The Red Shoes (extended film clip) - Kate Bush (1993)

Before DNA, before RNA: Life in the hodge-podge world

Take note, DNA and RNA: it’s not all about you. Life on Earth may have began with a splash of TNA – a different kind of genetic material altogether.

Because RNA can do many things at once, those studying the origins of life have long thought that it was the first genetic material. But the discovery that a chemical relative called TNA can perform one of RNA’s defining functions calls this into question. Instead, the very first forms of life may have used a mix of genetic materials.

Full article:  http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21335-before-dna-before-rna-life-in-the-hodgepodge-world.html

A new approach for diagnosing patients with anorexia nervosa has been developed at the University of Sydney. The approach could have a significant impact on the treatment and recovery of sufferers, as well as reducing the strain on public health.

As reported in the Sydney Morning Herald, Professor Stephen Touyz, of the University of Sydney’s Centre for Eating and Dieting Disorders, advocates a move to diagnosing anorexia nervosa in stages of severity, similar to the method used for diagnosing cancer.

“At the moment, you can only diagnose anorexia nervosa if you have the illness quite severely already,” says Professor Touyz.

“By the time you have anorexia nervosa, and people can see that you’ve got it, you’re an extremely ill person. This is an illness where 20 percent of people who are diagnosed could potentially die.”

Professor Touyz’s proposed system of stages would introduce the diagnosis of stage one anorexia nervosa for patients who clearly already suffer from the illness but do not yet meet its official diagnostic criteria.

The need for early diagnosis and treatment is particularly pressing given the severe lack of hospital treatment options for adults suffering from anorexia nervosa. While adolescents with eating disorders are well covered by the public hospital system, there are very few options for adult sufferers.

“In NSW, there are almost no places for adults to get treatment without private health insurance. There are two hospital beds at RPA, and another few at Westmead that aren’t specifically designated as eating disorder beds.

“But if you pick up the disease early enough, you can receive proper treatment early on, have a better chance of overcoming the illness and avoid hospitalisation,” Professor Touyz says.

The staging model would also improve public awareness and understanding of anorexia nervosa, says Professor Touyz.

“People who have symptoms of anorexia nervosa but don’t meet the diagnostic criteria are currently described as having EDNOS, or ‘eating disorder not otherwise specified’. If you tell people you have EDNOS, few people understand. But if you say you have stage one anorexia nervosa, people appreciate the seriousness of the condition.”

Drosophila Brainbow: a recombinase-based fluorescence labeling technique to subdivide neural expression patterns

“This adaptation of vertebrate Brainbow uses recombination to select one of three epitope-tagged proteins detectable by immunofluorescence. Two copies of this construct yield six bright, separable colors. We used Drosophila Brainbow to study the innervation patterns of multiple antennal lobe projection neuron lineages in the same preparation and to observe the relative trajectories of individual aminergic neurons. Nerve bundles, and even individual neurites hundreds of micrometers long, can be followed with definitive color labeling. We traced motor neurons in the subesophageal ganglion and correlated them to neuromuscular junctions to identify their specific proboscis muscle targets. The ability to independently visualize multiple lineage or neuron projections in the same preparation greatly advances the goal of mapping how neurons connect into circuits.”

(Hampel, Chung, McKellar, Hall, Looger, Simpson, 2011)

First-ever evidence of giant plant-eating dinosaurs found in Antarctica

Timing is key in the proper wiring of the brain: study

After birth, the developing brain is largely shaped by experiences in the environment. However, neurobiologists at Yale and elsewhere have also shown that for many functions the successful wiring of neural circuits depends upon spontaneous activity in the brain that arises before birth independent of external influences.

… “This spontaneous activity is not dependent upon external sensory stimuli,” said Michael Crair, the William Ziegler III Associate Professor of Neurobiology and associate professor of ophthalmology and visual science and senior author of the paper. “We want to know where this activity comes from and how does it work.”

Yale researchers tried to interfere with this spontaneous activity in neonatal mice through a technique called optogenetics – or the manipulation of brain cells genetically engineered to be activated by light. The Yale team showed that proper wiring of connections between the eye and brain depended upon exactly when this spontaneous activity occurs. When the researchers simultaneously induced retinal activity in both eyes of a neonatal mouse, they found the visual connections did not develop properly. However, when they induced activity first in one eye and then the other, neural connections were unaffected or even enhanced.

Crair said that rhythmic spontaneous activity has been implicated in proper development of many brain areas, including the cortex, cerebellum, and spinal cord. He said it is possible that a disruption in the timing of this spontaneous activity could play a role in a host of developmental disorders.

“The genes thought to be involved in autism involve the formation and function of brain synapses and neural circuits, and that is exactly what is getting messed up when we interfere with brain activity early in development,” Crair said.

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-key-proper-wiring-brain.html

Video: Researchers create living ‘neon signs’ composed of millions of glowing bacteria

Study: Eating less keeps the brain young

Overeating may cause brain aging while eating less turns on a molecule that helps the brain stay young.

Article: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-brain-young.html