Reining in the yeast tree of life

The equidistant supertree built by Lasso for the two wheat datasets. Members of IFR's National Collection of Yeast Cultures (NCYC) have joined forces with computer scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA) to validate novel approaches to constructing a tree of life. Finding evolutionary trees that best describe how species or sub-species are related to one another is a vital part of NCYC's research, underpinning our understanding of the collection and how we may exploit it in biological and bioindustrial projects. Such a task is usually carried out by comparing some aspect of each organism, such as how it looks (morphology) or its genetic code, to those of all the other organisms. The results of these comparisons are then analysed with specialist computer software and a tree is produced. However, UEA's new methodology, called the "Lasso," is able to find an evolutionary tree even when some of those comparisons are missing. The NCYC team, Dr Ian Roberts and Dr Jo Dicks, were delighted to be asked by Dr Katharina Huber and her PhD student George Kettleborough to evaluate Lasso on their datasets. Together the team developed a series of tests designed to put Lasso through its paces. Happily, the software not only managed to find well-established evolutionary patterns in their datasets, even when large numbers of comparisons were deliberately excluded, but it outperformed alternative approaches to the same problem. The NCYC are leading a major new project to characterise the genetic codes of hundreds of yeast strains within the collection, and plan to use Lasso in establishing the inter-relatedness of the strains. "Lasso is a great idea and an important new component within the tree-building tooklit," said Dr Jo Dicks, computational biologist within NCYC. NCYC is supported as a National Capability by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. "With more of our research being carried out in a high-throughput manner, missing data are ever more inevitable, and approaches such as Lasso ever more needed," said Dr Ian Roberts, NCYC Curator. "This work represents an important step forward for exploiting the yeast gene pool in commercial processes and highlights once more the value of our collaboration with the UEA." Dr Katharina Huber responded "Projects such as the one undertaken by Drs Dicks and Roberts present exciting new challenges for Computer Science and it is encouraging to see that Lasso has the potential to help achieve the goals of their project." Story Source: The above story is based on materials provided by Norwich BioScience Institutes. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Researchers find different pathways responsible for sugar addiction and healthy eating

MIT researchers are on the way to fully identifying the neurological underpinnings of sugar addiction (Image: MIT) Many who have tried to kick the sweet white crystals will tell you that "sugar addiction" is very real, and there are indeed neurological underpinnings that back them up. MIT researchers have now discovered that the pathways of the brain responsible for sugar addiction may differ from those which govern drug addiction and healthy eating, which could be a boon for studies and treatment of compulsive eating and obesity. According to the researchers, solving a person’s “addiction” (emphasis theirs) to sugar is more complicated than solving drug addiction as it requires reducing a drive to eat unhealthily, rather than simply reducing the drive to eat. In fact, feeding and drug addiction drives are different things even though they stem from the same areas of the brain. The neuroscientists discovered that inhibiting a certain brain circuit could limit the desire to consume excess sugar without harming a regular, healthy appetite. Their process to reach this is not only rather fascinating but tells us much about how the brain regulates cravings and can even be trained to trigger or cancel a craving. “For the first time, we have identified how the brain encodes compulsive sugar seeking and we’ve also shown that it appears to be distinct from normal, adaptive eating,” says Kay Tye, the Whitehead Career Development Assistant Professor