Category: News

  • Onion Extract

    Product Name:Onion Extract
    Plant origin: Allium cepa

    Specificaton:1%Quercetin
    Molecular Formula: C15H10O7

    Products Introduction: Onion is a term used for many plants in the genus Allium. it usually refers to Allium cepa. Allium cepa is also known as the “garden onion” or “bulb” onion. It is grown underground by the plant as a vertical shoot that is used for food storag.

    Wide-ranging claims have been made for the effectiveness of onions against conditions ranging from the common cold to heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, and other diseases.

    They contain chemical compounds believed to have anti-inflammatory, anticholesterol, anticancer, and antioxidant properties such as quercetin. For all varieties of onions, the more phenols and flavonoids they contain, the more antioxidant and anti-cancer activity they provide And Some studies have shown that increased consumption of onions reduces the risk of head and neck cancer.

  • Aescin (Escin)

    Product Name:Aescin(Escin)

    Plant origin: Horse Chestnut P.E.
    Aesculus hippocastanum

    Specificaton:98%,95%,20%
    Molecular Formula: C55H86O24
    Molecular Weight: 1131.26
    CAS Registry Number: 6805-41-0

    Horse chestnut is a common deciduous tree.extracts of the seeds of the chestnut are also known as “Aesculus hippocastanum”, “Escin” or “Aescin” and sometimes by its German name, “Rosskastanie”. Horse chestnut seeds extract have been used traditionally to treat both hemorrhoids and varicose veins, and while horse chestnut seed which have beneficial health properties which can help to reduce fluid retention,extracts could strengthen the veins to prevent leakage of fluid out of the vessels and into the tissue space – which would lead to swelling.

    Action:
    1.Symptoms of fluid retention
    2.Varicous Veins
    3.Haemorrhoids
    4.Nosebleeds
    5.Sprains And Strains
    6.Anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiedema, venotonic

  • Cassia Bark Extract

    Product Name:Cassia Bark Extract
    Plant origin: Cinnamomum cassia Nees(C.cassia) Bark P.E. Cortex Cinnamomi

    Specificaton: 95%MHCP(methylhydroxy chalcone polymer)

    Products Introduction: Cassia bark is in the form of long,cylindrical pieces, thin, smooth, and of a yellow-brown color, with a fragrant odor, and a warm, sweetish, aromatic and slightly astringent taste. It contains a volatile oil, a slight amount of tannic acid, an acid peculiar to itself, cinnamic acid, mucilage, lignin, etc.There are two main varieties of cinnamon:

    Cinnamomum cassia and Cinnamomum zeylanicum in the world.. C. cassia has a stronger taste, is darker, and is the predominate form found in the China.
    Cinnamon is chiefly used as an adjunct to other medicines, being seldom prescribed alone, though it is capable of allaying nausea and vomiting, and also relieving flatulence. Combined with chalk and with other astringents, it is well adapted for the treatment of diarrhoea

    Recently,scientist find the Cassia Bark can help the lipocyte distinguish from insulin and reaction with it. MHCP is one of the compound in Cassia Bark, it can be tone up the lipocyte to reactive the conjunct enzyme of the insulin and cell, and it can restrict the activity of this enzyme during the above process.

    Action:
    1.prevent type II diabetes
    2.lower blood pressure
    3.help arthritis
    4.stimulant
    5.astringent
    6.aromatic properties
    7.ingredient of dentifrices

  • Raspberry Extract

    Product Name:Raspberry Extract
    Plant origin: Rubus idaeus

    Specificaton: 5% Flavone

    Products Introduction: Raspberry is usually called tray or mountain berry. And sometimes people call it Malinguo .It also gets its name Fupenzi in Chinese medicine. There are several colors in fruits, red, yellow, purple and black red. Raspberry has grown in many parts of the world from Western Europe to the United States as well as China for hundreds of years.

    Today, the fruits and its by-products of the raspberry are being taken widely, domestically as daily commodities by people and abroad. They usually used in the production of milk, bread, ice-cream, sandwich and drinks. Moreover, raspberry is also used to make essences and other chemical products as well.

    People usually regard pear, apple, orange, peach, grape et c, as the first generation fruit and label strawberry, Chinese gooseberry and haw etc as the second generation fruit. Blue berry and raspberry usually are called the third generation fruit. Richness in nutrition characterizes the third generation fruit which is mainly consumed through all sorts of processed food.

