Ok... For beginners let me give you a prehistoric example :) Have you noticed that the inner surface of prehistoric caves were covered with soot. Well this must have come because of cooking fire or from a fire to keep our ancestors warm. The smoke might be a cause of some degree of health risk in them. This smoke which is confined to a particular enclosed area can cause internal air pollution.
The awareness over this kind of pollution has been recent, over past three decades, to say. Many studies have shown that people spend 65 to 90 percent of their time indoors; 65 percent of that time is spent at home.
Strategies to keep internal air clean and fresh:
- get good ventilation
- use cleaning solutions which are free from harmful chemicals
- avoid pesticides for your plants
- keep air filters clean
So please keep your indoors clean, green and fresh. Take care of your health.
According to Wikipedia, in December of 2004, Sigalet spoke publicly about his condition for the first time. Many fellow hockey players were inspired by him. In addition, he became the first goalie to hold the position of team captain at
By Shilpa C Nangali
Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are organic compounds, which resist photolytic, biological and chemical degradation to varying degrees. POPs are often halogenated and very dispersable. They are characterized by low water solubility and high lipid solubility, leading to their bioaccumulation in fatty tissues. They are also semi-volatile, enabling them to move long distances in the atmosphere before deposition occurs. There are 12 commonly found chemicals causing biomagnification, which can be called as “Dirty Dozen”!
1.Aldrin
2.Chlordane
3.DDT
4.Dieldrin
5.Endrin
6.Heptachlor
7.Hexa chloro benzene
8.Mirex
9.Toxaphene
10.PCB’s (poly chlorinated biphenyls)
11.Furans
12.Dioxins
Many of these compounds have been or continue to be used in large quantities. These compounds have the ability to bioaccumulate and biomagnify due to their environmental persistence. Compounds such as polychlorinated biphenyls PCBs may persist in the environment for periods of years and may bioconcentrate by factors of up to 70,000 fold. The semi-volatile property of POPs permit them to occur either in vapor phase or adsorbed on atmospheric particles, thereby facilitating their long range transport through the atmosphere.
The main problem with POPs is that they are ubiquitous. They have been measured on every continent, at sites representing every major climatic zone and geographic sector throughtout the world. These include remote regions such as the open oceans, the deserts, the
POPs are represented by two important sub groups including both the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and some halogenated hydrocarbons. This latter group includes several organochlorines which, historically, have proven to be most resistant to degradation and which have had wide production, use and release characteristics. These chlorinated derivatives are generally the most persistent of all the halogenated hydrocarbons. In general, it is known that the more highly chlorinated biphenyls tend to accumulate to a greater extent than the less chlorinated PCBs. Also, metabolism and excretion is also more rapid for the less chlorinated PCBs than for the highly chlorinated biphenyls.
We can be exposed to POPs through diet, occupational accidents and the environment (including indoor). Exposure to POPs, either acute or chronic, can be associated with a wide range of adverse health effects, including illness and death. Laboratory investigations and environmental impact studies in the wild have implicated POPs in endocrine disruption, reproductive and immune dysfunction, neurobehavioral disorders and cancer. Recently, some POPs have been implicated in reduced immunity in infants and children, and the concomitant increase in infection, also with developmental abnormalities, neurobehavioral impairment and cancer and tumor induction or promotion. Some POPs are also being considered as a potentially important risk factor in the etiology of human breast cancer by some authors.
Immunotoxicity in association with exposure to different POPs has been reported by several authors. Investiagtors have demonstrated immune dysfunction as a plausible cause for an increased mortality among marine mammals and have also demonstrated that consumption of POP contaminated diets in seals may lead to vitamin and thyrois deficiencies and concomitant susceptibility to microbial infections and reproductive disorders.
I think the risk is greatest in developing countries where the use of POPs in tropical agriculture has resulted in a large number of deaths and injuries. In addition to other exposure rioutes, worker exposure to POPs during waste management is a significant source of occupational risk in many countries.
By Shilpa C
For more in depth analysis, please check out the article by Joshua Boak
Author
With every gadget maker including Bluetooth functionality in the gadgets they make, no wonder, from toasters to watches, refrigerators to picture frames, they are all Bluetooth enabled.
