Knowledge Update

​Washington, Feb 13 (IANS) Scientists have shortlisted three landing sites for NASA's Mars 2020 rover -- slated for launch in July 2020 aboard an Atlas V 541 rocket from the Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The three potential landing sites include Northeast Syrtis (a very ancient portion of Mars' surface), Jezero crater, (once home to an ancient Martian lake), and Columbia Hills (potentially home to an ancient hot spring and explored by NASA's Spirit rover).

The sites were recommended by participants in a landing site workshop, NASA said in a statement on Monday.

The rover will conduct geological assessments of its landing site on Mars, determine the habitability of the environment, search for signs of ancient Martian life, and assess natural resources and hazards for future human explorers. 

It will also prepare a collection of samples for possible return to the Earth by a future mission.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) will manage operations of the Mars 2020 rover.

​New York, Feb 12 (IANS) Neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's may be linked to defective brain cells disposing toxic proteins, making neighbouring cells sick, scientists say.

The findings showed that although healthy neurons should be able to sort out and rid brain cells of toxic proteins and damaged cell structures, they are unable to do so always.

"Normally the process of throwing out this trash would be a good thing," said Monica Driscoll, professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

"But we think with neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's there might be a mismanagement of this very important process that is supposed to protect neurons but, instead, is doing harm to neighbour cells," Driscoll added, in the paper published in Nature.

To understand how the mechanism of eliminating toxic cellular substances works externally, the team conducted experiments on the transparent roundworm, known as the C. elegans, which are similar in molecular form, function and genetics to those of humans.

The researchers discovered that the worms -- which have a lifespan of about three weeks -- had an external garbage removal mechanism and were disposing these toxic proteins outside the cell as well.

However, the roundworms engineered to produce human disease proteins associated with Huntington's disease and Alzheimer's, were found to throw out more trash consisting of these neurodegenerative toxic materials.

While neighbouring cells degraded some of the material, more distant cells scavenged other portions of the diseased proteins.

"These finding are significant. The work in the little worm may open the door to much needed approaches to addressing neurodegeneration and diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's," Driscoll said.

Washington, Feb 11 (IANS) Comet hunters have a chance to spot comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova in the next few days using binoculars or a telescope, NASA said on Saturday.

"It's the first of a trio of comets that will -- between now and the end of 2018 -- pass close enough to Earth for backyard observers to try to spot and for scientists to study using ground-based instruments," the US space agency said.

The recommendation for backyard astronomers is to use binoculars or a telescope to look for the comet several times during the coming days, NASA said.

Discovered in 1948, 45P is a short-period comet, with an orbit that takes it around the sun and out by Jupiter about every 5-1/4 years. 

This weekend's encounter will be the comet's closest with Earth - passing by at a distance of about 12.4 million kilometres -- through the end of this century.

The comet will pass by our planet again in 2032 but will be much farther away - at a distance of nearly about 48 million kilometres.

Scientists have taken advantage of 45P's approach, making observations using powerful ground-based telescopes such as NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility to investigate the gases, dust and ice particles that are released from the comet nucleus and show up in the coma and tail. 

By looking for water, methane and other important compounds, astronomers get clues about how the comet is put together and where it originated in the cloud of material that surrounded the young sun as the solar system formed.

By observing the same comet more than once, astronomers can see how the object changes over time.

"Observing a comet multiple times over successive orbits is like taking snapshots at different stages of life," said Joseph Nuth, a senior scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. 

NASA said ground-based observations also are planned for comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak, which will pass closest to Earth on April 1, 2017, and for comet 46P/Wirtanen, passing closest to Earth on December 16, 2018. 

By studying this trio of comets, astronomers can learn more about the differences among comets -- information they use to fill in the comet family tree.

Kathmandu, Feb 11 (IANS) Nepal has recorded a new species of bird from upper Dolpa, the largest district of the mid-western development region.

Organising a press meet here on Friday, discovery of a single individual of Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush Monticola saxitilis was made public, Xinhua news agency reported. 

The bird was seen and photographed in May near the Shey monastery within the Shey-Phoksundo National Park of Dolpa.

The Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush is considered as an autumn passage migrant in Pakistan and India.

A four-member team including young wildlife researcher of Nepal Naresh Kusi and Geraldine Werhahn from University of Oxford made the record during their visit to the region.

The team was studying the Himalayan wol., wild yak and snow leopard while they discovered this new bird species.

Bird experts have claimed that more researches are needed to ascertain the status of Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush in other parts of Nepal.

With this record, Nepal now has a total of 886 species of birds.

Brasilia, Feb 11 (IANS) Cancer was the leading cause of death by disease among young Brazilians, according to a study released by the country's National Cancer Institute (INCA).

