Can your prenatal diet really help your baby's brain? Yes !! Read it!!!

Can your prenatal diet really help your baby's brain? More and more studies indicate YES! Research from the University of Connecticut (published in the June 2007 issue of American Journal of Clinical Nutrition) reported that infants of women who consumed DHA (a specific type of omega-3 fatty acid) during pregnancy performed better on problem-solving tasks. 

In the study, 29 pregnant women were randomly place into two groups at gestation week 24. One group received cereal bars containing 300 milligrams of DHA each. The second group of women received cereal bars containing no DHA. All study participants ate, on average, five bars each week for the remainder of their pregnancies. When their infants were nine months old, they were tested using the Infant Planning Test and the Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence. 

Lake trout

No significant differences in overall intelligence or memory recognition were noted between the two groups. However, the infants of the DHA-eating mothers performed significantly better in problem-solving.

According to these researchers, many pregnant women are not aware that consuming DHA is important during pregnancy and lactation. On top of that, women who are aware of their need for DHA are concerned with finding safe dietary sources of this omega-3 fatty acid. 

Fish and seafood, like salmon, lake trout, sardines, tuna, herring, oysters, shrimp and shellfish are major sources of DHA  for pregnant women .Nuts and seeds, such as walnuts, ground flaxseed, flaxseed oil Canola and soybean oils are also useful food to obtain DHA

wall nut

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is an omega-3 fatty acid (molecular formula C₂₂H₃₂O_2). In chemical structure, DHA is a carboxylic acid with a 22-carbon chain and six cis double bonds; the first double bond is located at the third carbon from the omega end. Its trivial name is cervonic acid, its systematic name is all-cis-docosa-4,7,10,13,16,19-hexa-enoic acid, and its shorthand name is 22:6(n-3) in the nomenclature of fatty acids.

DHA IUPAC name (4Z,7Z,10Z,13Z,16Z,19Z)-docosa-4,7,10,13,16,19-hexaenoic acid; Doconexent

DHA was also found to inhibit growth of human colon carcinoma cells. DHA concentrations in breast milk range from 0.07% to greater than 1.0% of total fatty acids, with a mean of about 0.34%. DHA levels in breast milk are higher if a mother's diet is high in fish. 

DHA is actively promoted by manufacturers as a food additive. Until recently, sales other than to makers of infant formula have been minimal; however, in 2007, several DHASCO-fortified dairy items (milk, yogurt) began selling in grocery stores.

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The peculiar 3D model which allows parents to hold their baby... BEFORE it's even born

Expectant parents who cannot wait to hold their new child can now buy a three-dimensional model of the foetus to cradle and show friends. Japanese inventors have devised a way to transform the commonplace ultrasound scan into an anatomically correct resin replica for parents to handle and keep as a memento. 

The nine-centimetre (3.6-inch) resin model of the white foetus, encased in a transparent block in the shape of the mother's body, is fashioned by a 3D printer after an MRI scan. FASOTEC, the company offering the 'Shape of an Angel' model, even offers parents a miniature version which could be a 'nice adornment to a mobile phone strap or key chain.' Tomohiro Kinoshita, of FASOTEC, said: 'As it is only once in a lifetime that you are pregnant with that child, we received requests for these kind of models from pregnant women who... do not want to forget the feelings and experience of that time.' 

Expectant parents in Japan who can't wait to show the world what their baby will look like can now buy a 3D model of the foetus

The 'Shape of an Angel' costs 100,000 yen (or around £760), and the company said the ideal time for a scan is around eight or nine months into the pregnancy. For those who would like a less pricey version, the company will start offering a 3D model of the face of the foetus at 50,000 yen - £380 - in December. It will use ultrasound images taken at a medical clinic in Tokyo that has forged a tie-up with the company. 

