Day: 09/24/2015

LHC creates liquid from Big Bang

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Wow, this is amazing, maybe we will be closer from understanding the universe than ever.

Scientists using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have produced tiny droplets of a state of matter thought to have existed right at the birth of the universe.

An international team at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have produced quark-gluon plasma — a state of matter thought to have existed right at the birth of the universe — with fewer particles than previously thought possible. The results were published in the journal APS Physics on June 29, 2015.

The Large Hadron Collider is the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator. The LHC, located in a tunnel between Lake Geneva and the Jura mountain range on the Franco-Swiss border, is the largest machine in the world. The supercollider was restarted this spring (April 2015) following two years of intense maintenance and upgrade. Take a virtual tour of the LHC here.

The new material was discovered by colliding protons with lead nuclei at high energy inside the supercollider’s Compact Muon Solenoid detector. Physicists have dubbed the resulting plasma the “littlest liquid.”

So, the Big bang was not solid, but liquid??? Did i get ir right, this is a very interesting stuff.


Quan Wang is a University of Kansas researcher working with the team at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Wang described quark-gluon plasma as a very hot and dense state of matter of unbound quarks and gluons — that is, not contained within individual nucleons. He said:

It’s believed to correspond to the state of the universe shortly after the Big Bang.

While high-energy particle physics often focuses on detection of subatomic particles, such as the recently discovered Higgs Boson, the new quark-gluon-plasma research instead examines behavior of a volume of such particles.

Wang said such experiments might help scientists to better understand cosmic conditions in the instant following the Big Bang.

New theory of stealth dark matter may explain universe’s missing mass

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This 3D map illustrates the large-scale distribution of dark matter, reconstructed from measurements of weak gravitational lensing by using the Hubble Space Telescope.

Lawrence Livermore scientists have come up with a new theory that may identify why dark matter has evaded direct detection in Earth-based experiments.

A group of national particle physicists known as the Lattice Strong Dynamics Collaboration, led by a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory team, has combined theoretical and computational physics techniques and used the Laboratory’s massively parallel 2-petaflop Vulcan supercomputer to devise a new model of . It identifies it as naturally “stealthy” (i.e. like its namesake aircraft, difficult to detect) today, but would have been easy to see via interactions with ordinary matter in the extremely high-temperature plasma conditions that pervaded the early universe.

“These interactions in the early universe are important because ordinary and dark matter abundances today are strikingly similar in size, suggesting this occurred because of a balancing act performed between the two before the universe cooled,” said Pavlos Vranas of LLNL, and one of the authors of the paper, “Direct Detection of Stealth Dark Matter through Electromagnetic Polarizability”. The paper appears in an upcoming edition of the journal Physical Review Letters and is an “Editor’s Choice.”

Dark matter makes up 83 percent of all matter in the universe and does not interact directly with electromagnetic or strong and weak nuclear forces. Light does not bounce off of it, and goes through it with only the feeblest of interactions. Essentially invisible, it has been termed dark matter, yet its interactions with gravity produce striking effects on the movement of galaxies and galactic clusters, leaving little doubt of its existence.

New theory of stealth dark matter may explain universe's missing mass
Lawrence Livermore scientists have devised a new model of dark matter. It identifies it as naturally “stealthy” today, but would have been easy to see via interactions with ordinary matter in the extremely high-temperature plasma conditions that pervaded the early universe.

The key to stealth dark matter’s split personality is its compositeness and the miracle of confinement. Like quarks in a neutron, at high temperatures, these electrically charged constituents interact with nearly everything. But at lower temperatures they bind together to form an electrically neutral composite particle. Unlike a neutron, which is bound by the ordinary strong interaction of quantum chromodynamics (QCD), the stealthy neutron would have to be bound by a new and yet-unobserved strong interaction, a dark form of QCD.

“It is remarkable that a dark matter candidate just several hundred times heavier than the proton could be a composite of electrically charged constituents and yet have evaded so far,” Vranas said.

Similar to protons, stealth dark matter is stable and does not decay over cosmic times. However, like QCD, it produces a large number of other nuclear particles that decay shortly after their creation. These particles can have net electric charge but would have decayed away a long time ago. In a particle collider with sufficiently high energy (such as the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland), these particles can be produced again for the first time since the. They could generate unique signatures in the particle detectors because they could be electrically charged.