The study issued on Friday said over 17,500 Brazilians aged 15 to 29 died of cancer from 2009 to 2013, accounting for 5 per cent of all deaths on the age group. It was only surpassed by deaths caused by violence and accidents, Xinhua news agency reported.

Among Brazilians aged 1-14, cancer was the leading cause of death by disease as well.

Data from the INCA indicated that the most common tumours in teenagers and young adults were carcinomas, followed by lymphomas and skin tumours. 

Carcinomas were frequently found in the urinary and reproductive system, thyroid, breast, head and neck.

Among Brazilian women aged 15 to 29, cervical cancer was the most common disease. 

Brazil has already started to take steps to curb the disease by establishing nationwide campaigns to vaccinate children against the human papilloma virus (HPV), which was the cause of most cervical cancer cases.

To prevent cancer, doctors also recommended precaution measures including avoiding smoking, having a healthy diet and not exposing oneself to the sun in excess.

The INCA expects about 600,000 new cases of cancer in Brazil this year. About a third of them are estimated to be skin tumours. 

New Delhi, Feb 11 (IANS) As 36-year old Egyptian woman Eman Ahmed, who is believed to be the heaviest women in the world, arrived in Mumbai to undergo a weight reduction programme, we took a look at how some of the world's heaviest individuals fared post weight reduction programme.

In November 2016, a 32-year-old Mexican Juan Pedro, who weighed nearly 500 kgs, after spending six years confined to his bed, was dubbed as the 'World's heaviest man'.

According to doctors treating him, Pedro, who suffers from Type 2 diabetes, thyroid problems, hypertension and liquid in his lungs, will need at least six months of treatment to stabilise his body before gastric bypass surgery can be undertaken.

Obesity -- a disorder involving excessive body fat -- is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, metabolic diseases like diabetes, all which increases the risk of mortality.

According to WHO, nearly 13 per cent of the world's adult population (11 per cent of men and 15 per cent of women) were obese in 2014.

Earlier this month, a 44-year-old woman from California, who weighed nearly 300 kgs, underwent weight loss surgery and shed 86 kgs.

Erica Wall, who was overweight as a child, had her stomach stapled when she was only 16 years old.

Five years later, she gained weight so rapidly that her staple line burst and her weight continued to spiral out of control.

A 310 kgs father of three from the US, who turned to food after being sexually abused in childhood, lost 100 kgs in a year with the help of surgery.

Thirty-six year old Doug Armstrong's gastric bypass surgery was a success. Post the surgery, he started going to gym, where he did cardio and lifted weights and began shedding a lot.

In another case, a 172 kg woman crowdfunded money to undergo weight-loss surgery.

Kami Perritt, lost 37 kgs post the surgery last year and aims to weigh 90 kgs by the end of 2017.

Eman Ahmed suffered a stroke which left her bedridden and has since then not been able to leave home for the past 25 years, which triggered a series of ailments including diabetes, high blood pressure.

She will undergo a series of weight loss treatments under bariatric surgeon Muffazal Lakdawala and his team at Saifee Hospital in Mumbai over the next few months.

New York, Feb 10 (IANS) Consumption of fish oil, which is rich in omega 3 fatty acids, may be beneficial for patients with inflammatory diseases such as asthma.

The findings, led by researchers at University of Rochester in New York, found that omega-3 fatty acid products can reduce the production of IgE -- the antibodies that cause allergic reactions and asthma symptoms in people with milder cases of asthma.

Once ingested, the omega 3 fatty acids convert to special pro-resolving mediators that halt inflammation without suppressing the immune system. 

However, in patients with severe asthma who use high doses of oral steroids, the omega-3 fatty acids were found less effective because the corticosteroids block the beneficial effects.

Previous studies have shown that certain fatty acids contained in fish oil regulate the function of B cells. 

For the new study, published in the journal JCI Insight, the team collected blood from 17 patients and isolated their B immune cells in the laboratory to explore the impact of pure omega-3-derived products on IgE and other molecules that fuel the disease. 

The results showed that all responded to the omega-3 fatty acids to some degree, as evidenced by a reduction in the levels of IgE antibodies. But the cells from patients who were taking oral steroids were less sensitive to the omega-3 treatment, said lead author Richard P. Phipps, professor at the University of Rochester.

In addition, consumers should use caution when buying fish oil because not all fish oil is the same, the researchers warned.

"You really need high-quality, standardized material that's been processed and stored correctly before comparing results from one study to another study," Phipps said. 

"Our study used the pure, biologically active products in fish oil, known as 17-HDHA, and we've provided a clear line of evidence for why intake of high-quality fish oil is good," he added

​Washington, Feb 10 (IANS) NASA is set to open discussions about a study that has proposed a system capable of landing on Jupiter's icy moon Europa in search for life beyond Earth.