FASOTEC, originally a supplier of devices including 3D printers, uses a layering technique to build up three-dimensional structures. The company also produces 3D models of internal organs that can be used by doctors to plan surgery or by medical students for training, a spokesman said. It is also possible that models can be used in hospitals to better inform patients what their problems are, instead of relying on difficult-to-understand diagrams. 
The technology 'realises not only the form but also texture of the model -- for example making it hard or soft', the firm said . 'By making a model that is similar to a real organ or bone, one can simulate operations and practise different surgical techniques.' 

Kinoshita said the company hit upon the idea of making 3D models of unborn babies in the hope that people would become more aware of the technology. But there are medical benefits too. The company said some medics could also foresee diagnostic possibilities with the models that may help predict difficulties in the birthing process.

 3D model of their unborn child's face

Three-dimensional printers have been around for several decades but advances in the technology mean it is now gaining in popularity in several fields. The machines work in a similar way to an inkjet printer, but instead of ink they deposit layers of material on top of each other, gradually building up the product they are making. 

Where traditional manufacturing only becomes efficient with economies of scale because of the need to produce moulds, 3D printing is capable of producing single copies of relatively complicated objects. The technology is not yet advanced enough to build telephones or computers but it is already used to make components.

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Send Free SMS all Over the world for Free with out registration

Dear readers yours favourite technology portal anantatech.blogspot.com is bringing you the way to send free sms all over the world with out registration. though there are several ways to send free sms all over the world they all need registration and later they demand some cash with you to give full service. 

Today I am sharing the website from which you can send free SMS to worldwide without registration. I have checked it and its 100% working.The website is aFreeSms.com is online International Free Text Message provider (Free SMS Service) which allows you to send Unlimited Free SMS anywhere in the world.

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Americans Win Nobel in Chemistry for Work on How Humans Sense the World

Two Americans shared this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry for deciphering the communication system that the human body uses to sense the outside world and send messages to cells — for example, speeding the heart when danger approaches. The understanding is aiding the development of new drugs.

The winners, Dr. Robert J. Lefkowitz, 69, a professor at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute researcher, and Dr. Brian K. Kobilka, 57, a professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine in California, will split eight million Swedish kronor, or about $1.2 million

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Serge Haroche, David Wineland win Nobel in Physics

France's Serge Haroche and US researcher David J. Wineland shared the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics, announced Staffan Normark, permanent secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm Tuesday. 

Haroche and Wineland got the awards "for ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems", Xinhua quoted Normark as saying. 

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Two scientists share 2012 Nobel Prize in Medicine

The Nobel Committee at Swedish Karolinska Institute in Stockholm Monday named two scientists for the 2012 Nobel Prize in Medicine.

The 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went jointly to John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka "for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent", reported Xinhua citing an institute statement."Their findings have revolutionised our understanding of how cells and organisms develop," it added.

Shinya Yamanaka and John B. Gurdon

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Google unveils Nexus 7 tablet computers

Google unveiled its first tablet computer Nexus 7 at the developer’s conference in San Francisco on Wednesday. Priced at $199, the 7 inch tablet is powered by the latest generation of Android software. Google made Nexus 7 in collaboration with Asus and has optimized the tablet for Google Play.

“We wanted to design a best-of Google experience optimized around the content available at Google Play,” said Hugo Barra, Google’s director of product management.

Google Nexus 7 Tablet

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Mozilla rolls out latest version of Firefox for Android

Mozilla has just announced a new upgraded version of Firefox for Android. The new browser makes mobile browsing faster and easier, in addition to providing users with a new redesigned interface.

“We redesigned Firefox for Android to make it a screaming fast and personalized upgrade to mobile browsing that lets you take your Web experience everywhere you go. You’ll notice dramatic performance improvements that make Firefox on your Android phone super fast with everything from startup and page load times to panning and zooming and Web app performance when you just want to play Mozilla’s Browser Questgame with your friends,” Mozilla wrote on its official blog.