“Underground direct detection experiments or experiments at the Large Hadron Collider may soon find evidence of (or rule out) this new stealth ,” Vranas said.

Scientists successfully synthesize human sperm in a test tube.

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A team of French scientists claim to have successfully synthesized human sperm cells in a test tube. The team from biotechnology start-up Kallistem says they have fully-developed, usable sperm cells in a bioreactor in their lab. Having just submitted their findings for publication, the experiment could potentially be life-changing for infertile males across the globe.


green design, eco design, sustainable design, Kallistem, synthesized sperm cells, infertility treatment, human sperm cells

Lead by Philiippe Durand, Kallistem’s team says they’ve grown mature sperm cells from the germ cells of six infertile men. Simulating spermatogenesis, the team say they have successful runs with cells from rats, monkeys and now humans. Although the trials have been reportedly successful, the details of Kallistem’s process has yet to be divulged, as it has been submitted for publication. The lack of details have other scientists feeling skeptical, but Durand and his team are confident critics will be persuaded once the piece is published.

According to the scientists, the lab-grown sperm cells could greatly help male patients suffering from infertility. As many as 15,000 young men are rendered infertile due to cancer treatments, in addition to another 120,000 who have untreatable infertility. With the scientists’ treatment, these men could viably father their own biological children. The team, who performed the experiments at the Institut de Genomique Fonctionelle, hopes to treat patients in as soon as four years.

 

Long term Omeprazole therapy.

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Long term Omeprazole therapy ..
Omeprazole is one of the most widely prescribed drug s internationally used in the treatment of gastro esophageal reflux disease, peptic ulcer, and other conditions caused by excess stomach acid. Omeprazole (Prilosec, Zegerid) belongs to group of drugs called proton pump inhibitors. It decreases the amount of acid produced in the stomach. As well as its needed effects, Omeprazole may cause unwanted side effects that require medical attention especially in long term use:
1) Atrophic gastritis: Long-term omeprazole therapy has caused atrophic gastritis (identified by biopsy.
2) Carcinoma: In long-term (2-year) studies in rats, omeprazole produced a dose-related increase in gastric carcinoid tumor. Gastric polyposis have been reported in three of eleven patients treated with long-term omeprazole therapy (20 to 40 mg daily). Hyperplastic and fundic gland polyps developed in the stomach of these patients.
3) Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD): Use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) may increase risk of CDAD, especially in hospitalized patients; consider CDAD diagnosis in patients with persistent diarrhea that does not improve. Use the lowest dose and shortest duration of PPI therapy appropriate for the condition being treated.
4) Fractures: Increased incidence of osteoporosis-related bone fractures of the hip, spine, or wrist may occur with proton pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy. Patients on high-dose (multiple daily doses) or long-term (≥1 year) therapy should be monitored. Use the lowest effective dose for the shortest duration of time, use vitamin D and calcium supplementation, and follow appropriate guidelines to reduce risk of fractures in patients at risk.
5) Hypomagnesemia: Reported rarely, usually with prolonged PPI use of >3 months (most cases >1 year of therapy). May be symptomatic or asymptomatic; severe cases may cause tetany, seizures, and cardiac arrhythmias. Consider obtaining serum magnesium concentrations prior to beginning long-term therapy, especially if taking concomitant digoxin, diuretics, or other drugs known to cause hypomagnesemia.
6) Interstitial nephritis: Acute interstitial nephritis has been observed in patients taking PPIs; may occur at any time during therapy and is generally due to an idiopathic hypersensitivity reaction. Discontinue if acute interstitial nephritis develops.
 7) Vitamin B12 deficiency: Prolonged treatment (≥2 years) may lead to vitamin B12 malabsorption and subsequent vitamin B12 deficiency. The magnitude of the deficiency is dose-related and the association is stronger in females and those younger in age (<30 years); prevalence is decreased after discontinuation of therapy .

 

These Plants Researched by NASA Can Purify the Air in Your Home

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A study, led by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in association with the Associated Landscape Contractors of America (ALCA), entitled “NASA Clean Air Study”, suggests that certain plants may offer a natural way of destroying toxic agents in the air.

