A pet system which can help you raise pets in an easy way

There are more and more people have interest in keeping a pet. But sometimes communication is a troublesome.There is a pet systems can help you a lot:

“This work addresses the improvement through the pet application of the ability of location-awareness, and to help the pet owners raise their pet on the activity and eating control easily.”A paper published by scientific research publishing mentioned.

In fact, not only communication issues are solved,this system can help you attend your dear pet if you are out for works.According to the paper.

When Do Babies Become Conscious?

For everyone who’s looked into an infant’s sparkling eyes and wondered what goes on in its little fuzzy head, there’s now an answer. New research shows that babies display glimmers of consciousness and memory as early as 5 months old.

For decades, neuroscientists have been searching for an unmistakable signal of consciousness in electrical brain activity. Such a sign could determine whether minimally conscious or anesthetized adults are aware—and when consciousness begins in babies.

Studies on adults show a particular pattern of brain activity: When your senses detect something, such as a moving object, the vision center of your brain activates, even if the object goes by too fast for you to notice. But if the object remains in your visual field for long enough, the signal travels from the back of the brain to the prefrontal cortex, which holds the image in your mind long enough for you to notice. Scientists see a spike in brain activity when the senses pick something up, and another signal, the “late slow wave,” when the prefrontal cortex gets the message. The whole process takes less than one-third of a second.

Researchers in France wondered if such a two-step pattern might be present in infants. The team monitored infants’ brain activity through caps fitted with electrodes. More than 240 babies participated, but two-thirds were too squirmy for the movement-sensitive caps. The remaining 80 (ages 5 months, 12 months, or 15 months) were shown a picture of a face on a screen for a fraction of a second.

Cognitive neuroscientist Sid Kouider of CNRS, the French national research agency, in Paris watched for swings in electrical activity, called event-related potentials (ERPs), in the babies’ brains. In babies who were at least 1 year old, Kouider saw an ERP pattern similar to an adult’s, but it was about three times slower. The team was surprised to see that the 5-month-olds also showed a late slow wave, although it was weaker and more drawn out than in the older babies. Kouider speculates that the late slow wave may be present in babies as young as 2 months.

This late slow wave may indicate conscious thought, Kouider and colleagues report online today in Science. The wave, feedback from the prefrontal cortex, suggests that the image is stored briefly in the baby’s temporary “working memory.” And consciousness, Kouider says, is composed of working memory.

The team displayed remarkable patience to gather data from infants, says cognitive neuroscientist Lawrence Ward of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, in Canada, who was not involved in the study. However, the work, although well executed, is not the last word, he says. “I expect we’ll find several different neural activity patterns to be correlated with consciousness.”

Comparing infant brain waves to adult patterns is tricky, says Charles Nelson, a neuropsychologist at Harvard Medical School in Boston. “ERP components change dramatically over the first few years of life,” he writes in an e-mail. “I would be reluctant to attribute the same mental operation (i.e., consciousness) in infants as in adults simply because of similar patterns of brain activity.”

“He’s right, the ERP components are not exactly the same as in adults,” Kouider responds, but the ERP signature he saw had the same characteristics.

Kouider next hopes to explore how these signals of consciousness connect to learning, especially language development. “We make the assumption that babies are learning very quickly and that they’re fully unconscious of what they learn,” Kouider says. “Maybe that’s not true.”

(via:wired)

Obama and his wife will get tattoo and show off on YouTube if his daughters get one ,a new way to remove tattoo

US President Barack Obama has warned his daughters that if they get tattoos, he and his wife will get matching ones on the same place on their bodies.

In an interview on NBC's Today show, Mr Obama said he hoped the "family tattoo" threat would discourage teen rebellion.

About  tattoo

Tattoo brings temporary alternative happy to fashionable men and women,while it lives permanent pain and spiritual shackles to the tattoos. A lot of tattoos may be regret and eager to remove them.

Methods to remove tattoo

Traditional methods to remove tattoo including chemical, mechanical, surgical, termal and laser assited methods.A scientists introduces a new method: Q-switch mode.They claimed this method as one of the most effective methods of tattoo removal with advanced the laser method.The scientists also conclude that lymphatic elimination may be one of the significant mechanisms of tattoo removal through contrast experiment.

Try to Find a Good Wheat Line with Combined Resistance to Russian Wheat Aphid and Stem Rust (Race “Ug99”) in Kenya

Wheat is the second most important cereal in Kenya. However, production is severely constrained by both abiotic and biotic stresses.

