Knowledge Update

​Tel Aviv, Jan 10 (IANS) A team of Israeli researchers has developed a smartphone-based system to assess obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) severity while a patient is awake and analyse the sleep-wake activity.

Currently, patients are diagnosed using polysomnography (PSG) to record brain waves, blood oxygen level, heart rate, breathing and eye and leg movements overnight. 

The new system, which does not require contact sensors, can be installed onto a smartphone or other device that utilises ambient microphones. 

It both analyses speech while the user is awake and records and evaluates overnight breathing sounds using new technology that is simpler to use and significantly less expensive than PSG, said the team from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU).

"We've developed technology that could help diagnose OSA and sleep disorders in a convenient way," said Dr Yaniv Zigel, head of BGU's biomedical signal processing research lab (BSP) in a statement.

"The audio-analysis application can record speech signals from awake subjects. Now, we will be able to get a fast, OSA severity estimation without an overnight sleep study," added professor Ariel Tarasiuk, head of the sleep-wake disorders unit at Soroka University Medical Center in Beer-Sheva. 

Researchers tested the new speech and breathing sound analysis systems on more than 350 subjects, along with PSG, in laboratory and at-home settings. 

They were able to reliably evaluate sleep quality parameters such as sleep-wake activity, snoring severity and OSA using this system.

"We are excited about this non-contact sleep tracking system which does not require patients to wear uncomfortable monitoring equipment on their body," Tarasiuk added. 

The application can also be very useful for CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine users who want to check the effectiveness of their sleep apnea therapy.

Abu Dhabi, Jan 10 (IANS/WAM) The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations has lauded the decision of UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, to fight hunger and food waste by launching the Food Bank initiative.

Nabil Gangi, FAO Representative to the UAE, said the initiative "reflects the true spirit of giving, which has always characterised the UAE communities, and the vision of the founder of the country, late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan".

Gangi praised the initiative to turn Dubai into the first city in the region, and probably in the world, to achieve zero food waste. 

He also confirmed the FAO's readiness to continue working hand-in-hand with the United Arab Emirates government and stakeholders to ensure the success of the initiative within a sustainable food diversification strategy.

The newly-established UAE Food Bank will bring together several stakeholders to collect excess food from hotels, supermarkets, restaurants and farms. 

It will then store and package the food for distribution, while the inedible food will be recycled for different usage, including but not limited to, animal feed and fertilisers.

​New York, Jan 9 (IANS) What if you can remotely charge your smartphone with the flat-screen TV in your living room? If we believe a team of US engineers, turning your living room into a wireless charging station is not a far-fetched dream.

The flat-screen technology can produce a wide-range, wireless power transfer devices, say engineers from Duke University and University of Washington, adding that the technology already exists to build such a system and it is only a matter of time to design it.

"Whether its headphones, cell phones, watches or even your mouse and keyboard, a major irritation for consumers is the hassle of being tethered to cords to recharge batteries," said David Smith, professor at Duke. 

"They always run dry at the worst possible moment. Our proposed system would be able to automatically and continuously charge any device anywhere within a room, making dead batteries a thing of the past," Smith wrote in a paper posted on the arXiv pre-print e-repository. 

Some wireless charging systems already exist to help power speakers, cell phones and tablets. The problem to date has been that the antennas in a wireless power transfer system would need to be able to focus on any device within a room. 

The solution proposed by Smith and his colleagues relies on metamaterials -- a synthetic material composed of many individual, engineered cells that together produce properties not found in nature.

"Imagine you have an electromagnetic wave front moving through a flat surface made of thousands of tiny electrical cells," said Smith. 

"If you can tune each cell to manipulate the wave in a specific way, you can dictate exactly what the field looks like when it comes out on the other side," he explained.

According to the results, a flat metamaterial device no bigger than a typical flat-screen television could focus beams of microwave energy down to a spot about the size of a cell phone within a distance of up to 10 metres. 

It should also be capable of powering more than one device at the same time.

"The ability to safely direct focused beams of microwave energy to charge specific devices, while avoiding unwanted exposure to people, pets and other objects, is a game-changer for wireless power," said co-author Matt Reynolds from the University of Washington. 

Smith has used this principle to create the world's first cloaking device that bends electromagnetic waves around an object held within.

To achieve this on a big scale, a powerful, low-cost electromagnetic energy source would need to be developed. 

"I think building a system like this, which could be embedded in the ceiling and wirelessly charge everything in a room, is a very feasible scheme," Smith noted.

​London, Jan 9 (IANS) A team of researchers at King's College London has discovered a new method of stimulating the renewal of living stem cells in tooth pulp using an Alzheimer's drug.