Based on their research, we outline for you the top 6 plants that you should have in your home:

  1. Aloe Vera – this plant is excellent for increasing the oxygen level in your home. Additionally, the study found that it also has high absorption of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and formaldehyde. A single plant can substitute about 9 air purifiers in your house.
  1. Spider Plant – or the technical name “Chlorophytum comosum”. The spider plant can create photosynthesize under conditions with minimal light. It absorbs poisons in the air such as formaldehyde, xylene and toluene, trichloroethylene and carbon monoxide. One plant will effectively purify the air in a three-bedroom apartment.
  1. English Ivy – this plant, known in the scientific world as “Hedera Helix”, can remove poisons such as benzene, formaldehyde, trichloroethylene and xylene and toluene from the air. English Ivy is a must have plant in your home.
  1. Variegated snake plant – (Variegated snake plant) or popularly known in some cultures as the “mother-in-law’s tongue” plant. It purifies the same poisons from the air such as the English Ivy and is very resilient, requires minimal upkeep and very low light level to generate photosynthesize. Beside removing the poisons from the air, this plant is excellent plant for your bedroom since it increases the oxygen levels during the night.
  1. Rubber Plant – (Ficus Elastica), this popular plant removes large quantities of formaldehyde from the air. It is very simple plant that doesn’t require a lot of maintenance or light. But keep in mind to keep it away from the reach of kids and pets since it has the potential to have poisoned leaves.

The NASA Air Study concludes that if you live in a small apartment, you should have about 3 to 4 from these plants, while if you are in the larger house you should look for 15-20 plants.

Why palliative and end of life care is everyone’s business .

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Far too many of us simply do not talk about dying and death.

I’m not going to shatter any illusions when I say that we will all die. So what is it about death and dying that we try to avoid talking about? And why when someone knows that they’re going to die, and we might be able to support that person, do we find it so difficult to talk?

It is a stigma that we, along with The Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief alliance of organisations and charities, undertake various activities to try to address. However, it is only when there is real investment in a government-led public health campaign that we will start to see communities have open and honest conversations about dying and death and we will feel empowered to support each other.

 

If someone is diagnosed with a terminal illness today it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to die tomorrow, or next week, next month or even next year

If someone is diagnosed with a terminal illness today it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to die tomorrow, or next week, next month or even next year. Yes they’ve been told their illness is likely to lead to their death, but it doesn’t come with an expiration date.

Often the delivery of a terminal diagnosis is thought of as a rapidly approaching death sentence and palliative care as something that only benefits people at the very end of life. While this can be the case, especially with traditional cancer-orientated notions of palliative care, it is not always true when it comes to other terminal illnesses. Some disease trajectories are hard to predict and people can live for many years receiving palliative care in a number of different settings, including at home, when needed. Palliative care is about improving quality of life and continuing to support people to live well through the course of their condition.

At Marie Curie we talk about people living with a terminal illness, not dying. Palliative care can play a huge part in this, helping people to live as well as possible, for as long as possible. Palliative care and what it can achieve is often misunderstood. As with the expression terminal illness, there’s a misconception that palliative care only benefits people who are in the final weeks or days of their lives. We know that this can be a factor in thousands of people missing out on palliative care right now in Scotland.

Palliative care is holistic care and can help with psychological, social and spiritual needs that people have alongside their medical treatment. Offered early enough it can help patients and families to live as well as possible in the time that they have left and can make a big difference in their experience. Our explanation of what palliative care is and the Scottish palliative care guidelines go into more detail.

We need to reduce the awkwardness about talking about death and dying, to challenge public perceptions and understanding and to enable a more public debate of the issues. Join the conversation at mariecurie.org.uk/change.
Read more at http://thirdforcenews.org.uk/blogs/why-palliative-and-end-of-life-care-is-everyones-business#K3MYO6PEuoDHoZjp.99

Taking Blood Pressure Drugs at Night May Help Prevent Type 2 Diabetes.

