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Friday, March 1, 2013

Two rats cooperate telepathically via brain implant

Nicolelis lab / Duke University

If you're a lab rat, life is full of choices.

By Nidhi Subbaraman

Two rats ? one in North Carolina, the other in?Brazil ? worked together on a task by communicating telepathically, thanks to implants in their brain.

Electrical signals from a "leader" rat?s brain were collected, encoded and then zapped into the "follower" rat?s cortex in the form of an electrical signal. The follower rat then pressed one of two levers based on a light visible only to the leader rat.?The Duke University experiment is the first time two animals have collaborated through such an artificial link, and shows that the mammal brain can be trained to act on electrical signals from another animal.?

Miguel Nicolelis, the Duke neuroscientist who led the team from Duke and the?International Institute for Neuroscience of Natal in Brazil, believes that information transfer could extend to other senses, too. ?You could think about taste, vision ? I don?t see any problem doing this,? he told NBC News.

He says his wired rat duo show that the linking of mammalian brains is possible, but why stop at just two? "I could see a swarm of rats be informed by one rat," he says, "Most of them driving to the source based on information from another individual," a concept he calls a "Brain Net."

Nicolelis and crew published their findings in Scientific Reports Thursday.?

?I still think it's wild that he made it possible,??Ron Frostig, a neurobiologist at the University of Irvine who was not involved with the experiments told NBC News.?

This experiment is in many ways extension of brain-machine tech that has been on slow boil at the Nicolelis lab for over a decade. Earlier in February, the Nicolelis lab showed that rats could be trained to act on infrared cues. Rats, like people, can?t naturally sense infrared light ? an infrared sensor activated a implant in the rats' brains. Eventually they learned to follow that signal, approached the right hole, and received a reward.

In the latest "mind-reading" experiment, both lead and follow rats went through a series of training phases. The leader rat was trained to use a lit light bulb to choose which of two levers to press. The second rat was trained to receive and act on gentle zaps of electrical stimulation in its brain. Once the two were wired up together, the second rat received signals from the leader rat's brain indicating which lever to choose. When the follower pressed the right lever, it was rewarded with water, and the leader was rewarded as well.

The leader rat eventually figured out that the clearer he was with his ?instructions,? the better his chances of getting a double reward. Frostig pointed out that this training was crucial to the success of this series of demonstrations.?

While the link between the rats seems telepathic to casual observer, the rats don't necessarily know the other exists, Nicolelis explains. The follower rat feels a tingle in its brain and discovers that interpreting it one way rather than another leads to a reward.?Marshall Shuler???a neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins University who was Nicolelis? student in the late 1990s?? describes it as a "special and powerful case of conditioning." "What's unique about this is that one animal is getting information that has nothing to do with it environment," he told NBC News. ?

How about human telepathy?
The researchers are years away from testing this kind of electronic telepathy in people. Still, based on what is known about how people respond to brain stimulation and implants, Shuler?says we might be better than the rats at interpreting intracranial cues.

"I would think that humans would be able to exploit this information even more efficiently," Shuler says.?

Nicolelis says they are ?perfecting the experiment? in monkeys, training them to collaborate in a virtual game. In the past, the Nicolelis lab has trained brain-implanted?monkeys to control a cursor on a screen using only their thoughts. In another computer game, a monkey pawed at virtual discs of different simulated textures, and was trained to pick one texture over the other, demonstrating one way information about touch could be fed back into the brain.

Shuler says that this line of research isn't just about person-to-person telepathy, but may very well help computers talk back to human brains. ?We?re quite comfortable with patterns arising from our own sensory mechanisms,? he explained, ?What?s less intuitive to us is that, as experimentalists and engineers impose artificial patterns, the brain is able to render that information useful.?

Take the field of prosthetics, a zone the Nicolelis lab is at home in. Ultimately, Shuler says, the goal is to get prosthetics to send touch data back to the user. A number of labs have shown that the brain or residual nerves can move a prosthetic limb. What many of those smart body parts lack is a way of relaying sophisticated feedback back to the brain. The Nicolelis lab may well provide the answer.?

