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Category Archives: Mind Building
Matter waves and quantum splinters
Physicists in the United States, Austria and Brazil have shown that shaking ultracold Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) can cause them to either divide into uniform segments or shatter into unpredictable splinters, depending on the frequency of the shaking.
“It’s remarkable that the same quantum system can give rise to such different phenomena,” said Rice University physicist Randy Hulet, co-author of a study about the work published online today in the journal Physical Review X. Hulet’s lab conducted the study’s experiments using lithium BECs, tiny clouds of ultracold atoms that march in lockstep as if they are a single entity, or matter wave. “The relationship between these states can teach us a great deal about complex quantum many-body phenomena.”
The research was conducted in collaboration with physicists at Austria’s Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien) and Brazil’s University of São Paulo at São Carlos.
The experiments harken to Michael Faraday’s 1831 discovery that patterns of ripples were created on the surface of a fluid in a bucket that was shaken vertically at certain critical frequencies. The patterns, known as Faraday waves, are similar to resonant modes created on drumheads and vibrating plates.
To investigate Faraday waves, the team confined BECs to a linear one-dimensional waveguide, resulting in a cigar-shaped BEC. The researchers then shook the BECs using a weak, slowly oscillating magnetic field to modulate the strength of interactions between atoms in the 1D waveguide. The Faraday pattern emerged when the frequency of modulation was tuned near a collective mode resonance.
But the team also noticed something unexpected: When the modulation was strong and the frequency was far below a Faraday resonance, the BEC broke into “grains” of varying size. Rice research scientist Jason Nguyen, lead co-author of the study, found the grain sizes were broadly distributed and persisted for times even longer than the modulation time.
“Granulation is usually a random process that is observed in solids such as breaking glass, or the pulverizing of a stone into grains of different sizes,” said study co-author Axel Lode, who holds joint appointments at both TU Wien and the Wolfgang Pauli Institute at the University of Vienna.
Images of the quantum state of the BEC were identical in each Faraday wave experiment. But in the granulation experiments the pictures looked completely different each time, even though the experiments were performed under identical conditions.
Lode said the variation in the granulation experiments arose from quantum correlations — complicated relationships between quantum particles that are difficult to describe mathematically.
“A theoretical description of the observations proved challenging because standard approaches were unable to reproduce the observations, particularly the broad distribution of grain sizes,” Lode said. His team helped interpret the experimental results using a sophisticated theoretical method, and its implementation in software, which accounted for quantum fluctuations and correlations that typical theories do not address.
Hulet, Rice’s Fayez Sarofim Professor of Physics and Astronomy, and a member of the Rice Center for Quantum Materials (RCQM), said the results have important implications for investigations of turbulence in quantum fluids, an unsolved problem in physics.
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The most aggressive spider societies are not always the ones that flourish
Evolutionary biologists at McMaster University who study the social lives and behaviour of colony spiders — some of which are docile, others aggressive — have found that the success of their cooperative societies depend on their neighbours.
The research, published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, sheds new light on the evolution of animal groups that organize and hunt together.
“Consider the coordinated attacks of prides of lions or wolves, or the dazzling swirling behaviour of starlings or schools of sardines,” says Jonathan Pruitt, an evolutionary biologist and Canada 150 Chair in the McMaster’s Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour.
“These societies are able to organize and execute strategies that cannot be produced by single individuals. We wanted to see if the collective traits that enable success might depend on the traits of neighboring groups.”
Researchers set out to better understand successful collective hunting practices by studying the African social spider Stegodyphus dumicola (S. dumicola). While colonies of S. dumicola do not compete with one another face to face, a single plant may be home to several colonies, resulting in increased competition for flying prey.
Pruitt and his team travelled to two sites in southern Africa and created ‘neighourhoods’ or clusters of competing spider colonies with very different foraging strategies: some colonies were dominated by docile hunting societies while others were dominated by aggressive societies.
After comparing the aggressive and docile societies, researchers learned that whichever strategy was in the minority performed the best.
When aggressive societies dominated the landscape, they overexploited resources fueling an even greater need for prey to maintain their aggressive societal engines. In these conditions, docile societies flourished because they can subsist on less and outlasted their aggressive rivals.
When docile societies dominated, researchers were surprised to discover there was no relationship between resource intake and reproductive success, suggesting they operate well even with extremely low resources.
“The key here is there is a trade-off between the ability to domineer and monopolize resources from rivals and the ability to live off of little,” says Pruitt. “No single strategy ever completely annihilates the opposing strategy, which is why we see various kinds of societal traits maintained through evolutionary time.”
The researchers are now working in Namibia to study colonies from neighbourhoods which vary in size and density.