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http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/mobileart.asp?articlekey=190805

Research pair offer a way to put a living organism into superposition state

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Schrodinger's cat
Schrödinger’s cat: a cat, a flask of poison, and a radioactive source are placed in a sealed box. If an internal monitor detects radioactivity (i.e. a single atom decaying), the flask is shattered, releasing the poison that kills the cat. The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics implies that after a while, the cat is simultaneously alive and dead. Yet, when one looks in the box, one sees the cat either alive or dead, not both alive and dead. This poses the question of when exactly quantum superposition ends and reality collapses into one possibility or the other.

A pair of physicists, one with Tsinghua University in China, the other with Perdue University in the U.S. has come up with what they believe is a viable way to cause a living organism to be in two places at the same time. In the paper they have posted to the arXiv server, Zhang-Qi Yin and Tongcang Li suggest that an experiment conducted at the University of Colorado recently, could be modified by placing a living organism into a superposition state, rather than using just a piece of metal.

The research pair liken their experimental idea to bringing to life to the famous Schrödinger thought experiment that involved a cat and other items placed in a closed box—or perhaps more poetically, comparing it to fairy tales where a fairy can exist in more than one place at the same time. Superposition, is of course, a principle of quantum theory that describes a concept where two objects can exist in more than one physical location at the same exact moment.

Two years ago, researchers at the University of Colorado put a very small vibrating aluminum into a superposition state—Li and Yin believe that if a microbe were put on the same type of membrane it could be put into a superposition state along with the membrane. They note that to date, no one has put any sort of into a superposition state, despite a lot of interest in doing so by both academics and the public at large.

More specifically, the team suggests the way to make it work would involve cooling a common bacterium down to approximately 10mK to prevent chemical activity from taking place and energy from being exchanged with the environment, then causing the microbe to adhere to the membrane using natural forces. That should be enough, they theorize, to allow for the bacterium to be put into a superposition state along with the oscillating membrane.

The scheme does raise the question of whether the organism is in fact living (but then so does Schrödinger’s cat) because the microbe would be frozen solid—not dead, necessarily, because once warmed, it would wake and once again act like a living organism. The research pair note that they have no idea at this point how superposition might work with an active organism.

They also suggest that if anyone were to actually carry out their ideas via experiment, they might also consider doing another experiment, one that would use the same equipment and microbe, where the position of a microbe would be entangled with the spin of an atom residing inside of it—a way of testing for defective protein DNA inside of a living organism.

 

Abstract
Schrodinger’s thought experiment to prepare a cat in a superposition of both alive and dead states reveals profound consequences of quantum mechanics and has attracted enormous interests. Here we propose a straightforward method to create quantum superposition states of a living microorganism by putting a small bacterium on top of an electromechanical oscillator. Our proposal is based on recent developments that the center-of-mass oscillation of a 15-μm-diameter aluminium membrane has been cooled to its quantum ground state [Nature 475, 359 (2011)], and entangled with a microwave field [Science, 342, 710 (2013)]. A microorganism with a mass much smaller than the mass of the electromechanical membrane will not significantly affect the quality factor of the membrane and can be cooled to the quantum ground state together with the membrane. Quantum superposition and teleportation of its center-of-mass motion state can be realized with the help of superconducting microwave circuits. More importantly, the internal states of a microorganism, such as the electron spin of a glycine radical, can be prepared in a quantum superposition state and entangled with its center-of-mass motion. Our proposal can be realized with state-of-art technologies. The proposed setup is also a quantum-limited magnetic resonance force microscope (MRFM) that not only can detect the existence of an electron spin, but also can coherently manipulate and detect the quantum state of the spin.

Why men need to learn how to cry .

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New research has found that 80 per cent of men repress feelings of anxiety rather than externalising their emotions. Mental health experts say the brave face isn’t helping anyone

Mental health charity Mind believe crying is the first step in dealing with your problems

Mental health charity Mind believe crying is the first step in dealing with your problems

Research from the mental health charity Mind has found that four in five 18- to 34-year-old men put on a brave face when they are anxious. Anxiety is one of the most prevalent mental health problems and Mind believes that crying is both an powerful and proactive way to counteract its adverse effects.

The new statistics were gathered to help the charity to compile a free guide that is launched today and will aim to help people better understand how to cope with stress and anxiety.

