Knowledge Update

​London, June 1 (IANS) The high-tech 3D mapping of our newly-found relative Homo naledi's home has opened the doors for scientists to use the space-age technology to search for pre-historic bones.

The extremely difficult conditions in which Professor Lee Berger's team from University of the Witwatersrand's (Wits) was forced to work gave rise to the use of space-age technology to map the Dinaledi chamber and Rising Star Cave in which over 1500 Homo naledi fossils were found.

Ashley Kruger, PhD candidate in palaeoanthropology, roped in the use of high-tech laser scanning, photogrammetry and 3D mapping technology to bring high-resolution digital images on an almost real-time basis in order to make vital decisions regarding the underground excavations.

“This is the first time ever where multiple digital data imaging collection has been used on such a sale, during a hominin excavation," Kruger said.

In 2013, after the discovery of the hominin assemblage, Berger planned an expedition to excavate what became known as the Dinaledi Chamber, a cave system near the Sterkfontein Caves, about 40 km north-west of Johannesburg in South Africa. 

An all-female team of six were selected to undertake the underground excavation due to the challenge of navigating a 12 meter vertical Chute, and passing through an 18 cm gap.

Berger himself was unable to go down into the chamber, which forced the team to introduce high-tech digital imaging techniques to virtually bring the exploration site to the surface.

Kruger and colleagues have now mapped the entire path of the Rising Star Cave, including the Dinaledi Chamber, both on the surface and underground.

“The 3D scans of the cave and excavation area helped scientists above ground immensely in making decisions about the next step to take with regards to excavations,” added Dr Marina Elliot, Rising Star excavation manager.

“These methods provided researchers with a digital representation of the site from landscape level right down to individual bones,” noted Kruger in a paper published in the scientific journal, the South African Journal of Science.

The precise digital reconstruction of the Rising Star Cave provides new insights into the Dinaledi Chamber's structure and location, as well as the exact location of the fossil site, the authors stated. ​

Toronto, June 1 (IANS) Cooling down the roofs by using reflective surfaces can not only help you beat the heat but also lower air-conditioning bills, suggests new research.

"Our study proves that cool roofs for commercial buildings are a net saver of energy in all climates that use air conditioning during the summer," said Hashem Akbari, Professor at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada and the study's senior author.

"In cooler climates, installing cool roofs may even prevent buying an air conditioner altogether. Even in non-air-conditioned buildings, cool roofs improve comfort during hot summer days. And in extreme cases, these roofs may even save lives by reducing the risk of heat stroke," Akbari noted.

The findings appeared in the journal Energy and Buildings.

"Our research shows that any improvement to a roof that limits the summertime solar heat gain actually results in energy-cost savings for the building owner, as well as a reduction in the building's overall environmental impact," Akbari said.

For the study, the researchers used modelling software to simulate energy consumption for several prototype office and retail buildings in four cold-climate cities in North America - Anchorage, Milwaukee, Montreal and Toronto.

They found that cool roofs for the simulated buildings resulted in annual energy expenditure savings in all municipalities.

The research also showed that cool roofs can reduce the peak electric demand of the buildings by up to five watts per square metre.

"On a large scale, cool roofs can moderate the air temperature surrounding a building, decrease greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the urban heat island effect," Akbari said

"Put simply, cool roofs cool the globe," he noted.​

New York, June 1 (IANS) A protein designed by researchers at Georgia State University has been found effective in killing cells linked to the development and progression of a number of diseases, including cancer.

The protein ProAgio, which is created from a human protein, target a cell surface receptor -- biological channel of information transfer -- linked to a number of diseases.

The protein targets the cell surface receptor integrin v3 at a novel site that has not been targeted by other scientists. 

The researchers found that the novel protein induces apoptosis, or programmed cell death, of cells that express integrin v3. 

This integrin has been a focus for drug development because abnormal expression of v3 is linked to the development and progression of a number of diseases.

The findings were reported in the journal Nature Communications.

"This integrin pair, v3, is not expressed in high levels in normal tissue," said Zhi-Ren Liu, lead author of the study and Professor at Georgia State. 

