(Current Affairs) Science & Technology, Defence, Environment | September: 2013

Science & Technology, Defense, Environment

Neuron Growth cuts Memory Space

Canadian scientists discovered that the reason we struggle to recall memories from our early childhood is due to high levels of neuron production during the first years of life. The formation of new brain cells increases the capacity for learning but also clears the mind of old memories. The findings were presented to the Canadian Association of Neuroscience. Neurogenesis or the formation of new neurons in the hippocampus, a region
of the brain known to be important for learning and remembering, reaches its peak before and after birth. It then declines steadily during childhood and adulthood. Scientists wanted to find out how the process of new neuron generation impacted on memory storage. They carried out their research on younger and older mice in the lab.

For better Health, Walk or Cycle

For the sake of their health, Indians would do well to leave their cars, scooters and motorbikes behind and walk or bicycle instead, according to research just published in the journal PLOS Medicine . That also means that more investments ought to go into making such physical activity safe and convenient. In India, economic prosperity has led to a boom in motor vehicles, which has gone hand in hand with less physical activity and greater consumption of energy-dense food. The number of people who are overweight and obese is projected to increase rapidly in the next two decades. This country already has more individuals with diabetes than any other nation and their number is set to expand. Deaths from heart disease are also expected to shoot up. ‘Active travel’ — walking, cycling or use of public transport — is one of the measures that the World Health Organisation recommends to address the growing burden of noncommunicable diseases. To examine the health benefits from such active travel in the Indian context, researchers from Imperial College, London in the U.K. and the Public Health Foundation of India scrutinised close to 4,000 participants in the Indian Migration Study. About 2,500 of those surveyed were urban dwellers while the others lived in rural
areas.

More than 60 per cent of the villagers travelled to work on bicycles while private vehicles were the commonest mode of transport among their urban counterparts. The study found that those who walked or bicycled to work were less likely to be overweight than those who relied on private vehicles. Those using bicycles also had a lower likelihood of diabetes or high blood pressure. “People need to take physical activity seriously,” remarked Sutapa Agrawal of the Public Health Foundation of India. The study had also shown that migrants from villages quickly adopted an urban lifestyle and had associated health problems.

New Prospective Biomaterial for Bone Formation

Scientists at Jadavpur University in the month of June 2013 discovered that zinc-doped hydroxyapatite (HAP) which is a calcium phosphatebased bioceramic material has a stimulatory effect on bone formation. Hydroxyapatite (HAP) is actually one of calcium phosphatebased bioceramic materials which form most of the inorganic components of human bones and teeth. It was also found that the bonding with bone was better for zinc-doped bicalcium phosphate than conventional ceramics. The benefit of Zinc is that it act to improve biological properties of synthetic HAP thus decreasing the inflammatory response and has an antibacterial effect. The scientists while synthesizing zinc doped Hap powder at Jadavpur Universityhave also observed that it exhibits high compressive strength and hardness than the conventional HAP. The scientists have witnessed the pronounced new bone formation in doped HAP with the implantation on the tibia of an adult New Zealand rabbit for two months. The formation of osteons around zinc-doped HAP was also confirmed by the Histopathology. The scientists at Jadavpur University are also developing materials (composition of HAP and beta Tricalcium phosphate) doped with zinc which can be used for bone grafting.

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