How to boost your PC speed

How to boost your PC speed

  4:51:00 PM    Science Lover

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Frustrated with slow computer speed? Hate it when your computer slows down while you access the Internet.

And you simply bang your head when your computer takes ages to search your files. You desperately wish that your PC could gain some speed.

Don't worry. You can easily overcome this.

Here are some easy-to-do tips which can boost up your PC speed.

Clean up disk errors

Whenever a programme crashes or you experience some power outage, your PC may create some errors on hard disk. This slows down computer speed.

For this, check and clean any errors on the computer hard disk.

To run Disk Check go to My Computer. Now, right-click on the drive you want to check for errors and click Properties.

In Properties dialogue box, click on the Tools tab. In the Error-Checking section, press the Check Now button. Access Check Disk to check for errors on your computer.

Depending on the errors, it may take up to an hour to check and clean. This must be followed at least once a week.

Remove temporary files

Your PC stores temporary files whenever you browse through the Web. Also, your PC stores temporary files when you work on programmes like Microsoft Word or Excel.

This ends up slowing down your PC speed. To overcome it you can use the Windows Disk Cleanup screen to rid your PC of these dead files.

To run Disk Cleanup go to My Computer. Right click on the drive you wish to check for errors and click Properties. In the Properties dialogue box, click Disk Cleanup. You can also use Disk Cleanup to clear unused files from your PC.

After scanning, the Disk Cleanup dialogue box lists the files you can remove from your computer.

Organise your data 

Often when you search files your PC takes a lot of time to track them. This is because computer breaks files into pieces to increase the speed of access and retrieval.

However, once updated, computer saves these files on the space available on the hard drive, which results in fragmented files. This makes your PC go slow because it then searches for all of the file's parts.

You need a Disk Defragmenter programme to needle all your files back together.

For this, go to My Computer and right click on the drive you want to check for error and click Properties.

In the Properties dialogue box, click the Tools tab, and then in the Defragmentation section, click Defragment. In the Disk Defragmenter dialog box, select the disk and then click Analyse.

After analysing your PC, the Disk Defragmenter pops up a message asking whether you need to defragment your computer or not. Once you defragement your PC, it will reorganise files by programme and size.

Install anti-virus 

Biggest culprits behind slow PC performance are viruses and spyware. Both end up reducing your PC speed. Not only this they can also destroy your data and tamper files.

Also, with the 24X7 online environment, it is important to have anti-virus and anti-spyware programmes installed for secure online experience.

These programmes need to be frequently updated to avoid any attack on your computer.

You can do a recee of the Net for popular anti-virus and anti-spyware solutions. There are also several paid options like McAfee, Norton Anti-virus and Trend Micro.

Reduce page history 

Is your PC giving you trouble while accessing the Internet? Don't worry. For Internet Explorer users, Microsoft has some rescue options for faster Web browsing.

To improve your PC speed, first reduce the size of your Web page history. For this go to Internet Explorer, and on the Tools menu click on Internet Options. Then go to the History section and type in the number of days you want to keep pages in history.

Preferably reduce the number of days as this will reduce the size of your Web page history.

Automate Microsoft updates 

For Windows users, Microsoft frequently release updates which may help boost up your PC speed. For this activate automate Microsoft Update so that your computer downloads and installs all the latest updates without giving you any trouble of finding any new releases.

Go to Start menu and click Control Panel. In the Automatic Updates dialog box, check the Automatic check box. If your PC finds any new updates, it will automatically download and install them. This will help you keep your computer up to date. 

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Review: 3G iPhone

Review: 3G iPhone

  5:19:00 PM    Science Lover

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After a few days of playing around with the new iPhone 3G, I'm convinced that Apple's iconic piece of gadgetry is a misnomer.

The "mobile phone" is clearly the most unimpressive and probably the most unimportant part of the second generation iPhone.

It's is a great computer; to be more specific, a great mobile Internet device -- probably the best ever made -- and it's a pity that it's debuted in the country before 3G networks are up and running.

The other pity of course is that the two Indian operators whom Apple has chosen -- Airtel and Vodafone, have both decided not to subsidise the handset as AT&T for instance does in the US, where it retails at $200 (approx Rs 8,600) with a compulsory extra charge by the operator for a 2-year usage plan.

At a whopping Rs 36,100 for the 16GB (which comes in black and white rear panels) and 31,000 for the 8GB model, the iPhone is destined to border on being a luxury product, rather than a mass appeal phenomenon.

There are some cosmetic exterior changes from the earlier version, which in India, was widely available in the grey market. The rear panel has been changed from metal to plastic while the external buttons have gone from plastic to metal.

There's a thin metal ring around the camera lens which is actually the new GPS antenna. The smoother rounding off on the sides means that the phone's dimensions have undergone a tiny change -- too small to notice, but small enough to prevent it from fitting into speaker docks that were made for the original iPhone - Aaargh!

To be fair to Apple though, they've taken consumer frustration over the headset jack seriously and replaced the old design that only allowed only the bundled headphones, with a "flush" port which means that you can use any standard 3.5 mm earpiece you wish.Next >>>

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Review: 3G iPhone

Review: 3G iPhone

  5:12:00 PM    Science Lover

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The actual phone itself is just a programme that you can access from the home screen and is average to say the least. Simple things like transferring contacts from the phone onto the SIM card or selecting multiple contacts are unavailable, while the SMS programme still lacks the ability to forward or copy-paste text.

The camera is another feature that hasn't undergone any upgrade and although image quality is fairly impressive, the absence of flash, auto-focus, optical zoom or video recording takes it well behind the curve.

The only saving grace is that pictures once taken, can be expanded or shrunk or moved around by literally squeezing them on the screen with two fingers or flicking them with a single finger. This is the quintessential iPhone experience and typically the first thing you would want to show off about your gizmo.