in MIT's Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. The brain has a reward-processing center called the ventral tegmental area (VTA), which is located in the midbrain and plays a major role in drug addiction, orgasm, intense emotions related to love and cognition, among other things. Drugs interfere with its normal processing, however the quandary here is that food is not an artificial reward like a drug is, but a very natural one. Interestingly, there also seems to be a link between blood sugar levels and nicotine, with the former helping to release the latter, resulting in the small high that smokers can experience. Scientists then looked at the connections between the VTA and the lateral hypothalamus (LH). The LH was chosen as it controls, among many other things, feeding behavior in general. However, the actual circuit that controls and rewards feeding behavior in particular had not yet been isolated by anyone. Tye and graduate student Edward Nieh identified and then characterized the particular LH neurons that connected to the VTA, first recording neuron activity in brain slices before moving onto live mice models where they used electrodes. The mice were specially trained to get their sucrose – which mice actually love – at a certain point when they heard and saw a cue. So far, so Pavlovian. Once the mice had learned to predict their "reward" it was randomly withheld, whilst other times it was delivered unexpectedly without the usual heralding. What did the bait-and-switch achieve? Something rather interesting. A certain kind of LH neuron that connects to the VTA only became active after learning to seek a food reward, whether it was provided or not. After receiving feedback from the VTA, another set of LH neurons encoded the response to the reward or to its omission. It seems the addiction path: action, habit, compulsion can actually be traced in the identified LH-VTA circuit. The neural projections in the mice were then modified to carry light sensitive proteins that are able to activate or stop neurons with pulses of light. When activated, the mice began to compulsively eat sucrose, past the point of satiety. However, when this was deactivated the mice stopped their overeating, but only of sucrose. Their regular appetite was not affected. "That was exciting because we have the recording data to show how this compulsive sugar-seeking happens," says Nieh. "And we can drive or suppress just the compulsive behavior by making very precise changes in the neural circuit." These same neurons send excitatory and inhibitory signals to the VTA and it is the latter which actually, surprisingly, inspire the animal's cravings. This may change the way clinicians treat compulsive overeating, something that in an increasingly obese world, is a good, even revolutionary, thing. "This study represents an outstanding step forward in understanding the many intricate aspects of feeding behaviors," says Antonello Bonci, who wasn't involved in the research but is the scientific director at the National Institute on Drug Abuse. "The extraordinary multidisciplinary approach used in this study produced a very exciting finding: that compulsive sugar consumption is mediated by a different neural circuit than physiological, healthy eating." So far, the team's work has only focused on mice and more study is needed, but they are hopeful their findings will pave the way to developing safe techniques for combating sugar addiction. Their research was recently published in the journal Cell Source: MIT

Açúcar – Veja como diminuir o consumo

Publicado em 20/12/2014 por galdinopinto em Alimentação 6 modos de diminuir o consumo de açúcar e melhorar a qualidade de vida. Normalmente, quando as pessoas que fazem dietas para emagrecer são questionadas sobre as dificuldades do processo, elas sempre acabam falando sobre as privações alimentares. Afinal, é difícil conseguir perder o peso desejado  sem se libertar de determinados alimentos, principalmente aqueles ricos em açúcares. Partir para os exercícios físicos será em vão se, vez outra, o interessado em emagrecer acabar exagerando na sobremesa, ou em outras variedades açucaradas. Como existem pesquisas afirmando que o consumo exagerado de