The novel, biological approach encourages natural tooth repair rather than using cements or fillings which are prone to infections and often need replacing a number of times. 

Currently, dentists use man-made cements or fillings, such as calcium and silicon-based products, to treat larger cavities and fill holes in teeth. 

This cement remains in the tooth and fails to disintegrate, meaning that the normal mineral level of the tooth is never completely restored.

In the new method, one of the small molecules used by scientists from the Dental Institute at King's College London to stimulate the renewal of the stem cells included Tideglusib, a drug to treat neurological disorders including Alzheimer's disease. 

"The simplicity of our approach makes it ideal as a clinical dental product for the natural treatment of large cavities, by providing both pulp protection and restoring dentine," said Professor Paul Sharpe.

In addition, using a drug that has already been tested in clinical trials for Alzheimer's disease provides a real opportunity to get this dental treatment quickly into clinics, he added in a paper published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Toronto, Jan 9 (IANS) If you know two or more languages, chances are that you will save more brain power as you age compared to those who missed out.

A team of researchers has established that years of bilingualism change how the brain carries out tasks that require concentrating on one piece of information without becoming distracted by other information. 

This makes the brain more efficient and economical with its resources.

"After years of daily practice managing interference between two languages, bilinguals become experts at selecting relevant information and ignoring information that can distract from a task," said Dr Ana Inés Ansaldo from the University of Montreal.

To arrive at this conclusion, Ansaldo's team asked two groups of seniors (one of monolinguals and one of bilinguals) to perform a task that involved focusing on visual information while ignoring spatial information. 

The researchers compared the networks between different brain areas as people did the task. 

They found that monolinguals recruited a larger circuit with multiple connections, whereas bilinguals recruited a smaller circuit that was more appropriate for the required information. 

In a nutshell, bilinguals showed higher connectivity between visual processing areas located at the back of the brain. 

"These data indicate that the bilingual brain is more efficient and economical, as it recruits fewer regions and only specialised regions," explained Ansaldo in a paper published in the Journal of Neurolinguistics.

The results may explain why the brains of bilinguals are better equipped at staving off the signs of cognitive ageing or dementia.

"We now need to study how this function translates to daily life, for example, when concentrating on one source of information instead of another, which is something we have to do every day," Ansaldo noted.

​New York, Jan 8 (IANS) Symptoms of agitation among patients with dementia can be managed safely by using tablet computers, a new study has found.

The study, published in The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, builds upon previous studies demonstrating that art, music, and other similar therapies can effectively reduce symptoms of dementia without medication.

By using tablet devices to employ these therapies, however, patients and providers also benefit from a computer's inherent flexibility, the study noted.

"Tablet use as a nonpharmacologic intervention for agitation in older adults, including those with severe dementia, appears to be feasible, safe, and of potential utility," said Ipsit Vahia from McLean Hospital, Massachusetts, US.

"We know that art therapy can work, music therapy can work. The tablet, however, gives you the option of switching from one app to another easily, modifying the therapy seamlessly to suit the individual. You do not need to invest in new equipment or infrastructure," Vahia added.

The use of tablet is safe for every patient, regardless of the severity of their dementia, according to the study that noted that the use of tablets significantly reduced symptoms of agitation among patients with milder forms of dementia.

Citing an example of a Romanian-speaking patient, Vahia explained, "We started showing him Romanian video clips on YouTube, and his behaviour changed dramatically and instantaneously. His mood improved. He became more interactive. He and his medical support team also started using a translation app so that staff could ask him simple questions in Romanian, facilitating increased interaction."

​Toronto, Jan 8 (IANS) The very few people who do not like music at all may have reduced brain connectivity between two regions of the brain linked to sound processing and reward.

The findings showed that people who lacked joy from music -- a condition described as specific musical anhedonia -- had reduced functional connectivity between cortical brain regions responsible for processing sound and subcortical regions related to reward.

The inability to experience pleasure from music affects three-to-five per cent of the world's population, the study said.

For the study, the team led by researchers at McGill University in Quebec, Canada, recruited 45 healthy participants who listened to musical excerpts inside an fMRI machine while providing pleasure ratings in real-time.

To control their brain's response to other reward types, the participants also played a monetary gambling task in which they could win or lose real money.

The results revealed that while listening to music, people with the specific musical anhedonics did show reduced functional connectivity between cortical regions associated with auditory processing and the activity of the nucleus accumbens -- a key subcortical structure of the reward network.

In contrast, individuals with high sensitivity to music showed enhanced connectivity.

Moreover, when the participants won money in the gambling task, their nucleus accumbens showed increased activity.

The fact that subjects could be insensible to music while still being responsive to another stimulus like money suggests different pathways to reward for different stimuli.