The "iPod" programme that controls music and movies is great if you're familiar with the iPod-iTunes system. If you're like most Indian users who get music onto their phones through Bluetooth transfers or memory cards, you're in for a steep learning curve.

After all there's no external memory option on the iPhone and the Bluetooth feature -- which most other high-end phones exploit for data transfer and wireless music -- is configured to only allow handsfree calling.

Of course the lack of an FM radio adds insult to the injury of the iTunes music store not being made available for Indian users. Basically, any music or video that you want to get onto your phone has to be done through the iTunes programme on your computer which often involves some amount of re-formatting.

Exceptions of course include free content such as podcasts, which can be downloaded and the YouTube programme which allows you to watch streaming video from the site if you're connected via Wi-Fi or a GPRS/EDGE network.

The other key feature that wasn't available on the older iPhone is the assisted GPS (Global Positioning System). The word "assisted" is there since the GPS is able to home onto your location faster thanks to some assistance from the nearest cellular towers that are feeding the network to your iPhone.

Next >>>

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Review: 3G iPhone

Review: 3G iPhone

  5:09:00 PM    Science Lover

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Google Maps comes pre-installed and is a great piece of software except for the fact that it doesn't provide voice-assisted driving directions in India.

The star of the show is clearly the Internet browser Safari, which renders Web pages better than any browser on any mobile device that I have ever seen.

Most websites are shown true to their form instead of scaled-down mobile versions and the multi-touch features allows you to easily move the page around, zoom in on the region you want to read and tap on a link to navigate.

This single-handedly takes the Web-surfing into a new dimension compared to clumsy joysticks, keys or even a stylus. The iPhone 3G's browser even manages to improve on the original by allowing you to click and save pictures in Web pages.

The crowning glory though, of the iPhone 3G is "App Store", an online marketplace where users can download software applications (apps) that are created by programmers and developers all around the world.

These apps could range from games to medical encyclopedias to social networking tools to online auctions to pretty much anything that one can use a computer for.

The games are especially addictive since the iPhone has no controls except one large screen button. All the movement in a game thus has to be controlled by physically moving the iPhone so that the accelerometer can detect which way you're orienting the device.

The brilliant, large 3.5 screen puts your gaming experience on par with handheld devices from Nintendo and Sony while the improved loudspeakers guarantee that the experience will be incredibly annoying to those in your vicinity if you decide to dump the earphones.

Next >>>>

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Review: 3G iPhone

Review: 3G iPhone

  5:03:00 PM    Science Lover

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Some apps are free to download while others cost anything from a few dollars to a few hundred. Unlike the iTunes store, App Store accepts Indian credit cards and Apple is hoping Indian users will add a significant number to the 60 million downloads that were registered in first month.

If you're an incurable gadget freak, then go ahead and add this to your arsenal -- it's geek heaven, but to the average consumer my advice would be to hold your horses and wait till 3G networks are in place before forking out such an incredibly large sum of money.

If you're a BlackBerry addict, then the lack of a physical keyboard will make life pretty tough even though Pushmail and enterprise-grade data security has now been added to the iPhone.

If you want a piece of the beautiful browser and the App Store, then buy the iPod Touch (Rs. 16,000 for the 16GB model) which gives you full iPhone functionality minus the phone and GPS -- for which you could always rely on a cheap, trusty Nokia navigator.

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Think Tank Topic; Digital Libraries and the Future of Books

Think Tank Topic; Digital Libraries and the Future of Books

  4:08:00 PM    Science Lover

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We have all heard a lot on the news recently about books being made digital for all to read. Microsoft is doing a 20-million dollar project in Great Britain and Google is doing several libraries in the United States. There has been some controversy on this issue from authors who receive royalties and booksellers. It is for this reason our Think Tank brought up the topic.

A prominent member in our Think Tank “Swift” said; “I was looking into your idea of the digital library and Goggle's attempt at putting all existing books on the Internet. I really like this idea as only a small percentage of books remain in print. I have been looking for an out of print book for decades called the Rose and the Labyrinth and have had book searches done all over the world. I have found out that there were 5 books with this title. The one I am looking for dealt with the time Carl Jung spent with minors and his reactions to them. He didn't write it, but I no longer have the information on the book so don't remember who the writer is. There are some really wonderful out of print books and no way to access them. I am having problems with the publishing companies who are worried about the copyright infringement issues and the interpretation of "fair use."

They wouldn't start with the newest books, I would think; but the books that were no longer protected. What in the heck are they being protected from? No one is going to pretend they wrote them for crying out loud. After this length of time, I'll read any book names the Rose and the Labyrinth and pretend it was the book that was referred to me by Jung's last student before he died. I really like the idea of a mine being a labyrinth--so did my father.

Well I certainly see Swift’s point on this issue and we know that currently we are very busy digitizing humankind’s written knowledge from books to the digital so it can be made available to the world. This is a very wise move as books can decay over years and out of print books are not available to all. By digitizing the known human written knowledge to the world we can conquer the opportunity barriers of those hard chargers who may not have the resources to achieve the upward mobility they seek. As we conquer the digital divide we will be well on our way to giving back the knowledge of the world from the entire Library of Commerce to the human race in an easy to read, search and retrieve format available to all. That will be an excellent day for the human race indeed. Imagine a digital library of the Library of Commerce able to use Super Computer speeds to retrieve all the world’s written books online at a speed of Google or MSN.com. That is to say any book written in any language, anywhere in the world, at anytime, think on that for a second.

By using knowledge and experience this way we can leverage this to prevent failure through understanding results. Those who do not learn from their mistakes, tend to keep from making them. Those who remember the lessons learned from their mistakes successes tend to reason better thru analyzing of their mistakes and trying to figure a way around their problems.