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South Dakota faces federal cuts, furloughs

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- South Dakota could lose at least $10 million in federal funding from automatic spending cuts set to take effect Friday, but Gov. Dennis Daugaard said he is most worried about what will happen in programs that educate struggling students and help low-income people heat their homes and put food on the table.

Daugaard said state officials Wednesday were still trying to understand exactly what would be cut from federal funds handled by the state and how those cuts would be applied. He said he was asking state agencies to provide more details on the cuts.

"I don't know that it'll be a dramatic impact. We're trying to understand that right now. We're trying to evaluate that right now," Daugaard said.

If President Barack Obama and Republican congressional leaders don't reach agreement on another way to reduce the federal debt by Friday, $85 billion in automatic, across-the-board cuts will take effect.

The Republican governor said he's upset that the president has insisted that the federal spending cuts be applied across the board, rather than letting federal agencies focus the cuts in programs that have little impact on people's daily lives.

For example, some of the cuts will hit grant programs that help cities build water lines and other projects. Those cities will not be forced to lay off anyone, but will only have to scale back pipelines, Daugaard said.

"That's an easier area to cut than, say, somebody who's counting on it to pay their heating bills or pay their food bills," Daugaard said.

Daugaard said school districts will lose money for special education and programs that help struggling students, such as one that provides teachers to help students who have trouble reading. Cuts also are slated for a program that helps low-income people pay winter heating bills and the nutrition program for low-income women with small children.

Jason Dilges, the governor's budget director, said the cuts could bring furloughs for state employees paid with federal money. The governor and the Legislature could decide to use state money to replace lost federal funds, he said.

"We'll have to look at the citizens of South Dakota and their well-being because these are going to affect us relatively quickly, Dilges said.

The timing of the federal cuts also complicates the process of approving a state budget for the year that begins July 1. The Legislature plans to pass that budget by the end of next week, the end of the main run of South Dakota's legislative session.

Dilges said he plans to propose only minor changes in the $4.1 billion state budget Daugaard proposed in early December, but the federal spending cuts could affect state revenue and spending. If prolonged spending cuts hurt the economy, state tax collections could suffer, he said.

Wade Pogany, director of the Associated School Boards of South Dakota, said school districts across the state likely will lose between $2 million and $3.5 million in federal funding for special education and programs that help disadvantaged students. As the Legislature prepares to pass a state budget, schools are asking that lawmakers provide extra money to help schools recover from state budget cuts made two years ago, he said.

"It couldn't come at a worse time for schools, given their financial situation right now," Pogany said of the federal cuts.

The South Dakota National Guard also has said the federal budget cuts would likely force it to furlough 548 full-time personnel for 22 days over the next five months. More than half the National Guard's 918 full-time employees would lose one day's work and pay each week for 22 weeks starting in late April. They would lose more than $4.2 million in wages, officials said.

Daugaard said a group that all states use to analyze federal spending has estimated South Dakota will lose $14 million in federal spending from March through September, but the state budget office estimates the loss at only $10 million. The state expects to lose nearly $5.7 million in federal money from March through June 30, the end of the state's budget year, and another $4.3 million from July through September, the end of the federal budget year, he said.

The governor said he expects the cuts to take place Friday, but the president and Congress might be forced to make a budget deal later to replace the automatic cuts. For example, if a budget resolution doesn't pass Congress by April 15, members of Congress won't get paid, he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/south-dakota-faces-federal-cuts-155558739.html

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Baby Boomers Take Biggest Career Risks

If you think that baby boomers are just looking to reach retirement, you may want to think again. New research has found that baby boomers are more entrepreneurial and take more risks than younger counterparts at work.

Forty-three percent of baby boomers described themselves as high risk in a recent survey, compared with just 28 percent of Generation Y respondents and 40 percent of Generation X. In the survey, people between ages 18 and 29 were considered Gen Y, people between ages 30 and 49 were considered Gen X, and people between ages 50 and 69 were considered baby boomers.

Researchers say that Gen Y workers may be less willing to take risks because they see their jobs as temporary.? Fifty-five percent of Gen Y respondents say their job is only a step in their career while just 26 percent say they will stay at their job for a long time.?