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Research suggests humans evolved from prehistoric sharks

Do you know whom your ancestors belong to? It has been previously said that our ancestors belong to Monkey But Believe it or not –it has now been claimed that humans evolved from a prehistoric shark that populated the seas more than 300 million years ago, according to scientists.

The ancient fish called Acanthodes bronni was the original father of all jawed vertebrates on Earth - including humans. A re-analysis of a braincase dating back 290 million years shows it was an early member of the modern gnathostomes, 'jaw-mouths' that include tens of thousands of living vertebrates ranging from fish to birds, reptiles, mammals and humans.

Acanthodes, Greek for 'spiny', existed before the split between the earliest sharks and the first bony fishes - the lineage that would include human beings. Fossils have been found in Europe, North America and Australia.

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Samsung to launch a Facebook-like Social network next year

Are you fed of with facebook , twitter or Google ? If yes then it can be a good News for you all. After Google and Microsoft’s venture into social networking space, now Samsung seems to be working on a social networking service.

A recent report from The Korean Times, states that Samsung Electronics is expected to launch a Facebook-like social networking site by early next year.

The new social network according to the reports would be accessible on a wide range of devices, including laptops, cameras, televisions etc. To allow users to access the social networking service from any device and at any time, Samsung also plans to integrate the service with Amazon’s cloud computing platform.

When asked about the rumors of the upcoming social network, Samsung claimed that the company is just launching an update for Family Story – a social networking service focused on photo sharing, and storing families’ special moments, accessible on a limited number of Samsung smartphones and Web-connected televisions, since February 2012.

“By the end of the year, we will have a polished and finished version of Family Story that will be offered first to Samsung device users for free. The new service will become available in the first quarter of next year at the earliest. The eventual goal is to expand our social media service across different devices from different companies across different mobile platforms. That includes cameras, televisions and blue-ray players,”Samsung stated.

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World's tallest tower opens to visitors in Tokyo!! Want to see?

The world's tallest tower and Japan's biggest new landmark, the Tokyo Skytree, opened to the public on Tuesday, May 22, 2012. Nearly 8,000 visitors were expected to take high-speed elevators up to the observation decks of the 634-meter (2,080-foot) tower to mark its opening. Some reportedly waited in line more than a week to get the coveted tickets for a panoramic view, though Tuesday ended up being cloudy in Tokyo.

Tokyo SkyTree World Tallest Tower

Skytree is recognized by Guinness World Records as the tallest tower, beating out the CantonTower in China, which is 600 meters (1,968 1/2 feet). Guinness lists the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, at 828 meters (2,716 feet 6 inches), as the world's tallest building.

The world's tallest structure is Dubai's Burj Khalifa, which stands 828 meters (2,717 feet). That's in a different category because it's a skyscraper, not a tower.

The Skytree will serve as a broadcast tower for television and radio, along with being a tourist attraction. It replaces the 333-meter-tall (1,092 1/2-foot-tall) Tokyo Tower — a symbol of Japan's capital since 1958 — as the broadcast hub. Michihiko Katsuragi, 27, has watched construction of the tower since moving to the area in 2009, according to a report in the Mainichi Daily News.

"I felt like I was growing up at the same time," he was quoted as saying.

Kazutaka Hasegawa got in line on May 16 and was the first visitor to the Skytree on Tuesday, according to the Mainichi Daily News.

World Tallest tower Opens on May 22 2012 for Public

"As a resident of Sumida Ward, I feel a sense of satisfaction in being the first person to ascend the tower," Hasegawa was quoted as saying.

The Skytree has two observation decks, at 350 meters (1,148 feet) and at 450 meters (1,476 feet).

The upper deck can hold 900 people at a time and the lower deck 2,000, according to a report from the Japan Daily Press. Only 6,000 tickets to the decks will be sold daily and they are sold online through a lottery system, the report said

Burj Khalifa World Tallest Building 

.The Skytree complex, which also includes a shopping area, was expected to draw about 200,000 visitors on Tuesday, according to the Daily Press.

