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1PTI Science Service December 01 - 15, 2016Material reproduced should be credited to the PTI Science Service

Registration No.39337/81

ISSN 0970-6488

Vol 35 No. 23 (24 pages including cover)

CONTENTS

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NATIONAL SCIENCE BRIEFS:

*'LAST YEAR, AIR POLLUTION FATALITIES IN INDIA MORE THAN THOSE IN CHINA'*WOMEN WITH PCOS MORELIKELY TO BE AFFECTED BY DIABETES: AIIMSSTUDY *OVER 90% PEOPLE WITH HIV, TUBERCULOSIS HAVEACCESS TO THERAPY *NO EVIDENCE OF BEIJING STRAIN OF TB BACTERIA SPREADING THROUGH NE STATES:GOVT *1 IN EVERY 5 CORPORATE EMPLOYEES AT RISK OF DIABETES: STUDY *EYE INSTITUTE IN DELHI GETSHIGH-TECH EQUIPMENT FROM JAPAN *INDIA BECOMES ASSOCIATE MEMBER OF CERN *OVER 50 ORGANTRANSPLANTS CARRIED OUT ACROSS COUNTRY IN 1-DAY*GOVT DEVELOPING TRADITIONAL DRUGS FORVECTOR-BORNE DISEASES *GOVT UNDERTAKING RESEARCH TO PROMOTE USE OF COW URINE, LS TOLD*INDIAN SOCIETY OF NANO MEDICINE FORMED TO CUT TREATMENT COST *GREEN TEA CAN REDUCE KIDNEYDAMAGE BY ANTI-CANCER DRUG: AIIMS *SUBSTANTIAL RISE EXPECTED IN ORTHOPAEDIC PROBLEMS ININDIA: DOCS *TIGER POPULATION IN PENCH RESERVE RISEN TO 53: SFRI REPORT *ECONOMIC LOSSES FROMCHILDHOOD LEAD EXPOSURE OVER USD 236 BN *UMBILICAL CORD BLOOD EXPERTS PITCH FOR EXPANDINGPOOL BASE *CCMB ESTABLISHES GENETIC LINKS TO SKIN COLOUR VARIATIONS *IMA PITCHES FOR

MONITORING USE OF ANTIBIOTICS *

INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE BRIEFS:

*BRAIN CIRCUITS LINKED TO STUTTERING IDENTIFIED* PREDATORY BACTERIA MAY WIPE OUT ‘SUPERBUGS’:STUDY* EXPOSURE TO SECONDHAND SMOKE MAKES KIDS ANTISOCIAL: STUDY8 NEW AT THERAPY TO HELPOVECOME FEAR: STUDY* DEEP SEA CORALS UNDER THREAT FROM CLIMATE CHANGE; STUDY* NEW POTENTVACCINE MAY SPELL END FOR HIV* FIRST ‘SUCCESSFUL’ C-SECTION BIRTH MAY DATE BACK TO 1337* JET LAGMAY UP LIVER CANCER RISK: * EMBRYO DEVELOPMENT ‘PAUSED’ FOR UP TO A MONTH* NOVEL TRANSGENICGRASSES CAN NEUTRALISE TOXIC RDX* BIRDS PREFER SUBURBAN GARDENS OVER CITY ESTATES: STUDY*NEW DRUG LIMITS, REPAIRS BRAIN DAMAGE IN STROKE* POWER POSES MAY DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD:

STUDY*

GLOBE SCAN:

*ZIKA MOSQUITOES QUICKLY INVADE, ADAPT TO NEW CLIMATES* GENE THAT PROTECTS AGAINST OBESITYIDENTIFIED* MEMORY-RELATED BRAIN ACTIVITY LOSES COHESION WITH AGE: STUDY * SCIENTISTS STEPCLOSER TO HALTING SPREAD OF LUNG CANCER* HUMAN CELLS WITH ‘BUILT-IN CIRCUIT’ TO HELP STOPCNCER GROWTH* DRUG THAT LIMITS BRAIN DAMAGE IN STROKE IDENTIFIED* NITROGEN MAY HELP BOOSTGUT HEALTH* DEPRESSION MAY UP RISK OF ARTHRITIS, STOMACH PROBLEMS: STUDY*PRACTICE TESTINGPROTECTS MEMORY AGAINST STRESS: STUDY*

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'LAST YEAR, AIR POLLUTION FATALITIESIN INDIA MORE THAN THOSE

IN CHINA'

India has overtaken China in terms of the numberof deaths due to ambient (outdoor) air pollution with thecountry witnessing 50 deaths more than China reportedper day in 2015, according to Global Burden of Diseaseproject.

Recent data show that in 2015, India witnessed3,280 Premature Deaths (fatalities due to Ozoneconcentration and particulate matter concentration) perday, whereas China had recorded 3,230.

In 2010, number of Premature Deaths in Indiawere at 2,863, whereas in China it was at 3,190. Similarly,in 2005 India was at 2,654 and China at 3,332.

So, while Premature Deaths have increased by 23per cent in India over the last decade, China has reversedthe trend and recorded a decline of three per cent.

Global Burden of Disease (GBD) project hasbeen compiled by the Institute for Health Metrics andEvaluation at the University of Washington in Seattle.

As per the study, the rate of Premature Deaths inIndia has been increasing at an alarming rate, and from2,140 deaths per day in 1990, it has reached to 3,280 in2015.

This is nearly 53% increase in premature deathsin the last 25 years, a much sharper increase than in China,which has seen 16 per cent increase over the correspondingperiod as it managed to reverse the trend 2005 onwards.

According to a press statement issued byGreenpeace India separately, these findings corroborate astudy it carried out earlier, which showed that for the firsttime this century, the average particulate matter exposurewas higher for Indian citizens than that for the Chinese.

Activists have called for immediate action."It clearly indicates that China's strong measures

to tackle pollution have contributed to the year-on-yearair quality improvement on record, while in contrast, India’spollution levels have increased over the past decade.

"This study must be taken seriously as this atestimony of deterioration of ambient air quality in Indiaand immediate actions must be taken by the concernedauthorities," says Sunil Dahiya, Campaigner, GreenpeaceIndia.

Also, Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) for Indiaand China analysed from NASA satellite imagery depictsair pollution levels rising and intensifying across India whilein China there is a reduction in pollution levels from 2005to 2015.

WOMEN WITH PCOS MORE LIKELY TO BEAFFECTED BY DIABETES: AIIMSSTUDY

An AIIMS study has claimed that womensuffering from polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), acondition of hormonal imbalance, are more likely to beaffected by diabetes.

Notably, the polycystic ovary syndrome has takenepidemic proportions in the country affecting around 23per cent women.

The study by Dr Mohammad Ashraf Ganie,Associate Professor, Department of Endocrinology andMetabolism, AIIMS, was published in American Societyof Reproductive Medicine Journal (Fertility sterility) in July.

During the study, 2,047 women from Delhi andJammu and Kashmir, suffering from polycystic ovarysyndrome, were screened.

"Polycystic ovary syndrome can cause irregularperiods, unwanted hair growth, and glucose intolerancedue to hormone imbalance," Dr Ganie said.

"Out of the 2,047 women, 36 per cent, agedbetween 14 to 40 years, were found to be suffering frompre-diabetes and diabetes. These women have centralobesity. They have high levels of insulin and male hormonedue to sedentary lifestyle, consumption of high-caloriediet and genetic tendency," he said.

"Insulin resistance, a condition in which the bodyproduces insulin but does not use it effectively, has beenrecognised as a risk factor for diabetes," Dr Ganie said.

According to World Health Organisation (WHO),an estimated 3.4 million deaths are caused due to highblood sugar, 80 per cent of which occur in low andmiddle-income countries.

According to Diabetes Atlas-2015 by theInternational Diabetes Federation (IDF), 69.1 millionpeople are affected with diabetes in India, the secondhighest after China, which has 109 million people withdiabetes. By 2030, the number of diabetes patients in thecountry is likely to rise to 101 million, an estimate by theWorld Health Organisation (WHO) claims.


Given the severity of air pollution levels in thecountry, Greenpeace India has decried plans to easetimeline for implementing the notified emission standardsfor coal-fired power plants.

"There are sufficient scientific reports to establishthat thermal power plants are one of the key contributorsto air pollution, yet the government seems comfortableignoring public health and appeasing the polluters by easingthe norms," Dahiya said.

Greenpeace has also urged for a national cleanair action plan and adopting a comprehensive approachsimilar to China, which includes coal consumption caps,emission controls at power plants and industry, tacklingthe transport and construction sector, checking demolition,and curtailing biomass burning.

OVER 90% PEOPLE WITH HIV,TUBERCULOSIS HAVE ACCESS TO

THERAPY

Over 90 per cent of people in India who areinfected simultaneously with HIV and tuberculosis haveaccess to HIV therapy, a new study released said.

The report by UNAIDS showed that countriesare getting on the 'fast-track', with an additional one millionpeople accessing treatment in just six months (January toJune 2016).

By June 2016, around 18.2 million (16.1 million–19 million) people had access to the life-saving medicines,including 910,000 children, double the number five yearsearlier.

If these efforts are sustained and increased, theworld will be on track to achieve the target of 30 millionpeople on treatment by 2020, the report said.

"Antiretroviral therapy among TB patients knownto be living with HIV was 78 per cent globally, and above90 per cent in India, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique,Namibia and Swaziland," the report said.

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) is the combinationof several antiretroviral medicines used to slow the rateat which HIV makes copies of itself (multiplies) in thebody.

As far as decline in new HIV infections amongchildren (aged 0-14 years) low and middle incomecountries, 2010-2015 was concerned, for India measureswere not available, the report said.

However, percentage of pregnant women livingwith HIV receiving antiretroviral medicines (eitherprophylaxis or lifelong therapy) to prevent mother-to-child transmission, low and middle income countries, 2015,for India it was between 33-65 per cent, the report said.