This one comes straight off some alien mother ship and small enough to fit snugly into one’s palm, weighing about two ounces. The virtual laser keyboard (VKB) projects a full size QWERTY keyboard. Seen the movie Die Hard 4.0 where the kid uses a foldable rubber keyboard. This VKB goes one step further by projecting the keyboard itself onto a flat surface. As you type on the laser projection, detection technology based on optical recognition enables the user to tap the images of the keys, complete with realistic tapping sounds, which feed into the compatible Bluetooth-enabled PDA, Smartphone, laptop or PC. The company claims that this is more convenient to use than the foldable rubber ones. 
Like any other watch, apart from the fact that it vibrates when you receive a call on your Sony Erickson mobile phone and also lets you switch tracks and adjust the volume on the phone via Bluetooth. The OLED display in the watch shows the track currently playing on your phone. When one moves out of the range of the phone (which is approx 10 meters), the phone tells you that you are out of range.This device supports Bluetooth 2.0 and costs about $400.
Author
If there is any good that Facebook has created other than connecting family and friends, its getting more and more startups follow its footsteps!
I was going through an article by Vauhini Vara in The Wall Street Journal and was amazed to see the buzz that Mark Zuckerberg the founder of Facebook has created among his fellow Harvard students.
Many feel that the road taken by Facebook (amazn!) will also take them their. They have started to idolize Zuckerberg. Paul Bottino, director of Harvard's
Harvard has noticed this trend. It has loosened a rule prohibiting students from running companies from dorm rooms.
In the past eight years, Harvard has introduced more classes, clubs and contests for entrepreneurs. Mr. Bottino says those decisions weren't directly related to Facebook, but he acknowledges that Facebook's success has given Harvard students a more-entrepreneurial bent.
Good going Facebook, you inspire!
University of Glasgow - Scottish University of the Year
The University of Glasgow has been named Scottish University of the Year by the Sunday Times newspaper. The title was awarded for the University's "outstanding academic reputation, growing international standing and popularity with students".
Teaching quality has been independently rated as among the top ten in the UK and our medical and veterinary schools are consistently rated amongst the very best in the UK.
Author
I came across an article on Gizmos.es which mentioned that Motorola is now going one step further with its Ferrari Limited edition phones. The latest model from Motorola’s stable to receive the “Scarlet makeover” is the Motorola RAZR2 V9.
Author
Hey all you blogger’s out there. Want to know whether your postings is for people with the geek bent of a mind or plain Jane’s and Jack’s can read and understand them? There is this site offering a tool that somehow determines the intellectual level that is required for reader’s reading your posts. So why don’t you find out now. Just enter your blog URL at: http://www.criticsrant.com/bb/reading_level.aspx and put a badge on your blog proclaiming the rating your blog gets.
Author
Yahoo is literally trying to keep its customers (and attract more). It launched a new format to present its search results, with more visual appeal. Called as Yahoo! Glue the service is available as of now only in India since Yahoo's Indian team developed the feature and so far there are no plans to bring it to the United States or other areas, said spokeswoman Kathryn Kelly. But according to some people in the industry it is going to be introduced to US this summer (US is a big market – can’t miss that).
It is somewhat similar to Google’s Universal Search which displays results from its different sources like images, videos etc.
Yahoo Glue only works for certain categories of searches like sports, travel, entertainment, health, stocks, and tech, but it does produce a more satisfying experience than the traditional list of blue links.
(Search term: Cricket)
Combined with its ongoing SearchMonkey project (see my previous post on SearchMonkey), which allows developers to change the way search results are displayed. Yahoo is definitely moving forward in the right direction to override Google.
Launching the service in
Carl Icahn the famous activist investor cum billionaire has set up his blog known as The Icahn Report. The blog has been created but there are no signs of activity yet. Icahn has said that the blog will go live in about two weeks time which means we can hopefully see some posts on “Corporate Governance.”Author
The latest release from HTC is a shiny black touchscreen phone with a diamond faceted back, leading to the moniker “Touch Diamond.” It features a high-definition touchscreen, 3D software, 3.2 megapixel camera and a fast mobile broadband. It is the latest in its series of Touch smartphones featuring 3G.
HTC has managed to pull wool over Apple’s eyes quite easily considering that last year it had launched ahead of Apple’s iPhone and now beating Apple to unveil a 3G model in the smartphone range. Apple’s 3G iPhone is expected in the next few months. HTC currently ranks fifth among the smart phone manufacturers.
