Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, has wished former Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, on his birthday.
“Warm birthday wishes to our former Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh. May he lead a long life filled with good health”, the Prime Minister said.
Human activities could change the pace of evolution, similar to what occurred 66 million years ago when a giant asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs, leaving modern birds as their only descendants. That’s one conclusion drawn by the authors of a new study published in Systematic Biology.
Cornell University Ph.D. candidate Jacob Berv and University of Bath Prize Fellow Daniel Field suggest that the meteor-induced mass extinction (a.k.a. the K-Pg event) led to an acceleration in the rate of genetic evolution among its avian survivors. These survivors may have been much smaller than their pre-extinction relatives.
“There is good evidence that size reductions after mass extinctions may have occurred in many groups of organisms,” says Berv. “All of the new evidence we have reviewed is also consistent with a Lilliput Effect affecting birds across the K-Pg mass extinction.” Paleontologists have dubbed this phenomenon the “Lilliput Effect” — a nod to the classic tale Gulliver’s Travels.
“Smaller birds tend to have faster metabolic rates and shorter generation times,” Field explains. “Our hypothesis is that these important biological characters, which affect the rate of DNA evolution, may have been influenced by the K-Pg event.”
The researchers jumped into this line of inquiry because of the long-running “rocks and clocks” debate. Different studies often report substantial discrepancies between age estimates for groups of organisms implied by the fossil record and estimates generated by molecular clocks. Molecular clocks use the rate at which DNA sequences change to estimate how long ago new species arose, assuming a relatively steady rate of genetic evolution. But if the K-Pg extinction caused avian molecular clocks to temporarily speed up, Berv and Field say this could explain at least some of the mismatch. “Size reductions across the K-Pg extinction would be predicted to do exactly that,” says Berv.
“The bottom line is that, by speeding up avian genetic evolution, the K-Pg mass extinction may have temporarily altered the rate of the avian molecular clock,” says Field. “Similar processes may have influenced the evolution of many groups across this extinction event, like plants, mammals, and other forms of life.”
The authors suggest that human activity may even be driving a similar Lilliput-like pattern in the modern world, as more and more large animals go extinct because of hunting, habitat destruction, and climate change.
“Right now, the planet’s large animals are being decimated–the big cats, elephants, rhinos, and whales,” notes Berv. “We need to start thinking about conservation not just in terms of functional biodiversity loss, but about how our actions will affect the future of evolution itself.”
New Australian-led research has confirmed that smartphone apps are an effective treatment option for depression, paving the way for safe and accessible interventions for the millions of people around the world diagnosed with this condition.
Depression is the most prevalent mental disorder and a leading cause of global disability, with mental health services worldwide struggling to meet the demand for treatment.
In an effort to tackle this rising challenge, researchers from Australia’s National Institute of Complementary Medicine (NICM), Harvard Medical School, The University of Manchester, and the Black Dog Institute in Australia examined the efficacy of smartphone-based treatments for depression.
The researchers systematically reviewed 18 randomised controlled trials which examined a total of 22 different smartphone-delivered mental health interventions.
The studies involved more than 3400 male and female participants between the ages of 18-59 with a range of mental health symptoms and conditions including major depression, mild to moderate depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety and insomnia.
The first of its kind research, published today in World Psychiatry found that overall smartphone apps significantly reduced people’s depressive symptoms, suggesting these new digital therapies can be useful for managing the condition.
Lead author of the paper, NICM postdoctoral research fellow Joseph Firth says this was an important finding which presented a new opportunity for providing accessible and affordable care for patients who might not otherwise have access to treatment.
“The majority of people in developed countries own smartphones, including younger people who are increasingly affected by depression,” said Mr Firth.
“Combined with the rapid technological advances in this area, these devices may ultimately be capable of providing instantly accessible and highly effective treatments for depression, reducing the societal and economic burden of this condition worldwide.”
Co-author, NICM deputy director, Professor Jerome Sarris highlighted the importance of the findings for opening up non-stigmatising and self-managing avenues of care.
“The data shows us that smartphones can help people monitor, understand and manage their own mental health. Using apps as part of an ‘integrative medicine’ approach for depression has been demonstrated to be particularly useful for improving mood and tackling symptoms in these patients,” said Professor Sarris.
When it comes to the question of “Which app is best?” and “For who?”, the results suggested these interventions so far may be most applicable to those with mild to moderate depression, as the benefits in major depression have not been widely studied as of yet.
The researchers found no difference in apps which apply principles of mindfulness compared to cognitive behavioural therapy or mood monitoring programs.
However, interventions that used entirely ‘self-contained’ apps – meaning the app did not reply on other aspects such as clinician and computer feedback – were found to be significantly more effective than ‘non-self-contained’ apps.
The authors suggested this might be due to the comprehensiveness of these particular stand-alone apps rather than the combination of therapies.
Despite the promising early results, there is currently no evidence to suggest that using apps alone can outperform standard psychological therapies, or reduce the need for antidepressant medications.
According to co-author and co-director of the digital psychiatry program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and a clinical fellow in the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Dr John Torous, the research is a timely and promising step forward in the use of smartphones in mental health.