"In most cases, it's associated with a number of different pathological conditions. Therefore, it constitutes a very good target for multiple disease treatment," Liu noted.

In this study, researchers performed extensive cell and molecular testing that confirmed the protein interacts and binds well with integrin v3. 

They found that the protein was much more effective in inducing cell death than other agents tested.

In addition, tests with mouse models of cancer showed ProAgio strongly inhibits tumour growth. 

Tissue analyses indicated the protein effectively prevents the growth of tumour blood vessels, while existing blood vessels were not affected. Toxicity tests also showed that the protein is not toxic to normal tissue and organs in mice​

New York, June 1 (IANS) Chronic stress can make us worn-out, anxious and depressed as well as also lead to structural changes in the brain, finds a new study that also developed a new drug that might help in preventing these changes.

The findings showed that when mice experienced prolonged stress, the amygdala -- a part of the brain that regulates basic emotions, such as fear and anxiety -- retracts. 

In the medial amygdala, the neuronal branches, which form crucial connections to other parts of the brain, appeared to shrink. 

Such shrinking can harm the brain, distorting its ability to adapt to new experiences, leaving it trapped in a state of anxiety or depression, the researchers said.

"When we took a closer look at three regions within amygdala, we found that neurons within one, the medial amygdala, retract as a result of chronic stress,” said lead author Carla Nasca, post doctoral researcher at Rockefeller University in the US.

"While this rewiring can contribute to disorders such as anxiety and depression, our experiments with mice showed that the neurological and behavioural effects of stress can be prevented with treatment by a promising potential antidepressant that acts rapidly," Nasca added.

In the research, published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, the team found that the protective approach increased resilience among mice most at risk for developing anxiety or depression-like behaviours.

The team first subjected mice to 21 days of periodic confinement within a small space -- an unpleasant experience for mice. 

Afterward, they tested the mice to see if their behaviours had changed, for instance, if they had begun to avoid social interaction and showed other signs of depression. They also analysed the neurons of these mice within the the regions of the amygdala.

The scientists repeated the stress experiment and this time they treated the mice with acetyl carnitine -- a molecule known for its potential to act as a rapid-acting antidepressant.

The results showed that the mice fared better than their untreated counterparts. Not only were they more sociable, the neurons of their medial amygdalas also revealed more branching.​

​London, May 29 (IANS) Listening to soothing music just before an eye surgery can ease patients’ anxiety as well as help reduce the level of sedation required, finds a new study.

"Listening to music may be considered as an inexpensive, non-invasive, non-pharmacological method to reduce anxiety for patients undergoing elective eye surgery under local anaesthesia," said Gilles Guerrier from Cochin University Hospital in France.

According to the researchers, being awake during surgery is particularly stressful for patients.

The findings showed a significant reduction in anxiety among patients who listened to music (score 23 out of 100) compared to those who didn’t (score 65 out of 100).

Patients who listened to music received significantly less sedatives during surgery compared with the non-music group (16 percent vs 32 percent).

Further, the postoperative satisfaction was significantly higher in the music group (mean score 71 out of 100 versus 55 for the non-music group).

"The objective is to provide music to all patients before eye surgery. We intend to assess the procedure in other type of surgeries, including orthopaedics where regional anaesthesia is common,” Guerrier added.

The pilot study evaluated the effect of music on anxiety in outpatients undergoing elective eye surgery under topical (local) anaesthesia.

The team evaluated a total of 62 patients who heard relaxing music or no music for around 15 minutes just before cataracts surgery.

The selected 16 pieces of music of various styles including jazz, flamenco, Cuban, classical and piano, aimed at preventing and managing pain, anxiety and depression.

A surgical fear questionnaire (SFQ) was also used to assess anxiety before and after a music session.

The results were presented recently at Euroanaesthesia 2016 in London.​

​Washington, May 30 (IANS) NASA's New Horizon probe has sent home the most detailed view of Pluto's terrain you will see for a very long time.

The mosaic strip - extending across the hemisphere that faced the New Horizons spacecraft as it flew past Pluto on July 14, 2015 - now includes all of the highest-resolution images taken by the NASA probe.

