HOJE TEM FESTA!!!

SIM,
E VOCÊ ESTÁ CONVIDADO PARA A FESTA.

CLICK AQUI

Blog Coletivo-Uma Interação de Amigos-

VENHA SE DIVERTIR.. ALGUÉM MUITO ESPECIAL TE ESPERA...

AGRADEÇO A SUA COMPANHIA!!!

Blog Coletivo-Uma Interação de Amigos-

..COMPARTILHE -

MEUS MIMOS/SEUS PRESENTES- VOU TE ESPERAR POR LÁ.
UM LINDO SELO RECEBIDO -

Poetas-Um Voo Livre-

Sinal de Liberdade-uma expressão de sentimento-

Massive Magnets Reveal More Sex In the Brain

"Is that a 7 Tesla magnet in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?"

German neuroscientists Metzger et al report on the results of a study using the latest, ultra-high-field Magnetic Resonance Imaging to measure brain activity in response to sexually arousing stimuli.

Most fMRI studies are done using MRI scanners with a field strength of either 1.5 Tesla or, most commonly nowadays, 3.0 Tesla. However, a few especially forward-thinking, by which I mean wealthy, research centres have started investing in 7 Tesla scanners.

Stronger magnetic fields mean that the scanner is able to pick up smaller differences in brain activation, with a better temporal and spatial resolution, although it's not all good news because some of the artefacts that can spoil MRI images also get worse with higher fields. 7 Tesla magnets are also so incredibly powerful that you literally have to tread carefully around them: move too fast through the field, and you can suffer dizziness, vertigo, and visual disturbances...

Anyway, Metzger et al's paper is one of the first 7 Tesla fMRI studies and it's pretty cool. They managed to achieve a spatial resolution of 1.7 x 1.7 x 3 mm , or about three times better than most studies, and a temporal resolution of 1 second, twice or three times better than usual.

They showed heterosexual male subjects a range of pictures, some of them pornographic, others "emotional" but non-sexual. They found that anticipating seeing a picture, as opposed to than actually viewing one, activated different areas of the cortex and also of the thalamus (see image above). Sexual arousal was also correlated with activity in a third thalamic area.

This fits with previous work, so it's not too surprising, but it shows the power of 7 Tesla fMRI: as you can see, the thalamus is a small structure, and conventional fMRI struggles to localize activity to particular subdivisions of it. But we know that the thalamus is a hotbed of activity, because almost all the information that goes to and from the rest of brain passes through it. Until now, fMRI researchers have tended to treat the thalamus as a no-man's land but with any luck, 7 Tesla scanners will start to change that. For those who can afford them...

Metzger CD, Eckert U, Steiner J, Sartorius A, Buchmann JE, Stadler J, Tempelmann C, Speck O, Bogerts B, Abler B, & Walter M (2010). High field FMRI reveals thalamocortical integration of segregated cognitive and emotional processing in mediodorsal and intralaminar thalamic nuclei. Frontiers in neuroanatomy, 4 PMID: 21088699

Massive Magnets Reveal More Sex In the Brain

"Is that a 7 Tesla magnet in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?"

German neuroscientists Metzger et al report on the results of a study using the latest, ultra-high-field Magnetic Resonance Imaging to measure brain activity in response to sexually arousing stimuli.

Most fMRI studies are done using MRI scanners with a field strength of either 1.5 Tesla or, most commonly nowadays, 3.0 Tesla. However, a few especially forward-thinking, by which I mean wealthy, research centres have started investing in 7 Tesla scanners.

Stronger magnetic fields mean that the scanner is able to pick up smaller differences in brain activation, with a better temporal and spatial resolution, although it's not all good news because some of the artefacts that can spoil MRI images also get worse with higher fields. 7 Tesla magnets are also so incredibly powerful that you literally have to tread carefully around them: move too fast through the field, and you can suffer dizziness, vertigo, and visual disturbances...

Anyway, Metzger et al's paper is one of the first 7 Tesla fMRI studies and it's pretty cool. They managed to achieve a spatial resolution of 1.7 x 1.7 x 3 mm , or about three times better than most studies, and a temporal resolution of 1 second, twice or three times better than usual.

They showed heterosexual male subjects a range of pictures, some of them pornographic, others "emotional" but non-sexual. They found that anticipating seeing a picture, as opposed to than actually viewing one, activated different areas of the cortex and also of the thalamus (see image above). Sexual arousal was also correlated with activity in a third thalamic area.

