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Thursday, May 3, 2012
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
DIY Mobile Website Creator bMobilized Raises $1.5M Series A, Prepares To Take On DudaMobile
NY-based mobile web startup bMobilized, which bills itself as a competitor to the well-heeled new Google partner DudaMobile, has just closed its Series A round of funding to the tune of $1.5 million. The funding was raised from two early stage European VC firms, Alliance Venture and Investinor. Like DudaMobile, bMobilized is focused on enabling SMBs to convert their existing websites into HTML5-enabled mobile sites that work on any device, OS, or web browser.kevin hart thomas kinkade brewers pat summit courtney stodden matt cain adastra
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
24 new Caribbean lizard species identified
A suite of lizards called skinks has just crawled into the science books, with researchers discovering 24 new species of the reptiles from the Caribbean islands.
Many of the skink species were identified from museum specimens, and now, the researchers say half of the newbies may be extinct or close to extinction, with the others threatened with extinction, said lead study researcher Blair Hedges, a professor of biology at Penn State University.
The researchers examined the specimens using DNA and the appearances of the animals, including the number and shape of their scales, to identify them. Of the 39 species they identified from the Caribbean, six were already known and nine had been named long ago but not considered valid until now.
New World skinks, like those identified, arrived in the Americas about 18 million years ago from Africa, possibly by floating on mats of vegetation. Their claim to fame comes from their ability to produce a humanlike placenta, the organ that connects growing offspring to essential nutrients from the mama.
"While there are other lizards that give live birth, only a fraction of the lizards known as skinks make a placenta and gestate offspring for up to one year," Hedges said in a statement.
As pregnancy can slow an animal down, this lengthy gestational period may have given skinks' predators a competitive edge; they think the small Indian mongoose (Urva auropunctata) ? an invasive species introduced by farmers in the 19th century to control rats in sugarcane fields ? is responsible for the loss of many skink species. [ Infographic: How Long Are Animals Pregnant? ]
"Our data show that the mongoose, which was introduced from India in 1872 and spread around the islands over the next three decades, has nearly exterminated this entire reptile fauna, which had gone largely unnoticed by scientists and conservationists until now," Hedges said.
In fact, data show a sharp decline in skink populations soon after the introduction of the mongoose.
As for why such a large number of skink species have gone unnoticed for so many years, Hedges offered two explanations. "First, Caribbean skinks already had nearly disappeared by the start of the 20th century, so people since that time rarely have encountered them and therefore have been less likely to study them," he said.
In addition, some key features that distinguish between species had been overlooked, he said. These included various characteristics of body proportion, scalation as well as coloration and patterning.
The research, funded by the National Science Foundation, is detailed in Monday's issue of the journal Zootaxa.
Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience? and on Facebook.
? 2012 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.
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Technology eases migraine pain in the deep brain
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Public release date: 30-Apr-2012[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Jessa Netting
jnetting@ccny.cuny.edu
212-650-7615
City College of New York
CCNY advances electrical brain stimulation to tap pain network
Migraine pain sits at the upper end of the typical pain scale an angry-red section often labeled "severe." At this intensity, pain is debilitating. Yet many sufferers do not get relief from or cannot tolerate over-the-counter and commonly prescribed pain medications.
Recently, a team of researchers that includes Dr. Marom Bikson, associate professor of biomedical engineering in CCNY's Grove School of Engineering, has shown that a brain stimulation technology can prevent migraine attacks from occurring. Their technique, using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), applies a mild electrical current to the brain from electrodes attached to the scalp.
"We developed this technology and methodology in order to get the currents deep into the brain," said Bikson. The researchers aimed to tap into the so-called pain network, among other areas, a collection of interconnected brain regions involved in perceiving and regulating pain.
Professor Bikson and his colleagues, including Dr. Alexandre DaSilva at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry and Dr. Felipe Fregni at Harvard Medical School, found that the technology seems to reverse ingrained changes in the brain caused by chronic migraine, such as greater sensitivity to headache triggers.
Repeated sessions reduced the duration of attacks and decreased the pain intensity of migraines that did occur on average about 37 percent. The improvements accumulated over four weeks of treatment and they persisted.
In pilot studies, the effects lasted for months. The only side effect subjects reported was a mild tingling sensation during treatment. Professor Bikson expects that a patient could use the system every day to ward off attacks, or periodically, like a booster.
The team's computational models show that tDCS delivers therapeutic current along the pain network through both upper (cortical) and deep brain structures. They will publish their results in the journal "Headache." It is currently available online.
