Knowledge Update

​London, Nov 3 (IANS) Consuming foods rich in proteins such as lean meat, fish, legumes and almonds can significantly reduce fat accumulated in the liver within six weeks, researchers say.

The findings showed that liver fat levels dropped by up to 48 per cent after eating high-protein diet regardless of whether it came from a plant or animal source, and also prevented the occurrence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease -- a very common disorder where excess fat accumulates in the liver -- especially in people with diabetes.

"When left untreated, fatty liver is an important step progress to Type 2 diabetes and can develop into liver cirrhosis, which can have life-threatening effects," said lead author Andreas F.H. Pfeiffer, Endocrinologist at the German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke (DifE), in Germany. 

Further, the study showed that high-protein diet caused favourable changes in the liver and lipid metabolism, improved insulin sensitivity and led to a significant reduction in the hormone fibroblast growth factor 21 in the blood.

For the study, the researchers investigated the effects of two high-protein diets -- plant- or animal-based -- on the metabolism of 37 female and male subjects between the ages of 49 and 78 years suffering from Type 2 diabetes and, in most cases, from fatty liver. 

The main source for the plant protein group were foods such as noodles or bread that were enriched with pea protein. The animal protein group consumed lean milk products as well as white meat and fish as protein sources.

The results showed that no negative effect was observed on renal function or glucose metabolism and all study participants benefited from the high-protein diet. 

The liver fat content decreased significantly, in half of the study participants by more than 50 per cent. 

The study was published in the journal Gastroenterology.

​Washington, Nov 3 (IANS) US space agency NASA has completed the construction of the world's largest space telescope, after almost two decades.

The James Webb Space Telescope is considered to be the successor to NASA's 26-year-old Hubble Space Telescope, the agency announced on Wednesday.

NASA said an Ariane 5 rocket will launch it from French Guiana in October 2018, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Today, we're celebrating the fact that our telescope is finished and we're about to prove that it works," Nobel laureate and Webb's senior project scientist John Mather said during a news conference posted on Youtube, adding that the new telescope will open up "a whole new territory of astronomy".

"We will see things we have not seen before because this telescope is much more powerful than even the great Hubble telescope," Mather said, adding "To give you some perspective about what we can do with it. If you were a bumblebee at a distance of the moon, we will be able to see you, both by your reflective sunlight and by thermal radiation and heat you emitted."

According to NASA, its engineers and technicians on Wednesday successfully completed the first important optical measurement of Webb's fully assembled primary mirror, known as a Centre of Curvature test, to measure the mirror's shape.

Next, the 6.5-metre primary mirror consisting of 18 hexagonal mirrors will go through a series of rigorous tests that will simulate the violent sound and vibration environments the telescope will experience inside its rocket on its way out into space.

The Centre of Curvature test will be repeated after the launch environment testing and the results compared to find if there are any changes or damages to the optical system.

NASA said the Webb telescope will be used to observe distant objects in the universe, provide images of the first galaxies formed and see unexplored planets around distant stars.

The $8.7 billion project is led by NASA but also supported by the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

​New York, Nov 2 (IANS) Positive school climate helps students not just to achieve academic excellence but also improve outcomes for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, according to a new study.

Researchers found substantial evidence that schools with positive climates can narrow achievement gaps among students of different socioeconomic backgrounds and between students with stronger and weaker academic abilities.

"Our analysis shows that schools do matter and can do much to improve academic outcomes. Our findings suggest that by promoting a positive climate, schools can allow greater equality in educational opportunities, decrease socioeconomic inequalities, and enable more social mobility," said Ron Avi Astor, professor at the University of Southern California, in the US. 

For their study, published in the Review of Educational Research, the researchers analysed 78 studies that focused on the relationship between school or classroom climate, academic achievement, and socioeconomic status.

In their analysis, the authors found great variation in the school climate definitions and measurements used by researchers, reflecting the absence of clear and uniform standards.

The analysis also found no correlation between socioeconomic status and perceptions of school climate. This suggests that schools serving students of lower socioeconomic status do not necessarily have poor climates and that positive climates can be nurtured in these schools.

"Positive school climate has the potential to break the negative influences that stem from poor socioeconomic backgrounds and to mitigate risk factors that threaten academic achievement," said Ruth Berkowitz, assistant professor of social work at the University of Haifa, Israel. 

​Washington, Nov 2 (IANS) A sensing technique that the US military currently uses to remotely monitor the air to detect potentially life-threatening chemicals, toxins, and pathogens has inspired a new instrument that could "sniff" for life on Mars.

The Bio-Indicator Lidar Instrument, or BILI is a fluorescence-based lidar, a type of remote-sensing instrument similar to radar in principle and operation. 

Instead of using radio waves, however, lidar instruments use light to detect and ultimately analyse the composition of particles in the atmosphere.