With a resolution of about 260 ft per pixel, the mosaic gives New Horizons scientists and the public the best opportunity to examine the fine details of the various types of terrain on Pluto, and determine the processes that formed and shaped them.

"This new image product is just magnetic. It makes me want to go back on another mission to Pluto and get high-resolution images like these across the entire surface," said Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator from Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado.

The view extends from the "limb" of Pluto at the top of the strip, almost to the "terminator" (or day/night line) in the southeast of the encounter hemisphere.

The width of the strip ranges from more than 90 km at its northern end to about 75 km at its southern point.

New Horizons spacecraft recently observed a first object in Kuiper Belt - a region of the solar system beyond the orbit of Neptune.

"1994 JR1" is a 145-km-wide Kuiper Belt object (KBO) orbiting more than 5 billion km from the Sun.

The images shatter New Horizons' own record for the closest-ever views of this KBO in November 2015 when New Horizons detected "JR1" from 280 million km away.

The observations contain several valuable findings.

"Combining the November 2015 and April 2016 observations allows us to pinpoint the location of JR1 to within 1,000 km, far better than any small KBO," said Simon Porter from Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado.

The more accurate orbit also allows the science team to dispel a theory, suggested several years ago, that JR1 is a quasi-satellite of Pluto.

The team also determined the object's rotation period, observing the changes in light reflected from JR1's surface to determine that it rotates once every 5.4 hours (or a JR1 day).

"That's relatively fast for a KBO. This is all part of the excitement of exploring new places and seeing things never seen before," added science team member John Spencer from SwRI in a NASA statement.

The observations are great practice for possible close-up looks at about 20 more ancient Kuiper Belt objects that may come in the next few years.

New Horizons flew through the Pluto system, making the first close-up observations of Pluto and its family of five moons.

The spacecraft is on course for an ultra-close flyby of another Kuiper Belt object, "2014 MU69", on January 1, 2019.​

​London, May 29 (IANS) A team of archaeologists has scanned the highest prehistoric paintings of animals in Europe discovered in a rock shelter in the French Alps 2,133 metres above sea level.

The team from the University of York used car batteries to power laser and white-light scanners in a logistically complex operation to reveal the rock paintings of Abri Faravel that were discovered in 2010.

The rock shelter has seen phases of human activity from the Mesolithic to the medieval period, with its prehistoric rock paintings known to be the highest painted representations of animals (quadrupeds) in Europe.

Researchers recently published the scans in online journal Internet Archaeology.

"After years of research in this valley, the day we discovered these paintings was undeniably the highlight of the research programme," said project lead Kevin Walsh from University of York. 

"As this site is so unusual, we made the decision to carry out a laser-scan of the rock shelter and the surrounding landscape, plus a white-light scan of the actual paintings," he added. 

The scanning was logistically complex as the only source of electricity was car batteries, which, along with all of the scanning equipment, had to be carried up to the site. 

"This is the only example of virtual models, including a scan of the art, done at high altitude in the Alps and probably the highest virtual model of an archaeological landscape in Europe," Walsh said.

The project was part of a study that investigates the development of human activity over the last 8,000 years at high altitude in the southern Alps.

Artefacts found in Abri Faravel also include Mesolithic and Neolithic flint tools, Iron Age hand-thrown pottery, a Roman fibula and some medieval metalwork.

However, the paintings are the most unique feature of the site, revealing a story of human occupation and activity in one of the world's most challenging environments from the Mesolithic to post-Medieval period.

​London, May 30 (IANS) Even if comets did not play as big a role in delivering water as once thought to the Earth they certainly had the potential to deliver the ingredients of life, new research has found.

The possibility that water and organic molecules were brought to the early Earth through impacts of objects like asteroids and comets have long been the subject of debate.

The European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosetta probe has now shown a significant difference in composition between Comet 67P/C-G's water and that of Earth.

“The multitude of organic molecules already identified by ROSINA, now joined by the exciting confirmation of fundamental ingredients like glycine and phosphorus, confirms our idea that comets have the potential to deliver key molecules for prebiotic chemistry," explained Matt Taylor, Rosetta project scientist of the European Space Agency (ESA).