This finding may pave the way for the detailed study of the neural substrates underlying other domain-specific anhedonias and, from an evolutionary perspective, help us to understand how music acquired reward value.

"These findings not only help us to understand individual variability in the way the reward system functions, but also can be applied to the development of therapies for treatment of reward-related disorders, including apathy, depression, and addiction," said Robert Zatorre, neuroscientist at McGill University, Quebec.

The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science

​New York, Jan 8 (IANS) Consuming a high-fiber diet may significantly induce the action of gut bacteria to help reduce inflammation associated with gout and possibly help the treatment of arthritis, researchers have found.

Gout is a metabolic disease in which monosodium urate crystals of uric acid -- a waste product in the blood -- form in the body's tissues or joints, causing inflammation and pain.

The study found that the action of gut bacteria, influenced by different types of food, can affect inflammation in the body.

Diets that are high in fiber trigger bacteria in the gut to produce short chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which induces neutrophil apoptosis and the resolution of inflammation.

The findings may have important implications for the treatment of gout, and possibly for the treatment of arthritis, the researchers said.

"By understanding the way foods interact with living organisms, we may be able to create diets that help people with the disease, as well as their health overall," said Mauro M. Teixeira from the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil.

For the study, the team used a high-fiber diet and treatment with SCFAs to prevent inflammation associated with the injection of monosodium urate crystals in the knees of mice.

The results showed that injecting monosodium urate crystals affected a particular type of blood cells, easing inflammation, while improving anti-inflammatory cells in the knee joint, preventing knee damage and dysfunction.

The high levels of uric acid in the body in people with gout, the kidneys are unable to flush them easily out of the body.

As a result, the MSU crystals form in the body's tissues or in the joints, where they collect in the fluids that keep bones moving smoothly and causing tissue to become inflamed and painful.

What we eat plays a determinant role in our capacity to fine tune the inflammatory response.

This tuning inflammatory circuits by linking diet to microbial products can have a profound effect on an inflammatory disease in the joints, the researchers stated.

The study was published in the Journal of Leukoctye Biology.

​New York, Jan 7 (IANS) Gastrointestinal issues found in children with autism may be related to an increased reaction to stress, a finding that can lead to better treatment for the disorder, researchers say.

Autism is a serious developmental disorder that impairs the ability of individuals to communicate and interact.

"We know that it is common for individuals with autism to have a more intense reaction to stress and some of these patients seem to experience frequent constipation, abdominal pain or other gastrointestinal issues," said David Beversdorf, Associate Professor at University of Missouri in the US.

"...anxiety and stress reactivity may be an important factor when treating these patients," Beversdorf added.

The study found a relationship between increased cortisol response to stress and gastrointestinal symptoms.

Cortisol is a hormone released by the body in times of stress and one of its functions is to prevent the release of substances in the body that cause inflammation, known as cytokines -- associated with autism, gastrointestinal issues and stress, the researchers stated.

For the study, the team studied 120 individuals with autism -- 51 patients with gastrointestinal symptoms and 69 without gastrointestinal symptoms.

Testing their cortisol samples, the researchers found that the individuals with gastrointestinal symptoms had greater cortisol in response to the stress than the participants without the symptoms. 

However, there may be a subset of patients for which there may be other contributing factors, the researchers suggested, adding that more research is needed.

The study was published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.

​Washington, Jan 7 (IANS) NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has discovered exocomets -- comets outside our solar system -- plunging onto a young star that resides 95 light-years from Earth.

This star, called HD 172555, represents the third extrasolar system where astronomers have detected doomed, wayward comets. All of the systems are young, under 40 million years old, NASA said in a statement on Saturday.

The exocomets were not directly seen around the star, but their presence was inferred by detecting gas that is likely the vaporised remnants of their icy nuclei.

Astronomers have found similar plunges in our own solar system. Sun-grazing comets routinely fall into our sun. 

"Seeing these sun-grazing comets in our solar system and in three extrasolar systems means that this activity may be common in young star systems," said study leader Carol Grady from NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. 

The presence of these doomed comets provides circumstantial evidence for "gravitational stirring" by an unseen Jupiter-size planet, where comets deflected by its gravity are catapulted into the star, the scientists said.

These events also provide new insights into the past and present activity of comets in our solar system. 

"This activity at its peak represents a star's active teenage years. Watching these events gives us insight into what probably went on in the early days of our solar system, when comets were pelting the inner solar system bodies, including Earth," Grady said.

The scientists even believe that infalling comets could have transported water to Earth and the other inner planets of our solar system.

"In fact, these star-grazing comets may make life possible, because they carry water and other life-forming elements, such as carbon, to terrestrial planets," Grady noted.

The findings were presented at the winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Grapevine, Texas.