“Patients and doctors are faced with a vast array of mental health apps these days, and knowing which ones are actually helpful is imperative,” said Dr Torous.
“This research provides much needed information on the effectiveness of apps for depression, and offers important clues into the types of apps which can help patients manage their condition.”
Jennifer Nicholas, a PhD Candidate at Black Dog Institute and co-author of the paper says with the knowledge that apps can be effective for managing depression, future research must now investigate which features produce these beneficial effects.
“Given the multitude of apps available – many of them unregulated – it’s critical that we now unlock which specific app attributes reap the greatest benefits, to help ensure that all apps available to people with depression are effective.”
If you’re one of those lucky individuals with high motivation and who actively pursues personal growth goals, thank your family and friends who support you.
People who view their relationships as supportive may confidently strive for growth, new University of Michigan research shows.
U-M researchers used data from samples from the United States and Japan to determine if personal growth is an outcome of an individual’s traits or the positive relationships they have with others.
In Study 1, about 200 participants were randomly assigned to one of three relationship conditions: supportive, nonsupportive and neutral. In the two main conditions, some had to consider a person in their life with whom they felt comfortable (or not) and did not worry (did worry) about being abandoned by them. The neutral group had to consider an acquaintance for whom they did not have strong feelings.
Participants read a hypothetical scenario in which they had to choose between a higher-paying job with high familiarity (Company A) or a lower-paying job that required learning that would help their long-term career development (Company B).
Among those in the supportive relationship condition, 65 percent selected Company B, whereas 40 percent of those in the nonsupportive condition chose the same company. Fifty percent of the neutral group picked Company B.
Participants who thought about a supportive person were more willing to choose a job that promoted personal growth, even at lower pay, in part because they had more self-confidence, the study indicated.
Studies 2 and 3 analyzed people’s perceptions of the support received from family and friends to determine personal growth tendencies in two cultures.
Using data from the Survey of Midlife Development in the United States, more than 3,800 participants in Study 2 rated the support received from family and friends. The questions included: “How much does your family (do your friends) really care about you?” and “How much can you open up to them if you need to talk about your worries?” They also rated their willingness to develop their potential and grow as a person, as well as self-confidence.
People who reported their relationships to be supportive had a greater willingness to grow personally and felt more self-confident, the study showed. The results were similar in the data from the Survey of Midlife Development in Japan, which sampled about 1,000 people.
“The more supportive people judged their relationships to be, the higher their personal growth tendencies, even in a culture that puts more emphasis on the collective rather than the individual,” said David Lee, the study’s lead author who obtained his doctorate in psychology at U-M.
Overall, the findings support the “I-through-We” perspective, which means the social tendency to connect with others, and the individual tendency to strive and grow as individuals, are not mutually exclusive and may augment and magnify each other.
“In other words, relationships do not necessarily conflict with but help sustain one’s personal growth,” said Oscar Ybarra, U-M professor of psychology and of management and organizations.
The findings thus address both the importance of distinguishing yourself from others by fulfilling personal goals, but also being a good group member by fulfilling social obligations and cultivating supportive relationships.
“Building positive social connections with others should put people in a good position to receive social support that is instrumental to personal growth, as well as allowing people to strike a balance between two fundamental values: to strive and connect,” said Lee, who is now a postdoctoral fellow at Ohio State University.
In his “Mann ki Baat” Prime Minister Narendra Modi focused on a boy named Bilal Dar who drew the attention of many for his self-less service to keep the famous Dal Lake in Srinagar free from plastic waste. He is now made the brand ambassador of Srinagar Municipal Corporation.
“We can see in “Swachhata Hi Sewa” movement as to how the electronic media and the print media in our country can render a big service to the country. Just a few days ago some one drew my attention towards Bilal Dar, a young man of 18 years from Srinagar. And you will be glad to know that Srinagar Municipal Corporation has made him their brand ambassador and when there is a talk of brand ambassador, there is a general feeling that he/she must be a Cine artist or a sports-personality. But not in this case.
“Bilal Dar got connected to the ‘Swachhata Abhiyan’ or Cleanliness Campaign since the age of 12-13 years and has been working for the last 5 to 6 years. He clears plastic, polythene, used bottles, dry or wet waste – every piece of dirt from Aisa’s biggest lake near Srinagar. He also earns from this activity. His father had died of cancer at a very young age but he connected his livelihood with cleanliness. I congratulate Srinagar Municipal Corporation for taking this initiative towards sanitation and for their imagination to appoint an ambassador for this cause of cleanliness because Srinagar is a tourist destination and every Indian wants to go there; and if such attention is given to Cleanliness it is a very big achievement in itself.
“And I am glad that they have not only appointed Bilal as their ambassador but also given him a vehicle, and also a uniform and he goes to other areas and educates people about cleanliness and inspires them and keeps tracking them till results are achieved. Bilal is very young age wise but is a source of inspiration for all of us who are interested in cleanliness. I congratulate Bilal Dar,” sid Modi.
After 8 days of Swachhata Hi Seva Campaign, 201 Districts are ODF now. Swacchata Hi Seva campaign has fostered collaborations, across the country, to fight against the evils of open defecation. In a major milestone, the rural sanitation coverage has increased with 4 districts being declared ODF today taking the total tally to 201.