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Health24.com | Want to stay trim? Don’t eat in the evening
Maybe you rush around with work and activities during the day, then settle in for a large, relaxing meal in the evening. But new research says the later in the day you eat, the more weight you’re likely to pack on.
That’s the takeaway from a week-long study involving 31 overweight and obese patients, mostly women.
Photos of all meals
“We evaluated meal and sleep timing in patients with overweight/obesity at the beginning of a weight loss trial, before participants started the intervention,” said lead author Dr Adnin Zaman, an endocrinology fellow at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
Her team found that “eating later into the day was associated with a higher body mass index (BMI) and greater body fat.” BMI is a measure of body fat based on height and weight.
For the study, participants were enrolled in a weight-loss trial comparing daily calorie limits to time-restricted feeding. In other words, once the trial launched, they could only eat during certain hours of the day.
Ninety percent of the participants were women. Their average age was 36.
A week before the study, they were outfitted with electronic devices to monitor their activity and sleep. They also were asked to snap cellphone photos of everything they ate. The photos were time-stamped using an app called MealLogger.
Zaman and colleagues did not define which hours would amount to “late-day eating” and did not track calories or nutritional values.
Study purely observational
The team did note that participants who ate later in the day also went to bed later, though all averaged seven hours of sleep a night.
The participants’ food consumption spanned 11 hours a day, with the last nosh typically clocked around 8pm. Those who ate later tended to have a higher BMI and body fat, the study found.
Though most participants were women, Zaman said the findings may “also apply to men”.
But, she added, the study was purely observational and more research is needed to understand why late-day eating might lead to obesity.
Her team is already exploring whether eating earlier in the day, when people tend to be more active, might help prevent obesity.
“Future studies are also needed where these methods are applied to people with normal BMIs, and compared to a population with overweight/obesity,” Zaman said.
Lona Sandon is programme director with the Department of Clinical Nutrition at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. She got a sneak peek of the findings and was not surprised.
Storing more body fat
Sandon has her own theories about why late-day eating might lead to weight gain.
“When you eat more of your food calories earlier in the day, they may be more likely used for energy and less likely stored as fat due to different levels of hormones,” she said. You may also feel more satisfied with fewer calories.
“Eating later in the day, more so at night, seems to be linked to storing more body fat due to hormone differences at this time of day,” Sandon added.
Her advice: Eat breakfast and enjoy a hearty lunch.
“If you are skipping breakfast, having a light lunch and finding yourself eating late into the night because you have barely eaten all day, simply cutting back at night is not going to work,” Sandon said. “Making the lunch meal the largest meal of the day, with at least a little something for breakfast, has worked for some of my clients to be able to cut back at night or be satisfied with a light dinner.”
The findings are slated for presentation at a meeting of the Endocrine Society, in New Orleans. Research presented at meetings is considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Image credit: iStock
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House hunting for hellbenders
For young hellbenders, choosing the right home is more than a major life decision. Their survival can depend on it.
These aquatic salamanders, natives of streams in the Ozarks and Appalachia, spend most of their life in the shadowy crevice between the underside of a rock and a river bed, picking off crayfish and, occasionally, each other.
In the first study of young hellbenders’ habitats, University of Florida ecology doctoral candidate Kirsten Hecht found that larvae tend to live under small rocks, progressively moving to larger rocks as they grow. Selecting a “just right” rock — too tiny for one’s bigger neighbors — could help young hellbenders avoid getting ambushed and eaten, Hecht said.
The findings could inform and improve conservation efforts, as the salamanders are in rapid decline across their range, primarily due to habitat loss and degradation.
“The ultimate goal is to restore hellbender populations so that they’re self-sustaining, but that’s basically impossible until we have the right habitat in place for them to survive and reproduce,” Hecht said. “We know very little about the habitats of young hellbenders. Having this information can help us start thinking about these factors as we restore streams.”
Hellbenders begin life as larvae less than an inch long and grow into adults that measure up to 2.5 feet. For humans, this is roughly equivalent to an average-size baby growing to be more than 31 feet tall. The dramatic size difference between young and adult hellbenders can result in cannibalism, Hecht said.
“They’ll eat almost anything they can fit in their mouths,” she said.
Selecting habitats of varying sizes helps hellbenders avoid competing with one another and potentially reduces cannibalism, said Hecht, who also works in the Division of Herpetology at the Florida Museum of Natural History. Her previous work showed that hellbenders also divide food resources, with larvae feeding on aquatic insects and adults eating crayfish and small fish.
While adults are often found under large boulders, little has been known about where young hellbenders shelter beyond a few anecdotal observations of larvae burrowing into gravel beds or hiding inside crevices in limestone.
Hecht and her collaborators gathered data on the homes of more than 200 hellbenders in the Little River of Tennessee, a sandstone environment where large amounts of sand make it difficult for larvae to bury into gravel.