We have ever said that a research found  wheat has allelopathic potential,it is so eco-friendly.But to itselt,it can’t protect itself very well.

Severe infestations by russian wheat aphid (RWA) may result in yield losses of up to 90% while stem rust (Race “Ug99”) infected fields may suffer 100% crop loss. The two pests combined are seriously affecting wheat farmers’ incomes because of the heavy reliance on pesticides that increase the cost of production.

An article  from American Journal of Plant Sciences studies three wheat varieties,and try to find a good wheat lines that is resistance to russian wheat aphid and stem rust:

“Kwale”, a Kenyan high yielding variety but susceptible to both RWA and “Ug99”; “Cook”, an Australian variety carrying stem rust resistance gene Sr36 conferring immunity to “Ug99”; and “KRWA9”, a Kenyan line with resistance to RWA but of poor agronomic attributes were used. A double cross F1 (DC F1) was obtained by crossing the F1 of “Kwale × Cook” and the F1 of “Kwale × KRWA9”. The DC F1 population was subjected to sequential screening for both RWA and “Ug99” resistance. Surviving DC F1 progenies were left to self pollinate to obtain the F2 of the double cross (DC F2). The DC F2 progenies were sequentially screened against RWA and “Ug99” to yield a population that was resistant to both RWA and “Ug99”. Genotyping of the DC F2:3 families were conducted to select homozygous resistant plants. Data indicated that the RWA and “Ug99” resistance genes were successfully pyramided. Though races with virulence for Sr36 have been reported, the gene provides immunity to race “Ug99” and can still be effectively used as a component for “Ug99” resistance breeding together with other Sr genes.

(source:SCIRP/ American Journal of Plant Sciences)

The rise of 'lotus births': How more mothers are leaving their baby's umbilical cord ATTACHED until it falls off ten days later

An increasing number of women are choosing to leave their newborn baby's umbilical cord attached, in an all-natural trend called Lotus Birth.

Lotus Birth, or umbilical nonseverance, means the mother waits for the cord to detach from her baby naturally - rather than cutting it off near the stomach after childbirth.

It can take up to 10 days for the placenta and umbilical chord to fall away - and mothers must carry around the matter with their baby was they wait for nature to take its course.

[Recommend: Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology]

Mary Ceallaigh, a 47-year-old Lotus Birth advocate and Midwife educator, believes the non-traditional practice can help with the mother and baby's health.

The Texas native, who has helped deliver more than 100 natural births, told The New York Post that keeping the umbilical cord intact can lessen the chance of infection, and 'allows a complete transfer of placental/cord blood into the baby at a time when the baby needs that nourishment the most.

'Babies’ immune systems are going through huge changes at a very rapid rate when they’re first born. Not disrupting the baby’s blood volume at that time helps prevent future disease,' she said.

'The mother and baby benefit from having all the focused placed on bonding, rather than the common focus of "who's going to cut the cord, cut the bond?" Invading the natural process when there's a healthy mother and baby is likely to cause harm in some way seen or unseen.'

Ms Ceallaigh said that five percent of her clients have practiced Lotus Birth. 'For prepared folks, it's the easiest part of the birth!' she said.

When it comes to carrying out daily chores with a placenta attached to your newborn, Ms Ceallaigh said it is much easier than people expect.

'The cord usually dries and breaks off by the third day, so no mother would be running errands during that time anyway...hopefully not until at least the fourth week after giving birth!' she explained.

(source:mailonline)

Twist wet towel in the space,what will happen?

Broadcasting from the International Space Station, Canadian Space Agency Chris Hadfield continues to serve as a font of information regarding some of the little known aspects of life in space. However, a new piece of information delivered by Hadfield was actually inspired by a group of students here on Earth.

The Canadian spacefarer took to YouTube this week to reveal what it looks like when you wring out a common washcloth in space. It sounds like a fairly pedestrian demonstration, but this simple act is something that we only take for granted because of Earth's gravity. In zero gravity, things are much different. Hadfield starts the demonstration by taking a vacuum-packed NASA washcloth from a special case (yes, we want one, too), and then uses a water bottle to soak the washcloth with water.

And this is when the weirdness starts. When Hadfield wrings out the washcloth, some of the water hovers, halo-like, around the washcloth like a force field, while the rest of the water travels up his arm, much a like a malevolent space parasite might as it prepares to eat your astronaut brain. The simple yet revealing experiment suggestion was the grand prize won by a group of 10th grade Canadian students during a recent national science contest.