 In 2014, China is expected to complete the Shanghai Tower, which at 2,073 feet will be the country's tallest building, and the world's tallest after the Burj Dubai.

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How Social Media helps in boosting search engine rankings of your Blog?

The search engine ranking of your website plays an important role in attracting more visitors to the site, and helping your brand gain more visibility online. One way of making your website more search-engine friendly, is by ensuring that the website content is SEO optimized.

A new infographic by TastyPlacement, however, points out that ranking high on Google, is not just about SEO, it’s about social media too.

TastyPlacement created six websites in six similarly-sized UScities, to conduct a study to analyze the relationship between a certain social media activity and the organic search engine rankings.

The study involved carrying a particular social media marketing activity and measuring the average change in the search engine ranking position, for five of the sites, after a period of one month. The sixth site was left as-is for a control test.

From the study results, social media marketing was found to help boost the search engine rankings in the following ways:

When a target website was promoted via social media connections, and 100 followers were secured to a linked Google+ business page, the website’s search engine position rose by 14.63

When a target website was promoted via social media connections, and 300 Google +1 votes were secured to that target website, its search engine position rose by 9.44

When a target website was promoted via social media connections, and 70 Facebook shares were secured for the target website, and Facebook “likes” to a linked Facebook business pagewere increased by 50, the search engine position of the target website rose by 6.9.

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Solar Eclipse in Picture That wasn't Visible in Nepal (with pictures)

It was the ones in a life time View when moon comes in between the sun and the earth causing the solar Eclipse. Though Nepalese didn’t have luck to watch this event Skywatchers from Mount Fuji to the Grand Canyon enjoyed a treat: the moon nearly blotting out the sun to create a dramatic 'ring of fire' over a narrow strip of eastern Asia and the western United States.

The annular eclipse, in which the moon passes in front of the sun leaving only a golden ring around its edges, was visible in Asia early Monday and  It then moved across the Pacific - and the international dateline - and was seen in parts of the western United StatesSunday afternoon.

In Japan, 'eclipse tours' were arranged at schools and parks, on pleasure boats and even private airplanes. Similar events were held in Chinaand Taiwanas well, with skywatchers warned to protect their eyes.

Series of Solar Eclipse Seen From Tokyo

In the U.S., viewing parties were held at observatories in Reno, Nevada, and Oakland, California, and elsewhere. In some areas, special camera filters for taking photographs have been sold out for weeks in anticipation of the big event.

Eventually, the moon centered and covered about 96 percent of the sun.

Solar Eclipse(pic shows how it emerge and come to and End 

'That's got to be the prettiest thing I've ever seen, Said Veltri of Salida, in Colorado to Daily Mail.

The eclipse was broadcast live on TV in Tokyo, where such an eclipse hasn't been visible since 1839. Japanese TV crews watched from the top of Mount Fuji and even staked out a zoo south of Tokyo to capture the reaction of the chimpanzees - who didn't seem to notice.

A light rain fell on Tokyo as the eclipse began, but the clouds thinned as it reached its peak, providing near perfect conditions.

Ring Of Fire Seen from New Mexico USA

'It was a very mysterious sight,' said Kaori Sasaki, who joined a crowd in downtown Tokyo to watch event. 'I've never seen anything like it.'

At the TaipeiAstronomical Museumin Taiwan, the spectacle emerged from dark clouds for only about 30 seconds. But the view was nearly perfect against Manila's orange skies.

'It's amazing. We do this for the awe [and] it has not disappointed. I am awed, literally floored,' said astronomical hobbyist Garry Andreassen, whose long camera lenses were lined up with those of about 10 other gazers in a downtown Manila park.

Hong Kong skywatchers weren't so lucky.

'Ring of Fire' eclipses are not as dramatic as a total eclipse, when the disc of the sun is entirely blocked by the moon. The moon is too far from Earth and appears too small in the sky to blot out the sun completely.
Doctors and education officials have warned of eye injuries from improper viewing. 

