Volcanic Ash Adds New Dimension to Conference
Research Points to Possibilities
in ADHD Studies An Australian-German team of scientists at Freie Universität and the Queensland Brain Institute in Brisbane, Australia, has found a way to measure the attention span of a fly which could lead to further advances in the understanding of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism in humans.
The Eyjafjallajokull glacier and volcano in southern Iceland
In a timely presentation, Dr Graham Rideal of Whitehouse Scientific will give a paper on particle size calibration at the next meeting of the Particle Characterisation Interest Group of The Royal Society of Chemistry, held on 17 June 2010 in Castle Donington, UK.
Particles have enjoyed a wide press in recent weeks thanks to the disruption to air travel caused by volcanic ash over Europe. “This conference is particularly relevant at the moment,” said Dr Rideal, “as there has been some rather unscientific speculation and comment in the media about the size of particles in dust clouds and the potential damage that can be caused to aircraft engines.”
While the main focus of the one-day meeting is particle characterisation by image analysis, Professor Richard Holdich of Loughborough University will, in his plenary lecture, discuss the particle size of the dust cloud and touch on the methods used to measure it.
As part of his own presentation Dr Rideal will be looking at particulates and aircraft from a slightly different point of view, introducing a new test method for calibrating fuel lines.
In a packed programme for the day, leading industry experts will describe the latest techniques for particle size analysis from millimetre to nanometer sizes. There will be a poster session and displays from providers of image analysis systems.
The conference is open to anyone and full details are available at:
www.particle-imaging.net/
index.html
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Associate Professor Bruno van Swinderen at the Queensland Brain Institute in Brisbane and Dr. Björn Brembs at Freie Universität combined genetic techniques with brain recordings and behavioural testing. They found different mutations that either increase or decrease a fly's attention span.
Using the genetic fruit fly model, Drosophila melanogaster, van Swinderen found that a fly's level of distractibility is finely tuned to allow "normal" behavioural responses to a constantly changing environment. He said, "We now have the two ends of an attention spectrum in our model. We have a fly memory mutant that is hard to distract and another fly
memory mutant that's too distractible. They both have the same result - they don't learn well but for completely different reasons, not unlike human patients afflicted with autism and ADHD."
The fruit flies were fed methylphenidate, which is sold under the brand name Ritalin and is used to treat patients with ADHD. The researchers found the drug had similar effects on fruit flies as it did on people: it helped the distractible flies to pay attention to visual stimuli.
"It suggests there may be similar pathways in the brains of fruit flies and humans, which means we now have a simple reductionist model, with all the genetic tools that go along with it, to try to understand what exactly this drug is doing," according to van Swinderen. Heisenberg fellow Brembs agrees: "These surprising parallels between insects and humans may point to a general, common functional organisation of brains."
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Lee Osheroff Richardson Prize Winner Announced
Oxford Instruments is pleased to announce the 2010 winner of the Lee Osheroff Richardson North American Science Prize is Dr Vivien Zapf, from the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Los Alamos.
Dr Zapf is recognised for notable achievements in making the definitive experimental verific- ation of the applicability of the Bose-Einstein condensation universality class to magnetic field-induced phases in quantum magnets, requiring the development of experimental techniques at ultra-low temperatures. Dr Zapf graduated at the University of California and
From left to right: Dr Greg Boebinger, Dr Vivien Zapf and Nobel Prize winner Dr David Lee.
then took a postdoctoral position at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Dr Zapf has been presented with the prize by the Nobel Prize winner Dr Lee at the Oxford Instruments “Socialise with Science” event at the APS2010 March show in Portland, USA.
Professor Bruce Gaulin from Mc Master University and Prize Committee Chairman commented: “Dr Vivien S. Zapf was selected from a very strong cohort of nominees. Her selection was in recognition of her careful and innovative work at low temperatures and high magnetic fields, which
elucidated the nature of the Bose-Einstein condensate in the quantum magnet NiCl2-4SC(NH2)2 and for sustained contributions to the low temperature characterisation of new materials.”
The Lee Osheroff Richardson North American Science Prize, endorsed by the British Embassy Washington DC, is named after David M. Lee, Douglas D. Osheroff and Robert C. Richardson who were joint winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1996, for their discovery of superfluidity in 3He. The prize winner receives $8000, a unique trophy and certificate and the opportunity to present their work at a conference. Nominations are assessed by a committee of senior scientists from across North America.
Previous winners of the prize are Dr Christian Lupien, Dr Jason Petta, Dr Suchitra Sebastian and Dr Eunseong Kim. TO FIND OUT MORE CIRCLE NO. 8
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