Now then, let me tell you why I believe a society needs digital libraries hooked to all civilizations for faster advancement of the human species as a whole or as one. If you had a problem that needed solving for the betterment of your civilization and you had all the world’s knowledge at your finger tips; that is to say a computer hooked to a system like a World Wide Digital Library, then you would have enhanced your personal knowledge and memory by a million fold. This could help your intelligent quotient at the speed of computer and that coupled with the speed of thought is a major component needed to take mankind to the singularity of an all-knowing, never ending being in this dimension. Think on this.

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Pollution on Human BioSystem in Manufacturing of Carbon Nanotubes

Pollution on Human BioSystem in Manufacturing of Carbon Nanotubes

  4:06:00 PM    Science Lover

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One problem in manufacturing has always been worker safety. What will the future of OSHA look like in the United States? As other nations with no worker safety run forward in the Global Market they will enter their Industrial Revolution just like America did. But up until that point they will continue to pollute their water supplies and air and take advantage of their cheap labor.

The United States will have to relax their OSHA Standards or re-align them with reality. Some say any relaxing of such regulations will be a sham and an obvious and careless move against the American worker for increased profits and exploitation of our labor markets here at home.

In making new materials like carbon nanotube sheets many methods will be used such as for instance the possible use of frequency fields in the microwave area, chemical ionic bonding and high amounts of heat. All of which might be very dangerous to human beings.

Perhaps robots will be assigned such tasks, yet frequency pollution in the work place can be highly disruptive to the human bio-system and health. This can lead to free radicals, cancer or other diseases. Although these issues have not been satisfactorily addressed it is important to study along with the various methods being introduced to manufacture carbon nanotubes.

A schematic of each method must be studied to make sure, none of the polluted bi-products are released into the environment or in an area which they may enter the human bio-system. Due to the nature of working with such small dimensions, it maybe a painstaking set of procedures, which will need to be introduced to make the manufacturing of carbon nanotube material possible and safe.

As the industry attempts to address these issues and come up with adequate protocols everyone is concerned as we do not need a repeat of the Asbestos issues, which caused havoc and cost many their lives. So it is essential and paramount that we address these issues to the satisfaction of all.

Scientists are working on ways to do this now and learning as they go. Designing filters, which can protect us will be difficult due to the micro scale we will be working with, however there are ways to keep the particles controlled during the process. Next we must take this process to a much higher level so we can mass-produce them to help fuel efficiency and safety for all carbon nanotubes many uses.

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Artificial Intelligence - Available Now

Artificial Intelligence - Available Now

  4:04:00 PM    Science Lover

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Whenever a person wants to present themselves as an industry expert, one credible approach is to paint a shining picture of future technology and what people can expect from hopeful visions of things to come. One potential that has long bothered me is the current general perception of artificial intelligence technology.

There are a few key concepts that are not often included in the general discussion of creating machines that think and act like us. First, the problem with artificial intelligence is that it is artificial. Trying to create machines that work like the human brain and its special creative properties has always seemed useless to me. We already have people to do all that. If we succeed in generating a system that is every bit as able as the human brain to create and solve problems, such an achievement will also result in the same limitations. There is no benefit in creating an artificial life form that can surpass us to further degrade the value of humanity. Creating machines to enhance and compliment the wonders of human thinking does have many appealing benefits. One significant plus to building artificially intelligent systems is the benefit of the teaching process. Like people, machines have to be taught what we want them to learn, but unlike us, the methods used to imprint machine instructions can be accomplished in a single pass.

Our brains allow us to selectively flush out information we do not want to retain, and are geared for a learning process based on repetition to imprint a long term memory. Machines cannot “forget” what they are taught unless they are damaged, reach their memory capacity, or they are specifically instructed to erase the information they are tasked to retain. This makes machines great candidates for performing all the tediously repetitive tasks, and storing all the information we do not want to burden ourselves with absorbing. With a little creativity, computers can be adjusted to respond to people in ways that are more pleasing to the human experience, without the need to actually replicate the processes that comprise this experience. We can already teach machines to issue polite responses, offer helpful hints, and walk us through learning processes that mimic the niceties of human interaction, without requiring machines to actually understand the nuances of what they are doing. Machines can repeat these actions because a person has programmed them to execute the instructions that offer these results. If a person wants to take the time to impress aspects of presenting their own personality into a sequence of mechanical instructions, computers can faithfully repeat these processes when called upon to do so.

In today’s market place, most software developers do not add on the extra effort that is required to make their applications seem more polite and conservatively friendly to the end users. If the commercial appeal for doing this was more apparent, more software vendors would race to jump onto this bandwagon. Since the consuming public understands so little about how computers really work, many people seem to be nervous about machines that project a personality that is too human in the flavor of its interaction with people. A computer personality is only as good as the creativity of its originator, which can be quite entertaining. For this reason, if computers with personality are to gain ground in their appeal, friendlier system design should incorporate a partnering with end users themselves in building and understanding how this artificial personality is constructed. When a new direction is needed, a person can incorporate that information into the process, and the machine learns this new aspect as well.

People can teach a computer how to cover all contingencies that arise in accomplishing a given purpose for managing information. We do not have to take ourselves out of the loop in training computers how to work with people. The goal of achieving the highest form of artificial intelligence, self-teaching computers, also reflects the highest form of human laziness. My objective in design is to accomplish a system that will do the things I want it to do, without having to deal with negotiating over what the system wants to do instead. This approach is already easier to achieve than most people think, but requires consumer interest to become more prevalent.

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UFO: Futuristic Concepts and the End of the World

UFO: Futuristic Concepts and the End of the World

  4:02:00 PM    Science Lover

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I was sitting on the front stoop wondering if I should wash the pickup or pick the last of the tomatoes off my one vine that has produced about a zillion marble-sized tomatoes this summer.

I learned last year that you only need one tomato plant in Idaho unless you want to supply (no derogatory remark here) Wal-Mart®. I accidentally picked a plant that pumps out those wee tomatoes that I didn’t like. I like the big ones that send juice running down your cheeks when you bite into them.

