Eating Late at Night Makes You Fat

Raiding the fridge late at night may satisfy bedtime hunger pangs, but it could make you fat.
According to Telegraph, it is not just what people eat but when that leads to weight gain, evidence suggests.
Mice with a malfunctioning body clock piled on the pounds because they were eating when they should have been asleep, a study suggested.
Even if they consumed no more calories than normal, they still gained more weight.
The findings shed light on the complex causes of obesity in humans, said the researchers from the University of Pennsylvania.
They said the effect in mice was similar to night-eating syndrome in humans, which is associated with obesity.
The results could explain why night shift workers are more likely to suffer obesity and metabolic syndrome, a combination of diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity.
Patients with sleep disorders are also at greater risk of developing obesity, while less sleep can lead to weight gain in healthy people.
Georgios Paschos, a research associate involved in the study, said, a relatively modest shift in food consumption into what is normally the rest period for mice can favor energy storage.

Aurora Wake-Up Light Rises, Shines

Dawn-simulating alarm clocks, which wake the user up with a light that slowly comes on, have been around for a while now.
Finland’s UnikkoNordic, however, is taking things a step further with the whole mimicking-the-rising-sun thing, Gizmag wrote.
It has released the Aurora Wake-Up Light--an alarm clock with an LED-illuminated section that actually rises out of the clock as it comes on.
First of all, it’s a pretty sure bet that our unconscious brains can’t tell the difference between a light that rises up a few inches as it gradually brightens, and one that stays put. More likely, its rising function is just for aesthetics.
Additionally, however, it can be set to play one of five types of nature sounds as it brightens up your bedroom. It can also be programmed to play them as you’re going to sleep, which might come in handy for insomniacs. Plus, if you’re afraid of the dark, you can use it as a color-changing night light.
If you just want to use it as a mood lamp or reading light, you can control its brightness and level of rise using a touch control feature. It will also tell you the date and the room temperature-- along with the time, of course. There’s no word on pricing for the Aurora yet.

Iranians Boost Sensitivity of Nanosensors

Researchers of Tehran University have succeeded in increasing the sensitivity of tin dioxide nanosensor by synthesizing a multi-walled carbon nanotube and tin dioxide nanocomposite.
In this research, multi-walled carbon nanotubes were used to improve the properties of semiconductor sensors of volatile organic compounds, Fars News Agency reported.
“In this research, nanocomposites consisted of functionalized carbon nanotubes and tin dioxide nanoparticles were synthesized through sonochemical and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) methods,” Sadeq Ahmadnia Feyzabad, one of the researchers of the plan, explained.
The production of nanoparticles with diameter less than 6 nm is one of the advantages of the chemical deposition method used in this research. It causes the nanosensor made of such nanoparticles to have a very high sensitivity.
Recent studies show that the reduction in the diameter of SnO2 nanoparticles to less than 6 nm significantly increases the sensitivity of the sensor made of these particles.
“One of the most important applications of these nanosensors is in medical fields. Normal or common or uncommon physiological processes in human’s body can emit gases in expiration. Therefore, the combination of expiration changes. Internal illnesses are usually diagnosed by carrying out various tests such as blood test or through biopsy from the desired tissue,” Feyzabad said.
“However, respiration analysis can help the diagnosis of the illness more quickly and when the number of the damaged cells is little. Lung cancer, breast cancer and diabetes are among illnesses that can be diagnosed through respiration analysis.”

350m People Living With Diabetes

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in his message on World Diabetes Day (November 14), while saying that 350 million people live with diabetes, called for greater collective effort to prevent diabetes and improve the quality of life of all who suffer from it, particularly the poor and disadvantaged.
According to the UN press release sent to Iran Daily, the full text of his message reads:
Diabetes is one of the most common non-communicable diseases. Three hundred and fifty million people worldwide live with diabetes--80 percent of them in the developing world--and the disease is becoming more widespread each year due to a combination of aging populations and the globalization of unhealthy lifestyles.
Unless diagnosed and treated early, diabetes can lead to serious ill-health. Every year, more than three million people who have had diabetes die from problems such as heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure.
According to the World Health Organization, diabetes-related deaths will increase by two-thirds by 2030.
Diabetes is a development issue. The poor are disproportionately at risk and affected families are often pushed further into poverty. Diabetes is also straining national health systems and threatening to reverse hard-won development gains in low- and middle-income countries, as well as the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
Governments across the globe are struggling to protect their citizens from factors that increase the risk of diabetes. These include unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and alcohol abuse. Many governments also face challenges in providing essential diabetes information, treatment and care to those who need them most.
In September 2011, the United Nations General Assembly recognized diabetes and other non-communicable diseases as a global health and development challenge, and committed to strengthen their prevention and control. At the World Health Assembly in May 2012, governments established a new and welcome goal of reducing premature mortality caused by chronic diseases by 25 percent by 2025.
We can significantly advance this goal by raising awareness of the threat of diabetes. Physical activity and healthy diet are effective remedies that should be actively promoted by all governments. Primary healthcare should be strengthened to diagnose and treat diabetes early.
Health companies can contribute by developing affordable medicines and technologies, such as low-cost devices to check blood sugar. And businesses--especially those that profit from selling processed foods to children--can commit to marketing healthier, more sustainable goods.

Calm Down Genes Treat Epilepsy

Adding “calm down” genes to hyperactive brain cells has completely cured rats of epilepsy for the first time, say UK researchers.
They believe their approach could help people who cannot control their seizures with drugs, Biospace reported.
The study, published in the journal Science Translation Medicine, used a virus to insert the new genes into a small number of neurons. About 50 million people have epilepsy worldwide.
However, drugs do not work for up to 30 percent of them. The alternatives include surgery to remove the part of the brain that triggers a fit or to use electrical stimulation.