While more than 140 different molecules have already been identified in the interstellar medium, amino acids could not be traced. 

However, hints of the amino acid glycine, a biologically important organic compound commonly found in proteins, were found during NASA's Stardust mission that flew by “Comet Wild 2” in 2004.

Now, for the first time, repeated detections at a comet have been confirmed by Rosetta in Comet 67P/C-G's fuzzy atmosphere or coma.

“This is the first unambiguous detection of glycine in the thin atmosphere of a comet," says Kathrin Altwegg, principal investigator of the ROSINA instrument at University of Bern. 

At the same time, the researchers also detected the organic molecules methylamine and ethylamine which are precursors to forming glycine. 

Unlike other amino acids, glycine is the only one that has been shown to be able to form without liquid water. 

"The simultaneous presence of methylamine and ethylamine, and the correlation between dust and glycine, also hints at how the glycine was formed," Altwegg noted.

Another exciting detection by ROSINA made for the first time at a comet is of phosphorus. 

It is a key element in all living organisms and is found in the structural framework of DNA and RNA.

“Demonstrating that comets are reservoirs of primitive material in the solar system and vessels that could have transported these vital ingredients to Earth is one of the key goals of the Rosetta mission, and we are delighted with this result,” Taylor pointed out in a paper forthcoming in the journal Science.​

​Sydney, May 27 (IANS) In a finding that could lead to new drugs to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases, researchers, including one of Indian-origin, have discovered a new way of triggering cell death.

Programmed cell death, also called apoptosis, is a natural process that removes unwanted cells from the body. Failure of apoptosis can allow cancer cells to grow unchecked or immune cells to inappropriately attack the body.

The protein known as Bak is central to apoptosis. In healthy cells Bak sits in an inert state but when a cell receives a signal to die, Bak transforms into a killer protein that destroys the cell.

In this study, researcher Sweta Iyer from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Victoria, and colleagues discovered a novel way of directly activating Bak to trigger cell death. 

The researchers discovered that an antibody they had produced to study Bak actually bound to the Bak protein and triggered its activation.

"We were excited when we realised we had found an entirely new way of activating Bak," said Ruth Kluck who is also from Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Australia.

The researchers hope to use this discovery to develop drugs that promote cell death.

"There is great interest in developing drugs that trigger Bak activation to treat diseases such as cancer where apoptosis has gone awry," she said. 

"This discovery gives us a new starting point for developing therapies that directly activate Bak and cause cell death," Kluck pointed out.

The researchers used information about Bak's three-dimensional structure to find out precisely how the antibody activated Bak.

The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.

"The advantage of our antibody is that it can't be 'mopped up' and neutralised by pro-survival proteins in the cell, potentially reducing the chance of drug resistance occurring," Kluck said.​

​New York, May 27 (IANS) Researchers, including one of Indian-origin, have discovered that lower levels of a hormone may make teenagers vulnerable to gaining unhealthy weight.

"Our study is the first to look at levels of spexin in the pediatric population," said one of the study authors Seema Kumar from Mayo Clinic Children's Centre in Minnesota, US. 

Potentially tied to weight management, spexin is also believed to have a role in controlling arterial blood pressure as well as salt and water balance.

"Previous research has found reduced levels of this hormone in adults with obesity. Overall, our findings suggest spexin may play a role in weight gain, beginning at an early age," she added.

The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

The study analysed spexin levels in 51 obese and 18 teenagers of normal weights between ages 12 and 18. The participants had blood samples taken between 2008 and 2010 as part of separate clinical trials.

Researchers tested the blood samples to measure spexin levels. They divided the teenagers into four groups based on their spexin levels. 

Among the participants with the lowest levels of spexin, the odds of having obesity were a little more than five times higher than in the group with the highest levels of the hormone.

"It is noteworthy that we see such clear differences in spexin levels between obese and normal weight adolescents," Kumar said. 

"Since this is a cross-sectional study, more research is needed to explore the physiological significance of spexin, how it may be involved in the development of childhood obesity, and whether it can be used to treat or manage the condition," she added.​