Globally, access to HIV medicines to preventmother-to-child transmission of HIV has increased to 77per cent in 2015 (up from 50 per cent in 2010) as a resultof which new HIV infections among children havedeclined by 51 per cent since 2010.

'Get on the Fast-Track: the life-cycle approach toHIV' was launched today in Windhoek, Namibia, byNamibian President Hage Geingob and the ExecutiveDirector of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibé, a press statementon the UNAIDS said.

NO EVIDENCE OF BEIJING STRAIN OF TBBACTERIA SPREADING THROUGH NE

STATES: GOVT

Doctors at All India Institute of Medical Scienceshave identified a bacteria strain from China which isspreading a particular type of tuberculosis, but there is noconclusive evidence that it is spreading throughnortheastern states, Lok Sabha was informed today.

"The government is aware about the study whereBeijing strain of the bacteria, mycobaterium tuberculosishas been identified by doctors in AIIMS," Minister ofState for Health Faggan Singh Kulaste said in a writtenreply.

He was asked whether government is awareabout the research by doctors of AIIMS in New Delhiwhere it has been detected that a virus strain from Chinais spreading tuberculosis in the country.

"There is no conclusive evidence that the Beijingstrain is spreading through northeastern states," Kulastesaid.

He also said that in the government sector, reseachactivities for detection and treatment of cancer are mostlycarried out by institutions such as Indian Council ofMedical Research, Department of Science and Technologyand Department of Atomic Energy.

The Bhabha Atomic Reesrach Centre hasdeveloped Bhabhatron and the Society of AppliedMicrowave Electronics Engineering and Research hasdeveloped Linear Acceelerator.


Tuberculosis epidemic in India is "larger" thanwhat was previously estimated, the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) had recently said.

It had asserted that the country was one of sixnations which accounted for 60 per cent of the new casesin 2015.

The Global Tuberculosis Report 2016 which wasreleased recently however, said the number of TB deathsand incidences rate continue to fall globally as well as inIndia.

1 IN EVERY 5 CORPORATE EMPLOYEES ATRISK OF DIABETES: STUDY

Erratic and long working hours put one in everyfive employees of the corporate world at the risk ofdiabetes or hypertension, a study has claimed.

However, women in the corporate sector arecomparatively less affected than men as the average healthinsurance claims for diabetes-related ailments made bymen is almost 13 per cent higher than women.

These are the key findings of a study carried outby Apollo Munich along with Nielsen India Pvt Ltd tounderstand the awareness levels of diabetes among thoseowning or planning to buy health cover. The findings werereleased on the occasion of World Diabetes Day today.

Nearly eight lakh corporate health insurancecustomers were surveyed for the study.

The findings also revealed that incidence ofdiabetes takes a huge leap by 20 per cent in the age bracketof 46 to 60 years amongst the corporate workforce ascompared to those between the age brackets 36 to 45years.

Alarmingly, the incidences are 50 per cent higherfor those in the age bracket of 56-60 years.

Antony Jacob, CEO, Apollo Munich HealthInsurance, said, "Once contracted, diabetes is a long-termailment, and therefore the average claim size is 90 percent higher for diabetes as compared to expenses relatedto other diseases.

"It has been medically proven that diabetes canbe controlled extensively with exercise and diet restrictionsand through this current survey, we hope to addresspeople's awareness levels on how to control diabetes,"he said.

The research also reveals that while people arefairly aware of the causes and cures for diabetes only 19per cent took part in a regular physical excercise regimenand also 61 per cent skipped their breakfast leading togrowing incidence of Type 2 diabetes

EYE INSTITUTE IN DELHI GETS HIGH-TECH EQUIPMENT FROM JAPAN

Japan donated five high-tech microscopes to acity-based charitable society working in the area of eyeailments, with its envoy saying that such facilities shouldbe used especially for ameliorating the condition of theunderprivileged people.

The Japanese Embassy donated the medicalequipment toVenu Eye Institute and Research Centre under the GrantAssistance Grassroots Project of that country.

"We are glad to know that the equipments wehad donated earlier are being properly used and maintained.And, so we decided to give another grant. And, theseequipments should be used especia lly for theunderprivileged patients.

"Medical fees are very high and so the instituteshould reach out to the underprivileged society for gettingthem better treatment and care and for preventing themfrom getting blindness," Ambassador of Japan to India,Kenji Hiramatsu said.

Joint Director and Medical Superintendent of theinstitute, Dr Abhishek Dagar, said, this was the third grantgiven by the Japanese government.

"We have given grants earlier under the schemefor schools, check dams, medical facilities in Delhi andoutside. And, so this new grant is also a symbol of thefriendship between India and Japan," Kenji said.

The Ambassador was later given a tour of thefacilities there and he also witnessed a cataract surgery,performed by a team of doctors, using the newequipments.

The 100-bedded facility, set up over 30 years ago,has besides a base hospital in Delhi, five satellitehospitals.

"There are 37 million people blind in the world.One-third of these blind people live in India. 80 per centof blindness is avoidable (cataract and refractive errors).Majority of the blind live in rural areas, while most of the


eye care services and facilities are available in urban areas,"according to the institute.

INDIA BECOMES ASSOCIATE MEMBER OFCERN

India became an associate member of theEuropean Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN),the world's largest nuclear and particle physics labaratory.

The agreement was signed today by Sekhar Basu,Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission and Secretaryof Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), and CERNDirector General Dr Fabiola Gianotti at the DAE's officehere.

Last year, the Union Cabinet green-lit the proposalfor India officially entering the Geneva-based body,following which the CERN Council accepted India as anassociate member.

India had 'observer' status till September this year,when the CERN Council adopted a resolution upgradingits position.

"There are three major activities going on in ourlaboratory-- accelerators, detectors and computing. Indianscientist fraternity is good at all the three areas; hence wehave taken decision to upgrade the status," Gianotti toldreporters.

Becoming associate member of CERN willenhance participation of young scientists and engineers invarious CERN projects.

It will also open opportunities for Indianindustries to participate directly in CERN projects,Gianotti said.

The industries now can directly bag contracts forspecified requirements of CERN. Earlier, the supply ofrequired material, components and services was in theform of kind (without any charge). Now, the companiescan directly bag the order and provide the services, sheadded.

After becoming a associate member, India alsohas to contribute a certain amount of money for researchactivities.

"This would involve annual contribution of 11.5million swiss frank from Indian government to CERN,"Gianotti said.

The membership comes at a time when there wascriticism within the scientific community over the delay in

India accepting the membership. Pakistan became anassociate member of the body in 2014.

The organisation is the world's largest nuclear andparticle physics laboratory, where scientists and engineersare probing the fundamental structure of the Universeusing the most sophisticated scientific instruments andadvanced computing systems.

Presently CERN has 22 member states, fourassociate member states, and the observer status is givento four states and three International Organisations.

"We already have met some industries in Bengaluruand talks were more related to computing. We will exploremore in India and what can be contributing to CERN,"said Gianotti.

OVER 50 ORGAN TRANSPLANTS CARRIEDOUT ACROSS COUNTRY IN 1-DAY

Over 50 organ transplants were carried out acrossthe country today to generate awareness about organdonation as part of a week-long celebration to mark IndianOrgan Donation Week.

"We tied up with 42 hospitals across the countryas part of our campaign to create awareness about organdonation. This is the first time so many transplants havetaken place in a co-ordinated manner," Director, NationalOrgan and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO), DrVimal Bhandari said.

A total of 43 kidney transplant and 8 livertransplants were carried out today. Two of thesetransplants were from deceased donors and rest werefrom live donors.

As many 22 hospita ls from Delhi NCRparticipated in this campaign, including AIIMS, SafdarjungHospital, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital,Army Research andReferral Hospital, Indraprastha Apollo, Artemis, Medanta,Fortis (Shalimar), Fortis (Vasant Kunj), Max (Saket), Max(Patparganj).

Apart from Delhi NCR, 18 hospitals across 13states and one Union Territory too took part.

There is a huge gap between the demand andsupply of organs for transplant. As per government data,every year two lakh patients are added to the waiting listfor kidney donation while only 60,000-70,000 are able toreceive a kidney.


Similarly, annual requirement for liver transplantsis at 25,000-30,000 livers but only about 2,000 livers aretransplanted every year.

The gap gets wider for heart transplants where50,000 transplants are required every year but only 100transplants are achieved.

An important agenda before NOTTO is also topromote deceased organ donation, where most often thedonor is a victim of a road accident.

India's deceased donor rate is at 0.3 per millionpopulation, whereas for a country like Spain the deceaseddonor rate is at 35 per million population. Indian OrganDonation Day will be celebrated this year on Nov 30.

GOVT DEVELOPING TRADITIONALDRUGS FOR VECTOR-BORNE DISEASES

New drugs are being developed by thegovernment and its research councils for the preventionand management of vector-borne diseases throughtraditional medicines, the government said.

A drug called AYUSH PJ7 has been developedfor Dengue by Central Council for Research in AyurvedicSciences (CCRAS), the Minister of State for AYUSH,Shripad Yesso Naik said.

AYUSH SL has also been developed by thiscouncil for the treatment of filarisis. Early this year, thecouncil had also developed an anti-malarial drug AYUSH64. Additionally, several studies showing significanttherapeutic effects through the use of Unani drugs againstdiseases like malaria, filarisis and kala azar have been carriedout by Central Council for Research in Unani Medicines.

The research body for Homoeopathy, CentralCouncil for Research in Homeopathy, has also conductedclinical management studies on dengue, Japaneseencephalitis and acute lymphadenitis due to filariasis.

GOVT UNDERTAKING RESEARCH TOPROMOTE USE OF COW URINE, LS TOLD

In order to promote use of cow urine for itsanti-cancer and anti-infective properties in ayurvedicmedicines the government has undertaken several researchand academic activities, the government informed.

"Council of Scientific and Industrial Research(CSIR) through its constituent laboratories has conducted

research studies in collaboration with Go VigyanAnusandhan Kendra, Nagpur, on cow urine distillate forits antioxidant and bio-enhancing properties on anti-infective and anti-cancer agents and nutrients," MoS forAYUSH Shripad Yesso Naik said.

