A toxin isolated from the Togo starburst tarantula provides new insights into pain mechanisms and could lead to new treatments for irritable bowel syndrome

With their large, hairy bodies and long legs, tarantulas are an arachnophobe’s worst nightmare. For pain researchers, however, these outsized spiders are a dream come true: Their venom contains a cocktail of toxins, each of which activates pain-sensing nerve fibres in different ways, and researchers in the United States have now identified one such toxin that will help them to better understand pain, and could also lead to treatments for the chronic pain associated with irritable bowel syndrome.

Physical pain signals are transmitted from the body to the brain by specialised sensory neurons called nociceptors. These pain-sensing neurons have cell bodies located just outside the spinal cord, and possess a single conductive fibre that splits in two, with one branch extending out towards the skin surface, and the shorter one entering the back of the cord.

Related: Uncomfortably numb: The people who feel no pain

Related: Researchers identify gatekeeper neurons that control pain and itch

New research shows that the rhythm of breathing directly impacts neural activity in a network of brain areas involved in smell, memory and emotions

The rhythm of breathing co-ordinates electrical activity across a network of brain regions associated with smell, memory, and emotions, and can enhance their functioning, according to a new study by researchers at Northwestern University. The findings, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, suggest that breathing does not merely supply oxygen to the brain and body, but may also organise the activity of populations of cells within multiple brain regions to help orchestrate complex behaviours.

Related: Your nose knows death is imminent | Mo Costandi

Related: A cooler way to evaluate brain surgery patients

New research provides evidence for the idea that sleep restores cellular homeostasis in the brain and helps us to forget irrelevant information

We spend one third of our lives sleeping, but we still do not know exactly why we sleep. Recent research shows that that the brain does its housekeeping while we sleep, and clears away its waste. According to another hypothesis, sleep plays the vital role of restoring the right balance of brain synapses to enhance learning, and two studies published in today’s issue of Science now provide the most direct evidence yet for this idea.

We do know that sleep is important for consolidating newly formed memories. During waking hours, we learn all kinds of new information, both consciously and unconsciously. To store it, the brain modifies large numbers of synaptic connections, making some of them stronger and larger, and it’s now thought that as we sleep other synapses are weakened or destroyed, so that the important new information is stored for later use, while irrelevant material, which could interfere with learning, is not.

Related: The Homer Simpson effect: forgetting to remember

Related: How to optimise your brain's waste disposal system

Researchers at MIT have developed a new method of electrically stimulating deep brain tissues without opening the skull

Since 1997, more than 100,000 Parkinson’s Disease patients have been treated with deep brain stimulation (DBS), a surgical technique that involves the implantation of ultra-thin wire electrodes. The implanted device, sometimes referred to as a ‘brain pacemaker’, delivers electrical pulses to a structure called the subthalamic nucleus, located near the centre of the brain, and effectively alleviates many of the physical symptoms of the disease, such as tremor, muscle rigidity, and slowed movements.

DBS is generally safe but, like any surgical procedure, comes with some risks. First and foremost, it is highly invasive, requiring small holes to be drilled in the patient’s skull, through which the electrodes are inserted. Potential complications of this include infection, stroke, and bleeding on the brain. The electrodes, which are implanted for long periods of time, sometimes move out of place; they can also cause swelling at the implantation site; and the wire connecting them to the battery, typically placed under the skin of the chest, can erode, all of which require additional surgical procedures.

Related: Blowing up the brain to reveal its finer details

Related: Traces of memory in a dish | Mo Costandi

I say - Lock everything down, as we are, and keep everything locked down for years  This way, what every these people are complaining about will be long gone 

I'm a Japanese,struggling to catch English. Exa: V/B, we don't have the similar sound of V. so both sounds B. Can native English speakers always hear the difference of B/V even in France,Spanish or other Europe language?

I just got sent an electronic message from one of the employers stating that I am unsuitable for the role based on my police record. I'm under the impression some people are still choosing to impersonate me on several job search engines by giving each employer the idea I'm an ex-con with work skills that came out of prison. Is there a chance they can see my old name?