After a week of the Swacchata Hi Seva campaign, the movement received support from Bollywood. Superstar Rajinikanth responded to the government’s call by committing to extend full support to Swachhata. Filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli also extended full support to the Swachhata Hi Seva Campaign.
In Balasore, Odisha scientists and staff members of Interim Test Range (ITR) Chandipur, picked up brooms and cleaned roads. As a part of on-going Swachhata Hi Seva programme, several activities have been taken up across Assam.
In response to the government’s invite to be a part of the Swachhata Hi Seva campaign, famous breast cancer expert, Dr P Raghu Ram (Director City Based KIMS-Ushalakshmi Centre, President Association of Breast Surgeons of India), stated, “ I have Decided to conduct the Swachhata Iniative in Ibrahimpur, my adopted village, in remotest part of Telangana State”.
The students of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Bihar garnered support to the Swacchata Hi Seva campaign, by undertaking cleanliness drive in their school. The young mascots of Swachhata Hi Seva andolan, undertook numerous activities.
India Tourism, along with Gujarat Tourism, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), Institute of Hotel Management (IHM) Gandhinagar, Travel Agents, Tour Operators, Hoteliers and Approved Guides organized a cleanliness drive at the Shaking Minarets, a world heritage site.
India has signed $ 76 Million loan deal with Japan International Cooperation Limited (JICA) to upgrade Alang-Sosiya Shipyards to upgrade the environment management plan at the recycling yards.
The total cost of the project will be $ 111 million, out of which $76 million will be provided as soft loan from JICA. Out of the remaining amount, $25 million as taxes and fees will be borne by Government of Gujarat and the balance $10 million will be shared by Ministry of Shipping & Government of Gujarat. The project will be executed by Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) and is likely to be completed by 2022.
This project will help the Alang-Sosia ship-recycling yards to comply with international safety & environmental regulations. This will attract more business at the recycling facilities at Alang, thereby further consolidating India’s share in the global ship-recycling industry.
This project will also help in safeguarding the marine and coastal environment. The use of advanced decontamination technology will rule out the possibility of fire accidents in oil and chemical tankers, thereby ensuring workers safety.
The project is expected to result in increase in direct employment from 50,000 to 92,000 people and in-direct employment from 1.5 lakhs to 3 lakh people.
Humans have released carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, and the result is an accumulation of heat in the Earth’s climate system, commonly referred to as “global warming”. “How fast is the Earth’s warming?” is a key question for decision makers, scientists and general public.
Previously, the global mean surface temperature has been widely used as a key metric of global warming. However, a new study published in AGU’s Eos proposed a better way of measuring global warming: monitoring ocean heat content change and sea level rise. The authors come from a variety of international communities including China (Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences), U.S.A. (NCAR, NOAA, and University of St. Thomas) and France (Mercator Ocean).
To determine how fast the Earth is accumulating heat, scientists focus on the Earth’s energy imbalance (EEI): the difference between incoming solar radiation and outgoing longwave (thermal) radiation. Increases in the EEI are directly attributable to human activities that increase carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Extra heat trapped by increasing greenhouse gases mainly ends up in the oceans (more than 90% is stored there). Hence, to measure global warming, we have to measure ocean warming!
On the other hand, the amplitude of the global warming signal compared with natural variability (noise) defines how well a metric tracks global warming. This study shows that the temporal evolution of ocean heat content has relatively high signal-to-noise ratio; therefore, it requires 3.9 years to separate the global warming trend from natural variability. Similarly, for sea level rise, 4.6 years are sufficient to detect the climate change signal. By contrast, owing to weather, El Niño – Southern Oscillation and other natural variability embedded in the global mean surface temperature record, scientists need at least 27 years of data to detect a robust trend. An excellent example is the 1998-2013 period, when energy was redistributed within the Earth’s system and the rise of global mean surface temperature slowed – sometimes call a “hiatus”.
This study suggests that changes in ocean heat content, the dominant component of Earth’s energy imbalance, should be a fundamental metric along with sea level rise. Based on the recent improvements of ocean monitoring technologies, especially after 2005 through autonomous floats called Argo, and advanced methodologies to reconstruct the historical ocean temperature record, scientists have been able to quantify ocean heat content changes back to 1960, even though there is a much sparser historical instrument record prior to 2005. Sea level rise is best known since 1993 when altimeters were first launched on satellites to enable sea level change observations to millimeter accuracy.
According to the most up-to-date estimates, the top-10 warmest years of the ocean (indicated by OHC change at upper 2000m) are all in the most recent decade after 2006, with 2015-2016 the warmest period among the past 77 years. The heat storage in the ocean amounts to an increase of 30.4×1022 Joules (J) since 1960, equal to a heating rate of 0.33 Watts per square meter (W m-2) averaged over the entire Earth’s surface– and 0.61 W m-2 after 1992. For comparison, the increase in ocean heat content observed since 1992 in the upper 2000 meters is about 2000 times the total net generation of electricity by U.S. utility companies in 2015.
