Infants know what your eyes tell

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New York: The ability to respond to eye cues develops during infancy - at seven or so months, finds research.

'Our study provides developmental evidence for the notion that humans possess specific brain processes that allow them to automatically respond to eye cues,' said study co-author Tobias Grossmann from University of Virginia.

The eye white, or how much of it is shown and at what angle, plays a role in the social and cooperative interactions among humans.

For example, while wide-open eyes exposing a lot of white indicate fear or surprise, a thinner slit of exposed eye such as when smiling expresses happiness or joy.

For the study, the researchers used electroencephalography (EEG) to measure the brain activity of seven-month-old infants while showing images of eyes wide open, narrowly opened, and with direct or averted gazes.

They found that the infants' brains responded differently depending on the expression suggested by the eyes they viewed.

They viewed the eye images for only 50 milliseconds - which is much less time than needed for an infant of this age to consciously perceive this kind of visual information.

'Like adults, infants are sensitive to eye expressions of fear and direction of focus, and that these responses operate without conscious awareness,' Grossmann pointed out.

'The existence of such brain mechanisms in infants likely provides a vital foundation for the development of social interactive skills in humans,' Grossmann added.

The study appeared online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

IANS

Radiation exposure ups aggressive thyroid cancer risk

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   New York: Nuclear power plant accidents could be devastating and researchers have now found that exposure to radioactive iodine is associated with more aggressive forms of thyroid cancer.

'Our group has previously shown that exposures to radioactive iodine significantly increase the risk of thyroid cancer in a dose-dependent manner,' said lead author of the study Lydia Zablotska from University of California San Francisco.

'The new study shows that radiation exposures are also associated with distinct clinical features that are more aggressive,' Zablotska added.

For the study, the researchers carefully examined nearly 12,000 people in Belarus who were exposed when they were children or adolescents to fallout from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident.

Researchers examined thyroid cancers diagnosed up to two decades after the Chernobyl accident and found that higher thyroid radiation doses estimated from measurements taken shortly after the accident were associated with more aggressive tumor features.

Zablotska said the findings have implications for those exposed to radioactive iodine fallout from the 2011 nuclear reactor incidents in Fukushima, Japan, after the reactors were damaged by an earthquake-induced tsunami.

'Those exposed as children or adolescents to the fallout are at highest risk and should probably be screened for thyroid cancer regularly, because these cancers are aggressive, and they can spread really fast,' Zablotska said.

The study is appearing in the journal Cancer.

IANS

Errors sharpen memory while learning

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Toronto: Committing mistakes while learning can benefit the memory and lead one to come up with the correct answer, but only if the guess is a near miss, a research revealed.

'Making random guesses does not appear to benefit later memory for the right answer but near-miss guesses act as stepping stones for retrieval of the correct information - and this benefit is seen in younger and older adults,' said lead investigator Andree-Ann Cyr from the Baycrest Health Sciences' Rotman Research Institute and the University of Toronto.

In the latest study, 65 healthy younger adults (average age 22) and 64 healthy older adults (average age 72) learned target words like rose, based either on the semantic category it belongs to (a flower) or its word stem (a word that begins with the letters 'ro').

For half of the words, participants were given the answer right away ('the answer is rose') and for the other half, they were asked to guess before seeing the answer (a flower: 'is it tulip? or ro___ : is it rope?').

The researchers wanted to know if participants would be better at remembering rose if they had made wrong guesses prior to studying it rather than seeing it right away.

They found that remembering improved if participants' learnt on the basis of categories (a flower).

Guessing made memory worse when words were learned based on word stems (ro___).

This was the case for both younger and older adults.

'This is because our memory organises information based on how it is conceptually rather than lexically related to other information,' Cyr added.

For example, when you think of the word pear, your mind is more likely to jump to another fruit, such as apple, than to a word that looks similar, such as peer.

The latest research provides evidence that trial-and-error learning can benefit memory in both young and old, when errors are meaningfully related to the right answer. And can harm memory when they are not.

The paper appeared in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition.

IANS

Scientists grow functioning vessel with two tablespoons of blood

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London: In a path-breaking research, a team of Swedish researchers has successfully grown brand new blood vessels with just two tablespoons of blood in a flat seven days.

Just three years ago, a patient at Sahlgrenska University Hospital, University of Gothenburg, received a blood vessel transplant grown from her own stem cells.

In the new procedure, the blood vessel transplant was carried out in two young children who did not have the vein that goes from the gastrointestinal tract to the liver.