Larvae, hellbenders about 5 inches long or smaller, lived under boulders averaging about 1.5 feet in length. Subadults, 5 to 11 inches long, tended to shelter under boulders a little over 2 feet long. Adults selected boulders with an average length of about 2.5 feet.
“It’s like ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears,'” Hecht said. “They’re sort of self-separating their average shelter size.”
One décor preference Hecht noticed among hellbenders of all sizes? Coarse gravel flooring.
“People had previously looked at gravel and cobble but hadn’t divided them into subcategories,” she said. “What’s neat about this is that it’s not just gravel. It’s this specific type of gravel. That’s really important because it could relate to how much space and prey are available under the rock.”
But Hecht cautioned against applying the study’s findings to all streams, which can vary in geology and ecology.
“You can’t necessarily take the results from this stream and assume they hold true for all streams,” she said. “But you can recognize that rock and gravel size are having some type of impact. There are things we can do across the range, but the way they’re implemented has to be locally determined.”
Hecht said people can help protect hellbenders by leaving river rocks undisturbed; releasing hellbenders caught on fishing hooks or line; reporting hellbender sightings to a local Department of Natural Resources; and minimizing the use of pesticides and herbicides, which can affect water quality in streams.
“When you have a stream with healthy hellbenders, that means you also have good drinking water, a good trout stream — other things people tend to care about are doing well if hellbenders are doing well,” she said.
Michael Freake of Lee University, Max Nickerson of the Florida Museum and Phil Colclough of Zoo Knoxville also co-authored the study.
New brain cells made throughout life
The study could lead to new ideas for treating Alzheimer’s disease, say the researchers.
Health24.com | Science finds a way for transgender males to maintain fertility
People transitioning female to male face issues around future fertility. But new research suggests children in the future are a real possibility for these transgender men.
Now, research shows that transgender men can remain fertile after even one year of testosterone treatment.
Ovarian function well-preserved
It’s common for transgender men – those who were born female but who identify as male – to undergo testosterone therapy as a gender-affirming treatment. But some may later want children through their own pregnancy or via surrogate, the Israeli researchers explained.
“Because the long-term effects of testosterone therapy on fertility are unknown, the current recommendation is to stop testosterone at least three months before fertility treatments,” said lead investigator Dr Yona Greenman. She heads the Transgender Health Center at Tel Aviv-Sourasky Medical Center.
The study included 52 transgender men, aged 17 to 40, who received testosterone therapy over 12 months. They had the expected increase in testosterone blood levels and decrease in oestrogen, but their levels of anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) remained in the normal range for fertility.
AMH levels are used to appraise remaining eggs in the ovaries. Average levels in study participants decreased only slightly, suggesting their ovarian function was well-preserved, according to Greenman.
Participants also showed no changes in the thickness of their uterine lining. A thick lining is crucial for embryo implantation and a successful pregnancy.
Reproduction a transgender right
The findings are to be presented Saturday at the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting, in New Orleans.
“Our research shows for the first time that after one year of testosterone treatment, ovary function is preserved to a degree that may allow reproduction,” Greenman said in a meeting news release. “This information is important for transgender men and their partners who desire to have their own children.”
She said more study is needed to examine the effects of testosterone on other benchmarks of fertility, including the quality of eggs and embryos fertilized in vitro.
“These results are a further step toward providing transgender people basic rights such as reproduction,” Greenman added.
Research presented at meetings is typically considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Image credit: iStock
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Health24.com | Terminally ill woman shocks doctors with radically shrinking tumour
A terminally ill mom — who’s kept her cancer diagnosis a secret from her toddler — has shocked doctors after her tumour shrunk by 75%, following alternative treatment in Mexico.
In October last year Kate Malvenan’s world came crashing down after doctors broke the horrific news that she had lung cancer and would survive only for six to 24 months.
The 40-year-old, who lives in Queensland, Australia, said she’s always taken great pride in maintaining good health.
She ate nutritious food and regularly worked out at the gym — while also being a strict non-smoker.
So, when she started feeling “a little run down” a few months before her cancer diagnosis, she simply put it down to a new intense fitness regime she’d been testing out.
“My hips, my lower back, my spine and my shoulders were all sore.
“I’d been training hard on a new fitness regime, so I put it down to that. But we now know these were the cancerous spots.”
The diagnosis
In April last year the single mom-of-one started coughing up blood.
When she began experiencing chest pains in September she was sent for scans which revealed a large tumour on her lungs.
“The GP called me after hours and said it looked like cancer but didn’t know the extent of it and I was asked to go to the hospital the following day.
“Realising there was something wrong, my parents decided to fly in from the UK to be with me.”
Kate’s worst fears were confirmed a few days later on October 3, when her doctor broke the news that the deadly cancer had spread.