The Touch Diamond is a tad smaller than the iPhone with dimensions of 102mm × 51mm × 11.33mm and includes a circular navigation wheel to help users through its menus. It features a 528MHz CPU which runs on a Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system. The Touch Diamond works on WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) networks and offers data rates up to 7.2Mbps using HSPA (High Speed Packet Access). It also features Wi-Fi connectivity (802.11b/g for wireless Internet access) and a glass screen with about four times better resolution than HTC's previous Touch phones. It currently offers a resolution of 2.8-inch, 640 pixel × 480 pixel. The 3.2 mp camera supports auto focus and video calling.
It also contains goody features such as the specialized versions of YouTube and Google Maps. One can flip through photos on the phone in a kind of 3D effect, thanks to the upgraded TouchFlo software. TouchFLO 3D provides animated access to people, messaging, email, photos, music, weather and more. Built-in sensors automatically rotate the phone's screen based on the user's grip. The phone features customized Opera browser software as well. Turning the device sideways automatically rotates the web page view from a portrait to landscape view. Advanced wireless and auto sensor screen pivoting are a nice touch. It uses a 900mAh battery and boasts of a talk time of up to 4 hours and standby time well over 300 hours.
The only sore point in otherwise a great phone is its storage capacity. Touch Diamond boasts of only 4GB (256 MB flash and 192 MB RAM) memory when compared to the iPhone's 8GB or 16GB. It also lacks a dedicated point for headphone jack just like the Motorola Razr.
Here’s a summary of its features:
· Weight: 110 g
· Connectivity: WCDMA / HSPA: 900/2100MHz. HSDPA 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA
· Operating system: Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
· Display: 2.8-inch VGA touch screen
· Camera: 3.2MP, with video calling
· Internal memory: 4 GB Internal Storage, 256 MB flash, 192 MB RAM,
· Bluetooth: 2.0 with EDR
· Wireless: WiFi 802.11b/g
· GPS: GPS/AGPS
· Interface: HTC ExtUSBTM (mini-USB and audio jack in one; USB 2.0 High-Speed)
·
· Talk time: GSM: up to 4 hours
· Standby time: GSM: up to 300 hours/100 hours with push email
· Chipset: Qualcomm® MSM 7201ATM 528MHz
The i200 features Windows mobile 6.1 operating system, a measly 2 mp camera, HSDPA, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP and weighs 102.2 g. Surprised at the weight specification but what caught my eye was that sporting a width of 11.8mm its no way the “World’s Slimmest Phone. It does support Mobile printing, but that’s become a standard anyway. It lacks an infrared port. It supports Micro SD (Transflash). Oh yes, did I forget to mention that it also has the full suite of Office applications. Otherwise it would not be a “Smartphone,” would it?
Gordon Kelly of Trusted Reviews.com says that the i200 is no better than the ageing Motorola Q9 (11.8mm), far fatter than HTC's Touch Diamond (10.7mm) and is even bested by Apple's soon-to-be-business-worthy iPhone (11.6mm).
Image Source: Mobile Whack.com
But I totally agree that it has explicit material and kids should be protected from abuse. CNet reported that Rep. Mark Kirk highlighted what he called the "dangers" of the virtual world to children. Flanked by local officials, he also released a letter asking Federal Trade Commission Chairman William E. Kovacic to "take action to warn parents of the similar dangers and sexually explicit content found on Second Life."
Some politicos in the U.S. Congress may be embracing Second Life
(pictured here is California Democrat George Miller's press conference
in the virtual world last year). But Illinois Republican Mark Kirk says
it's a danger zone for children and must be blocked, by law, on school
and library computers. (Credit: Linden Lab)
Kirk said he was appalled that Second Life has no age verification features built into its registration process, and he claimed that there are "countless locations" outside of the service's teen-designated area where virtual prostitution, drug deals, and "other wholly inappropriate activities" occur.
This is not the first time Kirk raised his voice this was another attempt to support a bill, which he reintroduced last year, known as the Deleting Online Predators Act.
That proposal would require schools and libraries that receive federal subsidies through a program called E-rate to certify that they've put in place a "technology protection measure" on all of their computers that "protects against access to a commercial social-networking Web site or chat room, unless used for an educational purpose with adult supervision."
What I would say is that its a great move to go ahead and create some kind of regulation to protect the innocent from being abused (which is a growing trend in internet).