'Once again we used the stem cells of the patients to grow a new blood vessel that would permit the two organs to collaborate properly,' claimed Michael Olausson, surgeon and medical director of the transplant center and professor at Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg.

Along with Suchitra Sumitran-Holgersson, professor of transplantation biology at Sahlgrenska Academy, Olausson planned and carried out the procedure.

This time, they found a novel way to extract stem cells that did not necessitate taking them from the bone marrow.

The new method involved taking 25 millilitre (approximately two tablespoons) of blood, the minimum quantity needed to obtain enough stem cells.

'The blood itself accelerated growth of the new vein. The entire process took only a week as opposed to a month in the first case. The blood contains substances that naturally promote growth,' Sumitran-Holgersson said.

Professors Olausson and Sumitran-Holgersson have treated three patients so far.

Two of the three patients are still doing well and have veins that are functioning as they should.

In the third case, the child is under medical surveillance.

The study appeared in the journal EbioMedicine.

IANS

Selfie' to cure skin problems

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 New York: If you have a skin problem, taking a selfie of the affected area and sending it to your dermatologist for analysis is a good idea.

According to a research, selfies can help identify and cure skin problems, like eczema, without fuss, for patients who live in rural areas or those who have transportation problems.

The study, led by April Armstrong from the University of Colorado, Denver, in the US, included 156 adults and children with eczema: 78 received typical in-person, follow-up care, while 78 received online, follow-up care.

The patients in the online care group sent photos of skin outbreaks to dermatologists who evaluated the photos, made treatment recommendations and prescribed medications.

After one year, clearance or near-clearance of eczema was achieved by almost 44 percent of patients who received in-person care and more than 38 percent of those who received online care only.

'It shows that online dermatology services could help improve access to care at a time when there are not enough dermatologists to meet demand,' said Armstrong.

'This study shows something interesting - patients' eczema improved regardless whether they saw the doctor for follow-up in the office or communicated online,' added Gary Goldenberg, assistant clinical professor of dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York City.

The study appeared in the journal JAMA Dermatology.

IANS

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Science News

A Colorful Past

by Molly Michelson

When did life on Earth become bright and colorful? And how did color changes affect the evolution of different organisms?

The answers to these questions seem to lie in melanosomes, cells within our bodies that hold melanin, the most common light-absorbing pigment found in animals. For the past several years, scientists have used melanosomes from fossils to determine the coloring of several extinct species of feathered dinosaurs.

A team of international researchers wondered how these melanosomes changed as animals evolved on Earth, so they dug more deeply into these structures. Looking at 181 living species and 13 fossil species, the team reviewed the diversity of shapes and sizes of melanosomes. Overall, the researchers found that living turtles, lizards, and crocodiles, which are ectothermic (cold-blooded), show much less diversity in the shape of melanosomes than birds and mammals, which are endothermic (warm-blooded, with higher metabolic rates).

The team also discovered that the lower diversity holds true for fossil dinosaurs with fuzzy coverings that scientists have described as "protofeathers" or "pycnofibers." In these specimens, melanosome shape is restricted to spherical forms like those in modern reptiles.

By contrast, in the dinosaur lineage leading to birds, known as maniraptoran, the researchers found an explosion in the diversity of melanosome shape and size that appears to correlate to an explosion of color within these groups. The shift in diversity took place abruptly, near the origin of longer, “pinnate” feathers.

“This points to a profound change at a pretty discrete point,” says Julia Clarke of the University of Texas at Austin. “We’re seeing an explosion of melanosome diversity right before the origin of flight associated with the origin of feathers.”

The team was quite surprised to discover that patterns of melanosome diversity found in the feathers of ancient maniraptoran dinosaurs and living birds were similar to those found in mammal hair, as well.

In addition to pigment, melanin also contributes to metabolism, reproduction, and feeding. Because of this, note the researchers, the evolution of diverse melanosome shapes might be linked to larger changes in energetics and physiology.

“We are far from understanding the exact nature of the shift that may have occurred,” says Clarke. “But if changes in genes involved in both coloration and other aspects of physiology explain the pattern we see, these precede flight and arise close to the origin of feathers.

“What is interesting is that trying to get at color in extinct animals may have just started to give us some insights into changes in the physiology of dinosaurs.”

The study was published last week in Nature.