The study that NASA commissioned last year to assess the science value and engineering design of a future Europa lander mission submitted its report this week.

The report listed three science goals for the mission - the primary being search for evidence of life on Europa, the US space agency said.

The other goals are to assess the habitability of Europa by directly analysing material from the surface and to characterise the surface and subsurface to support future robotic exploration of Europa and its ocean. 

The report also described some of the notional instruments that could be expected to perform measurements in support of these goals.

To discuss the report and receive feedback from the wider science community, NASA announced two upcoming meetings scheduled for March and April.

Europa, slightly smaller than Earth's moon, is widely believed by scientists to be having a global saltwater ocean beneath its icy crust. 

This ocean has at least twice as much water as Earth's oceans. 

While recent discoveries have shown that many bodies in the solar system either have subsurface oceans now, or may have had in the past, Europa is one of only two places where the ocean is understood to be in contact with a rocky seafloor (the other being Saturn's moon Enceladus). 

This rare circumstance makes Europa one of the highest priority targets in the search for present-day life beyond Earth.

The team for this study was tasked with developing a life-detection strategy in Europa, a first for a NASA mission since the Mars Viking mission era more than four decades ago. 

The report makes recommendations on the number and type of science instruments that would be required to confirm if signs of life are present in samples collected from the icy moon's surface.

The team also worked closely with engineers to design a system capable of landing on a surface about which very little is known. 

Given that Europa has no atmosphere, the team developed a concept that could deliver its science payload to the icy surface without the benefit of technologies like a heat shield or parachutes, NASA said.

​Washington, Feb 10 (IANS) NASA said its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has started a two-week search for an enigmatic class of near-Earth objects known as Earth-Trojan asteroids.

The mission, currently on a two-year outbound journey to the asteroid Bennu, will spend almost two weeks searching for evidence of these small bodies, the US space agency said on Thursday. 

Although scientists have discovered thousands of Trojan asteroids accompanying other planets, only one Earth-Trojan has been identified to date, asteroid 2010 TK7. 

Scientists predict that there should be more Trojans sharing Earth's orbit but they are difficult to detect from Earth as they appear near the sun on the Earth's horizon.

"So this search gives us a unique opportunity to explore the primordial building blocks of Earth," said principal investigator Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona, Tucson.

Trojan asteroids are trapped in stable gravity wells, called Lagrange points, which precede or follow a planet. 

Launched on September 8, 2016, OSIRIS-REx is currently travelling through Earth's fourth Lagrange point, which is located 60 degrees ahead in Earth's orbit around the sun, about 150 million km from Earth. 

The mission team will use this opportunity to take multiple images of the area with the spacecraft's MapCam camera in the hope of identifying Earth-Trojan asteroids in the region.

"Because the Earth's fourth Lagrange point is relatively stable, it is possible that remnants of the material that built Earth are trapped within it," Lauretta said. 

The operations involved in searching for Earth-Trojan asteroids closely resemble those required to search for natural satellites and other potential hazards around Bennu when the spacecraft approaches its target in 2018, NASA said.

​Washington, Feb 10 (IANS) NASA said its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has started a two-week search for an enigmatic class of near-Earth objects known as Earth-Trojan asteroids.

The mission, currently on a two-year outbound journey to the asteroid Bennu, will spend almost two weeks searching for evidence of these small bodies, the US space agency said on Thursday. 

Although scientists have discovered thousands of Trojan asteroids accompanying other planets, only one Earth-Trojan has been identified to date, asteroid 2010 TK7. 

Scientists predict that there should be more Trojans sharing Earth's orbit but they are difficult to detect from Earth as they appear near the sun on the Earth's horizon.

"So this search gives us a unique opportunity to explore the primordial building blocks of Earth," said principal investigator Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona, Tucson.

Trojan asteroids are trapped in stable gravity wells, called Lagrange points, which precede or follow a planet. 

Launched on September 8, 2016, OSIRIS-REx is currently travelling through Earth's fourth Lagrange point, which is located 60 degrees ahead in Earth's orbit around the sun, about 150 million km from Earth. 

The mission team will use this opportunity to take multiple images of the area with the spacecraft's MapCam camera in the hope of identifying Earth-Trojan asteroids in the region.

"Because the Earth's fourth Lagrange point is relatively stable, it is possible that remnants of the material that built Earth are trapped within it," Lauretta said. 

The operations involved in searching for Earth-Trojan asteroids closely resemble those required to search for natural satellites and other potential hazards around Bennu when the spacecraft approaches its target in 2018, NASA said.