Feminism is a lie and useless in modern America, patriarchy is a good thing and natural order of society. Women be like I'm oppressed cause I don't always get my way and choose careers that pay less

British airlines said they have been told the government is planning a 14-day quarantine for anyone arriving there from any country other Ireland.

Tesla filed a lawsuit Saturday against Alameda County, Calif., and CEO Elon Musk threatened to move the company's headquarters and operations out of state.

This report assesses how new immigrants to Spain fare in the country's labor market, evaluating the conditions under which they are able to find employment, and their progress out of unskilled work into middle-skilled jobs. The report is part of a series of six case studies on labor market outcomes among immigrants to European Union countries.

Many of Sweden's immigrants are refugees who lack the skills and education to gain employment soon after they arrive. Over time, however, newcomers to Sweden have improved their employment rates, displayed income growth similar to natives, and moved from low- to middle-skilled positions. This report assesses how new immigrants—refugees, labor migrants, and others—fare in Sweden's labor market.

This report analyzes how recent immigrants to France fare in the country's labor market over time. The research shows that new arrivals initially face a hostile labor market and ultimately improve their employment outcomes—but their process of labor market insertion and advancement is a slow one.

This report analyzes the labor market integration of recent immigrants to the United Kingdom. During the 2000s, a large influx of labor from Eastern European countries transformed the United Kingdom's immigrant population and labor market. The report finds that over time, these new arrivals showed some progress in moving out of the lowest-skilled jobs.

Sweden’s strong economic record continues to be marred by its struggles to integrate immigrants, especially those who come through humanitarian or family channels. This report describes how Sweden is trying to overcome these labor market integration challenges and analyzes how successful its workforce development and integration policies have been in helping immigrants progress from low-skilled work to middle-skilled jobs.

This report presents an overview of Czech integration policies, with a special focus on economic integration. It focuses on policies designed to support migrants’ incorporation in the Czech labor market, and assesses the extent to which these policies facilitate migrants’ upward mobility into more skilled work.

Despite a robust mainstream workforce development system offering job-search and other employment assistance to newcomers, immigrants in France are more likely to be unemployed or in low-skilled work than their native-born peers. This report examines how well recent changes to integration policy, in combination with mainstream employment policies, are supporting migrants' integration and advancement in the labor market.

Against the backdrop of an aging population and shrinking labor force, German policymakers have been giving greater priority to policies that ensure that immigrants are able to make their way into middle-skilled work. This report assesses recent policy developments designed to facilitate the labor market advancement of new arrivals in Germany.

Part of a series exploring issues likely to be addressed by the new National Integration Plan, this webinar, with perspectives from the cities of New York and Seattle and others delves into possible recommendations on federal coordination of local government immigrant integration initiatives, including language access. 

Part of a series exploring issues likely to be addressed by the new National Integration Plan, this webinar, with perspectives from the cities of New York and Seattle and others examines possible recommendations on federal coordination of local government immigrant integration initiatives, including language access. 

A discussion with the Director of The White House Domestic Policy Council on the content of the new National Integration Plan delivered to the President by the recently created White House Task Force on New Americans, along with the plan for implementation.

A discussion with the Director of The White House Domestic Policy Council on the content of the new National Integration Plan delivered to the President by the recently created White House Task Force on New Americans, along with the plan for implementation.

Ahead of National Citizenship Day, this commentary examines how regulations for the implementation of the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) at state and local levels could jeopardize citizenship preparation services for millions of immigrants across the United States.

Whether driven by pragmatism, local laws, or federal civil-rights provisions, state and local governments and agencies across the United States increasingly have designed and implemented language access services (i.e. translation and interpretation) in response to growing Limited English Proficient populations. This commentary argues it is time for the federal government to follow suit.

Testimony of Muzaffar Chishti, Director of MPI's Office at New York University Law School, before the House Homeland Security Committee. 

Testimony of Muzaffar Chishti, Director of MPI's office in New York, before the House Judiciary Committee.