This fits with previous work, so it's not too surprising, but it shows the power of 7 Tesla fMRI: as you can see, the thalamus is a small structure, and conventional fMRI struggles to localize activity to particular subdivisions of it. But we know that the thalamus is a hotbed of activity, because almost all the information that goes to and from the rest of brain passes through it. Until now, fMRI researchers have tended to treat the thalamus as a no-man's land but with any luck, 7 Tesla scanners will start to change that. For those who can afford them...

Metzger CD, Eckert U, Steiner J, Sartorius A, Buchmann JE, Stadler J, Tempelmann C, Speck O, Bogerts B, Abler B, & Walter M (2010). High field FMRI reveals thalamocortical integration of segregated cognitive and emotional processing in mediodorsal and intralaminar thalamic nuclei. Frontiers in neuroanatomy, 4 PMID: 21088699

BOM DIA A TODOS!!!

UM LINDO E BELO DIA..SUPER MARAVILHOSO!!

QUERIDOS AMIGOS! ONTEM FIQUEI SEM NE. NÃO PUDE RETRIBUIR OS CARINHOS. TODAS AS POSTAGENS QUE ESTAVAM PREPARADAS NÃO FOI POSSIVEL POSTAR. A NOITE EU OS VISITAREI E AGRADECEREI PELOS CARINHOS. POR ENQUANTO FICA MEU ABRAÇO E MEU MUITO OBRIGADA. CARINHOSAMENTE, SANDRA

UM CARINHO PARA VOCÊ!!!

OBRIGADA ANNA DO LE. PELO CARINHO
PALVRAS SOLTAS..UM MANNSSSTEEE DE BLOG..




AGRADEÇO A SUA COMPANHIA!!!

Blog Coletivo-Uma Interação de Amigos-

..COMPARTILHE -

MEUS MIMOS/SEUS PRESENTES- VOU TE ESPERAR POR LÁ.
UM LINDO SELO RECEBIDO -

Poetas-Um Voo Livre-

Sinal de Liberdade-uma expressão de sentimento-

Happy Thanksgiving

I think Thanksgiving could be my favorite holiday. My Dad makes the best food ever! He's already been cooking for hours. Yesterday, he baked a bunch of pies too. My Grandma and I even made a pumpkin roll. That was so fun! I can't wait to try it. Because I've never tasted one before.

We're having a lot of friends over today. I'm super excited about that. Baby Jelly Bean still isn't here yet. Jelly keeps telling us that she just wants to get through Thanksgiving before her baby is born. :)

Now I'm going to go have breakfast with my Dad and my grandmas. Then we have to get ready for mass. But I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! :) C

The 9 Circles of Scientific Hell

Dante's Inferno: a classic of world literature, the definitive statement of the mediaeval Christian world-view, the first major work in the Italian language, and the basis for a violent videogame. The poem offers a tour through the nine increasingly horrible levels of Hell, in which sinners are tormented forever.

But Dante lived before the era of modern science. I thought I'd update his scheme to explain what happens to those guilty of various scientific sins, ranging from the commonplace to the shocking.

Bear in mind that Dante's Hell had a place for everyone, and it was only Christ's intervention that saved anyone from it; even "good" people went to Hell because everyone sins. But they are still sins. Likewise, very few scientists (and I'm certainly not one of them) would be able to avoid being condemned to some level of this Inferno... but, that's no excuse.

First Circle: Limbo

"The uppermost circle is not a place of punishment, so much as regret. Those who have committed no scientific sins as such, but who turned a blind eye to it, and encouraged it by their awarding of grants and publications, spend eternity on top of this barren mountain, watching the carnage below and reflecting on how they are partially responsible..."

Second Circle: Overselling
"This circle is reserved for those who exaggerated the importantance of their work in order to get grants or write better papers. Sinners are trapped in a huge pit, neck-deep in horrible sludge. Each sinner is provided with the single rung of a ladder, labelled 'The Way Out - Scientists Crack Problem of Second Circle of Hell"

Third Circle: Post-Hoc Storytelling
"Sinners condemned to this circle must constantly dodge the attacks of demons armed with bows and arrows, firing more or less at random. Every time someone is hit in some part of their body, the demon proceeds to explain at enormous length how they were aiming for that exact spot all along."

Fourth Circle: P-Value Fishing

"Those who tried every statistical test in the book until they got a p value less than 0.05 find themselves here, an enormous lake of murky water. Sinners sit on boats and must fish for their food. Fortunately, they have a huge selection of different fishing rods and nets (brandnames include Bayes, Student, Spearman and many more). Unfortunately, only one in 20 fish are edible, so they are constantly hungry."

Fifth Circle: Creative Use of Outliers
"Those who 'cleaned up' their results by excluding inconvenient data-points are condemned here. Demons pluck out their hairs one by one, every time explaining that they are better off without that hair because there was something wrong with it."