Not only were boomers more likely to take risks, but they were also more likely to consider themselves to be entrepreneurial.? Forty-five percent of boomers called themselves entrepreneurial, compared with 32 percent of Gen Y and 41 percent of Gen Xers.

"This survey revealed that the entrepreneurial spirit resides in all of us and across all generations of workers," said Jeffrey Quinn, vice president of Global Monster Insights, which conducted the research. "Whether it?s a direct result of the current economy, or a person?s independent drive, we are seeing more and more people across generations starting their own businesses as alternatives to traditional jobs or careers. Employer-retention strategies could benefit from creating environments that encourage entrepreneurial culture?and opportunities for workers."

Though not all workers feel like they are able to be entrepreneurs, 1 in 3 workers say they have the freedom and flexibility to take responsibility for turning an idea into a profitable product at their company.? Forty two percent of respondents say they have the opportunity to work on projects that are outside their responsibility, but just 23 percent say they are encouraged to work on such projects. ?

"The Internet has created unique entrepreneurial opportunities, not just for Millennials, but for all generations of workers," said Dan Schawbel, founder of Millennial Branding and author of "Promote Yourself" (St. Martin Press, 2013). "We don?t see the same barriers to entry to starting a new business as we saw 10 years ago. Everyone has the technology to connect and now all you need is an innovative idea and a website?to create a startup."

The research was based on the responses of 2,828 randomly selected Monster users.?

This story was provided by BusinessNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Follow David Mielach on Twitter @D_M89?or BusinessNewsDaily @bndarticles. We're also on Facebook & Google+.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/baby-boomers-biggest-career-risks-191418227.html

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Birdman Says 'Nobody Got Hurt' In Nicki Minaj/ Mariah Carey Beef

'I don't consider it beef, they both getting paid to do a job,' Cash Money CEO tells MTV News.
By Rob Markman

Nicki Minaj, Keith Urban and Mariah Carey in Charlotte on "American Idol"
Photo: FOX

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1702742/birdman-nicki-minaj-mariah-carey-idol-beef.jhtml

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Copyright Alert System: Six strikes and you're out

This week the entertainment industry and American ISPs rolled out a system that aims to curb illegal media downloads. The system is designed to first notify users of copyright infringement, and then to curtail Internet connectivity in response to repeated offenses.

By Jeff Ward-Bailey,?Contributor / February 27, 2013

The Copyright Alert System is designed as a "six-strikes" scheme to curb illegal downloads. In this Youtube video, the Center for Copyright Information shows how the system sends information about infringement to a user's ISP.

Youtube

Enlarge

The "Copyright Alert System," a six-part warning scheme aimed at curbing illegal downloads of music and movies, rolled out this week with the support of the "big five" American Internet providers -- AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner, and Cablevision. The system is designed to gradually warn, and eventually penalize, those suspected of pirating content over peer-to-peer networks.

Skip to next paragraph Jeff Ward-Bailey

Writer

Jeff began writing for the Monitor's Horizons blog in 2011, covering product news and rumors, innovations from companies like Apple and Google, and developments in tech policy.

Researchers link left-sided brain injury with greater risk for hospital-acquired infections

Feb. 28, 2013 ? Findings published in the March issue of Archives of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation have implications for translational research into brain-mediated immune defenses, infection control practices and cognitive rehabilitation strategies after stroke and brain injury.

West Orange, NJ. February 28, 2013. The March 2013 issue of Archives of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, the medical journal of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, features an article by Kessler researchers Pasquale Frisina, PhD, Ann Kutlik, BA, and A.M. Barrett, MD. The study, "Left-sided brain injury associated with more hospital-acquired infections during inpatient rehabilitation," has implications for further research into brain-mediated immune defenses, infection control practices and cognitive rehabilitation strategies to improve outcomes after stroke and traumatic brain injury.

The study was supported by Kessler Foundation and the National Institutes of Health (grant nos. R01NS055808, K24HD062647).