Testimony of Demetrios G. Papademetriou, MPI President, before the Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives.

Testimony of Marc R. Rosenblum, Deputy Director, U.S. Immigration Program, before the House Committee on Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oversight and Management Efficiency.

Letter submitted by Marc R. Rosenblum, Deputy Director, U.S. Immigration Program, at the request of the Minority Staff of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee for the February 25, 2015 joint subcommittee hearing reviewing apprehension, detention, and release policies regarding unauthorized immigrants.

The NHL is about as old-school as it gets, and Evander Kane is pushing to change that.

The city of Yellowknife is hoping make repairs to a local memorial garden this summer, after it has been the target of vandalism and has fallen into disrepair for a variety of reasons in recent years.

The Nova Scotia government is going ahead with its annual lottery for moose hunting licences after the latest survey found Cape Breton moose numbers have rebounded from a low of 1,300 last year.

A group that says pandemic-related restrictions are more harmful than COVID-19 itself held a rally at the Manitoba Legislative Building on Saturday.

Chronic rejection of transplanted organs is the leading cause of transplant failure, and one that the field of organ transplantation has not overcome in almost six decades since the advent of immunosuppressive drugs enabled the field to flourish.

George Mason University professor Elise Miller-Hooks and her team have been studying and modeling the flow of patients through American hospitals in times of crisis since 2014.

Staff and visitors at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown were asked to fill in the blank. "When COVID-19 is over, I am going to …" Some of the answers are both heartwarming and hilarious.

(May 1, 2020) On April 24, 2020, the Russian government portal for legal information published the text of the newly adopted Law on Amending the Law on Citizenship. (Federal Law No. 134-FZ of April 24, 2020, Concerning the Simplification of the Procedure for Acquisition of Russian Citizenship.) The new law, which will enter into force […]

(May 1, 2020) On April 24, 2020, Singapore’s chief justice announced an extension to June 1, 2020, of the period during which the courts of Singapore would hear only essential and urgent matters in order to slow local transmission of COVID-19. On the same day, the Supreme Court, state courts, and family justice courts each […]

(May 4, 2020) On April 29, 2020, the Swedish National Prosecutor announced that it is investigating a workplace environment crime (arbetsmiljöbrott) after a nurse working at Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm died of COVID-19. The investigation comes following a report by the local safety representative (skyddsombud), who reportedly claimed that the hospital lacked the appropriate […]

(May 5, 2020) On April 11, 2020, Panama published a law allowing its legislative assembly to conduct virtual sessions in cases of a national emergency or other situations that prevent the assembly from meeting in regular fashion. The original bill of this law explained that, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, it became necessary […]

(May 5, 2020) On March 28, 2020, Colombian President Iván Duque Márquez issued Legislative Decree 491/2020, which permits governmental bodies, including the legislature, to conduct business virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic. Article 12 of the decree allows for remote sessions in which members can deliberate by any means (por cualquier medio) and make decisions by […]

(May 6, 2020) On April 16, 2020, the Norwegian government launched a smartphone app to track the spread of the coronavirus in Norway. By downloading the app, users voluntarily allow the app to track their physical location and notify them if they have been in close proximity to a person who later becomes infected with […]

(May 7, 2020) On February 18, 2020, Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benítez signed Law No. 6501/2020, amending Law No. 4743/2012 Regulating Political Financing. Law No. 6501 creates a unit within the Superior Court of Electoral Justice (Tribunal Superior de Justicia Electoral, TSJE) to be in charge of arranging, coordinating, and supervising policies and procedures to prevent […]

Former U.S. president Barack Obama harshly criticized President Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic as an "absolute chaotic disaster" during a conversation with ex-members of his administration, according to a recording obtained by Yahoo News.

The singer-composer, who has collaborated with quite a few international names in music, has his plans firmly in place.

Kartik Aaryan has been quite active on social media in raising awareness about the pandemic and at the same time requesting all his fans to stay indoors. Not only that but the talented star has also come out in support of the government and contributed...