My granddaughter, L, loves the little ones and I found that if you get a handful and plunk them into your mouth all at the same time, like she does, you can get a big tomato sensation. I went out to my plant and grabbed a handful. That’s when Xrytspet showed up.

“I don’t see how you can eat those things!”

I said, “Go away, Xrytspet!”

She said, “I came to help. Is that how I’m to be treated?”

“What do you want, Xrytspet?”

“I’ve come to help you with that article you are thinking about.”

As is her custom, she sat on my lap. I said, “Get off my lap!”

“I want to help you with that Future-Concepts - Got futuristic dreams of changing the world? Put even your most eccentric or innovative ideas here! article for the new http://ezinearticles.com category.

“Sense when do I need you to help me write, Xrytspet? I’ve got my own ideas for the article.”

“They stink!”

“What do you mean, they stink? You’ve been in there messing with my computer, haven’t you?”

“I made a few revisions to your article.”

 She kissed my cheek and disappeared after turning herself into a Northern Fish Crow, a Blue Bird, and a Northern Shriek.

Last week she turned herself into a cheetah, a puma, and a jaguar before she disappeared. The jaguar chased me up our cherry tree.

I decided to skip washing the pickup. It was getting cloudy in the west and maybe it would rain. I went into the computer and read her article which is as follows:

Futuristic Concepts and Dreams that Will Change the World Including Eccentric and Innovative Ideas. by Xrytspet and John T. Jones, Ph.D.

To determine the future we went to the Synchronic Isentropic Time Warp Predictor and typed in Earth. Here is the printout of significant events:

March 2017: Bush War II (Iraq) ends. The casualties not counting Iraqis (who don’t count) were 12337 Americans, 12 Australian, 987 Britons, 134 Bulgarians, 7 Danes, 9 Dutch, 14 Estonians, 9 Hungarian, 260 Italians, 3 Kazakh, 4 Latvian, 174 Poles, 4 Salvadoran, 6 Slovaks, 11 Spaniards, 8 Thai and 18 Ukrainians.

April 2034: Bush War II (Afghanistan) ends. The casualties not counting citizens of Afghanistan (who don’t count) were 1250 Americans, 8 Australian, 12 Britons, 16 Canadians, 12 Danes, 14 French, 45 Germans, 16 Italians, 5 Norwegian, 7 Romanians and 57 Spaniards. There were also Pakistani deaths (who don’t count).

January 2037: Cell Phone Production Wavers Off: Only 2.345 billion telephones were produced in 2036. The death count by drivers using cell phones reached 52,617 deaths and 7,260,006 injuries.

November 2248: Post revolutionaries attempt to bring freedom to the United States: Students from the University of Nevada, Tonopah called on President Valerie Clinton, a descendent of President Hillary Rodman Clinton, to convince the 47 states that left the Union last year to return and to start up Congress again. The President said, “Are you kidding? I can hardly manage the three states that are left (Utah, Nevada, and Idaho).”

October-December 2869: Meteor shower throw big ones at Aberdeen, Kansas and Aberdeen, Scotland. Most humanoids were killed in the two Aberdeens (and in their surrounding areas) during the recent rock show from the sky. A Mongolian horse breeder said, “At last! Now maybe I can raise my horses in peace without those National Geographic guys being around here all the time.”

February 2356: Nubian man creates fire from rubbing sticks together (Also called Kush, Land of Kush, Te-Nehesy, Nubadae, Napata, or the Kingdom of Meroei.) : Amun-Pa of Batn El Hajar or "Belly of Rocks" has discovered fire, something we all forgot. He lit a torch and ran all the way to the 6th Cataract above Khartoum. His run will be repeated at the First Nubian Olympics in September, at Khartoum, right after the hot season.

August 2459: Glaciers at Antarctica have all now melted. Geologists predict good beach conditions east of the underwater community of Sacramento, CA and at the lower elevations below Spruce Pine, NC.

June 2787: Astronomers apologize for not predicting the correct approach of Asteroid Humongous last fall. Speaking for the scientist at Area 51 near Los Vegas, Nevada, Dr. Alice Brown-Jones, a remote cousin of the famous cinema star, Catherine Zeta Jones that we have been watching on our television sets for decades, said in a news conference this morning at 1:17 a.m. that the trajectory of Asteroid Humongous was calculated incorrectly last fall and that the asteroid was going to hit the moon dead center rather than swishing by our earth sucking the ocean waters into the sky. (That would have been a sight!) She said that scientist at Area 51 near Los Vegas were calculating the consequences of this, but she suggested that we all take measures to learn the Nuclear Age Safe Position. As a public service we instruct you herewith:

1. Find a strong table or desk. (If you have a choice, choose the one in the cellar or basement.)

2. Sit under the desk or table.

3. Pull your legs up to your chin but keep your legs apart wide enough to kiss your butt goodbye.

End of Record

After I read this report, I was very relieved. None of this would affect me much.

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Business In 2010: A New Face of Marketing

Business In 2010: A New Face of Marketing

  5:38:00 PM    Science Lover

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The term “internet marketing” was virtually non-existent a short 8 years ago, now it is a growing phenomenon that is raking millions every year. Because of this expanding industry, the internet landscape it changing. Where are the changes going to be? I fully expect a growth in interactive end-user experiences - an online environment catering to the individual preferences of a singular visitor. I also foresee a massive change in the way we market online. A change could include “personalized” advertisements embedded so deeply into the product that the user does not realize it as an ad.

Where is this marketing going? Where will it be in 2010? Here are some ideas:

Personal Ads:

Not “Single white male seeks….”. Advertisements displaying personalized data to the end user. This trend has started with products like Google’s AdWords, where visitors are greeted with ads specific to the content on the page. With the free flow of personal information on the internet, it is feasible that in a few years, the advertisements could be as specific as, “Bob, the Buick is over due for an oil change, here are the 3 closest Quick Lubes”

Advertisement Channels:

Cable channels are expanding so quickly it is hard to keep up, soon, we could be surfing over to channel 1430 for the “2010 Chevrolet Series”, where we actually sit down and watch a one hour special on Chevy’s – this mode of advertisement would work for a couple of reasons:

- It is highly targeted

Current television advertising (commercials) often get the MUTE button treatment or we get up to get more popcorn, leaving an unknown number of viewers watching the 30 second ad.