• No more tears: men really do cry less than women

It has been suggested that established gender attitudes may be the main cause of male introversion. The study reported that one in five men felt that showing their emotions was a sign of weakness, compared to one in seven women. And, statistically, only 16 per cent of men have cried in the last month, a figure life coach Sally Ann Law is concerned by.

“Crying can be a very effective, and often quite quick, way to lift our mood and allow us to access emotions other than sadness and distress. Of course, men might struggle not to feel embarrassed to cry in front of others – particularly other men – as crying can be judged as sign of weakness. However, I don’t agree with that view.

“In my coaching practice,” continues Law, “I meet men who cry when they are describing something that is painful and distressing to them. They often apologise for crying – as do many of my female clients – but I try to reassure them that it’s absolutely OK to express their sadness that way.”

Tennis player Andy Murray succumbed to emotion after being beaten by Roger Federer

Tennis player Andy Murray succumbed to emotion after being beaten by Roger Federer  

Crying has been the subject of many scientific debates, with academics still unsure whether or not humans are the only species who cry for emotional reasons. Socially, we are the most complex creatures on Earth and so, predictably, we cry for many different reasons.

There are three different types of tears: basal, reflex and psychic. Whilst basal and reflex tears are involuntary – defending your body against dryness and onions alike – psychic tears are emotionally produced. Stemming from strong feelings of anger, sadness, anxiety or even overwhelming joy, psychic tears contain a natural painkiller called leucine enkephalin, which helps you manage any emotional overloads.

• Should a man ever cry in public?

Stephen Buckley, the Head of Information at Mind, explains that “anyone can be affected by a mental health problem, but men are far less likely than women to seek support. Mind research showed that almost a third of men would be embarrassed about seeking help for a mental health problem and less than a quarter of men would visit their GP if they felt down for more than two weeks, in comparison to a third of women.”

Crying is a key way of externalising these problems, and the first step towards seeking help.

“Issues such as self-stigmatisation,” continues Buckley, “or the idea that ‘real men don’t cry’, can prevent men from accessing the help that they need. Men are half as likely to talk to their friends about problems as women and only 31pc of men would discuss worries with their relatives, compared to 54pc of women.

“While women tend to have a solid network of friends and family with whom they are comfortable discussing emotional issues, men are much more likely to rely solely on their partner – if anyone at all. This puts men at a greater risk of emotional isolation.”

James Van Der Beek's infamous crying scene in Dawson's Creek

James Van Der Beek’s infamous crying scene in Dawson’s Creek 

The new research shows that whilst men and women deal with their anxiety in different ways – with women more likely to cry and men tending to ‘bottle up’ their emotions – the triggers of these negative thoughts are largely the same. Job interviews, moving house and having a health problem were all commonly cited as contributors to anxious feelings.

Curiously, the only standout statistic concerned marriage. The research found that men were twice as likely to experience serious anxiety before tying the knot than their brides-to-be.

• ‘Not suppost to cry’: what I hate about being a boy

However, be it cold feet or when the heat is on, Mind are mindful that men are suffering anxiety and mental health problems in greater numbers than women. And as incongruous as it may seem, opening up emotionally and having a weep is an important step in overcoming your problems.

As Paul Farmer, Chief Executive of Mind, rather poetically summarises: “It’s time for us all to stop holding back the tears and reach out for support.”

Pathophysiology and clinical evaluation of acute heart failure.

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Acute heart failure (AHF) is a complex syndrome characterized by worsening heart failure (HF) symptoms that requires escalation of therapy. Intrinsic cardiac abnormalities and comorbid conditions, including lung and renal disease, and sleep-disordered breathing, can contribute to the development of AHF. In this Review, we summarize and discuss the literature on the clinical evaluation and underlying pathophysiology of AHF. Important features of AHF evaluation include identification of precipitating factors to the disease, and assessment of circulatory–renal limitations associated with use of HF medications, prior HF hospitalizations, congestion and perfusion profiles, and end-organ dysfunction. The pathophysiological contributions of endothelial dysfunction, neurohormonal activation, venous congestion, and myocardial injury to the development of AHF are also discussed. These potential causative mechanisms provide a framework for clinicians to evaluate and manage patients with AHF and highlight possible future targets for therapies designed to improve clinical outcomes.