Before the event started, Japan's Education Minister Hirofumi Hirano demonstrated how to use eclipse glasses in a televised news conference.

Police also cautioned against traffic accidents - warning drivers to keep their eyes on the road.

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Android 5.0 will reportedly launch in the fall on five phones

While many of us are still waiting for Android 4.0, Google is already firming up plans to launch version 5.0.

Also known as Jelly Bean, Android 5.0 is a huge enigma that nobody really knows anything about.

However, according to the Wall Street Journal, it will be fully up and running later this year, and it will debut on no fewer than five different phones.

And get this - according to the Journal, those five phones will all be branded as Nexus products. The "Nexus" name has been associated largely with only one active phone at a time, and it's the phone that Google has an active hand in developing.

Android 5.0

But it's expected that the Nexus brand will intensify over the coming months, especially as Google is assumed to be working on a Nexus-labeled tablet device. Of course, all this talk about Android 5.0 cannot help but lead some to think about the fact that Android 4.0, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich, barely has a 5% penetration rate. And the rollout is still underway.

Many phones aren't even expected to get an update to Ice Cream Sandwich until later this year, but now it seems like by then it will already be outdated.

Google promised that Ice Cream Sandwich would be like a big reboot button for Android, aiming to solve the problem with device fragmentation.

But if Android 5.0 is already starting to launch on some devices by the time ICS gets fully deployed, it seems that strategy might be for naught.

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Astronauts to land on 'planet killer' asteroid

NASA is training a team of astronauts to land on asteroids, which are three million miles from the Earth.

The mission, planned for the next decade, would land on an asteroid travelling at more than 50,000 miles an hour.

The astronauts will drive vehicles on the surface - and pick up skills necessary to destroy ‘planet killer’ asteroids that may approach our planet in future.

The journey to the asteroid and back could take up to a year, according to the Daily Mail.

Major Tim Peake, a former British Army helicopter pilot, and the first official British astronaut with the European Space Agency revealed details of the mission.

Peake and five other astronauts will prepare for the low-gravity environment of the asteroid by spending 12 days in an underwater base off the coast of Florida, 65 feet beneath the Atlantic.

They will live in a capsule 43 feet long by 20 feet wide to simulate the cramped conditions on an asteroid.

asteroid

“With the technology we have available and are developing today, an asteroid mission of up to a year is definitely achievable,” Major Peake said in an interview in the Telegraph.

“These objects are also coming extremely close to Earth all the time, but we rarely hear about it. In the last year we had an asteroid come within Earth’s geostationary orbit, which is closer than some satellites.

“With enough warning we would probably send a robotic mission to deflect an asteroid, but if something is spotted late and is big enough we might come into Armageddon type scenarios where we may have to look at manned missions to deflect it,” he stated.

Peak added, “I would love to go on an asteroid mission. There is a possibility that if things continue at a good pace an asteroid mission could happen within the 2020s and that is within the operational time frame of myself and the other ESA astronauts.” 

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Twitter blocked in Pakistan over contentious material

Pakistan blocked the social networking website Twitter on Sunday because it refused to remove material considered offensive to Islam, said one of the country’s top telecommunications officials.

The material was promoting a competition on Facebook to post images of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, said Mohammad Yaseen, chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication’s Authority. Many Muslims regard depictions of the prophet, even favorable ones, as blasphemous.

Yaseen said Facebook agreed to address Pakistan’s concerns about the competition, but officials have failed to get Twitter to do the same.

”We have been negotiating with them until last night, but they did not agree to remove the stuff, so we had to block it,” said Yaseen.

Instructions to block the site came from Pakistan’s Ministry of Information Technology, said Yaseen.

”The ministry officials are still trying to make them (Twitter) agree, and once they remove that stuff, the site will be unblocked,” said Yaseen.
Officials from Twitter and Facebook were not immediately available for comment.