Thirty-six million Americans suffer from migraine, according to the Migraine Research Foundation. Of these, 14 million of them experience chronic daily headaches. "The fact that people still suffer from migraines means that the existing treatments using electrical technology or chemistry are not working," said Professor Bikson.
Existing brain stimulation technologies can help relieve a migraine already underway. But those afflicted with chronic migraine pain may suffer 15 or more attacks a month, making treatment a constant battle.
The other techniques also have drawbacks from heavy, unwieldy equipment to serious side effects, such as seizures. Some only stimulate the upper layers of the brain. Others reach deep brain regions, but require brain surgery to implant the electrodes.
The tDCS technology is safe, easy to use, and portable, Professor Bikson said. "You can walk around with it and keep it in your desk drawer or purse. This is definitely the first technology that operates on just a 9-volt battery and can be applied at home." He envisions future units as small as an iPod.
The next step will be to scale up clinical trials to a larger study population. A market-ready version of the tDCS is still years away.
"There's something about migraine pain that's particularly distressing," noted Professor Bikson. "If it's possible to help some people get just 30 percent better, that's a very meaningful improvement in quality of life."
###
On the Web:
Computer animation of tDCS therapy:
http://www.youtube.com/user/neuralengrlab
Migraine Research Foundation:
http://www.migraineresearchfoundation.org/index.html
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 30-Apr-2012[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Jessa Netting
jnetting@ccny.cuny.edu
212-650-7615
City College of New York
CCNY advances electrical brain stimulation to tap pain network
Migraine pain sits at the upper end of the typical pain scale an angry-red section often labeled "severe." At this intensity, pain is debilitating. Yet many sufferers do not get relief from or cannot tolerate over-the-counter and commonly prescribed pain medications.
Recently, a team of researchers that includes Dr. Marom Bikson, associate professor of biomedical engineering in CCNY's Grove School of Engineering, has shown that a brain stimulation technology can prevent migraine attacks from occurring. Their technique, using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), applies a mild electrical current to the brain from electrodes attached to the scalp.
"We developed this technology and methodology in order to get the currents deep into the brain," said Bikson. The researchers aimed to tap into the so-called pain network, among other areas, a collection of interconnected brain regions involved in perceiving and regulating pain.
Professor Bikson and his colleagues, including Dr. Alexandre DaSilva at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry and Dr. Felipe Fregni at Harvard Medical School, found that the technology seems to reverse ingrained changes in the brain caused by chronic migraine, such as greater sensitivity to headache triggers.
Repeated sessions reduced the duration of attacks and decreased the pain intensity of migraines that did occur on average about 37 percent. The improvements accumulated over four weeks of treatment and they persisted.
In pilot studies, the effects lasted for months. The only side effect subjects reported was a mild tingling sensation during treatment. Professor Bikson expects that a patient could use the system every day to ward off attacks, or periodically, like a booster.
The team's computational models show that tDCS delivers therapeutic current along the pain network through both upper (cortical) and deep brain structures. They will publish their results in the journal "Headache." It is currently available online.
Thirty-six million Americans suffer from migraine, according to the Migraine Research Foundation. Of these, 14 million of them experience chronic daily headaches. "The fact that people still suffer from migraines means that the existing treatments using electrical technology or chemistry are not working," said Professor Bikson.
Existing brain stimulation technologies can help relieve a migraine already underway. But those afflicted with chronic migraine pain may suffer 15 or more attacks a month, making treatment a constant battle.
The other techniques also have drawbacks from heavy, unwieldy equipment to serious side effects, such as seizures. Some only stimulate the upper layers of the brain. Others reach deep brain regions, but require brain surgery to implant the electrodes.
The tDCS technology is safe, easy to use, and portable, Professor Bikson said. "You can walk around with it and keep it in your desk drawer or purse. This is definitely the first technology that operates on just a 9-volt battery and can be applied at home." He envisions future units as small as an iPod.
The next step will be to scale up clinical trials to a larger study population. A market-ready version of the tDCS is still years away.
"There's something about migraine pain that's particularly distressing," noted Professor Bikson. "If it's possible to help some people get just 30 percent better, that's a very meaningful improvement in quality of life."
###
On the Web:
Computer animation of tDCS therapy:
http://www.youtube.com/user/neuralengrlab
Migraine Research Foundation:
http://www.migraineresearchfoundation.org/index.html
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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Apple and Microsoft Take Heat for High Prices Down Under
Today in international tech news: Lawmakers investigate why software and downloads are so much more expensive in Australia, a mobile network is lobbying to speed up the introduction of 4G in Britain, a wireless provider might try to block Skype in Sweden, and Tech In Asia looks at the inspiration for the Google Drive logo.
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