Source: CSA

2014 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships: Emblem and Mascot (picture)

Organizing committee of 2014 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships publishes the emblem and mascots to us.

The 2 mascots are named “Nannan” and “Ningning”.Guangxi “white-headed langur” is the prototype of the two.

Below are respectively Nannan ,Ningning and the emblem of 2014 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships:

(The 45th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships organizing committee offers the picture)

The 45^th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships will be held at Nanning, Guangxi,China in October 2014.

(source: Scientific Research Publishing share from xinhua)

Community-based obesity prevention initiatives in aboriginal communities: The experience of the eat well be active community programs in South Australia

Source: Scientific Research Publishing 

DOI: 10.4236/health.2012.412A215

Download:PDF

Childhood obesity is a growing concern world-wide, and obesity rates are higher in certain groups in the developed world, including Australian Aboriginal people. Community-based obesity prevention interventions (CBOPI) can help to address obesity, however the approach of such programs to reach diverse groups, including Aboriginal people, must be considered. This paper considers one mainstream1 CBOPI, the eat well be active (ewba) Community Programs in South Australia, which was delivered in two communities and sought to reach Aboriginal people as part of the overall program. This paper considers how well this approach was received by the Aboriginal people living and working in those communities. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine Aboriginal workers who had some connection to the ewba program, and seven ewba project staff. Qualitative data analysis was performed and factors found to affect how well the program was received by Aboriginal people include relationships, approach and project target group, including geographical area. A different response was observed in the two communities, with a more positive response being observed in the community where more relationships were developed between ewba and Aboriginal staff. For any CBOPI seeking to work with Aboriginal (or other Indigenous) communities, it is vital to consider and plan how the program will meet the needs and preferences of Aboriginal people in all stages of the project, in order to reach this group.

Is April a month prone to mass violence?

After Monday's bombing at the Boston Marathon, many people casting around for an explanation have focused on the date: April 15, a holiday in Massachusetts and the middle of a month with a history of violence.

It's not yet known whether the perpetrator or perpetrators of the bombing, which killed three, chose April 15 for its associations with tax day or with Massachusetts' Patriots' Day, a commemoration of the first battles of the Revolutionary War. The month could simply be a coincidence, given that the Boston Marathon, always held on the third Monday of April, was a convenient target.

Nevertheless, some have speculated about the symbolism. On NBC, reporter Tom Llamas told Matt Lauer that "over the last 20 years in this country several terrorist attacks and school shootings have taken place around this time of the year." He cited the Virginia Tech shooting, which took place April 16, 2007; the Columbine school shooting, which occurred April 20, 1999, and the Oklahoma City bombing, which took place on April 19, 1995.

April violence?

It's true that some dates in April have special significance to right-wing extremist fringes — and these dates can feed on one another. Timothy McVeigh chose to carry out the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19 because it was the anniversary of the end of the 1993 Waco siege. That siege occurred when Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms officials attempted to execute a search warrant on a compound of Branch Davidians in Texas. The siege lasted 50 days and ended with a deadly fire that killed 76 on April 19.

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the Columbine shooters, left journals behind indicating they were inspired by McVeigh (bombs the pair set to go off in the school's cafeteria and kitchen failed to explode). The pair may have initially planned to carry out the massacre on April 19, only to be delayed a day. There is also speculation that Harris and Klebold chose April 20 deliberately, because it is Adolf Hitler's birthday.

There is no evidence that Seung-Hui Cho, the perpetrator of the Virginia Tech mass shooting, planned the date symbolically. In his suicide manifesto, Cho did mention "martyrs like Eric and Dylan," indicating that he felt a link to the Columbine killers.

[Beta Thalassemia Minor as a Risk Factor for Suicide and Violence: A Failure to Replicate]

Not-so-special month

While April does have a history, it's hardly a statistical outlier. The National Counterterrorim Center, which tracks both international and domestic terrorism, reveals a worldwide history of attacks on almost every day of the year.

In the United States, terrorist attacks or attempted attacks occur year-round as well. Eric Robert Rudolph bombed Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta in July 1996. An Austin man angry over federal taxes flew a small airplane into the IRS building in Austin, Texas, in February 2010, killing himself and one other person. "Shoe bomber" Richard Reid attempted to bring down an American Airlines flight in December 2001. "Underwear bomber" Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab made his attempt to bring down an airplane on Christmas day in 2009. And the worst terrorist attacks on U.S. soil took place, of course, on September 11.