A top court in Pakistanordered a ban on Facebook in 2010 amid anger over a similar competition. The ban was lifted about two weeks later, after Facebook blocked the particular page in Pakistan.

The Pakistani government said at the time that it would continue to monitor other major websites for anti-Islamic links and content.

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Mark Zuckerberg Tie knot with Priscilla Chan

Facebook owner and the world nineteenth richest man Mark Zuckerberg married his longtime girlfriend Priscilla Chan at his Palo Alto, Calif., home on Saturday.
The Facebook CEO, whose company went public on Friday, has also updated his status to “married.”

Mark Zuckerberg with his Wife

The fewer than 100 celebrants that gathered in Zuckerberg’s backyard believed it was a party for Chan, who graduated from the Universityof California, San Francisco’s medical school on Monday.
Instead, they were surprised to find it was a wedding for the couple who met at Harvard and have been together for more than nine years.
A Facebook spokeswoman said Zuckerberg designed the ring himself, and that it featured “a very simple ruby.”

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Soon, typing style to become 'digital fingerprint'

There are lots of new techniques coming on the way and its really hard to be updated with every new techniques. New discovery in the technology is that Typing styles can now be adapted to verify the owner of the computer. Typing styles are as unique as fingerprints and could soon be used to verify the identity of computer users, according to a new study. The Queensland University of Technology's Eesa Al Solami has developed an algorithmic system to analyse typists' keystroke dynamics, the Daily Telegraph reported.

 The unique striking pattern will allow computers to lock down sensitive information in the case of an unauthorized user.

Even though the system is in its early stages, Solami doesn't believe it will render internet username and password useless.
"You need a username and password but a username and password cannot protect your computer (once you're logged in),' he said.

"My actual approach is to extract the behaviour of users and see if we can distinguish different users during one session," he added.

The researcher claimed that the system would be valuable to industries that collect large volumes of personal information such as banks and the armed forces and it could be extended to mobile phones and tablets.

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'Ring of fire' eclipse visible in US this Sunday!! Don't forget to have Life time Experience!!

On Sunday, millions of people around the world will be watching to an amazing sight: an annular solar eclipse in which the moon will cover as much as 94 percent of the sun, leaving a glowing ring of fire. In the US, the eclipse will begin around 5:30 pm PDT and last around two hours. The greatest coverage will be at around 6:30 pm PDT. The last such eclipse to be seen in the UStook place in 1994, and the next will be in 2023 so you can say it a Life Time Experience.

Because some of the sun is always exposed during the eclipse, the amount of daylight falls dramatically - but looking at the ground beneath leafy trees will reveal crescent-shaped sunbeams and rings of light.

Ring of Fire seen due toTotal Solar Eclipse

The 'path of annularity' where the ring of fire can be seen is only about 200 miles wide, covers a swathe of the southern US - southwest Oregon, Northern California, central Nevada, southern Utah, northern Arizona, New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle. The effect should last for around four and a half minutes.

Outside this band, other areas will see a partial eclipse.

"The ring of sunlight during annularity is blindingly bright," cautions NASA's leading eclipse expert Fred Espenak of the Goddard Space Flight Center.

"Even though most of the sun's disk will be covered, you still need to use a solar filter or some type of projection technique. A #14 welder's glass is a good choice. There are also many commercially-available solar filters."

#14 Welder's Glass Best for viewing Solar Eclipse

If you buy one, you'll get another chance to use it two weeks later when Venus makes a transit of the sun. Anyway If you are in Souther US don’t forget to watch the worth Sight of the Solar Eclipse.

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Facts about Flesh-eating bacteria

Aimee Copeland, a Georgiagrad student, is fighting for her life because of the flesh-eating bacteria that infected her after she gashed her leg in a river two weeks ago. One of her legs was amputated and her fingers will be too, her father says, because of the spreading infection.