Although NASA has used fluorescence instruments to detect chemicals in Earth's atmosphere as part of its climate-studies research, the agency so far hasn't employed the technique in planetary studies. 

"NASA has never used it before for planetary ground level exploration. If the agency develops it, it will be the first of a kind," said Branimir Blagojevic, a NASA technologist at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Blagojevic, who formerly worked for Science and Engineering Services, LLC, that developed the sensor, has applied the technology to create an instrument prototype, proving in testing that the same remote-sensing technology used to identify bio-hazards in public places also could be effective at detecting organic bio-signatures on Mars.

The beauty of BILI is its ability to detect in real-time small levels of complex organic materials from a distance of several hundred meters, Blagojevic added in a NASA statement.

Therefore, it could autonomously search for bio-signatures in plumes above recurring slopes -- areas not easily traversed by a rover carrying a variety of in-situ instruments for detailed chemical and biological analysis. 

Furthermore, because it could do a ground-level aerosol analysis from afar, BILI reduces the risk of sample contamination that could skew the results.

"This makes our instrument an excellent complementary organic-detection instrument, which we could use in tandem with more sensitive, point sensor-type mass spectrometers that can only measure a small amount of material at once," Blagojevic said. 

"BILI's measurements do not require consumables other than electrical power and can be conducted quickly over a broad area. This is a survey instrument, with a nose for certain molecules," Blagojevic noted.

With such a tool, which also could be installed on an orbiting spacecraft, NASA could dramatically increase the probability of finding bio-signatures in the solar system, he added.

"We are ready to integrate and test this novel instrument, which would be capable of detecting a number organic bio-signatures," Blagojevic said.

​San Diego, Nov 2 (IANS) Investing in creativity pays off with tangible benefits -- from higher income to greater national competitiveness and productivity, a new Adobe report said on Wednesday.

The report, "State of Create: 2016", released on the eve of Adobe MAX 2016 creativity conference, revealed that people who identify as creators globally report household income that is 13 per cent higher than non-creators.

Globally, more than two-thirds believe that being creative helps make people better workers, leaders, parents and students, the report highlighted. It incorporates responses from more than 5,000 adults across five countries.

"Creativity and productivity go hand in hand, but investing in creativity isn't on the agenda for enough of today's leaders," Mala Sharma, Vice President and General Manager of Creative Cloud at Adobe, said in a statement. 

"This survey provides a big wake-up call to businesses that they need to think differently and give employees the tools and freedom to be creative," she added.

According to the report, US respondents said that being creative is valuable to the economy (77 per cent) and society (82 per cent).

Only five in 10 respondents (55 per cent) describe themselves as creative and 44 per cent say they are living up to their creative potential, showed the survey that found US creators earning 17 per cent more than non-creators.

"Businesses benefit from prioritising creativity and good design. Nearly 88 per cent believe that businesses that invest in creativity are more likely to foster innovation and 89 per cent believe that those who have adopted creativity have satisfied customers," the report found.

The report pointed out that governments that invest in creativity are viewed more positively but agrees that there is a clear disconnect between the high value society places on creativity and the lack of investment in creative education. 

Seventy-one per cent of respondents believe that creativity is being stifled by the educational system, and only 41 per cent feel that the government encourages schools to teach students to be creative.

The report also found that Japan is the most creative country and Tokyo the most creative city followed by the US and New York respectively.

​Beijing, Nov 2 (IANS) Chinese aircraft manufacturer AVIC unveiled the country's first unmanned plane during the International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition held this week in Zhuhai, China.

The plane, which is capable of flying at high altitudes of more than 14,000 m, is designed for reconnaissance and attack missions, Efe news reported.

Named 'Cloud Shadow', the plane has a maximum speed of 620 kmph, a control system that allows a range of 290 km, and is available for export, according to defence experts.

Other noteworthy specifications include its autonomy of six hours, maximum load of 400 kg and compatibility with several air-to-surface missiles, bombs and other new weapons. 

The International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition offers a peek into the latest developments in China's civil and military airline industry.

​Sydney, Nov 1 (IANS) Australian researchers have found that children with vitamin D deficiency were more likely to develop asthma and other allergies later in life.

Researchers from Western Australia's Telethon Kids Institute tracked vitamin D levels from birth to age 10 in Perth and found that children were at high risk of developing asthma and allergies as they grew older if they lacked the nutrient at a young age, Xinhua news agency reported.

The findings also showed that repeated bouts of vitamin D deficiency in early childhood were linked to higher rates of asthma at age 10, as well as allergy and eczema.

The study's lead author Elysia Hollams on Tuesday said the findings showed that vitamin D plays an important role in regulating the immune system as well as promoting a healthy lung development.

"Our study is the first to track vitamin D levels from birth to asthma onset, and it has shown a clear link between prolonged vitamin D deficiency in early childhood and the development of asthma," Hollams said.