    Raspberry fruits are soft, juicy, sweet-scented and colorful. The content of amino acid in raspberry is much more than that in apple and grape, which includes SOD9, vitamin E and especially rich in ellagic acid. Red raspberry candy content can reach to about 10%, mainly is the glucose and fructose that human body can absorb, the organic sour content exceeds 2%, main is citric and apple acid.

    Red raspberry also has many nutritious materials such as Anthocyanin, flavone, salicylic acid and coffee acid, they have the function to preventing and curing the cardiovascular diseases.The salicylic acid of raspberry can be served as diaphoretic to treat cold, influenza,
    angina, faucitis,and cellulosic content contributes to preventing and curing the heart disease,can reduce the cholesterol in the blood, preventing and curing the diabetes too, keep the level of the glucose in the blood.

    Red raspberry fruit also have strong function to suppress cancer cell grow, it is listed as the invincible opponent of the cancer in USA . The research made by Helings Cancer Center of Minnesota University and Medical University of South Carolina shows that red raspberry is a type of food effective to cure the cancer and have special curative effect to cure the colon cancer, cervical cancer, breast cancer and pancreas cancer.

    Action:
    1.Preventing and curing the cardiovascular diseases
    2.Preventing and curing the heart disease
    3.Can reduce the cholesterol in the blood
    4.Preventing and curing the diabetes
    5.Ssuppress cancer cell grow
    6.Effect to cure the colon cancer, cervical cancer, breast cancer and pancreas cancer

  • Rose hip Extract

    Product Name:Rose hip Extract
    Plant origin: Rosa rugosa Thunb

    Specificaton: 10% polyphenols 20%flavone
    Products Introduction: Rose hips are the berry-like fruits of the rose bush left behind after the bloom has died. They are typically red or orange, but may also be dark purple to black in some species. Rose hips have a tangy, fruity flavor similar to that of cranberries

    Rose hips of some species, especially the Dog Rose (Rosa canina) and Rugosa Rose (Rosa rugosa), are a rich source of vitamin C.,which have higher content than citrus fruit. During World War II when imports of citrus products to Great Britain were limited, tons of rose hips were harvested there from the wild to make rose hip syrup as a vitamin C supplement for children.Rosehips are commonly used to make herbal teas,in addition to their culinary uses, roses were also valued for their medicinal properties

    Rosehips contain high levels of antioxidant flavonoids with known anti-inflammatory properties.The anti-inflammatory properties of rose hips have recently been shown to be useful in the treatment of patients suffering from knee or hip osteoarthritis.Rose hips also
    contain carotenoid pigments, plant sterols, tocotrienols and a very high level of anthocyanins,catechins and other polyphenolics, known phytochemicals to protect against cancer and cardiovascular disease (CVD).

    The rose hips are a traditional diuretic and laxative, useful in the treatment of influenza-like infections, diarrhea, and various urinary tract disorders.

    Action:
    1.Treatment of patients suffering from knee or hip osteoarthritis.
    2.Protect against cancer
    3.Protect against cardiovascular disease (CVD).
    4.Antioxidant
    5.Diuretic and laxative
    6.Treatment of influenza-like infections, diarrhea
    7.Treatment of various urinary tract disorders

  • Evodiamine

    Product Name: Evodiamine

    Plant origin: Medicinal Evodia P.E., Fructus Evodiae

    Specificaton:98%,50%,30%

    Molecular Formula: C19H17N3 O

    Molecular Weight: 303.36

    CAS Registry Number: 518-17-2

    Structure: Products Introduction: Clinical experiment indicated that Evodiae extracts is effective to cure Alzheimer disease and apoplexy; Mr. Jianfu Cheng, the director of China

    Medicine Research Institute, declared that Evodiae extract has same effect as synthetic medicine for hypertension, because Evodiae extract can promote the excitation of inner wall of blood-vessel, open the access for Calcic-ion and release CO thus relax blood-vessel and reduce blood pressure.

    Action:
    1.Remove cold
    2.Relieve pain and diarrhea
    3.Cure dermatophytosis, toothache, hypertension, vomit, constipation, abscess
    4.Alzheimer disease.