A pharmaceutical product containing cow urinedistillate with anti-oxidant property is available in themarket and that four US patents have been secured since2002, he said.

The statement explained how cow urine is usedcommonly in ayurvedic medicines.

"Panchagavya is a classic collective name of fiveproducts obtained from cow viz milk, curd, ghee, urineand dung. Cow urine is ingredient of several Ayurvedicformulations and also used as adjuvant with medicinalformulations and for pharmaceutical processing calledShodhana (Purification) and Bhavana (Triturition) ofmedicinal materials," Naik said.

This is also a part of course curricula at Ayurvedicinstitutes and a topic of several research studies.

"Panchagavya and its ingredients are part of thecourse curricula of Ayurvedic studies at degree and post-graduation levels. Opportunities of postgraduate andpostdoctoral research as well as extramural research onPanchagavya are available to the interested scholars andscientists," he said.

For regulatory purposes the licensing and qualitycontrol provisions for medicines made from cow'sproducts are prescribed in the Drugs and Cosmetic Rules,1945, the minister added.

INDIAN SOCIETY OF NANO MEDICINEFORMED TO CUT TREATMENT COST

With an aim to intensify the country's contributionin the field of nanomedicine, a group of nanoscienceresearchers in the country today announced formation ofIndian Society of Nano Medicine (ISNM) with an aim tohelp reduce medicine cost and improve diagnostics.

The researchers claimed that the forum will helpin precise treatment of cancer. Unlike chemotherapy,nanotechnology will be used to destroy cancerous cellswithout harming the healthy cells at lesser cost.

ISNM members include eminent healthcareproviders, engineers from Indian Institute of Technology(IITs) and nanoscience researchers, among others. Dr Amit


Dinda, professor of pathology at AIIMS, is the generalsecretary of ISNM.

"With the help of nano particles, drugs can bedelivered directly to the diseased cells, reducing the damagewhich other methods, like chemotherapy, do to healthycells. Nano medicine will also help in lowering the cost asdosage will reduce from milligram to nanogram with lesserside effects," Dr Dinda said.

He further said India ranks third in terms ofpubl ications on Nanoscience. According to thegovernment statistics, Rs 2,000 crore has been allocatedfor research on the use of nanotechnology.

GREEN TEA CAN REDUCE KIDNEYDAMAGE BY ANTI-CANCER DRUG: AIIMS

Researchers at AIIMS have found that acompound present in green tea is effective in reducingkidney toxicity and damage induced by anti-cancer drugcisplatin.

This research, according to experts, may lead tothe discovery of a new drug which can combat the ill-effects of cisplatin, a widely used chemotherapy drug fortreatment of cancer.

"The research study has evaluated the usefulnessof epicatechin gallate (ECG), a polyphenolic compoundobtained from green tea, in preventing the damage ofkidneys induced by cisplatin. Side effects of cisplatin mayinclude nephrotoxicity and life-threatening damagedkidneys.

"This identification has the potential to bedeveloped into a therapeutic drug to counter the side-effects of cisplatin," said Dr Y K Gupta, Head ofDepartment (Pharmacology), AIIMS.

The study by AIIMS professor Jagriti Bhatia fromthe Pharmacology department and her team was publishedin 'Laboratory Investigations' journal recently.

"Approximately 30 per cent of the treated patientsmay develop nephrotoxicity after receiving an initial doseof cisplatin. Cisplatin causes production of free radicalsinside cells in kidney which leads to oxidative stress andinflammation.

"The therapeutic procedures such as vigoroushydration with normal saline and forced diuresis havelimited efficacy in reducing kidney damage. Further, at

present no specific drug is available which can prevent orattenuate the kidney damage due to cisplatin," said Bhatia.

"In our study, we observed that ECG obtainedfrom green tea significantly reduced kidney injury due tocisplatin. It was most effective at the dose of 5 mg/kgand was administered to rats through injection for 10 days.Further, ECG reduced inflammation and cell death(apoptosis) in rats," she said.

SUBSTANTIAL RISE EXPECTED INORTHOPAEDIC PROBLEMS IN INDIA:

DOCS

Amid rapid socio-economic changesaccompanied by increasing urbanisation, the country is setto experience a "substantial rise" orthopaedic problemsin the near future, doctors said.

Orthopaedic experts from across the country,who had gathered here for the Delhi OrthopaedicAssociation's Annual Conference today, concurred on thesubject.

A steady rise in ageing population and lifestyleshifts are set to drive an increasing burden of orthopaedicinjuries in India, upping the need for improved proceduresand better training of surgeons to make surgeries saferand more effective, they said.

Hosted by the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre (ISIC),the three-day DOACON-2016 has brought togetherleading experts, pioneers and delegates in the field oforthopaedics to discuss ways and means to deal with theincreasing prevalence of traumatic orthopaedic injuries andosteoporotic fractures.

A number of factors are driving a surge inorthopaedic problems as well as traumatic orthopaedicinjuries these days, experts said.

"Socio-economic development and resultanturbanisation is accompanied by increase in use ofautomobiles, rise in construction activities as well as lifestyleshifts towards the sedentary that tend to weaken themuscoskeletal system," said H S Chabbra, Chief of SpineService & Medical Director, ISIC.

"At the same time, rising life expectancy gives usa huge population of the elderly who are prone toosteoporotic fractures suffered usually in falls.

"In addition, trauma is an expediential increase in


India, which is a significant number for orthopaedicrelated injuries... We are set to experience a substantial risein burden of orthopaedic problems in the near future,"he said.

Olympic gold medall ist Abhinav Bindrahighlighted that "promoting sports medicine should bemade an integral part of sports training culture in India".

"Timely intervention and safe surgeries can havedramatic effects on the recovery rate of injuries in athletes,"he was quoted as saying in a statement by the association.

More than 18 academic sessions were held duringthe conference and informative case study scenariosdiscussed.

"With increasing life expectancy, problems of hipand knee arthritis is also on the rise... We have the latestand most advanced technologies as well as implants forjoint replacements," said Bhushan Nariani, Head ofOrthopaedic Department, ISIC.

TIGER POPULATION IN PENCH RESERVERISEN TO 53: SFRI REPORT

The number of tigers in the Pench Tiger Reservehere has gone up to 53, according to the latest figuresprovided by the State Forest Research Institute (SFRI).

The SFRI has recently informed about the rise intiger population to the authorities of Pench Tiger Reserve.

"The results of camera trap and other prevailingmethods of counting of tigers between December 2015and March 2016 revealed that there are 53 tigers in thewild in the Mowgli land," Field Director of Pench TigerReserve, Shubhranjan Sen said.

Pench national park, known as home to 'Mowgli',a fictional character and protagonist in English writerRudyard Kipling's 'The Jungle Book'.

Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in its report in2014, based on camera trap method, had revealed thatthere were 44 tigers in Pench.

However, after two years, when the SFRI carriedout the tiger census with the same method, it found thatthere were 50 tigers in the reserve, Sen said.

"Later, in the counting that was executed byadopting other prevailing methods, the number of bigcats went up to 53," he claimed.

The report also studies incidents of humaninterference in the reserve area and found that it was atnegligible level, he added.

"In the counting, cubs up to the age of two-and-a-half years are not taken into account, but if that is alsoincluded then this figure would cross the 80-figure mark,"Sen said.

The SFRI also released the figures of herbivoresin the reserve, which shows that the number of spotteddeer, blue bull, sambar (large deer), wild boars, monkeysand bison, too, has increased manifold.

The reserve is spread in 1,179-square km of area,which includes both core and buffer zones, the directorsaid.

ECONOMIC LOSSES FROM CHILDHOODLEAD EXPOSURE OVER USD 236 BN

Economic losses due to childhood lead exposureare estimated to be over USD 236 billion in India, LokSabha was informed.

Minister of State for Health Faggan Singh Kulastein a written reply said according to research done byEnvironmental Pediatrics at New York University Schoolof Medicine, exposure to lead has a permanent negetiveimpact on children's developing brain.

The Minister said one impact is a reduction ofintelligence quotient which can be corrrelated withdecreases in lifetime learning potential.

The results of the research are presented forAfrica, Asia and Latin America/Caribbean followingWorld Health Organisation geographic classifications (UN2012).

"Lead exposure represents a major contributorto children's intellectual disability in many low and middleincome countries which in turn translates into signifcantearning losses over a lifetime.

"Childhood lead exposure in India whentranslated into economic lossess is estimated to be USD236.1 billion," Kulaste said.

He said the Environment Ministry has notifiedthe rules titled "Regulation on lead contents in Householdand Decorative Paint Rules 2016" to regulate manufacture,trade, use, import and export of lead contents inhouseholds and decorative paints in November.


On November 22, the minister had informedthe Rajya Sabha that lead and other heavy metals likecadmium and chromium have been found in the samplesof five different soft drinks manufactured by two majormultinational companies in India.

UMBILICAL CORD BLOOD EXPERTSPITCH FOR EXPANDING POOL BASE

A city-based umbilical cord blood bank hascreated a facility which will allow its members access toother best matched samples rather than just their own,for treatment of haematological disorders.

An umbilical cord is a flexible cord-like structurecontaining blood vessels which attaches foetus to theplacenta during gestation.

CelluGen, the owner of the facility, held a pressconference today to educate the public about the needfor banking umbilical cord, and doctors and researchersfrom the field discussed how the precious resource canrevolutionise the treatment of haematological disordersin the country.

Private stem cell banks have been growing in Indiawith parents investing huge amounts annually to protecttheir newborn from blood-related disorders, S P Yadav,Pediatric Haematologist at Medanta Hospital said.

"The fact is that the possibility of utilising one'sown umbilical cord blood (UCB) for transplant in blood-related disorders is less than 5 per cent. This futility ofstorage of UCB for self-use is well recognised by themedical fraternity.

"To make umbilical cord blood stem celltransplants a viable option, accessing another person's cordblood (allogenic) is the best solution," he said.

