocks the compulsivity associated with binge eating," explained senior author Pietro Cottone, PhD, an associate professor of pharmacology and psychiatry at BUSM and co-director of the Laboratory of Addictive Disorders.

This research opens new avenues for binge eating treatment especially since memantine is a drug already approved for other indications. "Individuals with binge eating disorder have a very poor quality of life and decreased lifespan. Our study gives a better understanding of the underpinning neurobiological mechanisms of the disorder," added coauthor Valentina Sabino, PhD, assistant professor of pharmacology and psychiatry at BUSM and co-director of the Laboratory of Addictive Disorders.

Source: Boston University Medical Center

Researchers identify peptide that reduces urge to eat

Researchers have identified a peptide and hormone that when administered to a specific area of the brain may reduce the desire for food. The study, which appears in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, may one day lead to medications that treat obesity and binge eating disorders.

Obesity is a complex disorder affecting more than 78 million Americans which involves an excessive amount of body fat. It increases your risk of diseases and health problems such as heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure. Binge-eating disorder is a prevalent illness in America characterized by periods of excessive uncontrolled consumption of food, followed by uncomfortable fullness and feelings of self-disgust.

Using an experimental model, the researchers found when administering pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating peptide (PACAP), a peptide and hormone produced by neurons, in a specific area of the brain called the "central amygdala," it reduced the intake of food and led to weight loss.

According to the researchers PACAP is known for its food intake and body weight effects in the hypothalamus (the area of the brain known for controlling appetite). However, this is the first report of PACAP effects in the amygdala, a region of the brain outside the hypothalamus, involved in fear but also in the emotional component of eating.

The researchers also discovered how PACAP decreases food intake when injected in the amygdala. In general, food intake can be decreased in two ways: eating fewer meals of normal size during the day, or smaller meals. "We found that amygdalar PACAP reduces the amount of food eaten within meals, but not how many meals are consumed. In addition, we found that PACAP reduced the rate of intake of food. This means that, following administration of PACAP, models were eating more slowly," explained Valentina Sabino, PhD, assistant professor of pharmacology and psychiatry, and co-director of the Laboratory of Addictive Disorder at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM).

In addition, they found that PACAP effects on food intake and body weight were dependent on another brain factor: the growth-hormone called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). "The effects of PACAP on food intake and body weight were absent when it was given together with another drug that blocks BDNF signaling, suggesting that PACAP acts through BDNF," said Sabino.

The researchers believe these findings have implications for a variety of conditions, since they found not only how much food subjects ate but also how fast they ate them. "The PACAP system may hypothetically be the target of medications to treat not only obesity but also binge-eating, a disease characterized by excessive, uncontrollable consumption of food within brief periods of time," added coauthor Pietro Cottone, PhD, associate professor of pharmacology and psychiatry and co-director of the Laboratory of Addictive Disorder at BUSM.

Also contributing to this study were BU researchers: Attilio Iemolo, PhD, and Antonio Ferragud, MS.

Funding for this study was provided by the National Institute of Health (National Institute of Mental Health and National Institute on Drug Abuse), the Peter Paul Career Development Professorship, the Peter McManus Charitable Trust, and Boston University's Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)
.

Source: Boston University Medical Center

Prime Solver

A fundamental problem had stymied mathematicians for centuries. Then a former Subway cashier announced he’d solved it.

What does a eureka moment look like? It’s usually more subtle than having an apple fall from a tree, striking a young scientist in the head. In fact, you might watch the whole thing unfold without realizing anything took place at all.

That’s what happened on July 3, 2012, when a middle-aged Chinese man passed a seemingly uneventful half-hour in the backyard of his friend’s suburban home in Pueblo, Colo. The man, Yitang Zhang, spent most of the time pacing, occasionally glancing at the golf course that abutted the yard or gazing toward Pikes Peak and other mountains in the distance. He didn’t say a word, and after 30 minutes he went inside the house, perhaps to find relief from the heat and blazing sun.

Zhang had just solved one of the most celebrated problems in mathematics, a version of the twin prime conjecture. (A conjecture’s a mathematical hypothesis with some basis to it, not just a wild guess.) He didn’t bother telling his friend what he’d accomplished, as it would have been rather difficult to explain, even if Zhang was inclined to talk about his work, which he’s not. The effort of trying to get a layperson to grasp the miraculous, though exceedingly technical, sleight of hand he’d just pulled off would likely have ruined the moment of private exaltation Zhang was experiencing. “I didn’t tell him anything,” he says. “It was unnecessary to tell him...

Culled from discovermagazine.com

BBC RADIO 4’S OPENING LINES 2015

BBC Radio Drama Readings Unit welcomes submissions from writers new to radio for their annual series, Opening Lines which is broadcast on BBC Radio 4.

Broadcast on Radio 4, Opening Lines is an annual series that showcases the best in new talent. It provides a platform for emerging radio writers and is now open for submissions to those who have not previously had a story broadcast on network radio or have substantial writing credits in other areas of radio. The Opening Lines team have offered some guidance on what they are looking for.