  • Toshiba to roll out REGZA TVs with built-in Blu-ray players

    toshiba_blu_ray_tv

    Toshiba’s first Blu-ray recorders are on their way, and the company also announced [JP] new TVs with built-in Blu-ray players today. While these TVs are nothing new (in Japanese stores, at least), it’s the first time for Toshiba to offer devices like this. A recording function would have made sense, but you can only watch Blu-rays on the TVs. At least, it’s possible to connect external hard discs via USB and record video on those.

    There will be two models, the REGZA 32R1BDP with a 32-inch screen (pictured) and the REGZA 26R1BDP with a 26-inch screen. Both feature WXGA resolution (1366×76), digital and analogue TV tuners, an HDMI interface, LAN connectivity, and two USB ports. The 32-incher has a contrast ratio of 4,000:1 and 10W×2ch speakers, while the smaller one features a contrast ratio of 3,000:1 and comes with 5W×2ch speakers.

    Both TVs will go on sale in Japan next month. Prices: $1,400 for the 32-inch model and $1,200 for the smaller one. Toshiba hasn’t said anything yet about international sales.


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  • Berlik Foundation Gift Supports Technology in UT’s Business Building

    KNOXVILLE — The Len & Laura Berlik Foundation Inc., a private foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life in communities important to the Berlik family, has made a generous gift to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, College of Business Administration to support technology in the college’s James A. Haslam II Business Building.

    “The effective use of technology is critical if you want to compete in today’s global marketplace,” Berlik said. “The Haslam Business Building is a tremendous facility, and we hope that our gift will enable the college to remain on the leading edge.”

    The Berlik gift is part of the Campaign for Tennessee, the university’s $1 billion fundraising effort.

    Len Berlik has strong ties to the College of Business Administration. Graduating in 1969 with honors, he credits the college with jumpstarting his business career.

    “The most vivid memory of my college experience is being a co-op student,” he said. “At that time, co-op was fairly common in engineering, but not in business. UT had one of the few co-op programs in the country for business students.

    “For three years, I worked with Supermarkets General Corp. in New Jersey, alternating work quarters with study quarters. The business experience was great, but the real benefit was in the experience of living and working on my own. The program also extended my horizons beyond Tennessee, resulting in a career that took me and my family all around the world.”

    After graduation, Berlik served in the U.S. Army Reserve before starting his 40-year career in the chemical industry. He worked for Monsanto, National Starch and Imperial Chemical Industries PLC, living and working throughout Europe and Asia. Since 2007, he has been a management consultant, primarily working with private equity firms that invest in the chemical industry.

    Berlik has returned to campus as a guest lecturer in international business and global strategy classes and in the college’s Executive-In-Residence program, which provides business professionals the opportunity to interact with the college’s top undergraduate and graduate students.

    “It is my strong belief that graduates who have enjoyed successful careers should share that success with the institution that provided the basic skills to launch their journey,” Berlik said. “This is particularly important in a time when public funding is declining. I hope that our gift will inspire students to broaden their horizons and consider international business and manufacturing as a very rewarding career choice.”

    The Campaign for Tennessee — the most ambitious effort in the university’s 214-year history — places UT among the ranks of the nation’s largest public and private institutions that have sought this level of private support.

    The campaign, which launched its silent phase in 2005, will secure private gifts that, in turn, will contribute substantially to the distinct, but linked, campuses in the UT system. Funds raised through the campaign will directly support the objectives of UT’s strategic plan. Among those objectives are improved student access and success, research and economic development, outreach and globalization.

    C O N T A C T :

    Cindy Raines (865-974-4359, [email protected])

  • Ursolic acid

    Product Name:Ursolic acid
    Plant origin: Eriobotrya japonica ( Thunb.) Lindl, Ligustrum lucidum Ait.

    Specificaton:25% ,90%,95%

    Molecular formula: C30H48O3

    Products Introduction: Ursolic Acid ,a carboxylic acid present in a wide variety of plants in the form of a free acid or an aglycone of triterpene saponines.It is a pentacyclic triterpenoid compound which naturally occurs in a large number of vegetarian food,medicinal herbs and plants.

    Ursolic acid is also known as Prunol, Malol, Urson, beta-Ursolic acid, NSC4060, CCRIS 7123, CHEBI:9908, TOS-BB-0966, and 3-Beta-Hydroxy-Urs-12-En-28-Oic Acid. As medicine it is well tolerated and can be used topically and orally.