But the raging question is - How one can protect children from any harm in this unfathomable bad world of internet? I would never want to see children getting abused.
K201 Still Active With AIP
The drug K201 (JTV-519) is a 1, 4 benzothiazepine derivative which is known to be a Ca2+ channel antagonist. Previous studies have shown that K201 inhibits the activity of Sarcoplasmic Reticulam (SR) Ca2+-ATPase (SERCA) thereby showing a declined Ca2+ uptake by SR. The aim of this study was to find the effect of K201 on Ca2+ uptake by normal rabbit cardiac Myocytes and also to reveal the effect of Autocamtide-2 related Inhibitory Peptide myristoylated (AIP), which is a CaM Kinase II inhibitor.
The protocol involved challenging oxalate-equilibrated SR with repeated doses of Ca2+ with different concentration of drug K201. The cells were subjected to test the role of CaMKII by incubating in two different concentrations of AIP (5μM and 15 μM). All the experiments had a standard Ca2+ run to compare the differences in the Ca2+ up taking. The results showed that K201 did not inhibit SERCA significantly at 3μM. But when cells were incubated with 5μM AIP the drug K201 inhibited SERCA. However at higher concentration of AIP (15μM), the drug K201 did not showed any significant effect. This study suggests that inhibition of CaMKinase facilitates the inhibition of SERCA by K201.
Jayanth, 2007
Jayanth, 2007
The
The pristine environment surrounding the peak has been constantly battered by the pollution and garbage left behind the climbers. Since it was first climbed in 1953 by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, Everest has been climbed more than 3,000 times.
Since then it has been reported that about 50 tonnes of rubbish has been strewn across the mountain.
For
Did some one say “Green Olympics?” I can only see a giant fire breathing dragon looking down with impunity from the summit of Mount Everest.
Source: The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, Vagabondish.com, The Guardian
Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a kind of atherosclerosis where the arteries that supply blood to heart muscle will become hardened and narrowed. This condition occurs due to the formation plaque inside the arteries, plaques usually contain cholesterol and other materials. This leads to the insufficient supply of blood and oxygen to the heart which will in turn leads to the angina, heart attack, heart failure, and arrhythmias. CAD will cause changes in the structure and function of the blood vessel. The endothelial cells of coronary artery produces important substances such as nitric oxide and prostacyclin which are necessary for the normal function of coronary arteries, if the endothelial cells become damaged it leads to the impaired relaxation and blood clot formation. These clots can partially or completely blocks the vessels.
Atherosclerosis:
Atherosclerosis literally means narrowing of vessels (‘Athero’ means fatty and ‘sclerosis’ means hardening). Blood is a fluid connective tissue which consists of several types of cells like red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Blood plasma carries variety of substances from one part to another part of the body including cholesterol on special particles called lipoproteins. The low-density lipoprotein (LDL) carries cholesterol to the walls of arteries, when LDL supplies excess of cholesterol to the artery than the required amount, another type of lipoprotein called high-density lipoprotein (HDL) will carry the cholesterol away from the tissues to liver. Hence there is a direct link between LDL and HDL in controlling the cholesterol deposition, if there is an impair in the LDL or HDL function or availability it will lead to the atherosclerosis.
Atherosclerosis Is An Inflammatory Disease:
Previously scientists thought that the atherosclerosis was result of cholesterol storage, but recent studies show that atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease (Russell Ross, N Engl J Med 1999). Because high plasma concentrations of cholesterol, in particular those of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, are one of the principal risk factors for atherosclerosis,1. If the blood contains high concentration of LDL, a small amount of LDL which is in artery will be oxidised. The oxidisation process will take place with the help of chemical reactions in the endothelium, this oxidation triggers set of chain reactions. LDL which can be modified by oxidation and triggers immune response is the main cause for injury of endothelium underlying smooth muscle (Khoo JC et al., 1988, 1992; Navab M et al., 1996; Morel DW et al., 1983; Griendling KK et al., 1997). The oxidised LDL leads to the expression of a molecular glue called endothelial-leukocyte adhesion molecules. Production of this molecule attracts monocyte derived macrophages and T lymphocytes to endothelium. The lesions of atherosclerosis represent a series of highly specific cellular and molecular responses that can best be described, in aggregate, as an inflammatory disease (Ross R, Glomset JA, N Engl J Med 1973, 1976, 1986, 1993).