açúcar  está diretamente ligado ao surgimento do diabetes, seja o indivíduo obeso ou não, vale a pena considerar as 6 dicas a seguir. Tome pouco refrigerante O refrigerante contém doses tão exorbitantes de açúcar que, segundo alguns nutricionistas, beber uma lata (350 ml) da bebida por dia resultará no consumo de 1 kg de açúcar ao término de 30 dias. Considerando os outros alimentos que também contêm açúcar, é fácil deduzir que o refrigerante presta uma grande colaboração para extrapolar a ingestão de açúcar. Por essa razão, se não puder evitá-lo, ao menos, tente dosar ao máximo o consumo. Trocar o refrigerante por isotônicos ou sucos naturais  é a melhor alternativa. Não consuma alimentos processados Além de deterem substâncias com características mutagênicas, os alimentos processados propiciam doses exageradas de açúcar. Os nutricionistas alertam que a aparência brilhosa desses alimentos nada mais é do que uma espécie de revestimento preparado à base de açúcar. O intuito é usar o açúcar como conservante. Sim, embora muitos fabricantes aleguem que não usam conservantes, eles o fazem, já que o açúcar também cumpre essa função. Logo, vale a pena ler criteriosamente os rótulos desses produtos. Substitua sobremesas por frutas Não adianta, quem está participando de uma dieta específica para emagrecer deve evitar consumir aquelas sobremesas reluzentes e chamativas. A quantidade de açúcar agregada a essas receitas pode ser assustadora. Então, o ideal é aproveitar para experimentar algumas variedades de frutas, que podem ser consumidas no café da manhã ou da tarde, e após o almoço e jantar. O lado positivo de se comer frutas, ao invés de doces, é isso ajuda a criar um hábito saudável. Assim, quando menos esperar, você estará comendo frutas naturalmente, e não porque se trata de uma obrigação do cardápio. Evite ir ao fast-food Restaurantes de fast-food sempre serão um problema para quem deseja ter uma vida saudável, já que, normalmente, esses lugares somam diversos fatores que comprometem a dieta: lanches gordurosos, excesso de sódio, e os adocicados refrigerantes. Desse modo, é um enorme engano acreditar que duas folhas de alface e duas rodelas de tomate ajudarão a amenizar os compostos nocivos que serão absorvidos pelo organismo. Por tudo isso, restaurantes com essas características deveriam ser frequentados com bastante moderação, mesmo por aquelas pessoas que não estão acima do peso — uma vez que ser magro está longe de ser sinônimo de corpo saudável. Reduza as colheres de açúcar Um erro bem comum é fazer exercícios regulares, ter uma dieta equilibrada, mas exagerar no açúcar ao adoçar um suco, chá, ou café. Como é difícil reduzir a quantidade de açúcar subitamente, o melhor é realizar esse processo de forma gradual. Caso contrário, você pode acabar desistindo e retornar às habituais colheradas. O objetivo é diminuir o açúcar até que o líquido seja consumido sem ele, ou ao menos com uma quantidade mínima. A dificuldade dessa reeducação oscila devido ao paladar individual e à concentração de açúcar que é atualmente adicionada, ou seja, quanto mais açúcar, mais difícil será reduzi-lo. Experimente mascar um chiclete Um bom truque usado para dispersar o desejo por doces é o hábito de mascar um chiclete, naturalmente sem açúcar, após as refeições. Mascar chicletes não só ajuda na digestão, como engana ludibria a suposta necessidade de açúcar transmitida pelo organismo.

Chia: Por que devo consumir essa semente?

Publicado em 25/01/2015 por galdinopinto em Saúde Veja 7 Razões para adicionar chia à sua dieta. Aos poucos, os brasileiros vão se acostumando a consumir a chia, uma semente muito especial por apresentar uma série de benefícios ao organismo. Disponível como grão íntegro, a chia também costuma ser moída, se transformando em farinha. Uma terceira versão a apresenta na forma de óleo. Enquanto este pode ser utilizado para conceder um toque extra às saladas e a alguns pratos específicos, na forma de grão ou farinha a chia se torna um delicioso complemento quando acrescida a tortas, iogurtes, vitaminas, bolos, sucos e em mais uma infinidade de receitas. Recomendação prévia e básica Antes de sair inserindo grandes quantidades de chia em variados pontos do cardápio, é bom seguir