 

China launches spacecraft to go to Moon orbit and return back

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Tags: China, Moon orbit, return back
BEIJING: China today launched an unmanned spacecraft to fly around the moon and back to Earth in order to test technologies to be used in the Chang'e-5, a future probe that will conduct the country's first Moon mission with a provision to return back. The lunar orbiter was launched atop an advanced Long March-3C rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province in the early hours. The test spacecraft separated from its carrier rocket and entered the expected orbit shortly after the liftoff, the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence said. The whole mission will take about eight days. Developed by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the spacecraft will fly around the moon for half a circle and return to Earth. On its return, the test spacecraft will approach the terrestrial atmosphere at a velocity of nearly 11.2 kilometers per second and rebound to slow down before re-entering the atmosphere. It will land in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The mission is to obtain experimental data and validate re-entry technologies such as guidance, navigation and control, heat shield and trajectory design for a future touch-down on the moon by Chang'e-5, which is expected to be sent to the moon, collect samples and return to Earth in 2017. It is the first time China has conducted a test involving a half-orbiter around the moon at a height of 380,000 kilometers before having the spacecraft return to Earth. The test orbiter is a precursor to the last phase of a three-step moon probe project, a lunar sample return mission. China carried out Chang'e-1 and Chang'e-2 missions in 2007 and 2010, respectively, capping the orbital phase. The ongoing second phase saw Chang'e-3 with the country's first moon rover Yutu onboard succeed in soft landing on the moon in December 2013. Chang'e-4 is the backup probe of Chang'e-3 and will help pave the way for future probes.

First protein microfibre developed in lab

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New York: In a first, scientists have created new proteins that are capable of self-assembling into fibres on a microscale, paving the way for new opportunities for using engineered protein fibres in drugs.

Jin Kim Montclare

'A microscale fibre that is capable of delivering a small molecule, whether it be a therapeutic compound or other material, is a major step forward,' said lead researcher Jin Kim Montclare, associate professor at New York University.
For as long as scientists have been able to create new proteins that are capable of self-assembling into fibres, their work has taken place on the nanoscale.

Many materials used in medicine and nanotechnology rely on proteins engineered to form fibres with specific properties.
For example, the scaffolds used in tissue engineering depend on engineered fibres, as do the nanowires used in biosensors. These fibres can also be bound with small molecules of therapeutic compounds and used in drug delivery.

The researchers began their experiments with the intention of designing nanoscale proteins bound with the cancer therapeutic curcumin.They successfully created a novel, self-assembling nanoscale protein, including a hydrophobic pore capable of binding small molecules.

To their surprise, after incubating the fibres with curcumin, the protein not only continued to assemble, but did so to a degree that the fibres crossed the diameter barrier from the nanoscale to the microscale, akin to the diameter of collagen or spider silk.'This was a surprising and thrilling achievement,' Montclare said, and explained that this kind of diameter increase in the presence of small molecules is unprecedented.

Biomaterials embedded with small molecules could be used to construct dual-purpose scaffolds for tissue engineering or to deliver certain drugs more efficiently.The study appeared in the journal Biomacromolecules.

Dead battery gets charged in two minutes!

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Singapore: Imagine a dead smartphone battery getting charged up to 70 percent in flat two minutes?

By using a common ingredient found in sunscreen, researchers from the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have developed a smart battery that uses a gel-based material to speed up the charging process.

To do so, researchers replaced graphite in the battery's anode with a gel made from titanium dioxide - a cheap ingredient found in sunscreen.

The substance speeds up the chemical reactions in the battery, the Huffington Post reported.

The battery can be recharged 10,000 times. It can last nearly 20 years before it needs to be replaced.

The new batteries could enter the market within two years, researchers added.

Woman set ablaze inside train in Kannur

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Kannur : In a gruesome murder attempt, a lady was set on fire inside a railway coach at the Kannur railway station on Monday early morning. The injured woman has been identified as Pathu alias Khadeeja from Kondotty, Mallapuram and is being treated at the Kozhikode medical college hospital.

The incident happened at about 4.30 am when Khadeeja boarded the Kannur-Alapuzha Executive Express. A youth entered the bogie and poured kerosene and set her ablaze.

The woman sustained over 40 percent burn injuries and was taken immediately by the police and co-passengers to the Kannur district hospital and after giving first aid was rushed to the Kozhikode Medical College hospital.

Khadeeja ran out of the compartment when the fire started spreading from her seat and on seeing this the youth too escaped and fled. Police are on the hunt for the youth and the RPF too is assisting the probe.

The rail seat occupied by Khadeeja was completely burnt and railway officials replaced the bogie and the train left Kannur station at about 5.45 am.

Police informed that more details on the incident would be known only after taking the statement of Khadeeja.