Mass shootings, which are not typically classified as terrorism, are similarly scattered. Columbine and Virginia Tech may have happened in April, but the shooting in Tucson, Ariz., that wounded then-congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords occurred in January. The Newtown school shooting in Connecticut was a mid-December disaster.

A list of mass shootings since 1980 compiled by Mother Jones magazine reveals that six occurred in April, comparable to other months: eight in December, five in November, four in July, and six in March, to name a few examples. 

Do you satisfy with your marriage?It depends on your psychological health

What will affect your marital satisfaction? Economic factors, personality factors, knowledge factors, social status, children factors, environmental factor, sex factors,ect.Maybe each one of the above factors will affect your satisfaction towards your marriage.No matter what, psychological health is indeed a crucial factor.

Association has been postulated between marital satisfaction, job satisfaction and mental health.

“No association was found between marital dissatisfaction and job dissatisfaction. No association was also found between job dissatisfaction and psychological disorder.”According to a research made by University of Benin,with the secondary school teachers for the object,” A high level of marital satisfaction was found in the study population. However, the strong association also found between marital dissatisfaction and psychological disorder provides empirical evidence on the need to educate married couples as well as the general public on the mental health implication of marital dissatisfaction.”

A good mental attitude is important for your whole life.It makes you treat everything in positive way when your marriage encounters all kinds of trouble.So you feel you get a happy marriage. On the contrary, bad psychological,made your marriage life seems like a real mess.

(source:SCIRP)

Does Music Really Benefit to Sleep and Memory, Scientific Point of View

When I was in junior high school,I have heard that music is good to our memery. Then I have heard other benefits of music:music can be good medicine for depression mood and music can contribute to creative thinking in Pre-School children. Is music really that magic?A report from mailonline can reveal some truth to us.

Music is benefit to sleep and memory indeed,however,there are some limits.

Researchers have discovered that playing sounds synchronised to the rhythm of the slow brain oscillations of people who are asleep enhances these oscillations which boosts their memory and improves the quality of their sleep. It has long been known that slow oscillations in brain activity, which occur during so-called slow-wave sleep, are critical for retaining memories. Attention:The sounds must synchronised to the rhythm of the slow brain oscillations, sound stimulation which is out of sync does not improve memory.

Dr Born and his colleagues conducted tests on 11 people during which they exposed the participants to sound stimulations.

When the volunteers were exposed to stimulating sounds that were in sync with the brain's slow oscillation rhythm, they were better able to remember word associations they had learned the evening before.

Stimulation out of phase with the brain's slow oscillation rhythm was ineffective.

Another 2 benefits of music referred  above  need’s further study, author thinks.

Which Colledge Should You Go?

“Which university to go”maybe is the most important decide in your life.Because a good education is of importance.What makes you did the the final decision? University rankings, campus environment, graduate employment can all be factors. Whether this university will train an independent thinking people and the ability to study, analysis, seek the essence of things may be not taken into consideration.

We maight as well learn the advice given by Steve Blackwood,visiting scholar at Harvard University and University of Toronto：

I frequently get asked for advice about going to college.

This is partly because I helped my nine younger siblings through the college process, from application to graduation, but also because I've spent much of my own life in various colleges and universities, either as a student (I have a B.A., M.A., and a Ph.D.), a teacher, or as a "residential life" administrator. So I know the university from the inside.

If you're the person I'm thinking of, you're intelligent, industrious, genuinely interested in learning, and not in immediate need of a trade with which to support yourself: in short, you're an ideal candidate for college. You've already visited a number of top schools, and, given your educational and economic background, you're likely to have a choice of several well-regarded institutions.

It's an exciting time of life—you’re about to head out on your own, to a world of adventurous independence, learning, and, later, employment.

But first, you need to choose a college. It's the biggest decision you've ever made, and among the most consequential decisions you will ever make. So how do you choose a college?

Well, first some bad news: a college degree is not a guarantee either of an education or a job. In the United States right now, about half of recent college graduates are either unemployed or underemployed. Think about that.

A prominent venture capitalist told me recently that of the dozens of Ivy-league graduates he had hired over the past twenty years, he judged only about half of them to be competent to complete simple tasks, like conducting Internet research, or composing a well-written and proofread e-mail. He's not alone: American businesses are spending billions of dollars per year on remedial learning for their employees.