- Accepting market

When viewer tune in specifically for a product, your message effectiveness grows exponentially. For example, if you the viewer are not interested in the “Home Depot Shed Products” advertisement channel, don’t watch. For those of you who are interested in home and garden and Do It Yourself, this channel would serve as your personal how-to expert. Home Depot reaches only those interested in their product while maintaining their orange apron image.

Customized Webpages:

On some webpages now, a visitor can change the color and theme of the webpage. This makes for a more enjoyable destination – leading to more recurring visitors. Once a user has spent the time to build their own portal, they will return and use that as their primary resource of information (think MSN).

Webpages of the future must be able to support a “no two alike” mentality. End users must have the option of customizing their content, color, theme, and functionality.

The changes are on the horizon, prepare your business to capture visitors and give them the “one-on-one” feeling.

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A Normal Kidney Size

A Normal Kidney Size

  5:37:00 PM    Science Lover

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It is usual for doctors to presume that you understand the fundamental structure of the kidneys. When arguing the outcomes of certain radiology tests (for instance ultrasounds and CT's), it is likely that they will what is wrong but not needed what is normal. Lacking understanding what is normal, it is difficult to recognize the value of how something is abnormal.

Kidney size is not influenced by body shape. The kidneys develop at the same rate that the whole body develops, until physical growth stops at about 25-26. It is at this moment that internal organs get to their final dimensions.

The mean dimensions of the kidneys upon maturation are: length-about 12cm, breadth-about 6cm and thickness-about 3cm. The weight of one kidney averages about 120-150 g. Any decrease in size is abnormal. Increasing the size of a kidney is normal simply in conditions when one kidney is removed and the remaining kidney expands to recompense for the functional absence of the first.

Even if rather simple, the human kidney anatomy enables it to run really complex but vital functions. If any region of the kidney is injured or becomes diseased, this can considerably have an effect on its capability to run these functions.

A normal kidney is the size of a human fist. In spite of this, with the attendance of PKD, cysts grow in both kidneys. There might be simply a few cysts or many, and the cysts can vary in size from a pinhead to the size of a grapefruit. Once a lot of cysts grow, the kidneys can develop to be the size of a football or bigger and weigh as much as 38 pounds each.

It has been assumed from autopsy studies that variants in kidney dimensions and kidney weight are associated to gender, with weight being higher in males. In addition, it is identified that the left kidney is larger than the right one, independent of gender. A decrease of up to 40% in kidney weight happens over the years, nearly totally due to parenchymal decrease, lesser to decrease in blood supply. The kidney dimensions differ in distinct ethnic populations as well.

The result of hyperechoic renal cortex with emphasis of the corticomedullary intersections is usual of the normal sonographic arrival of the kidney of a premature newborn. Keep in mind that the normal size of the kidneys ought to not exceed 4 to 5 cm in a complete term newborn, pointing out that there is absolutely compensatory hypertrophy in this premature newborn, not unforeseen with a contralateral nonfunctioning kidney unit.

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The Functions of the Nephron of Kidney

The Functions of the Nephron of Kidney

  5:36:00 PM    Science Lover

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A nephron is the fundamental structural and functional part of the kidney. Its principal function is to control the absorption of water and soluble substances such as sodium salts by filtering the blood, reabsorbing what is required and excreting the rest as urine.

A nephron gets rid of wastes from the body, controls blood volume and pressure, regulates levels of electrolytes and metabolites, and regulates blood pH. Its functions are very important to life and are controlled by the endocrine system by hormones like antidiuretic hormone, aldosterone, and parathyroid hormone.

Roughly one million nephrons are in the cortex of each kidney, and each one contains a renal corpuscle and a renal tubule which perform the functions of the nephron. The renal tubule contains the convoluted tubule and the loop of Heinle. The nephron is made up of a glomerulus and its tubule.

The nephron is component of the homeostatic mechanism of your body. This system assists control the quantity of water, salts, glucose, urea and other minerals in your body. This is where glucose finally is engrossed in your body. One side note, diabetics get trouble reabsorbing the glucose in their body and thus lots of it appears in the urine - thus the name "diabetic" or "sweet urine." However it's another subject.

The Loop of Henle is the element of the nephron that consists of the essential pathway for liquid. The liquid starts at the Bowman's capsule and afterward runs by way of the proximal convoluted tubule. It is here that sodium, water, amino acids, and glucose get reabsorbed.

The filtrate after that flows down the sliding limb and afterward back up. On the way it passes a major bend named the Loop Of Henle. This is placed in the medulla of the kidney. Because it comes up to the top again, hydrogen ions (waste) run into the tube and down the collecting duct.
Accordingly fundamentally, nutrients flow in through the left and exit through the right. Along the way, salts, carbohydrates, and water pass through and are reabsorbed.

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Types of Chemical Reactions

Types of Chemical Reactions

  5:34:00 PM    Science Lover

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A chemical reaction is a process that always results in the conversion of reactants into product or products. The substance or substances initially involved in a chemical reaction are called reactants. A type of a chemical reaction is usually characterized by the type of chemical change, and it yields one or more products which are, in general, different from the reactants.

Generally speaking, chemical reactions encompass changes that strictly involve the motion of electrons in the forming and breaking of chemical bonds. Chemical equations are often used to describe the chemical transformations of elementary particles that occur during the reaction.