It is evident that scientists and modelers who seek global warming signals should track how much heat the ocean has stored at any given time, i.e. ocean heat content, as well as sea level rise. Locally, in the deep tropics, ocean heat content directly relates to hurricane activity. Ocean heat content is a vital sign of our planet and informs societal decisions about adaptation to and mitigation of climate change.
Babies born with Severe Combined Immune Deficiency (SCID) syndrome are defenceless against bacterial and viral infections that would be virtually harmless to most healthy people. If untreated, SCID is often fatal within a baby’s first year of life.
Research led by the University of Hong Kong has resulted in a new testing regime that could speed up the diagnosis of SCID, allowing more infants to receive life-saving treatment within a critical timeframe.
For the best chance of survival, infants with SCID should be treated as soon after birth as possible, and preferably within three-and-a-half months. However, poor recognition of SCID by front-line doctors is leading to delays in diagnosis, later treatments and poorer outcomes.
The authors of a recent study, published in open-access journal Frontiers in Immunology, have developed a “checklist” of potential SCID markers: a family history of early infant death, persistent candidiasis (often presenting as persistent thrush), Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) infections, and low absolute lymphocyte counts. “Flagging” an infant showing any one of these four factors would allow potential SCID patients to be fast-tracked for further tests and treatment.
Many countries – including much of Asia and the UK – do not test for SCID in their newborn health-screening programmes, with front-line doctors often left to diagnose the fatal condition. By using this checklist, the authors believe that identification, and hence treatment, of SCID patients will be possible much sooner.
Without a working immune system, newborns with SCID are highly vulnerable, and many will repeatedly visit doctors with serious and recurring infections before being diagnosed.
“The recognition of SCID by doctors is poor in Asia, resulting in delayed diagnoses that jeopoardize the chance of treatment success,” explains lead author Professor Yu Lung Lau, who focused his research on Asian and North African patients. “We wanted to see if we could identify any clinical features that would help doctors to diagnose SCID earlier.”
The study of 147 patients looked at how long it took for doctors to diagnose SCID, relative to the age the babies were first brought to their doctors, and what symptoms they had.
They found that it took an average of two months for babies to be diagnosed, and that the average age at diagnosis was four months old – beyond the critical age for treatment (which is usually stem cell transplants or gene therapy) to begin.
As the researchers examined the data, four SCID “markers” emerged. Taken in isolation, none helped reduce the time taken for a diagnosis. However, 94% of the patients studied showed at least one of the four factors.
“Family history of early infant death due to infection was useful to aid earlier diagnosis, but it was not due to doctors realizing the importance of the family history, but rather due to the family taking the child to see the doctors earlier,” says Lau. “This demonstrates the failure of our medical training and systems in using family history to aid earlier SCID diagnosis.”
Candidiasis emerged as one of the most common infections. Unfortunately, as thrush is relatively common in all infants, its presence actually slowed down the time to diagnosis.
Complications from the BCG vaccination also appeared frequently, and over 88% of the patients in the study had a very low absolute lymphocyte counts (ALC).
“Our main recommendation is to perform lymphocyte subsets for any infant with one or more of the following clinical features: family history, persistent candidiasis, BCG infections and ALC less than 3×10^9/L”, explains Lau. “This would confirm the diagnosis of SCID, if present”.
For the time being, newborn screening remains out of reach in much of Asia, so education of front-line doctors and parents is key.
“Our recommendations may help earlier diagnosis of SCID, and need to be communicated to doctors as well as to ordinary citizens, who can then urge the doctors along our recommendation,” concludes Lau.
In order to improve the economic condition of the farmers, Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has set up an ambitious target in front of the nation. The goal is to double the income of the farmers by 2022. It has been for the first time, a Prime Minister has put such a target in front of the compatriots for the welfare of the farmers. Under the able guidance of Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, the Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ministry has to achieve this target by 2022. The Ministry is committed to making his dreams come true. Farmers and officers are implementing schemes to increase the income of the farmers. Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) organised pledge taking ceremonies in 562 districts of the country between August 19 to September 11, 2017, as a clarion call to farmers to double their income by 2022 and a total of 47,08,47 farmers and agricultural workers participated in it.
• KVKs organised this program in the 562 districts of the country. The program saw the participation of the State Government and the Central Government officers, Agricultural Officers, Students and a large number of farmers in each district.
• Speaker Smt. Sumitra Mahajan attended one of the events.
• In two places, the Governor of the respective states participated.
• Chief Ministers of three states attended four pledge-taking ceremonies.
• Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister, Shri Radha Mohan Singh attended five ceremonies.
• 49 Central Ministers participated in pledge taking ceremonies at 79 locations (Districts).
• In 284 places (Districts), Members of Parliament attended the program.
• In 111 locations (Districts), State Ministers attended the program.
• In 350 locations (Districts), the MLAs attended the program.
• In 398 places (Districts), Chairman of District Panchayat attended the program.
The Minister of State for Home Affairs Shri Kiren Rijiju will inaugurate the 2-day National Conference on “Uniformed Women in Prison Administration” here tomorrow.