    Ursolic acid treatment improves the health of skin and hair .Ursolic acid and its’ derivatives form oil-resistant barriers on the skin and hair.It has been used to treat photoaged skin,because it inhibits the appearance of wrinkles and age spots by restoring the skin’s

    collagen bundle structures and elasticity. Ursolic acid inhibits the action of elastase enzyme in the skin, thereby preventing the enzyme from attacking structural. proteins.

    Ursolic acid can also serve as a starting material for synthesis of more potent bioactive derivatives, such as anti-tumor agents.

    Action:
    1.Inhibiting various types of cancer cells
    2.Sedation
    3. Antiinflammation
    4.Antibiosis
    5.Antidibetes
    6. Antiulcer

  • Seabuckthron Fruit Extract

    Product Name:Seabuckthron Fruit Extract
    Plant origin: Hippophae fhamnoides L.

    Specificaton:10%-40% Flavone
    Products Introduction: Seabuckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) is one of the oldest plants for 200 million years on the earth, which is Perennial shrub or small arbor .Seabuckthorn mainly grow on the temperate zones of European-Asian Mainland, most of them with high quality were in the Loess Plateau of China。

    In the early year of 2000, the medical treatment of seabuckthorn attracted the doctors from China, Mongol. The holy fruit have been selected into “Pharmacopoeia of People’s Republic of China”,and highly praised to be one of the most hopeful health care food and medicine in 21 century.

    Seabuckthorn berry also contains many antioxidantsvitamins A, B1, B2, C, D and E as well as more obscure vitamins such as K and P. More importantly, it provides a complex network of antioxidants that work together. And nutritionists agree that a balanced, complete approach to antioxidants is the most effective way to combat free radicals, which destroy, damage and mutilate human cells. Seabuckthorn also has many trace minerals that in combination with the complex antioxidant network can help in cell rejuvenation, which slows the aging process

    Action:
    1. Improved the metabolic processes
    2.Reduction of hypertensive stress on the ventricular microvessels
    3.Reduce blood pressure
    4. Reduce blood sugar level

  • Bilberry (blueberry) Extract

    Specificaton:25% anthocyandin
    Molecular Formula: C27H31O16

    Products Introduction: Bilberry is a perennial, ornamental shrub that is commonly found in various climates in damp woodlands and moorlands. and there are over 100 species with similar names and fruit throughout the Europe, Asia and North America, the bilberry grows in Unite state often be called“Blueberry”

    The bilberry contains Vitamins A and C, providing antioxidant protection which can help prevent free radical damage to the eyes. Vitamin A is required for sharp vision, while Vitamin C helps form collagen and is needed for growth and repair of tissue cells and blood vessels.

    Anthocyanosides support and protect collagen structures in the blood vessels of the eyes, assuring strong, healthy capillaries that carry vital nutrients to eye muscles and nerves.

    Bilberry has long been a remedy for poor vision and “night blindness.” .Clinical tests confirm that given orally it improves visual accuracy in healthy people, and can help those with eye diseases such as pigmentosa, retinitis, glaucoma, and myopia. During World War II, British Royal Air Force pilots ate Bilberry preserves before night missions as an aid to night vision.

    Bilberry works by improving the microcirculation and regeneration of retinal purple, a substance required for good eyesight.

    Bilberry is also used in connection with vascular and blood disorders and shows positive effects when treating varicose veins, thrombosis, and angina.

    Action:
    1.Improve circulation to the eyes and help with eye strain and visual acuity
    2.Cure the ocular disease, cataract, glaucoma, hemorrhage of the eyeground
    3.Deal with retinal disturbances, day and night blindness, myopia and pigmentary retinitis
    4.Treat circulation disorders, varicose veins and other venous and arterial problems

  • The iMac iPhone (Concept) [Concepts]

    This subtly updated iPhone concept from mysterious designer hdi is really rocking my world. It mixes aluminum and glass just like an iMac. And in fact, after seeing it, I may be disappointed by whatever iPhone Apple releases next.

    I mean, just imagine the adorable little iMac stand that third parties would make for this phone! I’m getting cute overload just thinking about it.