Umbilical Cord Blood Transplant (UCBT) hasgained popularity as an efficacious treatment modality forvarious malignant and non-malignant haematologicaldisorders.

The first successful UCBT was done in France in1988. More than 35,000 successful cord blood transplantshave since been performed worldwide, Founder-Director,CelluGen Biotech, Lalit Jaiswal said.

"There are at least 142 public and 25 private UCBbanks across the world over with three public and sevenprivate banks located in the country. In India, insufficientquantity of just about 5000 cord blood units are availablein public banks.

"The chance of obtaining a matched donor foran Indian recipient from foreign registries is meagre dueto ethnicity and exorbitant cost. Till date, only 32 patientshave received a transplant using related or unrelated UCB,"he added.

Umbilical Cord tissue derived stem cells findpotential use in treatment of various degenerative disordersof the nervous system, osteoarthritis, optic nerve atrophy,diabetes etc, to name a few, CelluGen said.

CCMB ESTABLISHES GENETIC LINKS TOSKIN COLOUR VARIATIONS

Social structure defined by the caste system has a"profound" influence on skin pigmentation, according toa study conducted by the city-based Centre for Cellularand Molecular Biology (CCMB).

The study was carried out in collaboration withEstonian Biocentre, Estonia, on skin colour of over 1,000individuals in India. It has explored the genetics of skincolour variations across the country.

The findings also reflected the "profoundinfluence" of the strict marriage patterns and multi-layeredendogamy adding further to the variation in skin colour.

The study, led by Kumarasamy Thangaraj, thesenior principal scientist at CCMB, Estonian Biocentre,and five other institutes was published on November 17in the online edition of the Journal of InvestigativeDermatology.

"We have done extensive epidemiological surveyof 1,167 individuals belonging to 27 populations andquantified melanin content at most exposed and lowexposed area of human body at Middle region ofGangatic plains (Uttar Pradesh and Bihar), and selected374 individuals for the first round of genetic study," aCCMB release issued today quoted Anshuman Mishra,the first author of the study, as saying.

The researchers said SLC24A5 gene is known tomake skin lighter and explains about 25-38 per cent ofpigmentation differences between Europeans and WestAfricans.

A variant/modification (rs1426654) in the genehas been earlier shown to be associated with skinpigmentation measures in India, the release stated.

In this study, the research team has analysed theentire gene and found another variant (rs2470102), which


contributes to skin pigmentation variation in Indiansubcontinent.

"Further analyses revealed that both the variants(rs1426654 and rs2470102) together could better explainthe variation in skin colour among Indian populations thanconsidering each variant independently.

"The difference in skin colour persisted even whenthe contribution by the previously known SNP (singlenucleotide polymorphism) was adjusted, suggests that thenew SNP has an independent effect on skin colour," itsaid.

The authors found that social structure definedby the caste system has a "profound influence on skinpigmentation."

The authors found out that skin colour was foundto vary significantly among ethnic groups and socialcategories studied. The researchers then compared the skincolour (phenotype) with the genetic variation (genotype)of the individuals. Those with derived (mutant) alleles hadfairer skin compared to those who had old (wild type)alleles.

"Our study clearly reflects the profound influenceof the strict marriage patterns and multi-layered endogamyadding further to the variation in skin colour contributingto the mosaic of skin tones," said Chandana Basu, one ofthe authors of the study and a researcher at EstonianBiocentre.

This team also studied 1,825 individuals belongingto 52 diverse populations across India and found that thesocial category and associated SNPs explain 38.4 per centof the variation in skin color.

"Unlike Africans and Europeans, we do not havehomogeneous skin colour throughout the country. Thiscould be due to different waves of human migration intoIndia and recent admixture of all Indian populations, whichwe predicted in our previous study that it could havehappened about two thousand years ago," said Thangaraj.

This is yet another effort of CSIR-CCMB in thefield of genomics, which helped us understand the geneticlink to the skin colour, said CCMB Director RakeshMishra.

"These are steps that point to the era ofpersonalised medicine based on link of genomic featureswith disease susceptibility and drug response.

"Such studies, at very large scales, will be neededto establish individual specific lifestyle advisory andmedical prescriptions as it is clear that 'one size does notsuit all' is also applicable to the area of human health anddisease," Mishra added.

IMA PITCHES FOR MONITORING USE OFANTIBIOTICS

To tackle antibiotic resistance, the Indian MedicalAssociation (IMA) today pitched for monitoring the useof antibiotics to curb over-prescription by doctors.

"Antibiotic resistance is a global concern. We standat the edge of an imminent 'post-antibiotic' era whereresistant bacteria can render precious lifesaving drugsobsolete.

"Medical science is heavily dependent onantibiotics, from treating simple tetanus wounds tocomplex surgical procedures. If this over-usage continues,even simple infections will have the potential to be fatal.It is important that both medical and patient communitiesbecome more aware about the judicious and just use ofthese precious drugs," Dr K K Aggarwal, nationalpresident-elect, IMA, said.

He said it was important to understand when thedoctor or the patient is at fault as far as antibiotic usage isconcerned.

"From the physician's side, over prescriptionneeds to be controlled. Sometimes, these drugs are givenas a preventive measure rather than a cure. Moreover, inthe interest of being careful, physicians deem it best toprescribe a low dose antibiotic even when the said drug isnot clinically required.

"From the patient's side, self-medication isworrisome. Several of clinically precious antibiotics areavailable over the counter, and are often taken without aguided instruction about dosage and proper regimen," hesaid.

The instances where the physician or the patientcould be faulted for prescribing antibiotics includeprescribing antibiotics when no bacterial infection exists,prescribing the wrong antibiotic or the wrong dose,prescribing antibiotics for longer than necessary,prescribing strong antibiotics when a less strong wouldbe as effective, he said.


BRAIN CIRCUITS LINKED TOSTUTTERING IDENTIFIED

Scientists have found that stuttering is linked tochanges in brain circuits that control speech production,regulate attention and emotions.

Researchers at Children's Hospital Los Angeles(CHLA) in the US have conducted the first study of itskind using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy(MRS) to look at brain regions in both adults and childrenwho stutter.

Developmental stuttering is a neuropsychiatriccondition; its origins in the brain are only partly known.

In order to measure an index of neural densityrelated to stuttering in circuits and brain regions suspectedto be affected, the scientists performed proton shiftimaging of the brain in 47 children and 47 adults.

The study included subjects both with andwithout stuttering.

The researchers found that affected brain regionsincluded major nodes of the Bohland speech-productionnetwork associated with the regulation of motor activity;the default-mode network, involved in the regulation ofattention; and the emotional-memory network responsiblefor regulating emotion.

"That stuttering is related to speech and language-based brain circuits seems clear," said Bradley S Petersonfrom CHLA.

"Attention-regulating portions of the brain arerelated to control circuits that are important in governingbehavior. People with changes here are more likely to stutterand have more severe stuttering," said Peterson.

"Emotions like anxiety and stress also tend tomake stuttering worse, likely because this network interactswith language and attention control circuits," he said.

This initial, unique MRS study of stutteringconfirmed that disturbances in neuronal or membranemetabolism contribute to the development of stuttering.

Looking at a combination of children and adultsin order to detect the effects of stuttering, independentof life-stage, revealed differences between children andadults within both the stuttering and control samples.

This suggests different metabolic profiles inchildren versus adults who stutter. Few sex-specific effectsof stuttering on brain metabolites were observed.

The study was published in the Journal of theAmerican Medical Association (JAMA).

PREDATORY BACTERIA MAY WIPE OUT'SUPERBUGS': STUDY

Predatory bacteria - that eat others of their kind- could be a new weapon in the fight against drug-resistantbacteria or 'superbugs', a new study suggests.

A naturally occurring predatory bacterium is ableto work with the immune system to clear multi-drugresistant Shigella infections in zebrafish, researchers fromImperial College London and Nottingham University inthe UK said.

It is the first time the predatory bacteriumBdellovibrio bacteriovorus has been successfully used asan injected anti-bacterial therapy and represents animportant step in the fight against drug-resistant infections,or 'superbugs'.

Shigella infection is responsible for over 160million illnesses and over one million deaths every year -and is a common cause of travellers' diarrhoea.

Cases of drug-resistant Shigella are also on therise as, although the diarrhoea usually clears up withouttreatment, antibiotics are often used even in mild cases tostop the diarrhoea faster.

To investigate Bdellovibrio's ability to controldrug resistant Gram-negative infections, researchersinjected zebrafish larvae with a lethal dose of Shigellaflexneri strain M90T, resistant to both streptomycin andcarbenicillin antibiotics.

Bdellovibrio was injected into the larvae's infectionsite and a decrease in the number of Shigella was seen.

In the absence of Bdellovibrio, zebrafish wereunable to control the replication of Shigella and levels ofthe bacteria rose.

"This study really shows what a unique andinteresting bacterium Bdellovibrio is as it presents thisamazing natural synergy with the immune system andpersists just long enough to kill prey bacteria before beingnaturally cleared," said Serge Mostowy, from ImperialCollege London.

"It's an important milestone in research into theuse of a living antibiotic that could be used in animals andhumans," Mostowy said.


Bdellovibrio can invade and kill a range of Gram-negative bacteria, such as E coli and Salmonella, in thenatural environment.

Previous research has shown that it can reducepathogen numbers in the stomach of chickens when takenas an oral therapy, but there is growing need to developtherapies to target infections in wounds and organs.

Successful use of Bdellovibrio highlights itspotential uses in tackling a range of drug-resistant Gram-negative bacterial infections that can develop in hospitalpatients.

"This has been a truly ground-breakingcollaboration that shows therapeutic Bdellovibrio in actioninside the translucent living zebrafish," Professor LizSockett, from The University of Nottingham said.

"The predatory action of the Bdellovibrio breaksthe Shigella-pathogen cells and this stimulates the whiteblood cells; redoubling their 'efforts' against the pathogenand leading to increased survival of the zebrafish 'patients',"said Sockett.

