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pbsthisdayinhistory:

June 18, 1983: Sally Ride Becomes First American Woman in Space

On this day in 1983, at the age of 32, astronaut Sally Ride became the first American woman in space aboard the space shuttle Challenger. After the voyage, Sally Ride received many honors for her contributions to the field of science and space exploration. In May 2012, Sally Ride became the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States.

On July 23, 2012, Sally Ride died at the age of 61 after a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer.

 

Visit PBS NewsHour to learn more about Sally Ride

Photo: Courtesy of NASA

(via scienceyoucanlove)

neurosciencestuff: Stress Test and Brain Scans Pinpoint Two Distinct Forms of Gulf War Illness Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center say their new work suggests that Gulf War illness may have two distinct forms depending on which brain regions have atrophied. Their study of Gulf War veterans, published online today in PLOS ONE, may help explain why clinicians have consistently encountered veterans with different symptoms and complaints. Using brain imaging that was acquired before and after exercise tests, the researchers studied the effects of physical stress on the veterans and controls. Following exercise, subgroups were evident. In 18 veterans, they found that pain levels increased after completion of the exercise stress tests exercised; fMRI scans in these participants showed loss of brain matter in adjacent regions associated with pain regulation.   During cognitive tasks, this group showed an increased use of the basal ganglia — a potential compensatory strategy the brain uses that is also seen in neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. Following exercise, this group lost the ability to employ their basal ganglia, suggesting an adverse response to a physiological stressor. In addition, “a separate group of 10 veterans had a very different clinical alteration,” says lead author Rakib Rayhan, a researcher in the lab of the study’s senior investigator, James Baraniuk, MD, a professor of medicine at GUMC. In these 10 veterans, the researchers found substantial increases in heart rate. They also discovered that this subgroup had atrophy in the brain stem, which regulates heart rate. . In addition, brain scans during a cognitive task performed prior to exercise showed increased compensatory use of the cerebellum, again a trait seen in neurodegenerative disorders. Like the other group, this cohort lost the ability to use this compensatory area after exercise. Alterations in cognition, brain structure and exercise-induced symptoms found in the veterans were absent in the 10-participant matched control group, the researchers say. “The use of other brain areas to compensate for a damaged area is seen in other disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, which is why we believe our data show that these veterans are suffering from central nervous system dysfunction,” Rayhan explains. He adds, however, that because such changes are similar to other neurodegenerative states, it doesn’t mean that veterans will progress to Alzheimer’s or other diseases. These findings — a surprise to researchers — follow a study in Gulf War veterans published in March in PLOS ONE that reported abnormalities in the bundle of nerve fibers connecting the brain areas involved in the processing and perception of pain and fatigue. Gulf War Illness is the mysterious malady believed to have affected more than 200,000 military personnel who served in the 1990-1991 Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Although veterans were exposed to nerve agents, pesticides and herbicides (among other toxic chemicals), no one has definitively linked any single exposure or underlying mechanism to Gulf War illness. The symptoms of Gulf War illness — which have not been widely accepted by the public or medical professionals — range from mild to debilitating and can include widespread pain, fatigue and headache, as well as cognitive and gastrointestinal dysfunctions. “Our findings help explain and validate what these veterans have long said about their illness,” Rayhan says.

neurosciencestuff:

Stress Test and Brain Scans Pinpoint Two Distinct Forms of Gulf War Illness

Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center say their new work suggests that Gulf War illness may have two distinct forms depending on which brain regions have atrophied. Their study of Gulf War veterans, published online today in PLOS ONE, may help explain why clinicians have consistently encountered veterans with different symptoms and complaints.

Using brain imaging that was acquired before and after exercise tests, the researchers studied the effects of physical stress on the veterans and controls. Following exercise, subgroups were evident. In 18 veterans, they found that pain levels increased after completion of the exercise stress tests exercised; fMRI scans in these participants showed loss of brain matter in adjacent regions associated with pain regulation.  

During cognitive tasks, this group showed an increased use of the basal ganglia — a potential compensatory strategy the brain uses that is also seen in neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. Following exercise, this group lost the ability to employ their basal ganglia, suggesting an adverse response to a physiological stressor.

In addition, “a separate group of 10 veterans had a very different clinical alteration,” says lead author Rakib Rayhan, a researcher in the lab of the study’s senior investigator, James Baraniuk, MD, a professor of medicine at GUMC.