The Conference is being organised for women officers of the rank of Jailors to Dy. Superintendents of Prisons. This Conference will have Panel Discussions, Deliberations and Syndicate Discussions on 4 themes:
• Are Woman Prison Officers getting mainstream duties?
• Difficulties in balancing family and work environment of Women Prison Officers.
• Training needs of Woman Prison Officers and Correctional Staff
• Is there need for change of uniform for Woman Prison Officers?
All the syndicates will make presentations based on their interactive session with different State Prison Officers, Academicians, Representatives from NGOs and students. It will be followed by an open house interaction, in which participants will be encouraged to interact to share their problems, ideas and experiences in connection with their day-to- day work in prisons as well as dealing with prison inmates.
The Conference is expected to benefit the participants being in their impressionable stage of service, by implementation of the knowledge gained through the Conference. Repeated exposure/training will inculcate attitudinal change and reorientation of work culture of officers, leading to tangible deliverables. The sharing of best practices will motivate the prison officers and correctional staff and encourage others to evolve and adopt similar practices in their districts. It will help acquire latest technology to provide citizen-centric services in a time bound manner. The Uniformed Woman Officers will navigate towards gender equality in working environment. It will help bridge the gap between theory and practice through exchange of ideas.
The BPR&D charter includes study of problems affecting the Prison Administration and promotion of research and training in this field. Our country has 1401 prisons, 17834 women prison inmates and around 3200 women officers out of the 55000 total prison officers and staff. Review and discussion on circumstances and environment under which prison officers discharge their duties is imperative in the context of the objectives of correctional administration including reformation rehabilitation and re-socialisation of prison inmates.
War was not an activity exclusive to males in the Viking world, revealed a new study conducted by researchers at Stockholm and Uppsala Universities. Women could be found in the higher ranks at the battlefield, it said.
The study was conducted on the graves from the Viking Age that holds the remains of a warrior surrounded by weapons, including a sword, armour-piercing arrows, and two horses. There were also a full set of gaming pieces and a gaming board.
Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson, who led the study, explains: “What we have studied was not a Valkyrie from the sagas but a real life military leader, that happens to be a woman”.
“The gaming set indicates that she was an officer”, says Charlotte, “someone who worked with tactics and strategy and could lead troops in battle”. The warrior was buried in the Viking town of Birka during the mid-10th century. Isotope analyses confirm an itinerant life style, well in tune with the martial society that dominated 8th to 10th century northern Europe.
Anna Kjellström, who also participated in the study, said, “The morphology of some skeletal traits strongly suggests that she was a woman, but this has been the type specimen for a Viking warrior for over a century why we needed to confirm the sex in any way we could.”
No wonder, the archaeologists turned to genetics, to retrieve a molecular sex identification based on X and Y chromosomes. Such analyses can be quite useful according to Maja Krezwinska: “Using ancient DNA for sex identification is useful when working with children for example, but can also help to resolve controversial cases such as this one”. Maja was thus able to confirm the morphological sex identification with the presence of X chromosomes but the lack of a Y chromosome.
Jan Storå, who holds the senior position on this study, said: “This burial was excavated in the 1880s and has served as a model of a professional Viking warrior ever since. Especially, the grave-goods cemented an interpretation for over a century”. It was just assumed she was a man through all these years. “The utilization of new techniques, methods, but also renewed critical perspectives, again, shows the research potential and scientific value of our museum collections”.
After the collapse of the World Trade Center towers on 9/11 in 2001, the “cloud” of toxic debris across Lower Manhattan, left behind nearby children who breathed in the ash and fumes to suffer from heart disease 16 years after.
An analysis by NYU Langone Health researchers of blood tests of 308 children, 123 of whom may have come in direct contact with the dust on 9/11 showed that children with higher blood levels of the chemicals known to be in the dust had elevated levels of artery-hardening fats in their blood.
“Since 9/11, we have focused a lot of attention on the psychological and mental fallout from witnessing the tragedy, but only now are the potential physical consequences of being within the disaster zone itself becoming clear,” says lead author of the study Leonardo Trasande, associate professor at NYU School of Medicine.
Now adults, these children were enrollees in the World Trade Center Health Registry (WTCHR), which is helping to track the physical and mental health, through annual check-ups, of nearly 2,900 children who either lived or attended school in Lower Manhattan on 9/11.
The study is the first to suggest long-term cardiovascular health risks in children from toxic chemical exposure on 9/11.
Trasande says the long-term danger may stem from exposure to certain perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFASs — chemicals released into the air as electronics and furniture burned in the disaster. Its health effects include lower-than-normal birthweights and brain damage, and it was banned in the US since 2014.
The study showed that the 123 children in the WTCHR had significantly higher PFOA blood levels than 185 children who were not living or studying in the city on the day of the attack.
Roughly every threefold increase in blood PFOA levels was tied to an average 9 percent to 15 percent increase in blood fats, including LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, known risk factors for heart disease.
In another study published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research in June, raised blood levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) were found in people who were exposed to WTC dust on 9/11. Previous research has linked increases in CRP to inflammation and higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The analysis on children will be published in the journal Environment International.
Union Minister of State PMO Jitendra Singh will inaugurate the “North East Calling” festival on Saturday in New Delhi under the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), which has declared 2017 as ‘Destination North East series’.