Sixth Circle: Plagiarism

"This circle is entirely empty because as soon as a sinner arrives, a winged demon carries them to another circle and forces them to suffer the punishment meted out to the people there. After their 3 year "post" is up, they are carried to another circle, and so on..."

Seventh Circle: Non-Publication of Data
"Here sinners are chained to burning chairs in front of desks covered with broken typewriters. Only if they can write an article describing their predicament, will they be set free. Each desk has a file-drawer stuffed full of these, but the drawers are locked.

Eighth Circle: Partial Publication of Data
"At any one time exactly half of the sinners here are chased around by demons prodding them with spears. The demons choose who to chase at random after ensuring that the groups are matched for age, gender, height and weight. Howling desert winds blow a constant torrent of articles announcing the success of a new program to enhance participation in physical exercise - but with no mention of the side effects."

Ninth Circle: Inventing Data
"Here Satan himself lies trapped forever in a block of solid ice alongside the worst sinners of all. Frozen in front of their eyes is a paper explaining very convincingly that water cannot freeze in the environmental conditions of this part of Hell. Unfortunately, the data were made up."

Links: This has been kindly translated into Russian here and into Portuguese here.

The 9 Circles of Scientific Hell

Dante's Inferno: a classic of world literature, the definitive statement of the mediaeval Christian world-view, the first major work in the Italian language, and the basis for a violent videogame. The poem offers a tour through the nine increasingly horrible levels of Hell, in which sinners are tormented forever.

But Dante lived before the era of modern science. I thought I'd update his scheme to explain what happens to those guilty of various scientific sins, ranging from the commonplace to the shocking.

Bear in mind that Dante's Hell had a place for everyone, and it was only Christ's intervention that saved anyone from it; even "good" people went to Hell because everyone sins. But they are still sins. Likewise, very few scientists (and I'm certainly not one of them) would be able to avoid being condemned to some level of this Inferno... but, that's no excuse.

First Circle: Limbo

"The uppermost circle is not a place of punishment, so much as regret. Those who have committed no scientific sins as such, but who turned a blind eye to it, and encouraged it by their awarding of grants and publications, spend eternity on top of this barren mountain, watching the carnage below and reflecting on how they are partially responsible..."

Second Circle: Overselling
"This circle is reserved for those who exaggerated the importantance of their work in order to get grants or write better papers. Sinners are trapped in a huge pit, neck-deep in horrible sludge. Each sinner is provided with the single rung of a ladder, labelled 'The Way Out - Scientists Crack Problem of Second Circle of Hell"

Third Circle: Post-Hoc Storytelling
"Sinners condemned to this circle must constantly dodge the attacks of demons armed with bows and arrows, firing more or less at random. Every time someone is hit in some part of their body, the demon proceeds to explain at enormous length how they were aiming for that exact spot all along."

Fourth Circle: P-Value Fishing

"Those who tried every statistical test in the book until they got a p value less than 0.05 find themselves here, an enormous lake of murky water. Sinners sit on boats and must fish for their food. Fortunately, they have a huge selection of different fishing rods and nets (brandnames include Bayes, Student, Spearman and many more). Unfortunately, only one in 20 fish are edible, so they are constantly hungry."

Fifth Circle: Creative Use of Outliers
"Those who 'cleaned up' their results by excluding inconvenient data-points are condemned here. Demons pluck out their hairs one by one, every time explaining that they are better off without that hair because there was something wrong with it."

Sixth Circle: Plagiarism

"This circle is entirely empty because as soon as a sinner arrives, a winged demon carries them to another circle and forces them to suffer the punishment meted out to the people there. After their 3 year "post" is up, they are carried to another circle, and so on..."

Seventh Circle: Non-Publication of Data
"Here sinners are chained to burning chairs in front of desks covered with broken typewriters. Only if they can write an article describing their predicament, will they be set free. Each desk has a file-drawer stuffed full of these, but the drawers are locked.

Eighth Circle: Partial Publication of Data
"At any one time exactly half of the sinners here are chased around by demons prodding them with spears. The demons choose who to chase at random after ensuring that the groups are matched for age, gender, height and weight. Howling desert winds blow a constant torrent of articles announcing the success of a new program to enhance participation in physical exercise - but with no mention of the side effects."

Ninth Circle: Inventing Data
"Here Satan himself lies trapped forever in a block of solid ice alongside the worst sinners of all. Frozen in front of their eyes is a paper explaining very convincingly that water cannot freeze in the environmental conditions of this part of Hell. Unfortunately, the data were made up."

Links: This has been kindly translated into Russian here and into Portuguese here.