    Of course, I could do without the iMac’s flickering, yellow screen. But that’s just me, and authenticity might be the better way to go here.







  • Black chokeberry Extract

    Product Name:Black chokeberry Extract

    Plant origin: Aronia Melanocarpa

    Specificaton:10%-25%Anthocyandin
    Products Introduction: Aronia melanocarpa (black chokeberry) is one of the shrubs that invades mesic sand prairies, sometimes forming its own ‘shrub prairie.’ 。Black Chokeberry has attracted scientific interest due to its deep purple, almost black pigmentation that arises from dense contents of phenolic phytochemicals, especially anthocyanins.

    There is growing appreciation for consumers to increase their intake of antioxidant-rich plant foods from colorful sources like berries, tree or citrus fruits, vegetables, grains, and spices.

    Accordingly, a deep blue food source such as chokeberry yields anthocyanins in high concentrations per serving, indicating potential value as a functional food or nutraceutical.
    Analysis of anthocyanins in chokeberries has identified the following individual chemicals(among hundreds known to exist in the plant kingdom): cyanidin-3-galactoside, epicatechin, caffeic acid, quercetin, delphinidin, petunidin, pelargonidin, peonidin and malvidin. All these are members of the flavonoid category of antioxidant phenolics.

    Chokeberries’ rich antioxidant content may be beneficial as a dietary preventative for reducing the risk of diseases caused by oxidative stress. Among the models under evaluation where preliminary results show benefits of chokeberry anthocyanins are colorectal cancer (Lala et al. 2006), cardiovascular disease (Bell & Gochenaur 2006), chronic inflammation (Han et al. 2005), gastric mucosal disorders (peptic ulcer) (Valcheva-Kuzmanova et al. 2005), eye inflammation (uveitis) (Ohgami et al. 2005) and liver failure.

  • Cranberry Extract

    Product Name: Cranberry Extract
    Plant origin: Vaccinium Macrocarpon L.
    Specificaton:4%-50% Proanthocyandin
    Products Introduction: The cranberry bush (Vaccinium macrocarpon) is a low-growing evergreen shrub with leathery leaves and bright red berries. This member of the heath family main grows in mountains, forests and damp bogs in north-east of America and Canada .

    Cranberries are distinguished by their extremely sour taste, due to their low sugar and high acid content. Cranberries are rich in citric, malic, quinic and other acids. They also contain flavonoids, anthocyanins, ellagic acid, and vitamin C. Because of their tannin content, the berries possess a natural astringency.Recent research supports the notion that cranberries contain substances that prevent the adhesion of E coli and other bacteria to the lining of the urinary tract.

    Cranberry appears to possess other benefits for human health. It was found that cranberry can cut down on skin cancer rates and relax and open blood vessels, the “anti-adhesion” mechanism of action found in cranberry PACs may also help prevent certain bacteria from adhering to the stomach and the mouth, with implications for the prevention stomach ulcers and dental diseases.

    Action:
    1.prevent and treat urinary tract infections
    2.cut down on skin cancer rates
    3.digestive conditions
    4.relax and open blood vessels
    5.dental caries
    6.stomach ulcers
    7. kidney stones
    8.heart attacks
    9.clogged arteries and stroke.

  • Glucose and aging; carbs and hardened arteries; and why kids watch so much TV

    Things get just a bit sourer for the sugar family

    The sugar industry seems to be taking a hit from some negative bit of PR almost every day lately, so why should this day be any different? The hit: Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham have found that reducing the amount of glucose in the diet might extend the human life span and even reduce the threat of cancer.

    Specifically, they found that when given less glucose, normal healthy human cells lived longer, and precancerous cells often died off. Whether this may lead to “a pharmaceutical fountain of youth,” as one medical journalist suggested, is debatable, but in the meantime, the less high fructose corn syrup and other forms of sugar you consume, the better for your cellular longevity.

    Which diet is best? Let’s get to the heart of the matter

    Also on the “this just in” research front, if you’re trying to decide between a low-carb, high-fat diet on the one hand or a low-fat, high-carb diet on the other, the folks at the Royal Victoria Hospital suggest you lean toward the latter.

    Their studies, released in December, find that both diets led to equal weight loss and produced similar physical responses in the dieters, but that the low-carb group wound up with more stiffness in their arteries, which is a bad sign for the health of the dieter’s heart.