Decline in Seizures
The brain is alive with electrical communication with individual neurons primed to fire off new messages. However, if a group of neurons become too excited, they can throw the whole system into chaos leading to an epileptic seizure.
Researchers at University College London have developed two ways of manipulating the behavior of individual cells inside the brain in order to prevent those seizures.
Both use viruses injected into the brain to add tiny sections of DNA to the genetic code of just a few thousand neurons.
One method boosts the brain cells’ natural levels of inhibition in order to calm them down.
After a fortnight, the number of seizures dropped dramatically and the mice were “effectively cured” within a month.
One of the researchers, Dr. Robert Wyke, told the BBC, “It’s the first time a gene therapy has been used to completely stop these seizures.
“Obviously we’re very hopeful for this. Drugs haven’t done anything for epilepsy in the last 20 to 30 years, just less side-effects. There’s a real need for a new therapy, we’ve very excited about this.”
The other technique harnessed a gene from algae that can be controlled by light. After the therapy, the function of the neurons did not change until a light was shined on them with an implanted laser. The light prevented the neurons from firing, preventing a seizure.
The researchers think this method could work in a similar way to an implanted defibrillator, which is used to control an irregular heartbeat.

Very Encouraging
Much more testing of the epilepsy gene therapies would be needed before it could be used in patients.
If further animal tests are successful, the first patients involved in any trial are likely to be those who are suitable and prepared for brain surgery. If there were problems or if the treatment did not work, the offending region of the brain could still be removed.

Kilimanjaro Ice Field Shrinks, Splits

Another ominous sign that Mount Kilimanjaro’s ice fields may disappear in 50 years has emerged.
According to LiveScience, what was once the largest remaining ice field on Kilimanjaro shrank and separated into two pieces, a research expedition discovered in September.
The summit’s northern ice field now has a rift large enough to ride a bike through, Kimberly Casey, a glaciologist based at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, told NASA’s Earth Observatory.
The gap is visible in an image acquired by the Advanced Land Imager on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 satellite on Oct. 26 and in panoramic images Casey captured during the research expedition.
Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania, is Africa’s highest peak--19,341 feet (5,895 meters)--and harbors three distinct ice fields: One on its western slope and two within the summit plateau. The northern ice field first started developing a hole in 1970.
The ice cover on the volcano’s western slopes will disappear by 2020, and the ice fields in the plateau will be gone by 2040, predicts a study in the journal Cryosphere Discuss. Scientists generally agree the ice fields will disappear completely by 2060 if climatic conditions continue unchanged.
The major cause of the ice loss is a matter of debate. An increasingly dry atmosphere in the region, which leads to less snowfall, plays an important role, studies show. On the other hand, additional research confirms that a warming climate also contributes to the disappearing ice.
Surveys of Kilimanjaro’s ice fields a century ago found nearly 8 square miles (about 20 square kilometers) of ice. By 2003, the ice was down to 0.97 square miles (2.51 square km), and on June 17, 2011, the ice covered 0.68 square miles (1.76 square km).

Encrypted Fabric to Thwart Fashion Fakes

Your clothes may soon carry a helpful secret. A new type of thread woven into patterns invisible to the naked eye could put an end to fake designer clothes--and dull outfits.
Concealed patterns visible only under polarized light are used in some nations’ banknotes to deter counterfeiting, NewScientist said.
To extend the method to other valuables, Christian Müller at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden, made a semi-transparent thread from polyethylene and a polymer used in clothes dye. This thread has unique optical properties that allow only certain polarizations to pass through.
Weaving the threads together makes a fabric that looks solid purple to the eye but reveals pink and purple patterns when lit with polarized light.
Müller says the thread may be used to create unobtrusive logos on designer clothes to thwart knock-offs.
He’s also looking to make similar threads for use in electronically enhanced textiles that change color with electric voltage, so you could alter your fashion with the flick of a switch.

ActionCam Gets 2 Shots at Once

When you’re shooting first-person video of activities such as surfing, cycling or kayaking, it always helps spice up the finished product if you include footage from more than one perspective.
Usually, the only way that can be accomplished is to use multiple cameras, or to stop and reposition the one camera, Technabob wrote.
Oregon Scientific, however, is taking a different approach with its new ATC Chameleon ActionCam. It records two perspectives at once, which it merges into a split-screen display.
The Chameleon has two 170-degree lenses, located at opposite ends of the camera body. Each one can be rotated by hand 180 degrees, one of them panning horizontally, with the other tilting vertically. A single processor combines the two 720p-resolution points of view in a split-screen display that’s divided either vertically or horizontally, as selected by the user.
The idea is that the user could mount the Chameleon somewhere such as the deck of their kayak, with one lens facing forward to shoot the oncoming river, and the other facing backward and tilted up, to get a shot of them paddling. It could also go on a mountain biker’s helmet, getting one point-of-view shot of the trail ahead, and one rear-facing shot of the riders who are following.
As a stationary camera set on a tripod, it could additionally be used to get shots of cyclists, snowboarders or whatnot both coming towards it and speeding away.
The frame rate is limited to a standard 30 fps, and it can run for up to two hours on one charge of its lithium-polymer battery. It takes MicroSD memory cards up to 32GB, and is splash-proof (although a watertight housing is available).
Unfortunately, it appears to have no LCD screen--and the company makes no mention of Wi-Fi connectivity--so it would seem that there’s no way of previewing or reviewing its shots. It would also be nice if users had the option of just going with one of the images full-screen, instead always being stuck with the two half-screen pictures.

Neurological Link

A team of Indian scientists has discovered a neurological link to Type II diabetes (T2D)--a finding that could open new pathways for treatment of the ailment, traditionally linked to the rise in level of blood sugar.