Chemical changes are a result of chemical reactions. All chemical reactions involve a change in substances and a change in energy. However, neither matter nor energy is created or destroyed in a chemical reaction. There are so many chemical reactions that it is helpful to classify them into different types including the widely used terms for describing common reactions.

Combination reaction or synthesis reaction: it is a reaction in which 2 or more chemical elements or compounds unite to form a more complex product.

Example: N2 + 3 H2 ' 2 NH3

Isomerisation reaction: is a reaction in which a chemical compound undergoes a structural rearrangement without any change in its net atomic composition.

Example: trans-2-butene and cis-2-butene are isomers.

Chemical decomposition reaction or analysis: is a reaction in which a compound is decomposed into smaller compounds or elements:

Example: 2 H2O ' 2 H2 + O2

Single displacement or substitution: this type of reaction is characterized by an element being displaced out of a compound by a more reactive element.

Example: 2 Na(s) + 2 HCl(aq) ' 2 NaCl(aq) + H2(g)

Metathesis or Double displacement reaction: represents a reaction in which two compounds exchange ions or bonds to form different compounds

Examples: NaCl(aq) + AgNO3(aq) ' NaNO3(aq) + AgCl(s)

Acid-base reactions: broadly these reactions are characterized as reactions between an acid and a base, can have different definitions depending on the acid-base concept employed. Some of the most common are:

Arrhenius definition: Acids dissociate in water releasing H3O+ ions; bases dissociate in water releasing OH- ions.

Brønsted-Lowry definition: Acids are proton (H+) donors; bases are proton acceptors.

Lewis definition: Acids are electron-pair acceptors; bases are electron-pair donors.
Example: HCl(aq) + NaOH(aq) ' NaCl(aq) + H2O(l)

Redox reactions: are reactions in which changes in oxidation numbers of atoms in involved species occur. Those reactions can often be interpreted as transfer of electrons between different molecular sites or species.

Example: 2 S2O32(aq) + I2(aq) ' S4O62(aq) + 2 I(aq)
In this case, I2 is reduced to I- and S2O32- (thiosulfate anion) is oxidized to S4O62-.

Combustion reaction: it is a kind of redox reaction in which any combustible substance combines with an oxidizing element, usually oxygen, to generate heat and form oxidized products.

Example: C3H8 + 5 O2 ' 3 CO2 + 4 H2O

Other types of chemical reactions include organic reactions which are found in organic chemistry.
Organic reactions compose a wide variety of reactions involving compounds which have carbon as the main element in their molecular structure. In opposition to inorganic reactions, organic chemistry reactions are classified in large part by the types of the functional groups that exist within each compound. In this case the reactions are described by showing the mechanisms through which the changes take place.

Organic reactions are chemical reactions involving organic compounds. The basic organic chemistry reaction types are listed bellow:

- Addition reactions
- Elimination reactions
- Substitution reactions
- Redox reactions
- Rearrangement reactions

- Pericyclic reactions

The general form of the SN2 mechanism for example is as follows:

Where nuc: = nucleophile
X = leaving group (usually halide or tosylate, mesylate)

Example of hydroxide ion that acts as the nucleophile and bromine is the leaving group

This results in the inversion of the configuration because of the backside attack of the nucleophile.

The solvent type, the electrophile and the leaving group, all play an important role in this type of reaction:

Solvents: protic solvents such as water and alcohols stabilize the nucleophile so much that it will not react with substrate. Therefore, the use of a good polar aprotic solvent such as ethers and ketones and halogenated hydrocarbons is required.

Nucleophiles: A good nucleophile is required since it is involved in the rate determining step. A weak nucleophile will not efficiently attack the substrate.

Leaving groups: A good leaving group is required, such as a halide or a tosylate, since it is involved in the rate determining step (better leaving group for halogens: I>Br>Cl>F)
In organic synthesis, organic reactions are used in the construction of new organic molecules. The production of many man-made chemicals such as drugs, plastics, food additives, fabrics depend on organic reactions.

Among these, the oldest organic reactions are combustion of organic fuels and saponification of fats to make soap. Modern and advance organic chemistry starts with synthesis of terpenes, carbohydrates, proteins, steroids and polymerization reactions in the eighteen century. In the history of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, awards have been given for the invention of specific organic reactions such as the Grignard reaction in 1912, the Diels-Alder reaction in 1950, the Wittig reaction in 1979 and olefin metathesis in 2005.

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Stem cells for 10 disorders created

Stem cells for 10 disorders created

  3:49:00 PM    Science Lover

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US stem cell experts have produced a library of the powerful cells using ordinary skin and bone marrow cells from patients.

They used a new method to re-program ordinary cells so they look and act like embryonic stem cells - the master cells of the body with the ability to produce any type of tissue or blood cell. The new cells come from patients with 10 incurable genetic diseases and conditions, including Parkinson's, the paralyzing disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, juvenile diabetes and Down's Syndrome.

The team at Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital in Boston said the point is not yet to treat anyone, but to get as many researchers as possible experimenting with these cells in lab dishes to better understand the diseases.

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Point Me in the Right Direction, Please - Magnets and Compasses

Point Me in the Right Direction, Please - Magnets and Compasses

  5:33:00 PM    Science Lover

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For centuries sailors knew how to use magnets in the form of compasses to show them where they were going. Compasses are fascinating instruments. In fact, when thinking about it, the concept of a magnetic field on the surface of the earth, which is what allows compasses to function, is in itself a fascinating phenomenon.
Although fascinating, a compass is very simple in the way that it works. A magnet, suspended and light enough to be influenced by the magnetic field in which it finds itself, will automatically line up with the north-south line of that magnetic field. If the only magnetic field in the magnet's sphere happens to be that of the earth's, you have a simple compass.
So if compasses are simple enough in design, how about making your own? Well, it just so happens that outlined below is a method to make a workable compass, using mostly materials found around the home...
What you going to need...