a orientação dos nutricionistas em relação às porções diárias. De acordo com esses especialistas, durante um dia inteiro o ideal é que a ingestão de chia não ultrapasse os 25g. Essa dosagem pode ser medida por uma colher de sobremesa. Acima disso, ao invés de ajudar na dieta a chia pode ter um efeito contrário, pois cada semente dela detém cerca de 164 calorias. Portanto, vale a atenção máxima durante o consumo, principalmente das pessoas que estão em processo de emagrecimento. Muitas fibras O primeiro grande efeito da ingestão da chia está ligado às altas doses que fibras contidas no alimento, sejam solúveis ou insolúveis. O consumo de alimentos que sejam ricos em fibras é essencial para quem está lutando para perder peso porque esse tipo de substância aumenta a chamada sensação de saciedade, prolongando-a por mais tempo. Além disso, as fibras são fundamentais para que o organismo tenha um fluxo intestinal mais dinâmico. Como caráter de comparação, enquanto que uma poção de 100 gramas de aveia contém 9,1 gramas de fibras, a chia aparece com uma concentração de 13,6 gramas levando em conta a mesma quantidade de referência. Mais ômega 3 que o salmão Se a quantidade de fibras já impressiona, o ômega 3 possui um destaque ainda maior. Isso porque cada porção recomendada de chia agrega cerca de 400% do que seria ideal consumir de ômega 3 em um único dia. Esse fato é de extrema importância porque nem o consagrado salmão detém uma porcentagem tão elevada da referida substância. Para ser mais exato, segundo os nutricionistas, a chia pode conter, aproximadamente, 8 vezes mais ômega 3 do que o citado peixe nobre. Os benefícios que podem ser adquiridos através da adição de ômega 3 na dieta são diversos. Podem ser mencionados a melhora proporcionada ao fluxo da circulação sanguínea, a ampliação da absorção de nutrientes por parte do organismo, o combate a doenças como a depressão e a contribuição para aprimorar o sistema neurológico. Doses generosas de cálcio Pessoas que não podem ingerir leite por apresentarem intolerância à lactose tem na chia uma das melhores alternativas para suprir as necessidades diárias de cálcio. E o mais interessante é que a chia detém concentrações desse nutriente que são muito superiores às encontradas no próprio leite. Conforme alguns testes de precisão, 100 gramas do precioso grão tem 1476 miligramas de cálcio, contra apenas 492 miligramas presentes em um copo de leite na sua versão integral. Ótima fonte de ferro Embora o espinafre seja um dos alimentos que contenha a maior quantidade de ferro, um dos nutrientes mais vitais para a manutenção do organismo e para evitar a anemia, a chia também o supera quanto à concentração do importante nutriente. Tomando como base a mesma medida de 100 gramas para ambos os alimentos, a chia possui o triplo de ferro do que é encontrado no espinafre. Isso equivale a cerca de 70% do total do nutriente que deve ser suprido todos os dias. Mais magnésio que o brócolis Sem o magnésio, diversas reações que ocorrem no cérebro ficariam comprometidas. A chia chega a suprir cerca de 28% do mínimo necessário para que as ligações cognitivas mantenham o seu funcionamento pleno. Tomando o brócolis como exemplo, a chia supera a quantidade de magnésio desse vegetal em, aproximadamente, 15 vezes. Mais potássio que a banana Substancial para manutenção da atividade muscular, o potássio contido na chia é o dobro do que pode ser absorvido ao se comer duas bananas grandes, por exemplo. Para preencher o corpo com uma dose maior do nutriente, os nutricionistas até aconselham mesclar a fruta com o grão, o que também ajuda a conferir mais sabor. Cabe frisar que quantidades insuficientes de potássio acarretam as incômodas e doloridas câimbras. Portanto, quem já pratica ou pretende iniciar treinamentos físicos regulares deve conceder muita atenção a essa substância, que nunca deve faltar. Sistema nervoso em equilíbrio Por fim, a chia também contém três importantes vitaminas que integram o denominado complexo B: riboflavina, tiamina e niacina. Juntas, essas substâncias mantém o sistema nervoso em perfeito funcionamento. Outro benefício oriundo dessas vitaminas está ligado ao metabolismo celular, que passa a acontecer de modo mais rápido e contínuo.