EXPOSURE TO SECONDHAND SMOKEMAKES KIDS ANTISOCIAL: STUDY

Children who are exposed to tobacco smoke athome are prone to antisocial behaviour, aggression andare more likely to drop out of school, a new study suggests.

The study by University of Montreal in Canadashows that the more children are exposed to householdtobacco smoke in early childhood, the greater their riskof adopting antisocial behaviour towards others, engagingin proactive and reactive aggression, having conductproblems at school, and dropping out at age 12.

Animal studies have suggested that exposure totobacco smoke is toxic to the developing brain at a timewhen it is most vulnerable to environment input.

Abnormal brain development can result fromchronic or transient exposure to toxic chemicals and gasesin second hand tobacco smoke.

These compounds eventually solidify and createthird hand smoke. Antisocial behaviour is characterisedby proactive intent to harm others, lack prosocial feelings,and violate social norms.

Such behaviours include aggression, criminaloffences, theft, refusal to comply with authority, anddestruction of property.

In later childhood, antisocial behaviour is oftenassociated with academic problems, as highlighted in thestudy. Deviance and dropout risk are costly to society aswhole.

"Young children have little control over theirexposure to household tobacco smoke, which isconsidered toxic to the brain at a time when itsdevelopment is exponential," said Linda Pagani, professorat the University of Montreal.

"The detection of early environmental factors thatinfluence later child well-being represents an importanttarget for individual and community health," Pagani said.

"Parents who smoke near their children and playoften inadvertently expose them to second and third handsmoke. It was already known that environmental smokeplaces children at risk of short- and long-term healthproblems," she added.

"However, now for the first time, we havecompelling evidence which suggests other dangers todeveloping brain systems that govern behaviouraldecisions, social and emotional life, and cognitivefunctioning," said Pagani.

Researchers examined data from a longitudinalbirth cohort of Quebec boys and girls born in 1997 and1998.

The Quebec Longitudinal Study of ChildDevelopment is a public database administered andcoordinated by the Institut de la statistique du Quebec inthe US.

Every year, parents of 1,035 children from thelongitudinal study reported whether anyone smoked athome when their children were aged 1.5 to 7.5 years.

At age 12, their children self-reported theirantisocial behaviour and academic characteristics. Overall,60 per cent of families reported never being exposed totobacco smoke, while 27 per cent reported intermittentexposure, and 13 per cent reported chronic exposure.

NEW AI THERAPY TO HELP OVERCOMEFEAR: STUDY

Scientists have discovered a way to removespecific fears from the brain, using a combination ofartificial intelligence and brain scanning technology, anadvance that may lead to new treatments for conditionssuch as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and phobias.


Currently, a common approach is for patients toundergo aversion therapy, in which they confront theirfear by being exposed to it in the hope they will learn thatwhat they fear is not harmful. However, this therapy isunpleasant.

Researchers from the University of Cambridgein the UK have found a way of unconsciously removinga fear memory from the brain. They developed a methodto read and identify a fear memory using a new techniquecalled 'Decoded Neurofeedback'.

It used brain scanning to monitor activity in thebrain, and identify complex patterns of activity thatresembled a specific fear memory.

In the experiment, a fear memory was created in17 healthy volunteers by administering a brief electricshock when they saw a certain computer image.

When the pattern was detected, researchers over-wrote the fear memory by giving their experimentalsubjects a reward.

"The way information is represented in the brainis very complicated, but the use of artificial intelligence(AI) image recognition methods now allow us to identifyaspects of the content of that information," said BenSeymour from the University of Cambridge.

"When we induced a mild fear memory in thebrain, we were able to develop a fast and accurate methodof reading it by using AI algorithms," said Seymour.

"The challenge then was to find a way to reduceor remove the fear memory, without ever consciouslyevoking it," he said.

"We realised that even when the volunteers weresimply resting, we could see brief moments when thepattern of fluctuating brain activity had partial featuresof the specific fear memory, even though the volunteerswere not consciously aware of it," he said.

"We decided to give subjects a reward - a smallamount of money - every time we picked up these featuresof the memory," he said.

Researchers repeated the procedure over threedays. The volunteers were told that the monetary rewardthey earned depended on their brain activity, but they didnot know how.

By continuously connecting subtle patterns ofbrain activity linked to the electric shock with a smallreward, the scientists hoped to gradually override the fearmemory.

They then tested what happened when theyshowed the volunteers the pictures previously associatedwith the shocks.

Such a treatment could have major benefits overtraditional drug based approaches. Patients could alsoavoid the stress associated with exposure therapies andany side-effects resulting from those drugs.

DEEP SEA CORALS UNDER THREAT FROMCLIMATE CHANGE: STUDY

North Atlantic coral populations – which supporta variety of sea life – are under threat from climate change,according to scientists who have warned that changingwinter weather conditions may upset fragile marineecosystems.

Corals allow diverse forms of marine life tothrive by building reef structures that provide protectionfrom predators and safe spaces to reproduce.

Researchers from the University of Edinburghin the UK, focused on a species of cold-water coral -known as Lophelia pertusa - which grows in deep waters,creating elaborate reefs that are hotspots of biodiversity.

These populations are maintained by tiny, fragilecoral larvae that drift and swim on ocean currents,travelling hundreds of miles between reefs where theyattach and begin to grow.

Researchers used computer models to simulatethe migration of larvae across vast stretches of ocean.

They did so to predict the effect weather changescould have on the long-term survival of Lophelia pertusapopulations in the North Atlantic.

They found that a shift in average winterconditions in Western Europe - one of the predictedimpacts of climate change - could threaten coralpopulations.

Ocean currents - affected by changing windpatterns - could drive larvae away from key sites in a newnetwork of marine areas established to help safeguardcoral populations, said researchers.

The team found Scotland's network of MarineProtected Areas (MPAs) appears to be weakly connected,making it vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

A coral population on Rosemary Bank seamount,an undersea mountain off Scotland's west coast, is key tomaintaining the network.


Corals also thrive on oil and gas platforms in theNorth Sea and west of Shetland, which may help to bridgea gap in the MPA network between populations in theAtlantic and along the coast of Norway, said researchers.

"We can not track larvae in the ocean, but whatwe know about their behaviour allows us to simulate theirepic journeys, predicting which populations are connectedand which are isolated," said Alan Fox, from the Universityof Edinburgh.

"In less wel l connected coral networks,populations become isolated and cannot support eachother, making survival and recovery from damage moredifficult," said Fox.

"Scotland's seabed plays a unique role as a steppingstone for deep-sea Atlantic species," said Murray Robertsfrom the University of Edinburgh.

NEW POTENT VACCINE MAY SPELL ENDFOR HIV

The largest and most advanced HIV vaccine trialhas been launched in South Africa to test the safety of anew experimental regimen that could prove to be thefinal nail in the coffin for the deadly virus.

The study, called HVTN 702, involves a newversion of the only HIV vaccine candidate ever shown toprovide some protection against the virus.

It aims to enroll 5,400 men and women, makingit the where more than 1,000 people become infectedwith HIV every day.

"If deployed alongside our current armory ofproven HIV prevention tools, a safe and effective vaccinecould be the final nail in the coffin for HIV," said AnthonyS Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergyand Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

"Even a moderately effective vaccine wouldsignificantly decrease the burden of HIV disease over timein countries and populations with high rates of HIVinfection, such as South Africa," said Fauci.

The HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) isconducting the trial at 15 sites across South Africa. Resultsare expected in late 2020.

The experimental vaccine regimen being testedin the trial is based on the one investigated in the earlierRV144 clinical trial in Thailand led by the US Military HIVResearch Programme and the Thai Ministry of Health.

The Thai trial delivered landmark results in 2009when it found for the first time that a vaccine couldprevent HIV infection, albeit modestly.

The new regimen aims to provide greater andmore sustained protection than the RV144 regimen andhas been adapted to the HIV subtype that predominatesin southern Africa, a region that includes the country ofSouth Africa.

"The people of South Africa are making historyby conducting and participating in the first HIV vaccineefficacy study to build on the results of the Thai trial,"said Glenda Gray.

"HIV has taken a devastating toll in South Africa,but now we begin a scientific exploration that could holdgreat promise for our country," Gray said, who is also aprofessor at the University of the Witwatersrand.

"If an HIV vaccine were found to work in SouthAfrica, it may dramatically alter the course of thepandemic," she said.

The experimental vaccine regimen tested in theThai trial was found to be 31.2 per cent effective atpreventing HIV infection over the 3.5-year follow-up aftervaccination.

In the HVTN 702 study, the design, schedule andcomponents of the RV144 vaccine regimen have beenmodified in an attempt to increase the magnitude andduration of vaccine-elicited protective immune responses.

HVTN 702 begins just months after interim resultswere reported for HVTN 100, its predecessor clinical trial,which found that the new vaccine regimen was safe forthe 252 study participants and induced comparableimmune responses to those reported in RV144

FIRST 'SUCCESSFUL' C-SECTION BIRTHMAY DATE BACK TO 1337

The first birth by caesarean section where boththe mother and child survived may have taken place in1337 in Prague, researchers claim.

Beatrice of Bourbon, the second wife and secondcousin of John the Blind, King of Bohemia and Countof Luxembourg, gave birth to her only child, DukeWenceslaus I on February 25 in 1337.

According to archival documents found by theresearchers, Beatrice, a teenage queen consort, had adifficult labour.


"Beatrice most likely passed out during delivery,and was believed dead," said Antonin Parizek of CharlesUniversity in Czech Republic.

"The surgeons opened her only to save andbaptise the child. The pain from the operation then likelyled to her awakening," said Parizek.

At that point, shock may have saved her life bykeeping her from bleeding excessively, he said.

Prague in the 14th century was a centre ofEuropean learning, and the royal court of Bohemia wouldhave employed the leading doctors of the time.

Beatrice recovered from the surgery and lived46 more years.

In a Flemish rhyming chronicle likely written by adiplomat at court, the author wrote 'the duke was takenfrom his mother's body and the wound healed,'" Parizektold 'The New York Times'.