• 2 fairly large sewing needles (please be careful with them, these little things have been known to be quite sharp!).
• A piece of cardboard (at least 10cm x 10cm).
• A cork.
• Scissors, pencil, ruler, marker or pen, wood glue and a compass - not like the one you are making but the thing you use to draw circles - or something round, about 10cm in diameter.
• Something solid to balance the compass on, like a piece of off-cut wood.
• A bar magnet.

How to make the compass...

• Using the necessary stationary, cut out a circle from the cardboard, about 10cm across.
• Now cut a circle out the center of the circle of cardboard about 1 to 1,5cm across. The easiest way to do this is to fold the circle in half, find the midpoint using a ruler, draw a half circle around the midpoint, and then cut it out before unfolding it again.
• Use the pen and ruler to divide it into 4 quarters. At each end of the lines write the 4 main points of a compass, N, E, S, W (in a clockwise direction). This is your compass face.
• Cut a strip of cardboard about 7cm long and 1cm wide, and fold it in half.
• Stick a cork onto a solid foundation with wood glue.
• Push the one needle into the cork so that it is sticking up. Wrap some cellotape around it - this is to insulate it so that the magnetized needle doesn't stick to it.
• Magnetize the other needle by rubbing the bar magnet down the needle about 40-50 times. Always start at the same end and lift the magnet away from the needle to take it back and rub it again, always in the same direction.
• Push the magnetized needle through the folded, straight piece of cardboard at the "loose" ends so that you can open up the loose ends with the needle holding them open.
• Place the "compass face" onto the joined end of the straight cardboard, with the needle along the N-S line.
• Balance the compass on the needle sticking into the cork at the folded end of the straight piece of cardboard.

Once the compass has been set up, as long as the compass face is placed in the right direction and the needle remains magnetized, the compass will always swing to show the correct direction.
And, so, along with the sailors of old, you can, with your rustic compass, navigate your way home through the urban jungle safely to your home. With your newly acquired compass manufacturing skills, who needs a GPS?

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Fun Science Projects - Make a Burglar Alarm

Fun Science Projects - Make a Burglar Alarm

  5:31:00 PM    Science Lover

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Fun science projects are those that teach you something about science and at the same time allow you to make something useful and fun. This is one of those projects!

The job of a burglar alarm is basically to tell you when someone who shouldn't be in your house has come in - not so. And where will these nasties come in? Through a door or window - right? So if we can make something that will tell us when a door or window has been opened that should not have been opened, we would know when someone, who shouldn't be coming in, is in fact coming in - right?

So how are you going to pull this off without some specialized equipment.

Easy...

You are going to use simple circuit that when closed with a switch will set off an alarm. The switch is going to be a clothes peg!

First up - what you are going to need:

• Approximately a meter of flexi-wire
• A 9V battery (the correct scientific term is a cell)
• A 9V battery (cell) holder
• A wooden clothes peg
• 2 thumb tacks
• A sharp knife
• Electrical insulation tape
• An small electric buzzer

And here is how it is done -

• Strip about 1cm of the plastic insulation off the one end of both wires of the flexi-wire using the sharp knife.
• Attach both wires of the one end of the flexi-wire to the battery holder by joining the wires together and then wrapping insulation tape around the joins.
• To the other end attach the buzzer in much the same way as you did the battery holder. To check if all is good up till now, if you attach the battery the buzzer should sound.
• About half way down the wire cut one of the wires in half, leaving the other one in tact. Strip the ends so that about a centimeter of wire is exposed.
• Press the thumb tacks onto the inside of the opening end of the clothes peg. Before you push them all the way in, place the end of the wire you have just stripped under each of the thumb tacks and push them in hard so that the wire is held there.
• Attach the battery. If everything is attached correctly, with the clothes peg closed, the buzzer should buzz. If it does not, you need to check your connections on the battery, buzzer and peg.
• Once everything is working, open the clothes peg and jam it into the gap of a door and it's frame or in a slightly open window.
• Alternatively, put a piece of cardboard or paper between the thumb-tacks that has a string attached. The other end of this string can be attached to anything that is going to move, with the idea that if that object is moved the cardboard is pulled from between the thumb-tacks.
• Once the thumb-tacks touch - if all is in working order, the buzzer will alarm you to something out of the ordinary.

And hey presto - a simple, but very effective burglar alarm.

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Web-Based Interface For Molecular Docking

Web-Based Interface For Molecular Docking

  5:29:00 PM    Science Lover

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Docking Server windows are organized into three modules following the basic steps of docking calculations:

(1) Protein set-up
(2) Ligand set-up
(3) Docking Calculation.

The user can create its own ligand, protein and dockings folder so that the ligands, proteins and dockings can be saved and organized for later use.

Protein set-up

The protein can be uploaded as a pdb file, or can directly be downloaded (after keyword search in the database if needed) from Protein Data Bank (www.rcsb.org). At this step the user can choose whether to include water molecules or any other heteroatoms present in the pdb file in the docking calculation. Add heteroatoms to my ligands command allows the adding of molecules present in the pdb files to the ligand folder. In the next step, the simulation box can be chosen. The simulation box can be either selected to cover only a known ligand binding site, or the whole target protein. Exact coordinates can be given as center of simula¬tion box similarly as in Autodock. In addition, Docking Server allows the user to define amino acids or heteroatoms present in the uploaded pdb file as center or borders of the simulation box.

Ligand set-up

The ligands can be uploaded or directly drawn. Besides single ligands, multiple ligands in sdf files can also be uploaded so that to enable high throughput docking of ligand libraries. The user can chose the desired pH affecting the protonation state of the ligand and whether semiempirical charges and optimization should be carried out during the process of ligand preparation.

Protein Ligand Docking

In the docking window the user can choose multiple ligands and/or dockings for the docking calculation. The docking calculation can be started using the default parameters; moreover, it is also possible to manually set docking parameters for more advanced users.