Scandals not bad for business in the long term, study finds

Scandals involving bosses of major firms have no long-term negative impact on share prices and can even lead to better performance, University of Sussex research has found. The corrective measures put in place after a scandal translate into improved operating performance, often outstripping that of scandal-free rivals, according to the researchers. Nonetheless, the short-term consequences for shareholders are dire. Chief executives committing fraud or taking part in insider trading end up costing shareholders dearly in the days following the news of the scandals. In a study of 80 corporate scandals in the USA, share prices plummeted between 6.5% and 9.5% in the month after the misconduct was made public, collectively costing shareholders an average of $1.9 billion per scandal-hit firm. And it is not just limited to financial misdemeanours -- personal scandals such as having an affair, lies on resumes and harassment cases had just as much impact. However, the negative effects did not last long. Three years on, the share-price performance of the same firms matched those that had not been affected by scandals. If anything, the 80 companies in the study -- including Apple, Hewlett Packard, IBM, JP Morgan and Yahoo -- actually showed an improved operating performance in the years after a scandal. University of Sussex economist Dr Surendranath Jory led the research, published in the journal of Applied Economics. They looked at the Return on Assets (ROA) score of the companies in the study, as a measure of how efficient the firms are at using their assets to generate earnings. They found that those who had survived a scandal involving their Chief Executive Officer (CEO) had ROA scores up to 10 per cent better than other rival companies. Dr Jory says that this may be down to protections put in place following a scandal, such as appointing independent board members or capping severance packages for top executives. He says: "Corporate scandals can act as a catalyst to implement changes that benefit investors. The companies put in place safeguards to protect against future abuses, and they seem to work." Dr Jory was surprised, though, by the suddenness of the initial fall in share price. He says: "I thought that noise of corporate misdeeds would have leaked prior to official announcements and that investors would have already priced in the negative consequences of those crimes days before the announcements. But it seems that investors wait for something more tangible before reacting -- for instance, an announcement in the media." Dr Jory, alongside colleagues at East Carolina University and the University of Texas-Pan American in the USA, examined corporate scandals between 1993 and 2011 that were expressly linked to a firm's CEO. Story Source: The above story is based on materials provided by University of Sussex. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: Surendranath R. Jory, Thanh N. Ngo, Daphne Wang, Amrita Saha. The market response to corporate scandals involving CEOs. Applied Economics, 2015; 47 (17): 1723 DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2014.995361

10 clever tips for users of Google's Chrome browser

Google's Chrome browser has lots of useful functionality According to StatCounter, the most widely used browser during 2014 was Google Chrome, which promises speed, simplicity and security for its users. You can do a lot more with Chrome than just visit your favorite websites though. This article takes a look at some of its clever functionality. Sign in with multiple profiles It used to be the case that users with multiple Google accounts, like a personal account and a work account, would have to sign out of one to use the other. Thankfully, that is no longer the case. Once you've signed into Chrome once, it's possible to sign in with other accounts too. This means you can easily switch between your accounts when using services like Gmail and Google Drive. Install apps for use when offline It's possible to install apps to the Chrome browser in a similar way that it's possible to install apps to Windows or OS X. While some simply launch an existing website, others actually operate within the Chrome browser itself. A number of apps have been developed that allow you to use tools offline that would ordinarily require an internet connection, such as for Gmail, Google Drive and Google Calendar. This functionality is ideal for people who may have an unstable internet connection or who do a lot of train travel for work. You can install offline apps from the Chrome Store and launch them via the Chrome App Launcher for desktop or from inside the Chrome browser itself. Manage Chrome processes Pressing SHIFT + ESC loads a task manager showing a list of the processes running in the Chrome browser, including tabs that are open, extensions and apps. In addition to a unique ID, the memory usage, CPU usage and network usage of each process will be shown. By right-clicking, other metrics can be displayed and a button at the bottom of the task manager lets users close processes that are unresponsive or making the browser run slowly. Use Chrome as a notepad This one isn't actually just for Chrome and will work on other HTML 5-compatible browsers too. It's potentially quite useful though, so I thought it worth including. Using the HTML5 "contenteditable" attribute, it's possible