Other archival sources described Beatrice "beingopened up without dying," Parizek said.

"The event must have been truly uncommon, asinformation on the medical state of royals was not madepublic in those times," he added.

Before this study, the earliest documented casewas in Switzerland in 1500.

JET LAG MAY UP LIVER CANCER RISK:

Repeated jet lags may increaseobesity-related liverdisease as well as risk of liver cancer, a new study haswarned. When we are exposed to light, our body's centralcircadian clock in the brain resets.

When we constantly travel through different timezones, work night shifts, or push ourselves to stay awakeat the regular sleep time, our central clock is beingchronically disrupted, said researchers from BaylorUniversity in the US.

This disruption also extends to clocks in othertissues that are controlled by the central clock, they said.

By changing the times the lights went on and offduring the night each week, the researchers modelled theeffects of chronic jet lag in normal mice who were fed ahealthy diet.

They found that the mice gained weight and fat,and developed fatty liver disease, which progressed tochronic inflammation and eventually liver cancer in somecases.

The jetlagged mice lost normal control of livermetabolism. This included not only the buildup of fat,but also increased production of bile acids, which areproduced by the liver to help us digest our food.

Earlier studies have linked high bile acid levels toliver cancer, not only in mice but also in humans.

The researchers found that circadian clockdisruption activated two nuclear receptors that helpregulate liver bile acid metabolism.

Jetlagged mice lacking a receptor called FXR,which keeps bile acid level in the liver within a normalphysiological range, had higher bile acid levels and muchmore liver cancer.

Mice lacking a receptor called CAR that regulatesbile acid breakdown and is also known to promote livercancer, did not get any liver tumours.

In humans, these receptors work in a similarmanner. Scientists did not directly study jetlag in humans.

However, there is evidence that sleep disruptionincreases both fatty liver disease and liver cancer risk inhumans, and they hypothesise that lifestyle changes thatgenerate chronic jet lag can also disrupt the body's internalhomeostasis and increase liver cancer risk in humans.

"Liver cancer is on the rise worldwide, and inhuman studies we have now seen that patients can progressfrom fatty liver disease to liver cancer without any middlesteps such as cirrhosis," said David Moore, professor atBaylor University.

"We knew we needed an animal model to examinethis connection, and studies in the Fu Lab found thatchronically jet-lagged mice developed liver cancer in a verysimilar way as that described for obese humans," saidMoore.

EMBRYO DEVELOPMENT 'PAUSED' FORUP TO A MONTH

Scientists have found a way to pause thedevelopment of early mouse embryos for up to a monthin the lab - and later resume normal growth - a findingwith potential implications for assisted reproduction,ageing and even cancer.

The research involved experiments with pre-implantation mouse embryos, called blastocysts.

Researchers from University of California, SanFrancisco in the US found that drugs that inhibit the activity


of a master regulator of cell growth called mTOR canput these early embryos into a stable and reversible stateof suspended animation.

"Normally, blastocysts only last a day or two,max, in the lab. But blastocysts treated with mTORinhibitors could survive up to four weeks," said AydanBulut-Karslioglu, a postdoctoral researcher at UCSF.

Researchers showed that paused embryos mayquickly resume normal growth when mTOR inhibiterswere removed, and developed into healthy mice ifimplanted back into a recipient mother.

The discovery was a surprise to the researchers,who had intended to study how mTOR-inhibiting drugsslow cell growth in blastocysts, not to find a way to putthe embryos into hibernation.

"To put it in perspective, mouse pregnancies onlylast about 20 days, so the 30-day-old 'paused' embryoswe were seeing would have been pups approachingweaning already if they'd been allowed to developnormally," said senior author Miguel Ramalho-Santosfrom UCSF.

Further experiments demonstrated that culturedmouse embryonic stem cells - which are derived fromthe blastocyst-stage embryo - can also be put intosuspended animation by mTOR inhibitors.

The drugs appear to act by reducing gene activityacross much of the genome, the team found, with theexception of a handful of so-called "repressor" genesthat themselves may act to inhibit gene activity.

The researchers tested a number of differentmTOR inhibitors and found that the most effective was anew synthetic drug called Rapa-Link that was recentlydeveloped at UCSF by the lab of Kevan Shokat.

The researchers believe that it should be possibleto extend the suspended animation for much longer thanthe 30 days observed in the present study.

"Our dormant blastocysts are eventually dyingwhen they run out of some essential metabolite withinthem. If we could supply those limiting nutrients in theculture medium, we should be able to sustain them evenlonger," said Bulut-Karslioglu.

Researchers showed that the dormant state theywere able to induce in blastocysts by blocking mTORwas almost identical to the natural ability of mice to pausea pregnancy in its early stages.

This temporary stasis, called diapause, occurs inspecies across the animal kingdom, and in mammals frommice to wallabies, it typically allows mothers to delaypregnancy when food is scarce or they are otherwisestressed.

The study was published in the journal Nature.

NOVEL TRANSGENIC GRASSES CANNEUTRALISE TOXIC RDX

Scientists have developed two new transgenicgrass species that can eradicate the effects of RDX - atoxic compound widely used in explosives since WorldWar II - and neutralise contaminated soil within two weeks.

Researchers introduced two genes from bacteriathat learned to eat RDX and break it down into harmlesscomponents in two perennial grass species - switchgrass(Panicum virgatum) and creeping bentgrass (Agrostisstolonifera).

The best-performing strains removed all the RDXfrom a simulated soil in which they were grown withinless than two weeks, and they retained none of the toxicchemical in their leaves or stems.

It is the first reported demonstration of geneticallytransforming grasses to supercharge their ability to removecontamination from the environment.

Grasses are hearty, fast-growing, low-maintenanceplants that offer practical advantages over other speciesin real-world cleanup situations.

"This is a sustainable and affordable way toremove and destroy pollutants on these training ranges,"said Stuart Strand, from University of Washington (UW)in the US.

"The grasses could be planted on the trainingranges, grow on their own and require little to nomaintenance," said Strand.

"When a toxic particle from the munitions landsin a target area, their roots would take up the RDX anddegrade it before it can reach groundwater," he said.

RDX is an organic compound that forms thebase for many common military explosives, which canlinger in the environment in unexploded or partiallyexploded munitions.

In large enough doses, it has been shown to causeseizures and organ damage, and it is currently listed as apotential human carcinogen.


Unlike other toxic explosives constituents such asTNT - which binds to soils and tends to stay put - RDXdissolves easily in water and is more prone to spreadcontamination beyond the limits of a military range,manufacturing facility or battleground.

"Particles get scattered around and then it rains.Then RDX dissolves in the rainwater as it moves downthrough the soil and winds up in groundwater. And, insome cases, it flows off base and winds up in drinkingwater wells," Strand said.

Wild grass species do remove RDXcontamination from the soil when they suck water upthrough their roots, but they do not significantly degradeit. So when the grasses die, the toxic chemical is re-introduced into the landscape.

Considering the worldwide scale of explosivescontamination, only plants are low cost, sustainablesolution to cleaning up these polluted sites, said researchers.

The study was published in Plant BiotechnologyJournal.

BIRDS PREFER SUBURBAN GARDENSOVER CITY ESTATES: STUDY

Birds prefer to fly between the gardens of leafysuburban neighbourhoods to visit feeders than city terracesor new-build estates, a ground-breaking study trackingthe behaviour of hundreds of garden birds has found.

A year-long study into the behaviour of over 450blue tits and great tits found that a suburbanneighbourhood with trees, shrubs and hedges betweenproperties attract far more birds to their feeders than aVictorian urban terrace or manicured, modern housingestate.

The study also found that having roads betweengardens also hindered bird's movement.

Researchers from the University of Exeter in theUK, attached tiny tags with a unique electronic numberonto the legs of 452 blue tits and great tits, two specieswhich typically visit garden bird feeders.

They then attached scanners to 51 bird feeders,filled with bird seed, in the gardens of urban terracedhomes, a green suburban neighbourhood and a new-buildestate.

They found individual birds in greenneighbourhoods flew between twice as many gardens asbirds in terraced streets.

They also tended to visit bird feeders in a 'green'neighbourhood more often. Birds tended not to fly intorows of gardens in terraced streets that had little vegetationand were paved.

"The more greenery and more vegetation thereis the more easily birds can fly between gardens. Theresearch has shown that, for people living in cities, watchinggarden birds increases their connection to nature andmakes them feel relaxed," said Daniel Cox, from theUniversity of Exeter.

"Understanding how birds move through urbanareas will help urban planners and policy makers to makecities better places to live," Cox said.

"This was the first study of this scale, and thefirst in urban areas that used bird feeders with scanningtechnology to monitor when birds carrying a small tagvisited the feeders," he said.

"This allowed us to track movement of blue titsand great tits at an individual level. Neighbourhoods withmore connected vegetation and trees allowed birds tomove between garden bird feeders more frequently," headded.

NEW DRUG LIMITS, REPAIRS BRAINDAMAGE IN STROKE

Researchers have discovered a potential new drugthat reduces the number of brain cells destroyed by strokeand then helps to repair the damage.

A reduction in blood flow to the brain caused bystroke is a major cause of death and disability and thereare few effective treatments, researchers said.

Scientists at University of Manchester in the UKhave now found that a potential new stroke drug notonly works in rodents by limiting the death of existingbrain cells but also by promoting the birth of new neurones(so-called neurogenesis).

This finding provides further support for thedevelopment of this anti-inflammatory drug, interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra), as a new treatment forstroke.

The drug is already licensed for use in humansfor some conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis.


The researchers found that in rodents with astroke there is not only reduced brain damage early onafter the stroke, but several days later increased numbersof new neurones, when treated with the anti-inflammatorydrug IL-1Ra.

Previous attempts to find a drug to prevent braindamage after stroke have proved unsuccessful and thisnew research offers the possibility of a new treatment.