The festival is to promote the art, culture, heritage, cuisine, handicrafts, business and tourism of North East India. To be held at India Gate lawns from 11.00 AM to 10.00 PM, the entry to the venue for the general public is free.
The event will include Music Festival for bands of North-East, Cultural Night for Dances of North-East, Handloom Demo Show presenting the clothes of North-East, Exhibitions of activities being undertaken in North East, stalls by various Central Government ministries showcasing the works being undertaken by them in the region.
The stalls by State Governments offering opportunities in their states, stalls for Sale of products of NERAMAC and NEHHDC, variety of food stalls including sale of delicacies of North East, contests for all sections of young population to expose them to North East, B2B Summits on Food Processing, Tourism and Start-up opportunities in the North-East will be on display.
The highlights of the event for the public will be Music Festival, Cultural festival, and live band performances.
The event coincides with the 16th Anniversary of Ministry of DoNER. In the run-up of to the event, a variety of contests including Photography and Caption Contest, video contest, Choreography Contest for Colleges on the theme “Connect NE”, Quiz Competition for schools and colleges, Best North-Eastern attire in the crowd, Home Chef Contest, have been organised. Winners of these contests will be given awards during the event.
India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation has unveiled rules to tackle air flight passengers on-board who are disruptive and unruly, making it easy for a unique first ever in the world ‘No Fly List’ to be promulgated soon.
Unveiling the rules, Minister for Civil Aviation P Ashok Gajapathi Raju said the new rules will allow for the preparation of a national, No Fly List of such unruly passengers. He said the upcoming No – Fly List in India will be unique and first-of-its-kind in the world.
Emphasizing the Government’s commitment for ensuring air travel safety, Raju said that the concept of the No-Fly List is in response to the concern for safety of passengers, crew and the aircraft, and not just on security threat.
The DGCA has revised the relevant sections of the Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR Section 3, Series M, Part Vl on “Handling of Unruly Passengers) to bring in a deterrent for passengers who engage in unruly behaviour on board aircrafts, which has been prepared in accordance with the provisions of Tokyo Convention 1963.
The revised CAR deals with unruly behavior of passenger on-board aircrafts and at airport premises to be dealt with by relevant security agencies under applicable penal provisions. The revised CAR will be applicable for all Indian operators engaged in scheduled and non-scheduled air transport services, both domestic and international carriage of passengers. The CAR would also be applicable to foreign carriers subject to compliance of Tokyo Convention 1963.
Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said that the new rules have been promulgated after a lot of deliberation and consultation with all stakeholders. The focus has been on ensuring on board safety while maintaining an element of balance and safeguarding the interest of passengers, cabin crew and the airlines.
The revised CAR defines three categories of unruly behavior – Level 1 refers to behaviour that is verbally unruly, and calls for debarment upto 3 months; Level 2 indicates physical unruliness and can lead to the passenger being debarred from flying for upto 6 months and Level 3 indicates life-threatening behaviour where the debarment would be for a minimum of 2 years.
The complaint of unruly behavior would need to be filed by the pilot-in-command. These complaints will be probed by an internal committee to be set up by the airline. The internal committee will have retired District & Sessions Judge as Chairman and representatives from a different scheduled airline, passengers’ association/consumer association/retired officer of Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum as Members.
As per the CAR provisions, the internal committee will have to decide the matter within 30 days, and also specify the duration of ban on the unruly passenger. During the period of pendency of the enquiry the concerned airline may impose a ban on the said passenger. For every subsequent offence, the ban will be twice the period of previous ban.
The airlines will be required to share the No-Fly list, and the same will be available on DGCA website. The other airlines will not be bound by the No-Fly list of an airline. The No Fly Lists will have two components – unruly passengers banned for a certain period based on examination of the case by the internal committee; and those persons perceived to be national security risk by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The latter component will, however, not be displayed on the DGCA website.
The revised CAR also contains appeal provisions against the ban. Aggrieved persons (other than those identified as security threat by MHA) may appeal within 60 days from the date of issue of order to the Appellate Committee constituted by MoCA comprising of retired Judge of a High Court of India as Chairman and representatives of passengers association/consumer association/retired officer of Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum and airlines as Members.
Preschool children in joint physical custody have less psychological symptoms than those who live mostly or only with one parent after a separation. In a new study of 3,656 children in Sweden, researchers from Uppsala University, Karolinska Institutet and the research institute CHESS show that 3-5-year-olds living alternately with their parents after a separation show less behavioural problems and psychological symptoms than those living mostly or only with one of the parents.
The practice of joint physical custody, i.e. children living alternately and spending approximately the same amount of time in their parents’ respective homes, have increased in recent years and is more common in Sweden than in any other countries. Previous studies have shown that school children and adolescents fare well in joint physical custody. Child experts have claimed the practice to be unsuitable for young children since they are assumed to need continuity and stability in their parent relations. However, few studies of preschool children with joint physical custody have been conducted.