to use a browser tab as a notepad. To do so, you just need to paste the following line of code into your address bar: It's also possible to load more advanced editors with some additional code. This one will give you a larger font with more padding, for example: There are lots of other variations around, with different styling and features (try typing "contenteditable" and "notepads" into the query box of your favorite search engine). Once you've found one you like, you can bookmark the page to then load a notepad quickly without having to leave Chrome. This is great for making quick notes while on a phone call, for example. You can then save your notes out as an HTML file or copy and paste the text elsewhere as required. Voice search If you prefer to talk rather than type, you can search by voice using the Chrome browser. All you need to do is head for Google search and click the microphone symbol at the end of the search box before dictating your search query. Alternatively, for languages that are supported, you can go into the browser settings and enable the "OK Google" search command. This allows you to trigger the voice search functionality by uttering that phrase when on Google search sites or new tabs. Most voice searches will simply bring up a list of results as would be the case if you'd typed your query. For certain searches, though, the Chrome browser will speak an answer back to you (as well as offering text results), for example if you ask, "What will the weather be like this weekend?" or "What is 10 kilograms in pounds?" Access another computer's desktop If you use multiple computers in different locations or are forever helping relatives with their computer issues, a remote desktop tool can be very useful. It allows you to connect to and control a computer in a different location, or have your computer controlled by a remote helper. You can use the Chrome browser to do this by installing Google's Chrome Remote Desktop app. The app must be installed in each computer's Chrome browser and the person wishing to share their desktop must click the "share" button to generate a code. This code will provide the remote helper with access to their computer. A list of your own computers can also be added to the app so that you can access them remotely without the need for another person to provide access. Search specific sites from the Omnibar It's possible to direct a search through a specific website's search engine via the Google Chrome address bar, or "Omnibar." For example, you could use this to search for an email in Gmail, for a specific file in Google Drive or for a product on Amazon or eBay via the search functions of those sites. To do this you need to go into the browser "settings" and, under the "Search" heading, select "Manage search engines…" Here you will find a list of the search engines with which Chrome is already familiar. You can either edit an existing search engine or add a new one. If an entry for, let's say, Amazon already exists, you can simply alter the keyword used to trigger the search functionality for that site to something of your choosing. If an entry doesn't already exist, you just need to add the URL and name of the site. Once done, you can type your chosen keyword for the site into the Omnibar and press the "Tab" key on your keyboard to see a notification appear indicating that the specific site will be searched. Type in your search query and you'll be spirited away to a search results page on Amazon, eBay or whatever site you choose to set up. Generate new passwords on sign-up pages If you're fed up of having to think of new passwords for every website to which you sign up, you'll be pleased to know that the Chrome browser can now think them up for you. It's still an experimental feature and it may be a touch flaky at times, but to activate it you need only enter "about:flags" into the browser's address bar, find the option "Enable password generation," select enable and restart the browser. Once done, the Chrome browser should recognize the account creation pages of any websites to which you want to sign up. You can fill out the sign-up form as usual and, when you click on the "choose password" box, a small notification bubble will appear with a suggested password. You can choose to use this password or continue entering one of your own. View a website as a mobile device It's possible for the Chrome browser to display what a website will look like on a mobile device screen. This is a useful tool for web developers. To use it, you just need to bring up the browser's developer tools via the menu or by pressing F12. Once they've loaded, just click the phone icon and select the device-type from the drop down menu. Pin tabs to the browser If there are certain websites that you have open pretty much all the time, you can save yourself the bother of having to type in the web address or reload them when they've been closed. By right-clicking on a tab you can choose to pin it to the browser. The size of the tab will be reduced and it will be moved to the far left of the tabs that you have open. The option to close the tab will be removed and it will be reopened even if you restart the browser. You can right click again to unpin a tab. If you found this article useful, you might also like 10 useful Google Search functions you may not know about and 10 useful and innovative Google services you may not know about.