And so, despite what the glossy brochures and gorgeous websites and campus tours will tell you, there's a very high risk that you won't get much in return for your investment of four years of your life and a huge sum of money.

How can you prevent throwing away all that time and money? How can you tell in advance that you're really going to get an education?

The first thing to notice about a college is how it markets itself. 

I recently came across a billboard for a large public university, which depicted a shorts-and-t-shirt-attired young man, carrying a surfboard that was emblazoned with the university’s initials; the caption read, “Learn where the living is easy.”

Then, a few weeks later, on a tour for prospective students at an Ivy League university near New York, I was shown a Glee-inspired music video that featured residence rooms and social life but made no mention of classes or academics. It might as well have been describing a cruise vacation. Similarly, some colleges offer “pet-friendly dormitories” or “apartment-style” accommodation.

If you find such marketing campaigns attractive, you might ask yourself what you’re looking for, because it certainly isn’t an education.

Still, many universities and liberal arts colleges are smart enough in their marketing to show you photos of beautiful books, bright classrooms, and smiling students, while they mention phrases like “liberal arts education” and “critical thinking.” But would you make a quarter of a million dollar investment in a business on the basis of its marketing materials alone? I doubt it, and likewise you’re going to want to dig deeper than what a college says about itself to figure out what you’re actually going to get if you enroll there.

But how can you dig deeper? It may come as a surprise to you, but the biggest single test of whether a college is worth attending is not its ranking, its placement record, or the average salary of its graduates.

It's whether it treats you like an adult. Don’t expect a college to help you become an intelligent adult and a responsible citizen if it does not treat you like one.

Many colleges and universities will not treat you like an adult—someone who can think and act independently—but instead they will treat you like a child in need of sermonizing and supervision while they severely restrict what you are allowed to say and think.

To begin with, if a college is not unambiguously committed to freedom of thought, and its counterpart, freedom of speech, how can you possibly expect to learn how to think critically—to examine opposing positions and analyze the merits and deficiencies of each?

It is the nature of thought itself that it cannot be subordinated in advance to any ideological position. The human faculty of reason is unfettered by allegiance to anything but the truth itself.

Accordingly, the mark of a true university is intellectual diversity—and yet most universities are remarkable for mind-numbing conformity, for a student body that looks diverse but all believes the same things, where dissenting voices are marginalized or ridiculed.

How are you going to learn to think if your university is opposed to thinking?

Think about that.

One good way to get a sense of a college's commitment to freedom of speech is to check its rating on this website,  which will give you detailed reasons for each "speech code rating" it assigns.

You can also tell a lot about a college by the courses it offers. Avoid colleges whose courses don’t have students engage with original sources. Would you be reading Plato, Shakespeare, and Jane Austen, or merely reading what other people have said about them? You want to encounter the books and ideas that change lives directly, not through a pre-packaged conclusion.

If you're not sure what a course is about or what it would entail, then write to the professor and politely request a syllabus. This kind of research is part of taking adult responsibility for the decision you're about to make.

After your Internet research, you'll need to get off the computer and “test-drive” the college in person. There's no better way to see what you're really going to get than going to campus and sitting in on classes with several different professors.

How big are the classes? What's the atmosphere like? Does it seem that students are really thinking and learning? Or are the students slumped in their chairs, surfing the net and texting? Above all, does being in the classroom make you excited to come back for more? If not, don't go back! There's no reason to think you'll like it better once you've paid your tuition—and don't even consider going to a college if you haven't sat in on several classes.

Next, what do you think of the students you meet? Do they seem to have some intangible freedom that you want to share? Are they caught up in the exhilaration of discovery, debate, and independence? Or do they seem pretty much like your friends in high school, only with more experience partying? 

And that brings me to the best way to discern whether a college is worth your investment. Ask yourself the following question: does this feel like high school? The more different from high school a college feels, the less likely it is to police and patronize you, and the more likely it is to treat you like an adult and offer you a real education.

Well, what is a real education?

A real education will give you transferable skills of learning, analysis, and seeking the heart of things.

A real education exposes you to the eternal realities of truth, goodness, and beauty, and will do this primarily through the history of art, literature, and science, the daring investigation of which will lead you to lifelong friendships and happiness.

A real education will treat you like a person of spirit, intelligence, and personality.

A real education will awaken something inside you, and that something is your freedom.

Don't settle for anything less.