Doing anything and everything to stay alive
She was left reeling after three specialists told her she’d be dead in six to 24 months, but as the sole carer for her three-year-old daughter, Annabelle, the determined mom knew she had to do whatever was necessary to stay alive.
“I couldn’t understand how I could have a terminal illness when I felt healthy,” Kate said.
“My cancer had spread to my liver, lymph system, hips, spine, ribs and shoulders. When you’re told by all the specialists that you’re going to die you believe it.
“I was put on a target therapy drug called Alectinib, but was told it would only give me a two-year life expectancy and I needed to live much longer than that.”
A new hope
After a friend told her about an alternative cancer treatment centre called “Hope4Cancer” in Cancun, Mexico, Kate re-mortgaged her home and dug into her life savings to fund the three-week programme.
“I had no other choice. I decided I was going to do it. Two weeks later I was in Mexico.”
And following her first treatment in late October, Kate was amazed after scans revealed the tumour on her lung had shrunk by 75% — going from the size of an apple to the size of a grape.
There’s now no trace of cancer in her lymph nodes and limited cancer in her liver.
Kate underwent intense treatment for seven hours a day, six days a week at the clinic in Mexico.
Treatments focused on heat, light and laser therapies — including hyperbaric oxygen therapy, full body hypothermia, infrared lamp therapy, pulsed electro-magnetic field therapy, coffee enemas, saunas and vitamin C IV therapy.
She also followed a strict plant-based organic diet during the treatment and is still sticking to this eating plan.
Remarkable results
After returning home from her first stint in Mexico in November, Kate underwent follow up scans at her local hospital in Australia — and says doctors were shocked at the remarkable results, which revealed her tumour had reduced by 75% with no trace of cancer in her lymph nodes.
Kate decided to dig into her life savings again and returned to Mexico in February for another round of intensive treatment.
“I was told by one of my doctors to go home, drink wine and spend time with my daughter before I died,” she recalls.
“There was no chance of staying alive. But now there is hope. The doctors here have said my results are remarkable and that I’m breaking all the rules.
“I’m very positive that with continued treatment my cancer will be 100% eradicated.”
A mother’s love
Kate has decided to keep her cancer diagnosis a secret from her daughter, as she feels it’s better to protect her from the dark and tragic realities of cancer.
“Annabelle has no idea about my cancer. She’s too little and didn’t need to know that I could die.
“I told her I was going on a long and boring trip to Bali for work, tears were flooding out of my eyes when I had to leave her. I didn’t know what I was going into and whether I’d come back alive.
“Without her I wouldn’t have the motivation or strength to fight.”
Image credit: MagazineFeatures.com/Caters News Agency
Story time with e-books ‘not as helpful’ as print books
A study finds parents focus more on technology with electronic books and interact less with children.
Health24.com | A woman just had a near-fatal allergic reaction to penicillin in semen
Talk about a mood-killer.
A woman from Alicante, Spain recently suffered a life-threatening allergic reaction to penicillin after having sex with her partner, who was taking a form of the medication.
Seminal transfer of amoxicillin
According to The Daily Mail, the unidentified 31-year-old woman had performed oral sex on her partner, and soon after started to vomit. She struggled to breathe and broke out in hives.
When she went to hospital, doctors realised she was having a life-threatening allergic reaction known as anaphylactic shock. According to The American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology, anaphylaxis can be fatal if not treated.
The Spanish woman told the doctors she was allergic to penicillin but that she hadn’t taken the medication. But, it turns out her 32-year-old partner had recently taken amoxicillin, a form of penicillin, to treat an ear infection. As a result, the doctors believe her anaphylaxis was caused by ‘seminal transfer of amoxicillin’. The woman had never had this kind of reaction in previous sexual encounters, so her doctors ruled out a semen allergy. But a semen allergy can happen. Really.
Potential risk from oral sex
According to the International Society for Sexual Medicine, a semen allergy (also known as seminal plasma hypersensitivity), is a rare allergic reaction to proteins found in semen.
Women who have this rare allergy, often experience redness, swelling, pain, itching, and a burning sensation in the vagina (or mouth, if you’re performing oral). The symptoms typically start 10 to 30 minutes after coming into contact with semen. In some women, anaphylaxis can happen.
And it can crop up at any time: Sometimes the allergy is to one partner’s sperm, but not another’s, or it may happen suddenly with a long-time partner. Crazy is an understatement!
Doctors who treated the 31-year-old have now urged anyone with drug allergies to “be aware” of the potential risk from oral sex. Duly noted, doc.
Read more:
Why do men produce different amounts of semen?
The surprising way to ease allergy symptoms
Meet the woman who makes art out of semen
This article was originally published on www.womenshealthmag.
Image credit: iStock