Endothelial Dysfunction:
The first stage of formation of atherosclerosis lesion takes place in endothelium with increased permeability to lipoproteins, which is mediated by nitric acid and other growth factors. The oxidised LDL leads to the migration of leucocytes into artery walls. This process is mediated by monocytes, Interlukin-8, Platelet derived growth factors, macrophage stimulating factors.
Endothelial Dysfunction in Atherosclerosis (Ross; NEJM 1999)
Formation of Fatty Streaks:
Fatty streaks basically consist of foam cells (Cells that are derived from both macrophages and smooth muscle cells which have accumulated LDL’s). In the later stages foam cells will join various smooth muscle cells. The foam-cell formation is mediated by oxidized low-density lipoprotein, macrophage colony-stimulating factor, tumour necrosis factor {alpha}, and interleukin-1 and platelet adherence and aggregation, which are stimulated by integrins, P-selectin, fibrin, thromboxane A2, tissue factor, and the factors are responsible for the adherence and migration of leukocytes (Russell Ross, N Engl J Med 1999).
Fatty-Streak and Lesion Formation in Atherosclerosis (Ross; NEJM 1999)
The fatty streaks lead to the intermediate and advanced lesions which in turn form a fibrous cap. This triggers a type of healing process. Number of lipids leucocytes and debris will form a necrotic core under the fibrous cap. The lesions will expand due to the continuous leukocyte adhesion and entry of other factors. The necrotic core leads to the apoptosis and necrosis and lipid accumulation.
Rupture of Fibrous Cap:
The thin sites of fibrous cap that covers the advanced lesion can lead to the rupture of fibrous cap. This rupture will rapidly cause thrombosis. The thrombosis will block the artery.
Rupture of the fibrous cap (Ross; NEJM 1999)
Role of NO:
Nitric oxide (NO) released by the coronary arterial endothelium will play an important role in basal myocardial flow regulation and contractility (Amrani et al. 1992; Ueeda, Silvia & Olsson, 1992; Brown, Thompson & Belloni, 1993).
The abnormal function of NO due to the various diseases like atherosclerosis and hypertension can affect the normal blood flow and other abnormalities of vascular functions.
Basic Properties Of Nitric Oxide:
Nitric Oxide is a highly reactive free radical in nature.
It is a highly diffusible water soluble gas.
Freely crosses cell membranes.
It can be synthesised easily when required from an precursor.
Biosynthesis of Nitric Oxide:
The amino acid L-arginine produces Nitric Oxide using an enzyme called nitric oxide synthase (NOS). The enzyme endothelial synthase exists in three endothelial forms namely constitutive soluble NOS (cNOS; type III), inducible soluble NOS (iNOS; type II) and constitutive particulate. NO can easily diffuse through membranes and provides communication endothelial and smooth muscle cells as well as between nerve endings and smooth muscle cells (Int Angiol. Et al., 1992). Decreased production of nitric oxide may lead to vasospasm, whereas its overproduction may cause pathological vasodilatation. Understanding of the role of nitric oxide signal transduction pathway in regulation of vascular tone will facilitate design of better strategies for the prevention and treatment of vascular diseases (Int Angiol. Et al., 1992). cNOS which is calcium and calmodulin dependent enzyme produces NO under normal conditions of blood vessels. cNOS are stimulated by two basic pathways, both the pathways requires release of calcium ions from subsarcolemmal storage sites.
Pathway 1 – Flow-Dependent NO Formation:
The blood flow on vascular endothelium triggers a shearing force on the cells which leads to the release of calcium and thereby activating the cNOS. Hence if the blood flow is increased it will stimulate the NO formation
Pathway 2 - Receptor-Stimulated NO Formation:
The endothelial cells contains receptors for acetylcholine, adenosine, bradykinin and others. A variety class of ligands will stimulate these receptors and leading the release of calcium and subsequent production of NO.
In year 1914 Dale found that acetylcholine is responsible for powerful vasodilatation.
In 1980, Furchgott and Zawadski discovered that intact endothelial cells produced a substance in response to acetylcholine stimulation known as termed endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF) (Furchgott RF et al., 1980) The EDRF was produced only when endothelial cells acted on vascular smooth muscle cells to produce relaxation. Later studies showed that EDRF is NO. Palmer et al., in 1987 demonstrated NO release from endothelial cells using a chemilumin assay (Palmer, R.M.J et al., 1987).