Importantly, the use of IL-1Ra might be betterthan other failed drugs in stroke as it not only limits theinitial damage to brain cells, but also helps the brain repairitself long-term through the generation of new brain cells.

These new cells are thought to help restorefunction to areas of the brain damaged by the stroke.Earlier work by the same group showed that treatmentwith IL-1Ra does indeed help rodents regain motor skillsthat were initially lost after a stroke.

Early stage clinical trials in stroke patients alsosuggest that IL-1Ra could be beneficial.

"The results lend further strong support to theuse of IL-1Ra in the treatment of stroke, however furtherlarge trials are necessary," said Professor Stuart Allan, wholed the study.

POWER POSES MAY DO MORE HARMTHAN GOOD: STUDY

Standing in a 'powerful' position - with a broadposture, hands on hips, shoulders high and pushed back -does not make you feel psychologically and physiologicallystronger and could potentially backfire, a new study hasfound.

The idea that standing in power poses helps isintuitively appealing, especially for people without muchconfidence. The problem is that it is simply not true,researchers said.

Researchers at University of Pennsylvania in theUS attempted to replicate the original power pose studythat appeared in 2010 in the journal Psychological Science.

That study reported increases in feelings ofpower, risk taking and testosterone and a decrease incortisol.

The Penn researchers found no support for anyof the original effects, what is called embodied cognition.

"We did find that if anything - and we're scepticalof these results, because we'd want to replicate them -that, if you're a loser and you take a winner or high powerpose, your testosterone decreases," said Coren Apicella,an assistant professor at the School of Arts & Sciences.

"People might not be able to 'fake it until theymake it,' and in fact it might be detrimental," saidKristopher Smith, a psychology PhD student atPennsylvania.

The researchers opted to use as their starting pointthe notion of contest winners and losers. Before acompetition, animals make their bodies as large as possible,gritting their teeth, making their hair stand on edge.

In some situations, humans can similarly showcasedisplays of confidence intended to intimidate an opponent.

"We know that hormones change in thiscompetitive context, especially testosterone," Apicella said,referring to a well-known finding called the "winner-losereffect."

"Winners experience a relative increase intestosterone compared to losers. The evolutionary theoryfor that is, if you just won a competitive interaction, thattestosterone may be motivating you to take on futurecompetition. If you lost, it's saying, back off, you don'twant to get your butt kicked again," she said.

With that as the backdrop, the Penn researchersbrought in nearly 250 college-age males from thePhiladelphia region to take part in their study.

Participants provided a saliva sample to offer abaseline measure for testosterone and cortisol levels, thentook part in rounds of tug-o-war. One person wasdeclared the strong man, the other the weak man.

"They would then make a high, low or neutralpower pose," Smith explained, based on a randomplacement into one of the three groups.

While posing, study subjects viewed faces on acomputer screen, the same images used in the originalstudy, then 15 minutes later, the researchers took a secondsaliva sample to measure the same hormones they lookedat to start.

"We didn't find any support for this idea ofembodied cognition," Apicella said.

The new study was published in the journalHormones and Behaviour.


ZIKA MOSQUITOES QUICKLY INVADE,ADAPT TO NEW CLIMATES

The Zika-bearing mosquito Aedes aegypti is notonly spreading rapidly but has shown a remarkable abilityto adapt quickly to different locales and climates.

The mosquito species, which also transmits yellowfever and chikungunya, has reached as far north asnorthern California and southern Georgia, said JeffreyPowell, professor at Yale University in the US.

A pocket of overwintering mosquitoes was alsodiscovered in Washington DC, researchers said.

"This is a dynamic species that is changing rapidlyas it adapts to human activities," Powell said.

For instance, Aedes aegypti apparently survivescolder winters in Washington DC by entering sewers,which it does not do in other habitats. In California, thedrought may have driven mosquitoes to more populatedareas with water sources such as swimming pools.

The species often hitchhikes on products such asornamental plants or used tires, which are shipped to otherparts of the world.

A more benign and close genetic cousin foundmostly in sub-Saharan Africa appears to be interbreedingwith its more aggressive relative, increasing the risk forthe spread of yellow fever in those areas, researchers said.

GENE THAT PROTECTS AGAINST OBESITY IDENTIFIED

Scientists have identified a gene that could protectagainst obesity by increasing the feeling of fullness, a findingthat may lead to potential new therapies to treat eating-related disorders. Researchers from King's CollegeLondon and Imperial College London in the UK tested ahigh-fat diet, containing a fermentable carbohydrate, anda control diet on mice.

They looked at the effect on food intake of thosewith and without the FFAR2 receptor, a protein codinggene. The results showed that mice fed the diet containingfermentable carbohydrate were protected against obesity.However, this protection was lost when the FFAR2receptor was not present.

Indeed, those with the receptor showed anincrease of 130 per cent in the satiety inducing guthormone peptide YY, as well as an increased density of

cells containing PYY, leading to an increased feeling offullness.

"Obesity is currently one of the most seriousglobal threats to human health, determined by geneticbackground, diet and lifestyle," said lead author GavinBewick from King's College.

"We know that supplementing your diet with non-digestible carbohydrates reduce appetite and body weightgain, but in this study we demonstrate for the first timethe essential role of the FFAR2 receptor in enabling specificdietary constituents to reduce food intake and protectagainst obesity," said Bewick.

"With this discovery, we can start to look atwhether we can use diet or pharmaceutical means tochange the cellular make-up of the gut in order to treat ahost of disorders," he said.

"This a major step forward in understanding therelationship between diet and appetite regulation. Until afew years ago dietary fibre was a thought of as inert, andhaving very little effect on physiology," said Gary Frostfrom Imperial College. So the fact it actually has a majorimpact on cells that help control appetite regulation in thecolon is amazing," Frost said.

"Our challenge now is to translate this into atechnology that we can apply to humans. We need tounderstand how we can use the knowledge and insightgained to develop food systems that are attractive to alarge percentage of the population," he added.

MEMORY-RELATED BRAIN ACTIVITYLOSES COHESION WITH AGE: STUDY

Brain regions that synchronise their activity duringmemory tasks become smaller and more numerous aspeople age, according to a new study.

Researchers from Princeton University in the UShave found a novel method to characterise and comparethe brain dynamics of individual people. Typically, researchon brain activity relies on average brain measurementsacross entire groups of people.

The researchers used functional magneticresonance imaging (fMRI) to record healthy people's brainactivity during memory tasks, attention tasks, and at rest.

For each person, fMRI data was recast as anetwork composed of brain regions and the connectionsbetween them.


Researchers then used this network to measurehow closely different groups of connections changedtogether over time.

They found that, regardless of whether a personis using memory, directing attention or resting, the numberof synchronous groups of connections within one brainis consistent for that person. However, between people,these numbers vary dramatically.

During memory specifically, variations betweenpeople are closely linked to age.

Younger participants have only a few largesynchronous groups that link nearly the entire brain incoordinated activity, while older participants showprogressively more and smaller groups of connections,indicating loss of cohesive brain activity - even in theabsence of memory impairment.

"This method elegantly captures importantdifferences between individual brains, which are oftencomplex and difficult to describe," said Elizabeth Davisonfrom Princeton University.

"The resulting tools show promise forunderstanding how different brain characteristics arerelated to behaviour, health, and disease," said Davison.

SCIENTISTS STEP CLOSER TO HALTINGSPREAD OF LUNG CANCER

Scientists have identified a component of cancercells, which acts like a 'cellular post office', that may bethe key to preventing the spread of lung cancer to otherparts of the body. The findings could point towards newtherapeutics, targeted at a particular communicationmechanism in the cell.

This communication triggers a change in thescaffolding of the cell perimeter - altering from a fixedshape, attached to an organ, to a less stable one, movingfreely around the body.

The 'post office' of the cell, or the Golgi apparatusas it is more commonly known, has the ability to packageproteins in order to transport them to other parts of thecell or to deliver them to areas outside of the cell.

Researchers identified that a protein, calledPAQR11, inside the 'cellular post office', receives a signalfrom another protein, called Zeb1; the communicationbetween the two proteins prompts the transport ofmembrane sacks inside the Golgi.

These sacks, or vesicles, change their deliveryroutes and fundamentally alter the perimeter of the cancercells making it possible for the cell to detach from itsfixed position in the lung and travel to other areas of thebody.

"If we think of the cancer cell like a tent structure;it has fixed sides to hold its shape and is firmly anchoredto the ground in order to secure its contents," said DanielUngar, from the University of York in the UK.

"It cannot conceivably be moved until itsarchitecture is altered somehow," said Ungar.

"In order to move the tent, we have to rearrangeits contents and collapse its sides in order to lift it out ofits anchored position and carry it away," he said.

"A similar process happens with cancer when itmetastasises - its outer edges are altered resulting in itbecoming un-anchored," Ungar said.

The Golgi, which is the delivery centre forcommunications between proteins, hence the name'cellular post office', receives the communication betweentwo proteins, which signals that the movement ofmembrane sacks around the cell should be changed.

This change in movement alters the perimeter ofthe cancer cell and, much like a tent's sides collapsing,allows it to move from its original resting place toanywhere in body.

"Now that we recognise this system, there is thepotential to develop a drug that interferes with thiscommunication and prevents the Golgi apparatus fromfacilitating the movement of the membrane sacks," saidUngar.

"The next stage of this study will be to look athow we target this process without interrupting normalcellular functions of non-cancerous cells," he said.

HUMAN CELLS WITH 'BUILT-IN CIRCUIT'TO HELP STOP CANCER GROWTH

Scientists have engineered cells with a 'built-ingenetic circuit' which produces a molecule that inhibitsthe ability of tumours to survive and grow in their lowoxygen environment.

The genetic circuit produces the machinerynecessary for the production of a compound that inhibitsa protein which has a significant and critical role in thegrowth and survival of cancer cells. This results in the


cancer cells being unable to survive in the low oxygen,low nutrient tumour micro-environment.

As tumours develop and grow, they rapidlyoutstrip the supply of oxygen delivered by existing bloodvessels. This results in cancer cells needing to adapt to lowoxygen environment.