She has a rare condition, called necrotizing fasciitis, in which marauding bacteria run rampant through tissue. Affected areas sometimes have to be surgically removed to save the patient’s life.

Flesh Eating bacteria

HOW OFTEN DO PEOPLE GET THESE INFECTIONS?

The government estimates roughly 750 flesh-eating bacteria cases occur each year, usually caused by a type of strep germ.

However, Aimee Copeland’s infection was caused by another type of bacteria, Aeromonas hydrophila. Those cases are even rarer. One expert knew of only a few reported over the past few decades.

DO MOST PEOPLE SURVIVE?

Yes, but about 1 in 5 people with the most common kind of flesh-eating strep bacteria die. There are few statistics on Aeromonas-caused cases like Copeland’s.

HOW DOES SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPPEN?

The germs that can cause flesh-eating disease are common in warm and brackish waters like ponds, lakes and streams. They are not a threat to most people. An infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University, Dr. William Schaffner, said: “I could dive in that same stream, in the same place, and if I don’t injure myself I’m going to be perfectly fine. It’s not going to get on the surface of my skin and burrow in. It doesn’t do that.”

But a cut or gash — especially a deep one — opens the door for flesh-eating bacteria.

Foot seen after Infection

IS THERE ANYTHING YOU CAN DO TO AVOID SUCH AN INFECTION?

Prompt and thorough medical care should stop the infection before it spreads. A wound can look clean, but if it’s sutured or stapled up too soon it can create the kind of oxygen-deprived environment that helps these bacteria multiply and spread internally. Once established, these rare infections can be tricky to diagnose and treat.

Also, Aeromonas is resistant to some common antibiotics that work against strep and other infections, so it’s important that doctors use the best medicines.

ARE SOME PEOPLE MORE AT RISK?

Yes, people with weakened immune systems are. Copeland’s family has not said whether she had some type of medical condition that could have made her more vulnerable and relatives could not be reached for comment Monday. Her doctors, meanwhile, have refused interviews.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

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New Case of flesh-eating bacteria occurred in USA

After a case where student of psychology at the University of West Georgia was found infected by  the flesh eating bacteria known as Aeromonas hydrophila, A new case was seen in the USA and this time its New Mother.

   Lana Kuykendall is a paramedic, so when a rapidly spreading red and black bruise appeared on the back of her leg after giving birth to twins, she knew something was wrong.

She and husband, Darren, raced to the hospital and within 90 minutes, the new mother was having surgery for necrotizing fasciitis, a rare but potentially deadly infection also called the flesh-eating bacteria.

“She’s still critical,” Darren Kuykendall told GreenvilleOnline.com. “It’s been a nightmare.”

After a normal pregnancy, the Piedmont couple welcomed their twins, Abigail and Ian, on May 7 at an Atlanta hospital, he said. Except for Lana needing blood, the delivery went normally and the babies were fine, he said.

  Lana Kuykendall with Her Husband

But he said by the next day Lana, who had begun having leg cramps the night before, was weak. She couldn’t stand or walk. When tests revealed nothing wrong, they returned home Thursday.

By Friday morning, however, Lana, 36, discovered the strange lesion on the back of her left leg.

“That scared her. She thought it was a blood clot. So we rushed immediately to Greenville Memorial Hospital,” Darren Kuykendall said.

“And the longer she sat there, the bigger that spot got. It was initially the size of a 3-by-5 index card. But it got bigger and bigger. It moved a quarter of an inch in half an hour. Then the high-risk OB physician had a suspicion of what it was.”

Limbs Infeccted after Flesh eating bacteria attack it

Necrotizing fasciitis is a bacterial infection that often occurs in an arm or leg after a minor trauma or surgery, according to the National Necrotizing Fasciitis Foundation. Group A Strep is most often responsible in minor traumas, the group reports.

People have developed the condition through a host of experiences, including a C-section or natural childbirth, abdominal surgery or a scratch, a broken leg or a cut, according to the group.