Source: Pope Center for higher education policy

Subject: How to Choose a College

Share by Scientific Research Publishing

If Gravitation Have an Influence on Electromagnetism

From a cosmological perspective, gravitation causes dispersed matter to coalesce, and coalesced matter to remain intact, thus accounting for the existence of planets, stars, galaxies and most of the macroscopic objects in the universe. It is responsible for keeping the Earth and the other planets in their orbits around the Sun; for keeping the Moon in its orbit around the Earth; for the formation of tides; for natural convection, by which fluid flow occurs under the influence of a density gradient and gravity; for heating the interiors of forming stars and planets to very high temperatures; and for various other phenomena observed on Earth and throughout the universe.

Gravitation is one of the four fundamental interactions of nature, along with electromagnetism, and the nuclear strong force and weak force.A research published in Journal of Modern Physics examines the consequences of a assumption on physics(If gravitation have an influence on electromagnetism):

For many years physicists have been engaged on research around the globe in fields such as the unification of gravita- tion and electromagnetism, and an explanation for dark matter and dark energy, etc., but so far to little avail. One is left with the impression that something might be fundamentally wrong with the premises underlying the doctrine of physics applicable today, which is preventing a solution of these problems from being found. As a possible cause, the author proposes that the gravitation of the photons is not so negligible that it can be completely ignored (although this assumption does not accord with the current state of physics). Departing therefore from the accepted doctrine, he assumes that gravitation might possess a hitherto unknown important influence on electromagnetism. This paper then examines the consequences of this assumption on physics. A precise analysis will lead to the insight that the gravitation of a photon is as dynamic as the photon itself, and therefore must be taken into account with all associated physical considerations. The hitherto accepted case of a static gravitation of photons, on the other hand, can be totally neglected, as it does not exist for photons. Of key importance is the statement that the gravitation of photons is produced by gravitational quanta, and thus appears in quantised form. It is therefore necessary to rethink the physics of photons. This leads to a number of other interesting insights, as will be borne out in the further course of this paper. In the event that the assumption of the influence of gravitation on electromagnetism turns out to be correct, then this would represent a major step in unravelling the still largely unknown nature of gravitation and its significance in the natural events of the microcosmos; furtheron it would be an important contribution regarding a “New Physics” and a “New Cosmology”.

The author said that gravitation can affect electromagnetism is base on a presume “gravitation of the photons is not so negligible that it can be completely ignored”.In fact ,I am curious that if remove the hypothesis,does this conclusion still correct? Welcome to comment!

(source:SCIRP)

Man Can’t Drink Soy Milk? Don't Make Fun

Gossip: Soy milk is bad for man,because soy milk contains estrogen.It will made man develop breasts, no beard, sissy and all other feminine characteristics.Some viewpoint thinks that soy milk may made decrease in the number of sperm,I.e. soy milk kills sperm.

Trueth:In fact,there is no reason that soy milk makes men feminine, it hasn’t been demonstrated that soy milk kills sperm.

Soy Milk Makes Man Feminization?

Because the biological activity of  “phytoestrogen” is only milli of drugs estrogen,so it won’t reverse the hormonal balance to affect male genital or the boy’s normal development,so long as you didn’t intake too much.

Soy Milk kills the sperm?

This statement originate from animal experiment.Then a good deal of scientists are  engaged in human research.

In 2008,an article published in Human Reproduction made a research by means of questionnaire survey,and concluded that the quantity of soy products intaken is negative correlation with sperm concentration.But the scientists himself said :”It is unable to establish causality of intake of soy and sperm concentration with this experiment”.On the other hand, “phytoestrogens is good for protect the wholeness of sperm DNA and avoid damage” ,a scientist found.But the mechanism of prevents the damage is unclear,it needs further research.

In 2009,a research published in Fertility and Sterility also put forwards an conclusions which is contrary to “kill sperm ”. By compared experiments,scientists found that the sperm count and vitality  of the people who eat meat or any other fat food long-term is decreased ;however people who eat vegetables,fruits and beans enjoys a high quanty and quality sperm.Maybe it is because these food contains a lot of antioxidant substance.Most research found that a diet high in antioxidants often means better sperms.Soybean contains abundant antioxidant,maybe this is the reason it is benefit to sperms. In the same year,another meta-analysis published in the same journal found that even though high dose of soybean isoflavone won’t affect the quanty and quality of sperms.

Researcher thinks that although there are some animal experiment and cell experiment has found that soybean and plant hormones affects fertility function.But to human,related research is still not comprehensive,and still needs intense research.The newest meta-analysis also holds the same opinion :the effect of soy foods on fertility is unknow.

