Effects of Cell Phone Radiofrequency Signal Exposure on Brain Glucose Metabolism [Preliminary Communication]

Effects of Cell Phone Radiofrequency Signal Exposure on Brain Glucose Metabolism [Preliminary Communication]: "

Context The dramatic increase in use of cellular telephones has generated concern about possible negative effects of radiofrequency signals delivered to the brain. However, whether acute cell phone exposure affects the human brain is unclear.

Objective To evaluate if acute cell phone exposure affects brain glucose metabolism, a marker of brain activity.

Design, Setting, and Participants Randomized crossover study conducted between January 1 and December 31, 2009, at a single US laboratory among 47 healthy participants recruited from the community. Cell phones were placed on the left and right ears and positron emission tomography with (¹⁸F)fluorodeoxyglucose injection was used to measure brain glucose metabolism twice, once with the right cell phone activated (sound muted) for 50 minutes ('on' condition) and once with both cell phones deactivated ('off' condition). Statistical parametric mapping was used to compare metabolism between on and off conditions using paired t tests, and Pearson linear correlations were used to verify the association of metabolism and estimated amplitude of radiofrequency-modulated electromagnetic waves emitted by the cell phone. Clusters with at least 1000 voxels (volume >8 cm³) and P < .05 (corrected for multiple comparisons) were considered significant.

Main Outcome Measure Brain glucose metabolism computed as absolute metabolism (µmol/100 g per minute) and as normalized metabolism (region/whole brain).

Results Whole-brain metabolism did not differ between on and off conditions. In contrast, metabolism in the region closest to the antenna (orbitofrontal cortex and temporal pole) was significantly higher for on than off conditions (35.7 vs 33.3 µmol/100 g per minute; mean difference, 2.4 [95% confidence interval, 0.67-4.2]; P = .004). The increases were significantly correlated with the estimated electromagnetic field amplitudes both for absolute metabolism (R = 0.95, P < .001) and normalized metabolism (R = 0.89; P < .001).

Conclusions In healthy participants and compared with no exposure, 50-minute cell phone exposure was associated with increased brain glucose metabolism in the region closest to the antenna. This finding is of unknown clinical significance.

"

Robot Butler Hitching Ride to Space on Shuttle Discovery - Fox News

Robot Butler Hitching Ride to Space on Shuttle Discovery - Fox News: "

CBC.ca

Robot Butler Hitching Ride to Space on Shuttle Discovery Fox News Life aboard the International Space Station will get a little cushier when a robot butler arrives at the orbiting lab later this week. The space shuttle Discovery, slated to launch Thursday afternoon, is carrying a humanoid robot named ... Space shuttle Discovery fueled for its last flightReuters Final countdown: Space shuttle Discover blasts off for the last time todayDigitaltrends.com Space shuttle Discovery poised for final liftoffUSA Today Space.com -The Daily Citizen all 1,919 news articles »

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National Margarita Day: Recipes to Celebrate With! - myGLOSS

National Margarita Day: Recipes to Celebrate With! - myGLOSS: "

HULIQ

National Margarita Day: Recipes to Celebrate With! myGLOSS It's National Margarita Day! Who knew? But now that you do know, we've got some recipes to help you celebrate the holiday with classic recipes and some tasty variations too. First, a good margarita has to have good chips and salsa to go with…so pick up ... It's National Margarita DayMyFox Chicago Today is National Margarita DayCorpus Christi Caller Times It's National Margarita Day - do you have a favorite NJ Mexican restaurant?NJ.com Huffington Post -Long Island Press -San Antonio Express all 42 news articles »

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Scientists steer car with the power of thought

Scientists steer car with the power of thought: "Computer scientists have developed a system making it possible to steer a car with your thoughts. Using new commercially available sensors to measure brain waves -- sensors for recording electroencephalograms (EEG) -- the scientists were able to distinguish the bioelectrical wave patterns for control commands such as 'left,' 'right,' 'accelerate' or 'brake' in a test subject."

Scientists customize a magnet's performance by strategically replacing key atoms

Scientists customize a magnet's performance by strategically replacing key atoms: "Scientists have strategically replaced key atoms in a gadolinium-germanium compound, causing changes in the resulting alloy's ferromagnetism. The discovery may eventually help as materials scientists search for new, exotic substances for use in today's and future generations of high-tech products."

Researchers aim to resurrect mammoth in five years

Researchers aim to resurrect mammoth in five years: "TOKYO - Japanese researchers will launch a project this year to resurrect the long-extinct mammoth by using cloning technology to bring the ancient pachyderm back to life in around five years' time."

Learning to move machines with the mind

Learning to move machines with the mind: "Publication year: 2010
Source: Trends in Neurosciences, In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 20 December 2010
Andrea M., Green , John F., Kalaska
Brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) extract signals from neural activity to control remote devices ranging from computer cursors to limb-like robots. They show great potential to help patients with severe motor deficits perform everyday tasks without the constant assistance of caregivers. Understanding the neural mechanisms by which subjects use BCI systems could lead to improved designs and provide unique insights into normal motor control and skill acquisition. However, reports vary considerably about how much training is required to use a BCI system, the degree to which performance improves with practice and the underlying neural mechanisms. This review examines these diverse findings, their..."

HDB's first eco-precinct

HDB's first eco-precinct: "SINGAPORE: Singapore's public housing has gone green."

Doctors may have found HIV cure

Doctors may have found HIV cure: "WASHINGTON: An American man is still HIV-free more than three years after receiving a stem cell transplant, suggesting the first-ever cure of the virus that causes AIDS, German doctors said Wednesday."

Ageing study to be done in 3 phases

Great news! Something practical at least...