“We are looking for original short stories which work being read out loud i.e. with a strong emphasis on narrative and avoiding too much dialogue, character description and digression. Pay particular attention to how the story opens and closes, the ending needs to link back to the beginning. We are interested in seeing stories which cover a broad range of subject-matter but material which explores particularly dark, harrowing themes is not suited to Opening Lines. Stories must not contain defamatory, obscene or any other unsuitable material which is likely to cause offence to a wide audience of all ages.”

The time alloted for each story is 14 minutes, so stories must be between 1900 and 2000 word long. Entries which fall outside these parameters will not be considered. Only one entry is accepted per person.

The three strongest stories will be recorded and broadcast, and transcripts of the best stories will also be published on the BBC website. The three successful writers will be invited to London for an afternoon in Broadcasting House. They will also have the chance to see their stories being recorded.

Submission Guidelines 2015

The BBC Radio Drama Readings Unit welcomes submissions from writers new to radio for their annual series, Opening Lines which is broadcast on BBC Radio 4.

The next window for sending in material is

5th January – 13th February 2015.

We are unable to respond to unsolicited stories submitted outside this time-frame.

The three successful writers will have their stories broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and be invited to the BBC in London to see their stories being recorded. As well as broadcasting the three strongest stories we publish transcripts of the best stories submitted within this period on the Opening Lines website.

KEY INFORMATION

To ensure your story is read and doesn't miss out on this opportunity, the following criteria must be met:

• Writers who have previously had a story/stories broadcast on network radio or have substantial writing credits in other areas of radio (e.g. comedy and drama) are not eligible for this series.
• We only accept one story per writer.
• Please don’t re-submit stories that have previously been considered for Opening Lines
• Stories must be between 1,900 and 2,000 words in length.

Submissions which fall outside of these parameters will not be considered.

We are looking for original short stories which work being read out loud i.e. with a strong emphasis on narrative and avoiding too much dialogue, character description and digression. Pay particular attention to how the story opens and closes, the ending needs to link back to the beginning.

We are interested in seeing stories which cover a broad range of subject-matter but material which explores particularly dark, harrowing themes is not suited to Opening Lines. Stories must not contain defamatory, obscene or any other unsuitable material which is likely to cause offence to a wide audience of all ages. Click hereto read stories which have featured in recent series.

We will read all eligible submissions and get in touch with those writers whose stories have been longlisted for the 2015 series by the 15th May 2015, which is when the longlist will be published on our website. We regret that we are unable to respond to those writers whose stories haven’t been selected, but you will of course, be able to check the website to see the longlist.

HOW TO ENTER

Please complete the Submission Form which can be downloaded here.

Then send us your story and the completed Submission Form either:

by email to OpeningLines@bbc.co.uk

or by post to

BBC Radio Drama Readings,

Room 8015,

Broadcasting House,

Portland Place,

London W1A 1AA.

A woman's breast tissue ages faster than the rest of her body

Steve Horvath has discovered that a woman's breast tissue ages faster than the rest of her body.

"Healthy breast tissue is about two to three years older than the rest of a woman's body," said Horvath. "If a woman has breast cancer, the healthy tissue next to the tumor is an average of 12 years older than the rest of her body."

The results may explain why breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. Given that the clock ranked tumor tissue an average of 36 years older than healthy tissue, it could also explain why age is a major risk factor for many cancers in both genders.

Source: Steve Horvath. DNA methylation age of human tissues and cell types. Genome Biology, 2013; 14 (10): R115 DOI: 10.1186/gb-2013-14-10-r115

DNA clock helps to get measure of people's lifespans

A biological clock that provides vital clues about how long a person is likely to live has been discovered by researchers. Researchers studied chemical changes to DNA that take place over a lifetime, and can help them predict an individual's age. By comparing individuals' actual ages with their predicted biological clock age, scientists saw a pattern emerging.

Researchers studied chemical changes to DNA that take place over a lifetime, and can help them predict an individual's age. By comparing individuals' actual ages with their predicted biological clock age, scientists saw a pattern emerging.

People whose biological age was greater than their true age were more likely to die sooner than those whose biological and actual ages were the same.

Four independent studies tracked the lives of almost 5,000 older people for up to 14 years. Each person's biological age was measured from a blood sample at the outset, and participants were followed up throughout the study.

Researchers found that the link between having a faster-running biological clock and early death held true even after accounting for other factors such as smoking, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Scientists from the University of Edinburgh, in collaboration with researchers in Australia and the US, measured each person's biological age by studying a chemical modification to DNA, known as methylation.

The modification does not alter the DNA sequence, but plays an important role in biological processes and can influence how genes are turned off and on. Methylation changes can affect many genes and occur throughout a person's life.

Dr Riccardo Marioni, of the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, said: "The same results in four studies indicated a link between the biological clock and deaths from all causes. At present, it is not clear what lifestyle or genetic factors influence a person's biological age. We have several follow-up projects planned to investigate this in detail."

The study's principal investigator, Professor Ian Deary, also from the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, said: "This new research increases our understanding of longevity and healthy aging. It is exciting as it has identified a novel indicator of aging, which improves the prediction of lifespan over and above the contribution of factors such as smoking, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease."

The study is published in the journal Genome Biology.

Culled from University of Edinburgh