More article about food and health,please pay close attention to < Food and Nutrition Science >.

(Recommend and shared by SCIRP:guokr)

Your Mind Can Indeed Control Your Body Temperature

“So long as one keeps calm, one doesn't feel the heat too much.” Proverb said.

This proverb has been confirmed by Tibetan nuns: Tibetan nuns can change their core body temperatures with a certain form of meditation, which could keep them warm and help give their immune systems a boost.

A team of researchers recorded the internal temperature of nuns in the freezing cold of the Himalayas. The nuns, the researchers found, were able to increase their core body temperature with this technique--up to almost 101 degrees Fahrenheit.

Two techniques, specifically, caused the change. "Vase breath" is a breathing technique that causes heat production, and visualization--in this case, of flames near the spine--also accounted for the increase.Useful if you're out in the cold, but the technique, researchers say, could also be helpful in strengthening the immune system.

（source：mailonline）

Send Message to Celebrities on Facebook?It charges

Facebook has started charging users up to £10 to message celebrities and others outside their circle of friends.

Under the trial scheme, it costs 71p to send a standard message on the social networking site.

But the fees vary depending on the popularity of the recipient, with a current maximum charge of £10.68 to contact celebrities such as Olympic diver Tom Daley.

It puts him a tier above U.S. gangster rapper Snoop Dogg and Booker prize-winning author Salman Rushdie, both of whom cost £10.08 to message.

And in what may cause some embarrassment, many well-known figures such as broadcaster Louis Theroux and comedian Miranda Hart can currently be contacted for the standard charge of 71p.

The fee structure is decided by a mathematical formula that takes into account a number of factors, including the number of followers a user has on Facebook and how many messages they receive.

Charges to contact somebody using the system can rise and fall under the system.

The fees were introduced for 10 per cent of British users as a trial at the end of last month with the plan to introduce it to all members of Facebook in the country.

The company said that the paid for ‘priority messages’ were intended to stop users from being bombarded with unwanted contact from strangers

But Facebook faced criticism yesterday after details of the costs became known, especially because it has boasted that ‘the site is ‘free and always will be’.

Peter Wood, social media director at digital marketing agency Steak, tweeted: ‘Facebook charging users in the UK to contact celebs online. 1-0 Twitter. Seems a bit mean to charge someone to send fan mail.’

Users who are Facebook friends or who share mutual friends are still able to keep in contact with no charge.

There is also a cap on the number of paid messages any user can receive.

Messages are sent directly to a recipient’s inbox on their profile page.

Those who don’t want to pay are still able to send a message, but these are not put into the recipients inbox but another box called in the “other folder” that most people rarely check and many don’t even know about.

The charge can be paid online instantly with a credit or debit.

Under-18s are barred from making such payments and are also blocked from receiving unsolicited messages.

Users in the US are charged $1, $5 or $15 to send a priority message.

Facebook scrapped a $100 fee to contact the most prominent celebrities after it was mocked for applying the charge to contact the company’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg.

In Britain questions were also raised over the charging formulae after it emerged that one of those who it is most expensive to contact is Michael Rosen, the former children’s laureate.

Users are also being charged the maximum £10.68 to contact a fake Facebook account set up in the name of singer Ed Sheeran.

Facebook said: ‘The system of paying to message non-friends in their Facebook inbox is designed to prevent spam, while acknowledging that sometimes you might want to hear from people outside your immediate social circle.

‘We are testing a number of price points in the UK and other countries to establish the optimal fee that signals importance. Part of that test involves charging higher amounts for public figures, based on the number of followers they have.

‘This is still a test and these prices are not set in stone.’

More about facebook：Disclosure and Use of Privacy Settings in FacebookTM Profiles: Evaluating the Impact of Media Contextand Gender.

Third of US West Coast Children Hit With Thyroid Problems Following Fukushima

Fukushima nuclear meltdown of 2011 only affects Japan? No!Young children born in the United States West Coast, right in the line of fire for radioactive isotopes, have been found to be 28% more likely to develop congenital hypothyroidism than infants born the year before the incident.

The study followed children born in California, Alaska, Washingto, Hawaii, and Oregon between 1 and 16 weeks after the horrific meltdown at Fukushima back in March 2011. Published in the OpenJournal of Pediatrics by researchers affiliated with the Radiation and PublicHealth Project, the information further lends credence to previous documentation regarding the way in which radioactive fallout ended up on US soil.