The authors, a team of stroke specialists from Kessler Foundation and Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation, report findings of a retrospective study of 2236 inpatients with brain lesions caused by traumatic brain injury or stroke. Hospital-acquired infection (HAI), a common complication that adversely affects outcomes and costs, was defined as infection diagnosed within 48 to 72 hours of admission. Of the 163 patients identified as having hospital-acquired infections, 60.1% had left-sided lesions. This finding was consistent with the hypothesis that a left-dominant brain immune network (LD-BIN) may influence the occurrence of HAI during inpatient rehabilitation for stroke and TBI.

These findings may help healthcare providers predict who is most susceptible to HAI, according to lead author Pasquale Frisina, PhD, which could help reduce mortality rates, control costs of care and improve outcomes. "The study indicates that antisepsis may not be the best or sole method to manage infection risk after stroke and brain injury," said Dr. Frisina. "Future research should focus on ways to optimize the LD-BIN to improve health. These may include brain stimulation techniques such as direct electrical stimulation of the prefrontal brain or behavioral techniques such as mental/cognitive exercise." He added that this investigative approach might lead to novel interventions aimed at increasing infection resistance, rather than on reducing or eradicating pathogens.

"Clinicians rarely think about the brain and immunity," noted A.M. Barrett, MD, "but the balance between left and right brain activity is known to affect our infection resistance. I'm proud to be part of scientific activities that ask these kinds of innovative questions, and get answers that become the basis for new, improved processes for clinical care."

Pasquale Frisina, PhD, is director of quality management at Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in West Orange, NJ, and assistant professor in the department of geriatrics and adult development at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. Ann Kutlik, BA, is research and outcomes coordinator at Kessler Institute. A.M. Barrett, MD, is Director, Stroke Rehabilitation Research at Kessler Foundation and Chief, Neurorehabilitation Program Innovation, Kessler Institute of Rehabilitation in West Orange. Dr. Barrett is also professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Medicine and Dentistry, New Jersey Medical School, in Newark, N.J.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Kessler Foundation.

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Journal Reference:

Pasquale G. Frisina, Ann M. Kutlik, Anna M. Barrett. Left-Sided Brain Injury Associated With More Hospital-Acquired Infections During Inpatient Rehabilitation. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 2013; 94 (3): 516 DOI: 10.1016/j.apmr.2012.10.012

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/v0jsIzge6F0/130228171458.htm

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Austerity triggers novel protests in Portugal

In this photo taken Feb. 23, 2013, people gather at Lisbon's Largo do Carmo square to sing "Grandola, Vila Morena" (Grandola, Dusky Town) to mark the 26th anniversary of the death of it's author, Zeca Afonso. A Portuguese revolutionary song from 40 years ago is haunting the bailed-out country's government. Anti-austerity protesters are hounding senior officials by loudly singing at public events a celebrated tune from the 1974 Carnation Revolution. They have managed to silence some of their targets, including the prime minister when he was trying to give a speech in Parliament. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

LISBON, Portugal (AP) ? A Portuguese revolutionary song from 40 years ago is haunting the bailed-out country's government.

Anti-austerity protesters are hounding senior officials by loudly singing at public events a celebrated tune from the 1974 Carnation Revolution. They have managed to silence some of their targets, including the prime minister when he was trying to give a speech in Parliament.

At the same time, people are putting the prime minister's name and tax number on their store receipts. That makes it possible, in theory at least, that Pedro Passos Coelho's spending will outstrip his official income and leave him liable for an end-of-year tax assessment.

Portuguese unhappy about the center-right government's relentless austerity drive aren't just getting mad, they're getting even ? in imaginative ways.

The government is locked into debt-cutting measures in return for the ailing country's ?78 billion ($102 billion) financial rescue in 2011. More tax hikes this year sliced another chunk off wages. The result: public outrage has mounted as living standards have tumbled.

After winter weather discouraged street protests and with strikes petering out amid falling income, dissenters in Portugal have formed civic movements which have come up with new ways of retaliating against their leaders' unpopular policies.

People in other European countries stricken by the eurozone financial crisis appear no less disaffected.

In Italy's national elections last weekend Beppe Grillo ? a comedian with no political experience whose blog fed off public discontent with austerity ? and his 5 Star Movement collected almost a quarter of the votes cast. In Spain, "Surround Parliament" protests take aim at what are perceived as discredited politicians amid a 26 percent unemployment rate.