    High-fat, low-carb diets have legions of devotees, who claim they produce faster weight loss and taste better. However they taste, the Royal Victoria’s Dr. Steven Hunter cautions that, “we now have proof that they do not help people lose weight any faster than more conventional diets, and . . . By advocating low-carbohydrate, high-fat diets as a weapon against obesity and diabetes, health professionals could be contributing to a dangerous rise in cardiovascular disease.”

    A chip off the old couch potato

    Your humble correspondent was taken aback not long ago upon reading the results of a Nielsen survey which found that American kids in the 2-to-5 age range now watch TV 32 hours a week on average, and those aged 6 to 11 spend 28 hours on average gaping at the tube (the slight reduction due to being in school).

    Your h.c. could only shake his head and wonder, how could America’s parents allow this to happen? Then I came across another statistic from the Nielsen survey: the average American adult watches television for four hours and 49 minutes per day, which works out to 33 hours and 43 minutes per week, easily outpacing the kids in sedentary viewing. Question answered.

    (By Robert S. Wieder for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)

    From the RSS feed of CalorieLab News (REF3076322B7)

    Glucose and aging; carbs and hardened arteries; and why kids watch so much TV

  • Garlic Extract

    Specificaton:1%Allicin, 2%-5%Alliin
    Garlic (Allium sativa), is a plant with long, flat grasslike leaves and a papery hood around the flowers. The stalk rises directly from the flower bulb, which is the part of the plant used as food and medicine. The bulb is made up of many smaller bulbs covered with a papery skin known as cloves.
    The most active components of fresh garlic are an amino acid called alliin and an enzyme called allinase. When a clove of garlic is chewed, chopped, bruised, or cut, these compounds mix to form allicin, which is responsible for garlic’s strong smell. Allicin, in turn, breaks down into other sulfur compounds within a few hours.
    Garlic also contains a wide range of trace minerals. These include copper, iron, zinc, magnesium, germanium, and selenium. In addition, garlic contains many sulfur compounds, vitamins A and C, and various amino acids.
    The ancient Chinese, Indians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and other peoples have used garlic for thousands of years, as food and as medicine. Garlic can be used in the treatment of a variety of bacterial, viral, and fungal infections. It has been shown to be effective against staph, strep, E. coli, Salmonella, Vibrio cholera, H. pylori, Candida albicans, and other microorganisms. Garlic also helps prevent against heart disease and strokes. Current studies show that garlic can improve immune function and may even help in the prevention of cancer.
    Action:
    1.Preventive against diseases and infection.
    2.Helps prevent against heart disease and strokes
    3.Help in the prevention of cancer
    4.Help immune function
    5.Lower and help keep blood sugar stable
    6.Lower cholesterol and blood pressure
    7 Treat respiratory complaints such as asthma and chronic bronchitis.
    8.Helps increase the body’s ability to handle the digestion of meat and fats.
    9.Helpful in getting rid of athlete’s foot.
    10 Relieves gas and other stomach complaints.
    11.Used externally for cuts, wounds, and skin eruptions.

  • Kathy Griffin “American Idol” Judge?


    Will Kathy Griffin replace Simon Cowell on Idol?

    She may be out at CNN, but Kathy Griffin could soon be up for a new gig at FOX. The F-bomb lovin’ Griffin’s comical campaign to replace Simon Cowell on American Idol has prompted some very serious discussions among show’s producers, a new report claims. The Emmy-winning comedienne and reality personality has just enough edge to make her the perfect replacement for the tough-talkin’, T-shirt-wearing Cowell, sources say. However, now that another Emmy-winning funny gal – television’s Ellen DeGeneres — is already on board at Idol, casting Kathy would likely be too dicey.

    ”With Ellen [DeGeneres] on board, adding another woman — and a comic at that — just wouldn’t work,” a show insider reveals. ”However, if Ellen would ever leave, then everything would be up for grabs anyway, and Kathy might have a shot.”