To enable them to survive and grow in the low-oxygen or 'hypoxic' environments, tumours containincreased levels of a protein called Hypoxia-induciblefactor 1 (HIF-1).

HIF-1 senses reduced oxygen levels and triggersmany changes in cellular function, including a changedmetabolism and sending signals for the formation of newblood vessels. It is thought that tumours primarily hijackthe function of this protein (HIF-1) to survival and grow.

"In an effort to better understand the role ofHIF-1 in cancer, and to demonstrate the potential forinhibiting this protein in cancer therapy, we engineered ahuman cell line with an additional genetic circuit thatproduces the HIF-1 inhibiting molecule when placed in ahypoxic environment," said Ali Tavassoli, professor at theUniversity of Southampton in the UK.

"We've been able to show that the engineeredcells produce the HIF-1 inhibitor, and this molecule goeson to inhibit HIF-1 function in cells, limiting the ability ofthese cells to survive and grow in a nutrient-limitedenvironment as expected," said Tavassoli.

"In a wider sense, we have given these engineeredcells the ability to fight back – to stop a key protein fromfunctioning in cancer cells," he said.

"This opens up the possibility for the productionand use of sentinel circuits, which produce other bioactivecompounds in response to environmental or cellularchanges, to target a range of diseases including cancer,"said Tavassoli.

The genetic circuit is incorporated onto thechromosome of a human cell line, which encodes theprotein machinery needed for the production of theircyclic peptide HIF-1 inhibitor.

The production of the HIF-1 inhibitor occurs inresponse to hypoxia in these cells. The research teamdemonstrated that even when produced directly in cells,this molecule still prevents the HIF-1 signalling and theassociated adaptation to hypoxia in these cells.

"The main application for this work is that iteliminates the need for the synthesis of our inhibitor, so

that biologists conducting research into HIF function caneasily access our molecule and hopefully discover moreabout the role of HIF-1 in cancer," said Tavassoli.

DRUG THAT LIMITS BRAIN DAMAGE INSTROKE IDENTIFIED

Scientists have identified a drug that limits the deathof brain cells due to stroke and helps repair the damageby promoting the birth of neurons.

A reduction in blood flow to the brain caused bystroke is a major cause of death and disability, and thereare few effective treatments.

Scientists at The University of Manchester in theUK found that a potential new stroke drug not only worksin rodents by limiting the death of existing brain cells butalso by promoting the birth of new neurones (so-calledneurogenesis).

This finding provides further support for thedevelopment of this anti-inflammatory drug, interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra in short), as a new treatmentfor stroke. The drug is already licensed for use in humansfor some conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis.

Several early stage clinical trials in stroke with IL-1Ra have already been completed in Manchester, thoughit is not yet licensed for this condition.

The researchers showed that in rodents with astroke there is not only reduced brain damage early onafter the stroke, but several days later increased numbersof new neurones, when treated with the anti-inflammatorydrug IL-1Ra.

Previous attempts to find a drug to prevent braindamage after stroke have proved unsuccessful and thisnew research offers the possibility of a new treatment.

Importantly, the use of IL-1Ra might be betterthan other failed drugs in stroke as it not only limits theinitial damage to brain cells, but also helps the brain repairitself long-term through the generation of new brain cells.

These new cells are thought to help restorefunction to areas of the brain damaged by the stroke.

Earlier work by the same group showed thattreatment with IL-1Ra does indeed help rodents regainmotor skills that were initially lost after a stroke. Earlystage clinical trials in stroke patients also suggest that IL-1Ra could be beneficial.


"The results lend further strong support to theuse of IL-1Ra in the treatment of stroke, however furtherlarge trials are necessary," said Stuart Allan, professor atUniversity of Manchester.

NITROGEN MAY HELP BOOSTGUT HEALTH

Scientists have found that intestinal nitrogen playsa key role in regulating gut microbes, a finding that mayhelp better understand how our diet impacts themicrobiota.

"There are many different diet strategies that claimto promote gut health, and until now it has been verydifficult to establish clear causality between various typesof diet and their effect on the host's microbiome," saidAndrew Holmes, associate professor at University ofSydney.

"This is because there are many complex factorsat play, including food composition, eating pattern andgenetic background," said Holmes.

"This research really lays the groundwork forfuture modelling by setting out the rules for a generalmodel of how diet shapes the gut ecosystem," Holmessaid.

"The simple explanation is that when we eat in away that encourages cooperation between ourselves andbacteria we achieve a good microbiome, but when weeat in a way that doesn't require cooperation this letsbacteria do whatever they want - and mischief can ensue,"he said.

The balance of gut bacteria in the microbiomeplays a key role in such functions as immune regulationand digestive wellbeing, and has been linked to other healthoutcomes like obesity.

Past studies have identified several patterns forhow diet influences the microbiome, yet this has not ledto a workable model that explains microbial responseacross many different types of diets.

The new research is the latest in a series stemmingfrom a seminal study in which 25 different diets composedof different amounts of protein, carbohydrates and fatwere systematically varied in 858 mice.

Despite the huge diversity of gut bacteria, twomain response patterns emerged in the study - microbespecies either increased or decreased in their abundance

depending on the animal's protein and carbohydrateintake.

"The largest nutrient requirements for our gutbacteria are carbon and nitrogen in the foods we eat,"said Holmes.

"As carbohydrates contain no nitrogen but proteindoes, the bacterial community response to the host animal'sdiet is strongly affected by this diets' protein-carbohydrateratio," he said.

"The fact that this same pattern was seen acrossalmost all groups of gut bacteria indicates that the makeupof the microbial ecosystem is fundamentally shaped by aneed to access nitrogen in the intestinal environment," hesaid.

The new model suggests that while high-carbohydrate diets were the most likely to support positiveinteractions in the microbiome, such benefits were relativeto the protein intake of the host animal.

Researchers hope the new findings will lay thefoundations for more accurate computer simulations totest hundreds of different diet variants, helping to betterpredict which dietary combinations lead to optimal guthealth.

DEPRESSION MAY UP RISK OF ARTHRITIS,STOMACH PROBLEMS: STUDY

Arthritis and diseases of the digestive system aremore common after depression, while anxiety disorderstend to be followed by skin diseases, a new study haswarned.

Mental disorders and physical diseases frequentlygo hand in hand. For the first time, psychologists at theUniversity of Basel in Switzerland and Ruhr UniversityBochum in Germany have identified temporal patternsin young people.

Physical diseases and mental disorders affect aperson's quality of life and present a huge challenge forthe healthcare system.

If physical and mental disorders systematicallyco-occur from an early age, there is a risk that the sickchild or adolescent will suffer from untowarddevelopments.

A research group led by Marion Tegethoff incollaboration with Professor Gunther Meinlschmidtexamined the temporal pattern and relationship between


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physical diseases and mental disorders in children andyoung people.

They analysed data from a representative sampleof 6,483 teenagers from the US aged between 13 and 18.

The researchers noted that some physical diseasestend to occur more frequently in children and adolescentsif they have previously suffered from certain mentaldisorders. Likewise, certain mental disorders tend to occurmore frequently after the onset of particular physicaldiseases.

Affective disorders such as depression werefrequently followed by arthritis and diseases of thedigestive system, while the same relationship existedbetween anxiety disorders and skin diseases. Anxietydisorders were more common if the person had alreadysuffered from heart disease.

A close association was also established for thefirst time between epileptic disorders and subsequent eatingdisorders. The results offer important insights into thecausal relationship between mental disorders and physicaldiseases.

The newly identified temporal associations drawattention to processes that could be relevant both to theorigins of physical diseases and mental disorders and totheir treatment.

"For the first time, we have established that epilepsyis followed by an increased risk of eating disorders - aphenomenon, that had previously been described only insingle case reports," said Tegethoff.

"This suggests that approaches to epilepsytreatment could also have potential in the context of eatingdisorders," said Tegethoff.

PRACTICE TESTING PROTECTS MEMORYAGAINST STRESS: STUDY

Learning by taking practice tests can protectmemory against the negative effects of stress.

Scientists from Tufts University in the USconducted experiments involving 120 individuals wholearned a series of words and images by retrieval practiceshowed no impairment in memory after experiencing acutestress.

Participants who used study practice, theconventional method of re-reading material to memoriseit, remembered fewer items overall, particularly after stress.

"Typically, people under stress are less effectiveat retrieving information from memory," said AyannaThomas, associate professor at Tufts.

"We now show for the first time that the rightlearning strategy, in this case retrieval practice or takingpractice tests, results in such strong memory representationsthat even under high levels of stress, subjects are still ableto access their memories," said Thomas.

"Our results suggest that it is not necessarily amatter of how much or how long someone studies, buthow they study," said Amy Smith, graduate student at Tufts.

The research team asked participants to learn aset of 30 words and 30 images.

These were introduced through a computerprogramme, which displayed one item at a time for afew seconds each. To simulate note taking, participantswere given 10 seconds to type a sentence using the itemimmediately after seeing it.

One group of participants then studied usingretrieval practice, and took timed practice tests in whichthey freely recalled as many items as they could remember.

The other group used study practice. For theseparticipants, items were re-displayed on the computerscreen, one at a time, for a few seconds each. Participantswere given multiple timed periods to study.

After a 24-hour break, half of each group wasplaced into a stress-inducing scenario. These participantswere required to give an unexpected, impromptu speechand solve math problems in front of two judges, threepeers and a video camera.

Participants took two memory tests, in which theyrecalled the words or images they studied the previousday. These tests were taken during the stress scenario andtwenty minutes after, to examine memory underimmediate and delayed stress responses.

The remaining study participants took theirmemory tests during and after a time-matched, non-stressful task.

Stressed individuals who learned through retrievalpractice remembered an average of around 11 items outof each set of 30 words and images, compared to 10items for their non-stressed counterparts.

Participants who learned through study practiceremembered fewer words overall, with an average of 7items for stressed individuals and an average of a littleunder 9 items for those who were not stressed.

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