A recent highly publicized case involves Aimee Copeland, a 24-year-old Georgia graduate student who got the infection after suffering a cut in a zip line accident, according to The Associated Press. Doctors had to amputate her left leg and may still have to remove her fingers, her father said.

The disease occurs when bacteria enter the body and emit toxins that destroy the soft tissue, which becomes infected and must be removed, according to the NF foundation. Along with surgery, treatment includes antibiotics and other medications.

If it spreads, it can cause systemic shock and death within days.

In Lana Kuykendall’s first surgery, doctors removed the dead skin and tissue, her husband said. A little more tissue was removed during a second and third surgery, but no more infected tissue was found in the last operation Monday, he said.

Group A strep caused the infection, which also spread to her blood, and she is being treated with antibiotics, he said. She was still on a ventilator in the intensive care unit on Tuesday and sedated.

Kuykendall, 42, has no idea how the infection occurred.

“They are saying things are leaning her way. Her vitals are good and her lab results are looking good,” he said. “But this could go either way at any given time.”

Married for four years, the couple met at the scene of an accident — he’s a firefighter and she’s a paramedic with Greenville Hospital System. The twins are healthy and being cared for by family and friends, he said.

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College Girl Battles With Flesh Eating Bacteria!!!

A student of psychology at the University of West Georgia met with an accident when homemade zip line snapped and led her left calf open. Aimee Copeland, 24, received 22 stitches, but weeks after it was found that she has contracted the flesh eating bacteria known as Aeromonas hydrophila.

Aimee Copeland

She has lost her left leg and a part of abdomen and it is suspected that she will lose her hand fingers as well. Aimee's Father Andy Copeland said that Aimee is having remarkable recovery and instead of looking at the dark side of the story, they have been focusing on the brighter side.

Andy further affirmed that it feels great when they get to listen from doctors that Aimee is recovering well. Even doctors are shocked to see the determination of Aimee and they have affirmed that this determination is helping her to recover so well.

Aeromonas hydrophila  Image Taken from Electron Microscope

Dr. Buddy Creech, who is an Assistant Professor of pediatric infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University, said that the bacterium starts destroying the tissues that surround as it looks for nutrition. Destroying process leads to inflammation and swelling and once it comes, then it gets very difficult to control the infection.

"When it gets into those deeper tissues, it has a remarkable ability to destroy the tissues that surround it in sort of this hunt for nutrition", said Creech.

Affect seen After Bacteria slowly eat Muscles Tissue

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Twitter's new email digest feature to summarise top stories, tweets for users

Micro blogging site Twitter has planned to roll out a new 'email digest' that would summarise top stories and tweets in users' networks. According to Othman Laraki, Twitter's growth and international director, the new weekly summary feature, which was announced on the company's blog Monday, is already available to some users.
 "This summary features the most relevant tweets and stories shared by the people you're connected to on Twitter," Laraki said in the blog post.
According to The Los Angeles Times, the new feature is described as being similar to Twitter's 'Discover' tab, which the social network redesigned earlier this month.
 The feature comes just four months after Twitter acquired Canadian start-up Summify, which is a service that sends users emails summarizing the top stories from their Twitter and Facebook networks as well as other services, such as Google Reader.

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Facebook raises IPO price range to USD 34 to USD 38 per share

Social networking giant Facebook has raised the price range for its Initial Public Offering to 34-38 dollars per share, according to a report. The firm had earlier set the price range at 28 to 35 dollars a share.
The Wall Street Journal quoted a source familiar with the matter, as saying that the spike in price was due to overwhelming demand by investors on the road show.

Facebook Logo

 According to the source, the California-based firm's initial price range put Facebook's valuation at 77 billion to 96 billion dollars, but that rises to 93 billion to 104 billion dollars under the new price range.
 Facebook will pick a final price within the new range and file its final IPO documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday evening, before its first day of trading Friday. 

 

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