Knowledge Update

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.

​London, Jan 6 (IANS) It's lonely life for the elderly in Britain. Half a million people in the isles over the age of 60 usually spend each day alone, with no interaction with others, a poll said.

It also said that nearly half a million more commonly do not see or speak to anyone for five or six days a week, the Guardian reported on Friday.

Age UK, which commissioned the research, said the results highlighted a growing number of chronically lonely older people. This was placing increasing demand on Britain's health services.

The charity has been running a pilot programme in eight areas where Age UK groups were actively trying to identify lonely older people and offer them companionship.

Caroline Abrahams, Age UK's charity director, said: "This new analysis shows that about a million older people in our country (Britain) are profoundly alone, many of whom are likely to be enduring the pain and suffering of loneliness."

"That's why the early results of our pilot programme into tackling loneliness in later life are so important: nine in 10 older people who were often lonely when they started the programme were less lonely six to 12 weeks later," she said. 

Many even said that they felt generally happier, more confident and more independent as a result, the poll showed.

"Unfortunately, there is no simple solution for loneliness, but our pilot programme shows we really can make a difference and provide crucial insights into how the problem can be successfully overcome," Abrahams said.

The Age UK groups worked with local people such as hairdressers, shopkeepers and faith groups to help identify older people experiencing or at risk of loneliness.

They developed networks with professionals in voluntary and statutory services, such as community nurses, social workers and police community support officers, and others. 

Age UK has also developed a loneliness heat-mapping tool, which assesses risk factors such as age, marital status and number of household members.

People identified as lonely by Age UK groups were provided with telephone support and short-term, face-to-face companionship.

The results of the poll would feed into Age UK's submissions to the 'commission on loneliness', devised by late Labour MP Jo Cox, before she was murdered in 2016. 

The research agency TNS polled British residents aged over 60, asking them how many days a week they usually spent alone with no visits or telephone calls. 

Out of 2,241 people, 498 said they spent seven days on their own and 464 said five or six days. 

The results were then extrapolated to reach the national figures.

​Lhasa, Jan 7 (IANS) China is working to set up the world's highest altitude gravitational wave telescopes in Tibet Autonomous Region to detect the faintest echoes resonating from the universe, which may reveal more about the Big Bang.

Construction has started for the first telescope, code-named Ngari No.1, 30 km south of Shiquanhe town in Ngari Prefecture, said Yao Yongqiang, chief researcher with the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xinhua news agency reported. 

The telescope, located 5,250 meters above sea level, will detect and gather precise data on primordial gravitational waves in the Northern Hemisphere. 

It is expected to be operational by 2021.

Yao said the second phase involves a series of telescopes, code-named Ngari No. 2, to be located about 6,000 meters above sea level. He did not give a time frame for construction of Ngari No. 2.

The budget for the two-phase Ngari gravitational wave observatory is an estimated 130 million yuan ($18.8 million). The project was initiated by the Institute of High Energy Physics, National Astronomical Observatories, and Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, among others.

Ngari, with its high altitude, clear sky, and minimal human activity, is said to be one of the world's best spots to detect tiny twists in cosmic light.

Yao said the Ngari observatory will be among the world's top primordial gravitational wave observation bases, alongside the South Pole Telescope and the facility in Chile's Atacama Desert.

Gravitational waves were first proposed by Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity 100 years ago, but it wasn't until 2016 that scientists with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory announced proof of the waves' existence, spurring fresh research interest among the world's scientists.

China has announced its own gravitational wave research plans, which include the launch of satellites and setting up FAST, a 500-meter aperture spherical radio telescope in southwest China's Guizhou Province.

Washington, Jan 7 (IANS) NASA has said two of its astronauts -- Expedition 50 Commander Shane Kimbrough and Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson -- have completed the first of two power upgrade spacewalks at 1:55 p.m. EST (12:25 a.m. Saturday, India time).

During the six-hour-and-thirty-two-minute spacewalk, the two NASA astronauts successfully installed three new adapter plates and hooked up electrical connections for three of the six new lithium-ion batteries on the International Space Station, NASA scientists wrote in a blog post.

They also accomplished several get-ahead tasks, including a photo survey of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer.

The new lithium-ion batteries and adapter plates replace the nickel-hydrogen batteries currently used on the station to store electrical energy generated by the station's solar arrays.

Robotic work to update the batteries began in January. 

This was the first of two spacewalks planned to finalise the installation, NASA said.

Kimbrough and Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency) are scheduled to conduct the second spacewalk on January 13.

Space station crew members have conducted 196 spacewalks in support of assembly and maintenance of the orbiting laboratory. 

Spacewalkers have now spent a total of 1,224 hours and six minutes working outside the station.

​Washington, Jan 6 (IANS) By combining data from several telescopes around the world including India's Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) in Pune, astronomers have discovered a cosmic double whammy unlike any ever seen before.

Two of the most powerful phenomena in the Universe, a supermassive black hole, and the collision of giant galaxy clusters, have combined to create a stupendous cosmic particle accelerator, the researchers reported in the journal Nature Astronomy.

"We have seen each of these spectacular phenomena separately in many places," said lead researcher Reinout van Weeren of the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics (CfA) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US.

"This is the first time, however, that we seen them clearly linked together in the same system," Weeren noted.

This cosmic double whammy is found in a pair of colliding galaxy clusters called Abell 3411 and Abell 3412 located about two billion light years from Earth. 

The two clusters are both very massive, each weighing about a quadrillion or a billion times the mass of the Sun.

This discovery solves a long-standing mystery in galaxy cluster research about the origin of beautiful swirls of radio emission stretching for millions of light years, detected in Abell 3411 and Abell 3412 with the GMRT.

The team determined that as the shock waves travel across the cluster for hundreds of millions of years, the doubly accelerated particles produce giant swirls of radio emission.

"This result shows that a remarkable combination of powerful events generate these particle acceleration factories, which are the largest and most powerful in the Universe," co-author William Dawson of Lawrence Livermore National Lab in Livermore, California, said. 

Besides GMRT, the researchers combined data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, the US National Science Foundation's Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, and other telescopes to find out what happens when matter ejected by a giant black hole is swept up in the merger of two enormous galaxy clusters.

"It is a bit poetic that it took a combination of the world's biggest observatories to understand this," Dawson noted.

"It's almost like launching a rocket into low-Earth orbit and then getting shot out of the Solar System by a second rocket blast," co-author Felipe Andrade-Santos, also of the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics.

"These particles are among the most energetic particles observed in the Universe, thanks to the double injection of energy," Andrade-Santos explained.