The discovery of relationship between NO and cardiovascular system is an major milestone in the field of cardiovascular research. Endothelial dysfunction has now become synonymous with the reduced biologic activity of NO (Yetik-Anacak G et al., 2006).
Conversion Of NG-L arginine to NO:
Conversion of NG-L arginine to NO is carried out by family of nitric oxide synthase. During the process NADPH donates 5 electrons for the process which will be carried out by co-factors FAD, FMN and BH4. L-arginine and oxygen acts as co substrates to form NO.
Generation Of Nitric Oxide
Intracellular Mechanisms Of NO:
Superoxide anion have high affinity towards NO, these molecules have unpaired electron making them highly reactive. The presence of superoxide anion reduces NO bioavailability.
NO readily binds to the hemoglobin, the NO binds to a specific moiety of hemoglobin called heme moiety, which is present in vascular smooth muscle along with an enzyme called guanylyl.
The NO formed from vascular endothelium will diffuse into blood ultimately binds to the haemoglobin and breaks down. NO will also activates guanylyl cyclase.
This enzyme guanylyl catalyzes the dephosphorylation of GTP to cGMP, which is a second messenger and important cellular functions. cGMP plays an important role in the signalling smooth muscle relaxation.
Conclusion:
NO Has Many Beneficial Effects On The Vasculature:
NO helps in relaxation which leads to the vessel vasodilation (Moncada S, et al., 2002), it stimulates endothelial cell proliferation (Ziche M et al., 1994) and prevents endothelial cell apoptosis, (Tzeng E, Kim YM, Pitt BR, et al 1997) it inhibits Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell (VSMC) growth and migration (Garg UC et al., 1989; Mooradian DL et al., 1995) and stimulates VSMC apoptosis (Kibbe MR, Li JR, Nie SH, et al 2002).
NO leads to the inhibition of platelet aggregation and activation14, and also leukocyte adhesion to the cells and migration15. The NO shows thromboresistant properties, such as inhibition of platelet aggregation, adhesion, and activation; (Radomski MW et al., 1987). The damage or dysfunction of the endothelium leads to the abnormal production of NO by endothelial cells and this leads to the aggregation of platelets sequentially leading to inflammatory response. Impaired activity of NO can lead to the hyper – tension, atherosclerosis and excess of NO activity can lead to the inflammatory diseases.
References:
1. AMRANI, M., O'SHEA, J., ALLEN, N. J., HARDING, S. E., JAYAKUMAR,
J., PEPPER, J. R., MONCADA, S. & YACOUB, M. H. (1992). Role of
basal releiase of nitric oxide on coronary flow and mechanical
performance of the isolated rat heart. Journal of Physiology 456,
681-687.
2.Furchgott RF, Zawadski J. The obligatory role of the endothelium in the relaxation of arterial smooth-muscle by acetylcholine Blood Vessels 1980;17:151.).
3. Griendling KK, Alexander RW. Oxidative stress and cardiovascular disease. Circulation 1997;96:3264-3265.
4. Garg UC, Hassid A. nitric oxide-generating vasodilators and 8-bromo-cyclic guanosine-monophosphate inhibit mitogenesis and proliferation of cultured rat vascular smooth-muscle cells J Clin Invest 1989;83:1774-7.
5.Int Angiol. Role of nitric oxide signal transduction pathway in regulation of vascular tone.1992 Jan-Mar;11(1):14-9.)
6. Kibbe MR, Li JR, Nie SH, et al. Potentiation of nitric oxide-induced apoptosis in p53(-/-) vascular smooth muscle cells Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 2002;282:C625-34.
7. Khoo JC, Miller E, McLoughlin P, Steinberg D. Enhanced macrophage uptake of low density lipoprotein after self-aggregation. Arteriosclerosis 1988;8:348-358.
8. Khoo JC, Miller E, Pio F, Steinberg D, Witztum JL. Monoclonal antibodies against LDL further enhance macrophage uptake of LDL aggregates. Arterioscler Thromb 1992;12:1258-1266.
9. Mooradian DL, Hutsell TC, Keefer LK. Nitric-oxide (NO) donor molecules-effect of NO release rate on vascular smooth-muscle cell-proliferation in-vitro J Cardiovasc Pharmacol 1995;25:674-8.
