Science Articles & Inventions Online

Study: Tetris changes young brains

ALBUQUERQUE (UPI) — U.S. and Canadian scientists say the brains of adolescent girls who play the computer game Tetris appear to have greater thickness and efficiency.

Researchers from the Mind Research Network, a non-profit organization in Albuquerque, and the Montreal Neurological Institute performed both structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging studies of the brains of girls who practiced the computer game Tetris for three months, and of girls who did not play the game.

The scientists said the structural MRI measured the thickness of areas of the brain, and the functional MRI measured the efficiency of brain activity.

“We were excited to see cortical thickness differences between the girls that practiced Tetris and those that did not,” said Dr. Richard Haier, one of the study’s authors.

But he expressed surprise “that these changes were not where we saw more efficiency.”

Haier said girls who played Tetris had thicker brain tissue in the left frontal and temporal areas that are believed to control complex movements and the coordination of sensory data. However, the brain areas of the girls who practiced Tetris showed greater efficiency in the right frontal and parietal lobes that are associated with critical reasoning and language use.

The research, published in the online journal BMC Research Notes, was funded by an agent for the Tetris Company that also employs Haier as a consultant.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International

Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 8th Sept 2009

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Some IVs could hurt critically ill patients

HEIDELBERG, Germany (UPI) — German researchers suggest some infusion solutions in a common intravenous treatment may cause life-threatening inflammation.

The study, published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, found a common intravenous treatment used to boost blood pressure in critical patients contains substances called “advanced glycation end products.”

This reaction among various proteins occurring after the fluid has been formulated for use is called “post-translational modification.”

The researchers suggest screening infusion solutions for post-translational protein modifications and then removing the compounds.

“Improving the quality of infusion solutions by accounting for post-translational modification of proteins could lead to better clinical outcomes for patients, such as those treated solutions containing albumin,” study co-author Angelika Bierhaus of the University of Heidelberg in Germany said in a statement.

Bierhaus and colleagues injected advanced glycation end products detected in several currently available albumin infusion solutions into mice. The mice receiving the high levels of advanced glycation end products experienced significantly higher inflammation and death rates than the mice receiving low levels.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International

Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 8th Sept 2009

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