The researchers explained how radioactive fallout affected the entirety of the US in varying degrees:

“Fukushima fallout appeared to affect all areas of the U.S., and was especially large in some, mostly in the western part of the nation,” they wrote.

Fukushima’s Effects on The US

The findings are likely no surprise to those who have been following the effects of Fukushima closely, as back in 2011 numerous reports surfaced regarding the ways in which Fukushima’s radioactive waste had made its way to the US geography in a big way. Despite Japanese officials downplaying the incident and its real devastating health consequences, even so much as to ignore the fact that Fukushima radiation wasdetected in Tokyo far beyond the evacuation zone, US scientists were quick to reveal their own measurements to the scientific community.

Read: How to Boost Your Thyroid Naturally

Even as far away as Boston, highly radioactive objects known as ‘hot particles’ were detected by 2 out of 3 monitoring stations.

Scientists from UC Berkley detailed even more concerning reports following the disaster, finding the highest cesium content in topsoil for each California location was consistent. The recordings were posted online along with the date of finding:

Sacramento, CA Topsoil on Aug. 16, 2011: Total Cesium @ 2.737 Bq/kg

Oakland, CA Topsoil on Sept. 8, 2011: Total Cesium @ 2.55 Bq/kg

Alameda, CA Topsoil on Apr. 6, 2011: Total Cesium @ 2.52 Bq/kg

San Diego, CA Topsoil on June 29, 2011: Total Cesium @ 2.51 Bq/kg

Sonoma, CA Topsoil on Apr. 27, 2011: Total Cesium @ 2.252 Bq/kg

But the levels were nothing compared to what Marco Kaltofen, PE, of the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) recorded from his research. In his report presentation, entitled  ‘Radiation Exposure to the Population in Japan After the Earthquake’, Kaltofen found samples on US soil that were 108 times greater than what UC Berkley researchers were reporting.

(reprinted from:naturalsociety)

Support for redistribution is decreased by xenophobic beliefs

During the last decade, security, intoleance, national identity, unemployment or the welfare state, have all been associated with the rise in immigration. Particularly, several studies have provided evidence of a negative correlation between income redistribution and the rise in immigration . The general explanation for this relationship is that the welfare state implies a certain concept of community: the shared burdens and benefits of the welfare state are acceptable so long as everyone shares the same features. So, citizens tend to show less solidarity with “different” people and wish to decrease the generosity of state benefits.

Raul Magni Berton,University of Grenoble, attributed the phenomenon to xenophobia belief.

“Some other xenophobic beliefs tend rather to produce a demand for governmental protection programs. Based on a multivariate analysis on individual and contextual French data, findings show that the support for social protection programs is positively related to the fear of competition from immigrants and negatively with the fear that immigrants strain the welfare state.” Raul Magni Berton  wrote in a paper published in Open Journal of Political Science.

The Sixth World Autism Awareness Day- 2, April

Today is the sixth World Autism Awareness Day.

"This international attention is essential to address stigma, lack of awareness and inadequate support structures. Now is the time to work for a more inclusive society, highlight the talents of affected people and ensure opportunities for them to realize their potential. "

Autism often can’t communicate with others.Most of them need tend.But there are some people exclusion and discrimination them.In fact,if you steps into their hearts,you will find they are cute as well.

How to help improve the lives of children and adults who suffer from the disorder so they can lead full and meaningful lives?There are always so much caring people who didn’t give up them.They are studying how to help them.

Beneficial effects of L-carnitine were amplified by motivation training for weight management in healthy, research finds

L-carnitine can promote oxidation of fat into energy,so it can be used to losing weight.Besides,a research from Scientific Research Publishing also states that combined with motivation training,the antiobesity action of L-carnitine will be more significant:

A 4-week low dosage (500 mg/day) L-carnitine supplementation in combination with motivation training was carried out in 24 overweight (BMI 25.8 - 26.6 kg/m2) Japanese males in the course of a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled study. L-carnitine motivated group showed significant body weight loss and a decrement of serum triglyceride level vs. the non-motivated placebo group. Serum adiponectin levels increased in both L-carnitine supplemented groups. The beneficial effects of L-carnitine were amplified by motivation training. For clinical evaluation of supplements, whose efficacy is potentially affected by inter-individual life style variability, supportive motivation training might be advisable for future clinical trials.

(source:SCIRP)