10. Moncada S, Higgs A. The l-arginine nitric-oxide pathway N Engl J Med 1993;329:2002-12.
11. Morel DW, Hessler JR, Chisholm GM. Low density lipoprotein cytotoxicity induced by free radical peroxidation of lipid. J Lipid Res 1983;24:1070-1076.
12. Navab M, Berliner JA, Watson AD, et al. The Yin and Yang of oxidation in the development of the fatty streak: a review based on the 1994 George Lyman Duff Memorial Lecture. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 1996;16:831-842.
13. Palmer, R.M.J., Ferrige, A.G. & Moncada, S. (1987). Nitric oxide release accounts for the biological actions of endothelium-derived relaxing factor. Nature,327, 524-526.
14. Russell Ross, Atherosclerosis — An Inflammatory Disease. N Engl J Med 1999; 340:115-126.
15. Radomski MW, Palmer RMJ, Moncada S. The role of nitric-oxide and CGMP in platelet-adhesion to vascular endothelium Biochem Biophys Res Commun 1987;148:1482-9.
16. Ross R, Glomset JA. Atherosclerosis and the arterial smooth muscle cell: proliferation of smooth muscle is a key event in the genesis of the lesions of atherosclerosis. Science 1973;180:1332-1339.
17. Ross R, Glomset JA. The pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. N Engl J Med 1976;295:369-77, 420.
18. Ross R. The pathogenesis of atherosclerosis -- an update. N Engl J Med 1986;314:488-500.
19. Ross R. The pathogenesis of atherosclerosis: a perspective for the 1990s. Nature 1993;362:801-809.
20. Ross R. Atherosclerosis: a defense mechanism gone awry. Am J Pathol 1993;143:987-1002.
21. Tzeng E, Kim YM, Pitt BR, et al. Adenoviral transfer of the inducible nitric oxide synthase gene blocks endothelial cell apoptosis Surgery 1997;122:255-63.
22. UEEDA, M., SILVIA, S. K. & OLSsoN, R. A. (1992). Nitric oxide
modulates coronary autoregulation in the guinea pig. Circulation
Research 70, 1296-1303.
23. Yetik-Anacak G, Catravas JD. Nitric oxide and the endothelium: history and impact on cardiovascular disease Vasc Pharmacol 2006;45:268-76.
24. Ziche M, Morbidelli L, Masini E, et al. Nitric-oxide mediates angiogenesis in-vivo and endothelial-cell growth and migration in-vitro promoted by substance-P J Clin Invest 1994;94:2036-44.
This amazing shoes designed by Feijun Chen & Bin Zhao, has headlights at the front (What an idea!).
Stop wondering as to how you have to power up this cool thing. No batteries are required. Hehe..
This is a concept shoe from Pioneer which coverts kinetic energy produced while walking into electrical energy (Now why dint anyone else think of this before).
There’s a small battery that charges up with each step taken. The battery can keep the headlights powered for a full 12 hours, while dispersing light at 1.5 meters (wow!).
The material used does not allow water to seep through and it is comfortable to the foot as it allows air in. The sole is made of solid rubber to absorb shock and also shields the foot from its electrical insides (In-case).
HYmini
“HYmini is a hybrid mini green power station that fits in the palm of your hand” – there you have it, a line from the HYmini’s website.
To say it in simple words, it is a portable handheld device containing a turbine which rotates when there is wind and when doing so it rotates the magnets inside it to generate power! How’s that. The power gets stored in a battery and exponentially increases with higher wind speed until 40 mph.
It can also be charged using conventional wall plug power to recharge cell phones, MP3 player, iPod, PDA, digital camera or other 5V devices.
Lithium Ion polymer rechargeable battery has around 500 complete charge cycles. If the battery is fully charged every time, it should have at least of 1000mAh of stored capacity for you to transfer this power to other 5V devices up to 500 times. A conventional mobile phone has around 0.4Ah to 0.7 Ah of battery capacity.
Now the most important question:
How much can you capture in 20 minutes ?
How to use it?
miniSOLAR
An add-on to the HYmini is the miniSOLAR battery which is a nice utility product where one can use solar power to charge the battery which can then be used to charge 5V devices.
One can connect 4 such batteries in series to charge at once.
How much can you capture in 20 minutes from miniSOLAR?