In these 10 veterans, the researchers found substantial increases in heart rate. They also discovered that this subgroup had atrophy in the brain stem, which regulates heart rate. .

In addition, brain scans during a cognitive task performed prior to exercise showed increased compensatory use of the cerebellum, again a trait seen in neurodegenerative disorders. Like the other group, this cohort lost the ability to use this compensatory area after exercise.

Alterations in cognition, brain structure and exercise-induced symptoms found in the veterans were absent in the 10-participant matched control group, the researchers say.

“The use of other brain areas to compensate for a damaged area is seen in other disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, which is why we believe our data show that these veterans are suffering from central nervous system dysfunction,” Rayhan explains. He adds, however, that because such changes are similar to other neurodegenerative states, it doesn’t mean that veterans will progress to Alzheimer’s or other diseases.

These findings — a surprise to researchers — follow a study in Gulf War veterans published in March in PLOS ONE that reported abnormalities in the bundle of nerve fibers connecting the brain areas involved in the processing and perception of pain and fatigue.

Gulf War Illness is the mysterious malady believed to have affected more than 200,000 military personnel who served in the 1990-1991 Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

Although veterans were exposed to nerve agents, pesticides and herbicides (among other toxic chemicals), no one has definitively linked any single exposure or underlying mechanism to Gulf War illness.

The symptoms of Gulf War illness — which have not been widely accepted by the public or medical professionals — range from mild to debilitating and can include widespread pain, fatigue and headache, as well as cognitive and gastrointestinal dysfunctions.

“Our findings help explain and validate what these veterans have long said about their illness,” Rayhan says.

(via scinerds)

breakingnews: Google launches balloons in goal to provide Internet world-wide AP: Inflatable balloons believed to be capable of sharing Internet around the world were launched this week in New Zealand as part of Google’s Project Loon. The project, which began 18 months ago, is an attempt to share Internet with countries that lack fiber cables. The balloons are powered by solar panels are moved via prevailing winds. Each balloon is reportedly capable of providing Internet to an area twice the size of New York City. A farmer in New Zealand was the first person to receive Internet access this week as the balloons passed overhead.   Photo: In this June 10, 2013 photo released by Jon Shenk, a Google balloon sails through the air with the Southern Alps mountains in the background, in Tekapo, New Zealand. Google is testing the balloons which sail in the stratosphere and beam the Internet to Earth. (AP Photo/Jon Shenk)

breakingnews:

Google launches balloons in goal to provide Internet world-wide

AP: Inflatable balloons believed to be capable of sharing Internet around the world were launched this week in New Zealand as part of Google’s Project Loon.

The project, which began 18 months ago, is an attempt to share Internet with countries that lack fiber cables. The balloons are powered by solar panels are moved via prevailing winds. Each balloon is reportedly capable of providing Internet to an area twice the size of New York City.

A farmer in New Zealand was the first person to receive Internet access this week as the balloons passed overhead.  

Photo: In this June 10, 2013 photo released by Jon Shenk, a Google balloon sails through the air with the Southern Alps mountains in the background, in Tekapo, New Zealand. Google is testing the balloons which sail in the stratosphere and beam the Internet to Earth. (AP Photo/Jon Shenk)

(via we-are-star-stuff)

After centuries of decline, tattoos re-entered the Western consciousness initially through colonialism. In 1769, Captain James Cook, sailing for the British navy, brought back to England his own painted “native” named Omai. Cook first encountered tattooing when he discovered Tahiti and was the first Westerner to use the Tahitian word ta-tu or tatau meaning “to strike” (the word “tattoo” formally entered the English language in 1777). Previously, tattoos were known in the West as “prics” or “marks.” Cook also discovered tattooing in Hawaii (“kakau”) and New Zealand (“Moko”). Interestingly, the Moko and were often tattooed on the head, which created a rather bloody tattooed-head trade in the West (Jones 2000). Paradoxically, while tattooed natives were seen as little more than savages, soon after Cook displayed Omai, the English upper class began getting small tattoos. For example, the Prince of Wales started a fad of sorts when he revealed his tattoo of a Jerusalem cross. And tattooing would eventually become an integrated part of North American working class as they became attracted to what the sailor represented: adventure, travel, exotic lands, and a free spirit (Atkinson 2003). Sailors served as the middlemen through which tattoos were integrated into Western culture (DeMello 2000).

—Socializing Bodies: A History of the Tattoo (via xeram)

(Source: randomhistory.com, via sociolab)