"There's a broad feeling of powerlessness" among aggrieved Europeans, says Antonio Costa Pinto, a political scientist at Lisbon University's Institute of Social Science. "With few resources, (the civic movements) can make a big impact."

In Portugal, civic movements whose message travels quickly on social media have to a degree eclipsed trade unions, traditionally in the vanguard of protests. Those movements are behind protest marches planned Saturday in more than 20 Portuguese cities that are expected to draw big crowds.

They are trying to persuade the government to reverse course by jettisoning austerity policies and switching focus to state-fueled economic growth and job creation. Even so, while the protests have earned headline media coverage, the government shows no sign of budging.

The new wellspring of protests and the novel style of the dissent are another sign of social and cultural changes that have accompanied the financial crisis. The downbeat period has stripped away long-standing entitlements and modified the habits of many Europeans.

The Portuguese aren't short of reasons to grumble. The country is forecast to weather a third straight year of recession in 2013. Unemployment has ballooned to a record 16.9 percent. And an avalanche of tax increases and welfare cuts shows no sign of letting up as the government looks for another ?4 billion to cut.

The recent mischief is needling politicians who are viewed as deaf to appeals for less hardship. "It helps achieve an aim, which is to grind down the government," said Costa Pinto, the political scientist.

Among the many makeshift movements that have sprung up in recent times the most vociferous and talked-about is one called "Screw the troika - We want our lives back." Mostly young people fill its ranks. They are the ones with plenty to complain about: the jobless rate among Portuguese under-25s rate stands at 40 percent.

The group, which stresses it has peaceful aims, has dogged officials with its full-throated public renditions of "Grandola, Vila Morena" (Grandola, Dusky Town).

A radio broadcast of that folk song was the night-time signal in 1974 for mutinous troops to rise up against Portugal's four-decade dictatorship. The Carnation Revolution brought democracy and set Portugal on the path to European Union membership.

The song was recorded by Portuguese musician Zeca Afonso in 1971. It is a slow-tempo ballad, with stirring lyrics and a catchy refrain. The lyrics seem dated ? they speak of a "land of fraternity" and, slightly ominously, caution that "The people have the final word" ? but feel suited to the current times.

Protesters recently sang it from the public gallery when the prime minister was addressing Parliament, forcing him to stop and wait for them to finish. A half-dozen other members of the Cabinet have also had to listen to it at public engagements.

Government officials have acted bemused, but their discomfort is evident.

The same protest group has also inspired a resurgence of irreverent political graffiti along Lisbon streets, where huge colorful murals have appeared. Last weekend, dozens of people ? ranging from children to pensioners ? joined in the painting of a 13-meter (42-feet) by 13-meter mural calling people to Saturday's protests.

"It was really moving," said 41-year-old filmmaker Alexandre Azinheira, who designed the mural. With his retired parents unable to meet mortgage payments on their home due to pension cuts, he said he was spurred to act because the government had "betrayed" the Portuguese.

Another group, the White Revolution Movement, came up with the idea of putting officials' names on store receipts after the government threatened to punish anyone who didn't ask for a receipt for financial transactions. It was part of a crackdown on tax evasion by businesses.

The prime minister's personal tax number went around by email and cellphone text message and can now be seen on photographs of receipts posted on the group's Facebook page. Media reports claim receipts worth millions of euros now feature the tax number of government ministers ? even though providing a fake receipt name carries a risk of up to three years in prison.

The Finance Ministry did not reply to a request for comment.

"We never thought it'd take off like this," the movement's leader Paulo Romeira said. "People leapt on board to show their disgust with the political class that has led us to where we stand today."

Passos Coelho, the prime minister, insists the protesters are an unrepresentative minority. "We shouldn't mistake a tree for a forest," he told reporters last week.

The response on Facebook didn't take long: a poster advertising Saturday's marches announced, "We are the forest."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-01-Portugal-Singing%20Protesters/id-2d0e9b4d11464abba22bd7a129d8afd3

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Friday, March 1, 2013

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