Another interesting thing to watch out for is that the solar cell is made up of cardboard box and thus will not pollute the environment, since it is easily decomposable.
These might see and sound like small toys for children, but this might be the first steps to developing better products for everyday use wherein even action could produce some kind of energy which can be stored for further use.....
Images Courtesy: HYmini
Well we all have been using RSS now from a long time right. Today is officially declared as RSS Day. This is a day to create awareness on the existence of RSS and its wonderful uses.
For beginners, RSS is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines, and podcasts. An RSS document (which is called a "feed" or "web feed" or "channel") contains either a summary of content from an associated web site or the full text.
Check out this cool video to know how it exactly works!
RSS makes it possible for people to keep up with web sites in an automated manner.
Now-a-days most of the blogs provide RSS feeds by default.
RSS content can be read using software called an "RSS reader", "feed reader" or an "aggregator", which can be web-based or desktop-based. The user subscribes to a feed by entering the feed's link into the reader or by clicking an RSS icon in a browser that initiates the subscription process. The RSS reader checks the user's subscribed feeds regularly for new content, downloading any updates that it finds and provides a user interface to monitor and read the feeds.
Some of the best Windows based RSS readers are listed below:
- Google Reader
- Omea Reader
- Awasu Personal Edition
- Bloglines
- RSS Bandit
- intraVnews
- SharpReader
- Mozilla Thunderbird
- BlogExpress
For the best RSS images and designs for your blog or website check out this entry on Smashing Magazine.
I stumbled across an interesting piece of news on CNETnews.com. Michael Kanellos had written about vanishing ink to help in the recycling of paper. It was too good an invitation to ignore and I started digging for information on this topic.
Xerox Research Centre and Palo Alto Research Center Inc. (PARC) have come up with a concept to make the printed words and images last only a day, so that the paper can be used again and again. They say that the technology is still in a preliminary state.
This piece of paper is blank, but about eight hours ago it said,
'Reusable Paper. Xerox Parc Inside Innovation at Xerox' in block purple letters
(Credit: Michael Kanellos/CNET Networks)
Xerox has filed for patents on the technology, which it calls "erasable paper."
Meanwhile, PARC are researching on a device capable of writing the images onto the special paper. A prototype printer that creates the image on the paper using a light bar that provides a specific wavelength of light as a writing source. The written image fades naturally over time or can be immediately erased by exposing it to heat.
Paul Smith, Manager of XRCC's new materials design and synthesis lab says “Self-erasing documents for short-term use offers the best of both worlds."
Xerox also has apart from temporary documents, solid ink printing technology, which generates 90 percent less waste than comparable laser printers; more energy-efficient printers, copiers and multifunction devices; and other paper-saving innovations. Erasing the guilt of humanity are we?
Though this is an old news dated November 27, 2006, I stumbled across an even older piece of 
news regarding “decolorable printing ink” from Toshiba Corporation. It had developed a prototype decolorable ink in September 1998, culminating in the launch of “e-blueTM.” The innovative ink that is entirely free of carbon and that decolors when exposed to a high level of heat. The toner prints words and images on standard plain paper in blue to distinguish it from carbon-black-based toner. The erasing machine removes words and images printed with the decolorable toner on plain paper, in batches of approximately 400-500 A4-sized pages, or 200-250 A3-sized pages, in three hours.
Toshiba also offers a e-blueTM pen and marker which contains decolorable ink that can be erased by the erasing machine and can be used to write on documents that are printed by e-blueTM toner.
Both these concepts have pro’s and con’s. In case of Xerox corporation, the printed words disappears after a day. There is a time limit. However, the technology has absolutely no energy wastages. Meanwhile, in case of Toshiba corporation, the words can be erased according to our convenience but at the cost of using a eraser which again uses electricity contributing energy wastage.
The choice is yours.
Source: CNETnews.com, Xerox Research Centre, Palo Alto Research Center Inc., Toshiba Corporation
Erik De Nijs has woven a laptop into a pair of pants (looks like jeans) and was featured in the concepts section of the website Vous Pensez. Well geeks are going to love these pair of pants which also has a pair of speakers built into the knees. The mouse can be stuffed into one of the back pockets and the website also adds that for gamers, there is a joystick controller located just behind the front zipper.
Do check out the concepts section of the website, which features some really crazy and cool concepts.
Source: Vous Pensez
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