  • Catching up on lost sleep a dangerous illusion

    People who are chronically sleep-deprived may think they’re caught up after a 10-hour night of sleep, but new research shows that although they’re near-normal when they awake, their ability to function deteriorates markedly as night falls…

    Staying up for 24 hours straight is bad enough, but the study shows that if you do that on top of having gotten less than six hours of sleep a night for two to three weeks, your reaction times and abilities are 10 times worse than they would have been just pulling an all-nighter, says Daniel Cohen, a neurologist at Harvard Medical School and lead author of the study in Wednesday’s Science Translational Medicine…

    Read more here

  • Oneforty Opens Twitter App Store for Business, Details Funding from Boston, Seattle, and Bay Area Investors

    Oneforty logo
    Wade Roush wrote:

    Starting today, developers of Twitter applications who list their apps at oneforty, the burgeoning Twitter app directory based in Boston’s Brighton neighborhood, can also sell their apps directly to oneforty visitors. That makes oneforty into the first true Twitter app store—a development that could help stimulate the growth of a substantial marketplace for applications related to real-time messaging, just as the iTunes App Store, the Android Marketplace, and other stores have created a huge new economy of mobile apps.

    Along with its e-commerce launch, oneforty announced details of its recent $1.85 million Series A round, which closed just three days ago. Xconomy readers will be familiar with several of the investors on oneforty’s list, including Boston’s Flybridge Capital Partners and Seattle-based tech entrepreneur and investor Andy Sack (an Xconomist).

    It’s high time for a central marketplace for software that builds on Twitter, says Laura Fitton, oneforty’s founder and CEO. (San Francisco-based Twitter, in case you’ve been hiding in a cave since 2006, allows users to broadcast 140-character text messages to anyone who signs up to receive them; posting Twitter updates or “tweets” and watching others’ tweets roll in has become a constant preoccupation for millions of Internet users.) “There were really great Twitter apps, such as Smittter, that no one has heard of now because the developers couldn’t sustain them,” Fitton says. “They couldn’t make any money, because there was no marketplace or business model, so they withered on the vine.”

    As a simple directory, launched last September, oneforty has already helped direct attention to Twitter apps that might otherwise have gone by the wayside. But as a store, Fitton predicts, it will help stimulate many more developers to create paid apps.

    Laura Fitton“The iTunes App Store proved that people would pay a buck or two for a mobile application. We are very interested to see how that will play out” in the area of real-time messaging, says Fitton, who is the co-author of Twitter for Dummies and is known to Twitter users as @pistachio. “Last December [2008], when I had the idea for oneforty, Twitterific was the only Twitter app I knew of that was for sale. Now there are almost 250 out there at some price point.”

    On top of the news about its Twitter app marketplace, the five-employee company (which Bob profiled in two parts back in October) revealed full details of its recent fundraising activities for the first time. The company raised its seed funding, a $230,000 debt round provided by local angel investors, last June, barely two weeks after Fitton joined last summer’s inaugural Boston session of the Boulder, CO-based TechStars startup school. Fitton now says oneforty has augmented its seed funding with a $1.85 million Series A venture round that closed on January 11.

    Flybridge put in $1.25 million, and general partner Jeff Bussgang has joined oneforty’s board of directors. (Bussgang has a blog post today at PE Hub on why he’s a “big believer” in the real-time Web.) The remaining $600,000 came from San Francisco-based Javelin Venture Partners and a group of individual investors. The angels include Dave McClure, a PayPal alum and prominent Silicon Valley startup advisor and blogger who runs the FF Angel seed-stage fund for San Francisco-based Founders Fund; Roger Ehrenberg, a former hedge fund manager for Deutsche Bank; Lee Hower, a principal at Point Judith Capital in Providence, RI; and Andy Sack, the co-leader of Seattle-based startup fund Founder’s Co-op, who was recently tapped to head TechStars’ first Seattle session.

    Fitton calls the Series A funding a “pre-emptive” round—meaning the company could have gone on courting investors, but had already found the ones it wanted. “One question startups always wonder about is ‘How can you tell if a VC is interested?’ but in our case, it was clear from the beginning that Flybridge was sincere,” Fitton says. “We were intending to do this raise in March, and we thought, ‘Let’s take our time, and do a road show,’ but they just came in with such a great track record, some compelling and founder-friendly terms, and such a clear understanding of what we were looking to achieve, that it was a great match.”

    On the angel side, Fitton says she’s especially excited to have the chance to work with Sack, who was oneforty’s TechStars mentor last summer, and McClure. “Having Dave McClure join is just phenomenal—he has been so …Next Page »