Based on parents’ and pre-school teachers’ estimates, the researchers compared behavioural problems and mental symptoms of 136 children in joint physical custody, 3,369 in nuclear families, 79 living mostly with one parent and 72 children living only with one parent. In this sample, joint physical custody was hence more common than living only or mostly with one parent. The symptoms were assessed using the popular “Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire” (SDQ), and showed that both preschool teachers and parents indicated children living mostly or only with one parent to have more difficulties than those living in joint physical custody or in nuclear families. In the parental estimates, there were no significant differences between children in nuclear families and joint physical custody, while pre-school staff reported fewer symptoms of children in nuclear families.
The study is the first of its kind to show how Swedish children this young fare in joint physical custody. The assessments of children’s health from the preschool staff, in addition to those of the parents, is a considerable strength of the study. However, the study design does not allow any interpretations of causal relations. Such interpretations require knowledge of the children’s wellbeing and symptoms before parental separation.
A group of researchers from MIPT and Ghent University (Belgium) has developed the first realistic model able to reproduce the complexity of the cardiac microstructure. The researchers hope that the model will help them better understand the causes of fibrosis which affects the onset of cardiac arrhythmias. Although the model is currently only able to simulate one layer of cardiac cells, electrical wave propagation observed in the simulations was the same as in the experimental tissues. The paper was published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Nina Kudryashova, a Ph.D. student at MIPT and a co-author of the study, comments: “The chances of developing arrhythmia tend to increase with age, which is partly due to fibrosis. Unfortunately, we can only observe a fully developed clinical picture and not the process of arrhythmia development itself. That is why we have proposed a mathematical model which is able to determine the factors responsible for the formation of different fibrosis patterns.”
According to the World Health Organization, cardiovascular diseases account for the highest number of deaths globally. Around 40% of these deaths occur suddenly and are caused by arrhythmia, a group of conditions in which the heartbeat is irregular. Contractions of the heart are initiated by the propagation of electrical waves in cardiac tissue. Although the tissue is made up of different types of cells, it is cardiomyocytes (CMs) that perform the electromechanical function of the heart. In addition to CMs, cardiac tissue contains non-excitable cells, i.e., cells incapable of electrical excitation, such as fibroblasts (FBs). The formation of excess fibrous connective tissue is called fibrosis; it affects wave propagation and often leads to arrhythmia. Despite the fact that it is impossible to observe the stages of arrhythmia development/progression, computer modeling of cardiac tissue could provide new opportunities to study the relation between cardiac tissue morphology and arrhythmia development.
In order to build a reliable and accurate model, the researchers collected experimental data on cell shapes. For this purpose, cardiac cells, namely CMs and FBs, were cultured under different conditions. All in all, four cases were considered in the study: Non-interacting (isolated) cells with and without nanofibres and monolayers with and without nanofibres. When grown on a scaffold of nanofibers, the cells are forced to elongate in one direction, which allows a better reproduction of the texture of cardiac muscle tissue. As a result, the researchers obtained statistical data on the shapes of FBs and CMs and their interaction.
Valeriya Tsvelaya, a Ph.D. student and another co-author of the study, explains: “Since cardiac tissue cells are elongated along the fibrous substrate, the tissue exhibits anisotropy, which is when electrical waves propagate differently depending on the propagation direction. When wave propagation is directionally independent (such as in the case of non-nanofibrous monolayer substrates), isotropy is observed.”
To reproduce the formation of cardiac tissue, the researchers took a mathematical model — one that is widely applied to study tissue growth — and optimized it using the collected experimental data. The model they obtained provided a detailed and accurate reproduction of cell shape parameters in each of the four cases. In order to observe excitation wave propagation, the researchers stimulated the cells in the culture with an electrode. They also imitated wave propagation in virtual cardiac tissue and discovered that the wave propagation pattern accurately reproduced the experimentally observed behavior for both isotropic and anisotropic cases. This means that the proposed model can indeed be used to study cardiac tissue properties and various risk factors for arrhythmias.
Attempts to simulate wave propagation in cardiac tissue had been made before, but those were simple models which did not reproduce the complexity of cell shapes. Besides, FBs in all the previously performed simulations were arranged in a random way, while in reality CMs and FBs are arranged in a pattern arising from the peculiarities of their interaction. In their model, the researchers considered both the shapes and the interaction between the cells, thus making their computer simulations more accurate and realistic.
“The model we proposed can predict the same wave propagation patterns we observed in our experimental samples, which means it can be used to help us learn to predict the probability with which a patient will develop arrhythmia. You just vary the conditions under which a tissue is formed and see what the chances of developing arrhythmia in this tissue are,” explains Konstantin Agladze, head of the Laboratory of Biophysics of Excitable Systems at MIPT.
That said, the model is currently in the initial stage of development. There are a number of factors to be considered, such as cell migration, all of which can influence tissue development. Besides, the heart is three-dimensional while the model is two-dimensional, which means the researchers still need to work out how to make it 3-D. Achieving this will open up new possibilities of describing tissues in living organisms.
For almost seventy years now, magnetic tapes and hard disks have been used for data storage in computers. In spite of many new technologies that have been developed in the meantime, the controlled magnetization of a data storage medium remains the first choice for archiving information because of its longevity and low price. As a means of realizing random access memories (RAMs), however, which are used as the main memory for processing data in computers, magnetic storage technologies were long considered inadequate. That is mainly due to its low writing speed and relatively high energy consumption.