Finally, docking results are automatically processed in different ways to offer better understanding of the results:

1, resulting docking energies, frequencies and downloadable pdb coordinates are summarized in a table;
2, figures of the calculated ligand-protein complexes are automatically generated by VMD or can be manually rendered using the Jmol applet;
3, ligand-protein interaction tables are automatically generated that helps identify the driving forces of the complexation;
4, HB-plots (Bikadi, et al., 2007) are automatically generated to interpret the effects of the binding on the whole protein structure; 5, The applied methods and the according references are summarized.

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Molecular Docking Server

Molecular Docking Server

  5:28:00 PM    Science Lover

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Analysis of the mode of interaction between ligands and their target proteins is of crucial importance in order to explore different aspects of biochemical processes. Besides laboratory experiments, there is an emerging role of in-silico methods in investigating the interactions of ligands to proteins.

In-silico study of protein-ligand interaction involves molecular docking, where the binding energy and geometry of ligands, substrates or possible drug candidates to target proteins is predicted using computational chemistry methods.

The task in molecular docking assignments is to find the best ligand protein complex geometry. The problem is usually seen as an optimization task where the goal is to minimize the intermolecular interaction energy between the two molecules of interest. Since the possible number of ligand- protein complex geometry is usually very large, different algorithms are used in order to accurately explore the space of possible conformations while decreasing the computational power needed for the docking calculation at the same time.

Thus, a molecular docking calculation consists of the following steps:

(1) Optimization of the ligand geometry, calculate pH-dependent partial charges, identify rotatable bonds and

(2) Calculate electrostatic properties of the protein of interest and define the ligand-binding region,

(3) The ligand-protein interaction is then calculated by a scoring function that includes terms and equations that describe the intermolecular energies. The result of a docking calculation is a ligand-protein complex geometry and the corresponding binding energy. Therefore, for accurate interpretation of the results, a high-quality representation of the complex geometry is of great importance as well

(4)DockingServer integrates a number of computational chemistry software specifically aimed at correctly calculating parameters needed at different steps of the docking procedure, i.e. accurate ligand geometry optimization, energy minimization, charge calculation, docking calculation and protein-ligand complex representation.

Thus, the use of DockingServer allows the user to carry out highly efficient and robust docking calculation, which could not be achieved using single software so far. Since the calculations run on our servers, the use of DockingServer does not require powerful hardware or pre-installed software from the user.

The core of DockingServer web application is our integrating PHP software connected to a MySQL database, where the different tasks are automatically managed by daemons running on our servers and the input data will be read from the database and output data will be directed into the database.

The AutoGrid/AutoDock 4.0 (Morris, et al., 1998) program package is used for docking calculations, allowing docking of flexible ligands to proteins. With the help of Autodock program package the partial charges and atom types of the ligand and proteins can be assigned. However, the results of docking calculations strongly depend on the accuracy of charges calculated in the ligand.

Thus, besides offering ligand partial charge calculation with the Auto-Dock program package DockingServer also integrates calculator plug-ins from Chemaxon (Csizmadia, 2000) and the MOPAC2007 program (Stewart, 2007) for accurate pH-dependent protonation and ligand partial charge calculation. Moreover, geometry optimization, refinement of the ligand geometry using semiempirical methods (PM6) can be carried out. Automatic conversions between necessary file formats are achieved by Chemaxon tools.

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World 1st: Two-arm transplant

World 1st: Two-arm transplant

  11:04:00 AM    Science Lover

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Yeh haath mujhe de de thakur, screamed Gabbar Singh even as he chopped off the hands of the man who had once nabbed him and sent him to jail. Watching thakur (Sanjeev Kumar) wrapped in a shawl, stoic and helpless, is among the most indelible images of Sholay, Bollywood's biggest blockbuster ever. Now consider this. What if technology helped give thakur a new pair of arms? Would he still have hired Viru and Jai to capture Gabbar? Or would he have himself embarked on a mission of revenge.

Well, such a possibility is no longer in the realm of fantasy. A German medical team said on Friday that it had performed what it called the world's first transplant of two full arms, on a farmer who had lost both his limbs in an accident. The donor was a 15-year-old boy who had died before the farmer's operation. The patient, 54, was "doing well under the circumstances" after the 15-hour operation on July 25-26, a spokeswoman for the clinic at the Technical University in Munich said.



The amputee, who had lived without arms for six years since the accident, consulted the 40-member team at the university's Rechts der Isar Clinic after two failed attempts to use artificial prostheses. "The man required round-the-clock assistance — a condition he wanted to change as quickly as possible," the clinic said.



The head of the transplant team, Christoph Hoehnke, said he was deeply moved as the man's wife went to his bedside after the operation and instinctively reached for his hands. "They look just like they used to," she said.



Two years before new hands get fully functional



Doctors said it could take two years before he "really has feeling in his fingertips again" because the transplanted nerves must still grow.



The facility has a decades-old unit for microsurgery and replantation surgery, with a speciality in interdisciplinary operations it said was essential for a procedure of this complexity. Professor Hans-Guenther Machens had prepared the transplant since he became the clinic's director in December.







Doctors said suppressing the man's immune system so it would not reject the new limbs was a key concern. Another challenge was finding a donor who matched the patient's sex, age, skin colour, size and blood type.



Five teams working in two operating rooms gathered at 10.00pm the night of the operation, divided between the patient and the donor, who had died only hours before.



The first step was to expose the muscle, nerves and blood vessels to be connected. Before the bones of the donor could be cut, blood vessels in his arms were filled with a cooled preservation solution.



Both arms were then removed exactly at the point matching the patient's arm stumps. First the bones were joined, then arteries and veins to ensure blood circulation as quickly as possible.



"The arms quickly resumed their rosy colour," the spokeswoman said. The surgeons then attached the muscles and tendons, then the nerves and finally the skin.



The doctors will now monitor how the wounds heal and whether infections, side effects from medication or any other rejection by the immune system occurs.

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