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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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

.

Read More

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. 

Read More