Pietro Gambardella, Professor at the Department of Materials of the ETH Zurich, and his colleagues, together with colleagues at the Physics Department and at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), have now shown that using a novel technique, magnetic storage can still be achieved very fast and without wasting energy.
Magnetization inversion without coils
In traditional magnetic data storage technologies, tape or disk data carriers coated with a cobalt alloy are used. A current-carrying coil produces a magnetic field that changes the direction of magnetization in a small portion of the data carrier. Compared to the speeds of modern processors, this procedure is very slow, and the electric resistance of the coils leads to energy loss. It would, therefore, be much better if one could change the magnetization direction directly, without taking a detour via magnetic coils.
In 2011, Gambardella and his colleagues already demonstrated a technique that could do just that: An electric current passing through a specially coated semiconductor film inverted the magnetization in a tiny metal dot. This is made possible by a physical effect called spin-orbit-torque. In this effect, a current flowing in a conductor leads to an accumulation of electrons with opposite magnetic moment (spins) at the edges of the conductor. The electron spins, in turn, create a magnetic field that causes the atoms in a nearby magnetic material to change the orientation of their magnetic moments. In a new study the scientists have now investigated how this process works in detail and how fast it is. The results were recently published in the scientific journal Nature Nanotechnology.
Spatial resolution with X-rays
In their experiment, the researchers inverted the magnetization of a cobalt dot having a diameter of just 500 nanometres using electric current pulses that flowed through an adjacent platinum wire. During this process, they exposed the cobalt dot to strongly focused X-rays that were created at the Swiss Light Source of PSI. The X-rays scanned the dot successively with a spatial resolution of 25 nanometres. How strongly the dot absorbed the X-rays at a particular point depended on the local magnetization direction.
«In this way we obtained a two-dimensional image of the magnetization inside the cobalt dot and could watch as the current pulse gradually changed it», explains Manuel Baumgartner, lead author of the study and doctoral student in Gambardella’s research group.
The researchers were thus able to observe that the magnetization inversion happened in less than one nanosecond – considerably faster than in other recently studied techniques. «Moreover, we can now predict on the basis of the experimental parameters when and where the magnetization inversion begins and where it ends», Gambardella adds. In other techniques the inversion is also driven by an electric current, but it is triggered by thermal fluctuations in the material, which causes large variations in the timing of the inversion.
Possible application in RAMs
The researchers sent up to a trillion inversion pulses through the cobalt dot at a frequency of 20 MHz without observing any reduction in the quality of the magnetization inversion. «This gives us the hope that our technology should be suitable for applications in magnetic RAMs», says Gambardella’s former postdoc Kevin Garello, also a lead author of the study. Garello now works at the IMEC research centre in Leuven, Belgium, investigating the commercial realization of the technique.
In a first step, the researchers would now like to optimize their materials in order to make the inversion work even faster and at smaller currents. One additional possibility is to improve the shape of the cobalt dots. For now, those are circular, but other shapes such as ellipses or diamonds could make the magnetization inversion even more efficient, the researchers say. Magnetic RAMs could, among other things, make the loading of the operating system when booting a computer obsolete – the relevant programmes would remain in the working memory even when the power is switched off.
Computer algorithms developed by engineering researchers at the University of Waterloo can accurately determine when drivers are texting or engaged in other distracting activities.
The system uses cameras and artificial intelligence (AI) to detect hand movements that deviate from normal driving behaviour and grades or classifies them in terms of possible safety threats.
Fakhri Karray, an electrical and computer engineering professor at Waterloo, said that information could be used to improve road safety by warning or alerting drivers when they are dangerously distracted. And as advanced self-driving features are increasingly added to conventional cars, he said, signs of serious driver distraction could be employed to trigger protective measures.
“The car could actually take over driving if there was imminent danger, even for a short while, in order to avoid crashes,” said Karray, a University Research Chair and director of the Centre for Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (CPAMI) at Waterloo.
Algorithms at the heart of the technology were trained using machine-learning techniques to recognize actions such as texting, talking on a cellphone or reaching into the backseat to retrieve something. The seriousness of the action is assessed based on duration and other factors.
That work builds on extensive previous research at CPAMI on the recognition of signs, including frequent blinking, that drivers are in danger of falling asleep at the wheel. Head and face positioning are also important cues of distraction. Ongoing research at the centre now seeks to combine the detection, processing and grading of several different kinds of driver distraction in a single system.
“It has a huge impact on society,” said Karray, citing estimates that distracted drivers are to blame for up to 75 per cent of all traffic accidents worldwide.
Another research project at CPAMI is exploring the use of sensors to measure physiological signals such as eye-blinking rate, pupil size and heart-rate variability to help determine if a driver is paying adequate attention to the road.
Karray’s research — done in collaboration with PhD candidates Arief Koesdwiady and Chaojie Ou, and post-doctoral fellow Safaa Bedawi — was recently presented at the 14th International Conference on Image Analysis and Recognition in Montreal.