Ageing study to be done in 3 phases: "SINGAPORE : The five-year study in Marine Parade on ageing, announced by Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong on Sunday, will be carried out in three phases."

Singapore's salad days are over

Posting in Nature about Singapore's research funding system.
Perhaps one should not blame a country, but bite down and realize that to produce something, one needs to work hard...
But at the same time, the need for and nature of freedom in research is poorly understood in most government and industrial organization, in my opinion.

Singapore's salad days are over

Singapore's salad days are over

Nature 468, 7325 (2010). doi:10.1038/468731a

Uncertainty has replaced confidence as economic reality bites science in the city-state and scientists find that their research funds now come with strings attached.

Goodbye Champaign, IL.

This is for all my friends past and present in Champaign-Urbana, IL. And this is difficult.

It is difficult to say goodbye to you. It means I cannot see you as often as I like. It means that our paths will go separate ways. It means that all the things we've experienced together in the past will be faint memories and I cannot touch them.

This has been and always will be my home. For here is where I have left a part of my heart. That part will very soon split into a hundred pieces, and each go their own way to various parts of the earth. Is this not the most painful thing in the world?

Till we meet again.

Neuroscience: Movement decoded

Neuroscience: Movement decoded: "

Neuroscience: Movement decoded

Nature 466, 534 (2010). doi:10.1038/466534f

J. Neurosci.30, 9659–9669 (2010) 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5443-09.2010Brain signals in monkeys have been decoded and used to reconstruct three-dimensional arm movements, raising the possibility of future neuroprosthetic devices that people who are paralysed could use to control robotic arms for

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Brain-like computing on an organic molecular layer

Brain-like computing on an organic molecular layer: "One big advantage a brain's circuitry has always had over a computer's is its ability to evolve as it tackles complex problems. Now, scientists have created a tiny computing device with a brain-like 'evolutionary circuit.'"

This is really really cool technology.

Reasoning about social conflicts improves into old age [Psychological_And_Cognitive_Sciences-BS]

Reasoning about social conflicts improves into old age [Psychological_And_Cognitive_Sciences-BS]: "It is well documented that aging is associated with cognitive declines in many domains. Yet it is a common lay..."

Aging and wisdom PNAS article just out.

No gain from brain training

"The largest trial to date of "brain-training" computer games suggests that people who use the software to boost their mental skills are likely to be disappointed.

The study, a collaboration between British researchers and the BBC Lab UK web site, recruited viewers of the BBC science program "Bang Goes the Theory" to practice a series of online tasks for a minimum of ten minutes a day, three times a week, for six weeks. [More]"

No one would debate that the transfer of training on a specific task to another is meager. What is a better framework to understand this work, however, may be to ask what kinds of training affect what kinds of cognitive ability. One key may be how abstract a level of processing is involved...

Neural mechanisms of ageing and cognitive decline

Key review article just out in Nature.

Neural mechanisms of ageing and cognitive decline

Nature 464, 529 (2010). doi:10.1038/nature08983

Authors: Nicholas A. Bishop, Tao Lu & Bruce A. Yankner

During the past century, treatments for the diseases of youth and middle age have helped raise life expectancy significantly. However, cognitive decline has emerged as one of the greatest health threats of old age, with nearly 50% of adults over the age of 85 afflicted ...

Two views of brain function

Two views of brain function:

Publication year: 2010
Source: Trends in Cognitive Sciences, In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 4 March 2010
Marcus E., Raichle

Traditionally studies of brain function have focused on task-evoked responses. By their very nature, such experiments tacitly encourage a reflexive view of brain function. Although such an approach has been remarkably productive, it ignores the alternative possibility that brain functions are mainly intrinsic, involving information processing for interpreting, responding to and predicting environmental demands. Here I argue that the latter view best captures the essence of brain function, a position that accords well with the allocation of the brain's energy resources. Recognizing the importance of intrinsic activity will require integrating knowledge from cognitive and systems neuroscience with cellular and molecular..."

A New Spin on Conductivity: Electric Signals Can Propagate through an Insulator

Possible inorganic myelin sheath?

A New Spin on Conductivity: Electric Signals Can Propagate through an Insulator:

An electric insulator, in the simplest terms, blocks the flow of electric current. So it would be a bit counterintuitive, to say the least, if a current on one side of an insulator could produce voltage on the other. [More]

Reduced Neural Selectivity Increases fMRI Adaptation with Age during Face Discrimination

Key project finally published! This took quite a while, but it was worth it.

[Link to article if you have journal access]
[Link to Pubmed abstract access]

By Joshua O., Goh , Atsunobu, Suzuki , Denise C., Park
Beckman Institute, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA; Center for Vital Longevity, University of Texas, Dallas, TX, USA.

Ventral-visual activity in older adults has been characterized by dedifferentiation, or reduced distinctiveness, of responses to different categories of visual stimuli such as faces and houses, that typically elicit highly specialized responses in the fusiform and parahippocampal brain regions respectively in young adults (Park et al., 2004). In the present study, we demonstrate that age-related neural dedifferentiation applies to within-category stimuli (different types of faces) as well, such that older adults process less distinctive representations for individual faces than young adults. We performed a functional magnetic resonance imaging adaptation experiment while young and older participants made same-different judgments to serially presented face-pairs that were Identical, Moderate in similarity through morphing, or Different. As expected, older adults showed adaptation in the fusiform face area (FFA), during the Identical as well as the Moderate conditions relative to the Different condition. Young adults showed adaptation during the Identical condition, but minimal adaptation to the Moderate condition. These results indicate that older adults' FFA treated the morphed faces as Identical faces, reflecting decreased fidelity of neural representation of faces with age.

NeuroImage, In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online 6 February 2010