"We've also shown for the first time that babies deficient in vitamin D have higher levels of potentially harmful bacteria in their upper airways, and are more susceptible to severe respiratory infections."

But Hollams was quick to caution against rushing out and purchasing vitamin D supplements as more research needs to be done in the field.

"We still don't know what the optimal level of vitamin D is for good lung health and immune function, and we don't know if supplementation would address this issue, or if healthy sun exposure is what is required, given that vitamin D is an indirect measure of recent sun exposure," Hollams said.

The study's co-author professor Prue Hart said the findings were a significant endorsement that vitamin D levels may be important throughout childhood.

Hollams and Hart's study was published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology on Tuesday.

New York, Nov 1 (IANS) Normal, healthy heart muscle is well-supplied with oxygen-rich blood, but a new study says that very low oxygen levels -- about the concentration at the top of Mt. Everest -- may help reverse heart disease.

"This work shows that hypoxia (very low oxygen level) equivalent to the summit of Mt. Everest can actually reverse heart disease, and that is extraordinary," said Benjamin Levine, Professor of Internal Medicine at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in the US.

In this study, by placing mice in an extremely low-oxygen environment, the researchers said they were able to regenerate heart muscle.

"The adult human heart is not capable of any meaningful repair following a heart attack, which is why heart attacks have such a devastating impact," said Hesham Sadek, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine.

"Though counterintuitive, we've shown that severely lowering oxygen exposure can sidestep damage to cells caused by oxygen and turn cell division back on, leading to heart regrowth," Sadek noted.

The findings, published in the journal Nature, build upon years of work that began with the discovery that the hearts of newborn mammals have the ability to regenerate, similar to the way skin has the ability to repair itself after a cut. 

But this ability of heart muscle to regenerate is quickly lost in the following weeks as the animal ages and the cells are bathed in the oxygen-rich environment of the beating heart, causing damage to the cells.

In the current study, the researchers lowered the oxygen in the air breathed by mice from the normal 21 percent to seven per cent -- about the concentration of oxygen at the top of Mt. Everest -- over a period of weeks, then monitored the mass and function of the heart. 

After two weeks in the low-oxygen environment, the heart muscle cells -- called cardiomyocytes -- were dividing and growing. 

Under normal circumstances these heart muscle cells do not divide in adult mammals.

The researchers had tried a 10 per cent oxygen environment, but there was no heart regrowth in the 10 per cent oxygen environment. 

To avoid oxygen damage to cells, oxygen levels needed to be very low, a situation referred to as hypoxia.

"In theory, creating a low-oxygen environment could lead to repair not only of heart muscle, but of other organs as well," Sadek noted.

"Although exposure to this level of hypoxia can result in complications, it is tolerated in humans when performed in a controlled setting," he pointed out.

​New York, Oct 31 (IANS) In a new twist to waste-to-fuel technology, scientists at the US Department of Energys Oak Ridge National Laboratory have accidentally discovered a process to turn carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas, into ethanol, a renewable fuel.

The researchers used tiny spikes of carbon and copper to turn CO2 into ethanol. 

"We discovered somewhat by accident that this material worked," said lead author of the study Adam Rondinone.

"We were trying to study the first step of a proposed reaction when we realised that the catalyst was doing the entire reaction on its own," Rondinone noted.

The team used a catalyst made of carbon, copper and nitrogen and applied voltage to trigger a complicated chemical reaction that essentially reverses the combustion process. 

With the help of the nanotechnology-based catalyst which contains multiple reaction sites, the solution of carbon dioxide dissolved in water turned into ethanol with a yield of 63 per cent, showed the study published in the journal ChemistrySelect. 

Typically, this type of electrochemical reaction results in a mix of several different products in small amounts.

"We're taking carbon dioxide, a waste product of combustion, and we're pushing that combustion reaction backwards with very high selectivity to a useful fuel," Rondinone said.

"Ethanol was a surprise -- it's extremely difficult to go straight from carbon dioxide to ethanol with a single catalyst," Rondinone noted.

The catalyst's novelty lies in its nanoscale structure, consisting of copper nanoparticles embedded in carbon spikes. This nano-texturing approach avoids the use of expensive or rare metals such as platinum that limit the economic viability of many catalysts.

Given the technique's reliance on low-cost materials and an ability to operate at room temperature in water, the researchers believe the approach could be scaled up for industrially relevant applications. 

"A process like this would allow you to consume extra electricity when it's available to make and store as ethanol," Rondinone said. 

"This could help to balance a grid supplied by intermittent renewable sources," Rondinone pointed out.

​New York, Oct 31 (IANS) Repeating statements regardless of whether they are true or not may present it more true, a study has found.

According to researchers, repeated lies have higher truth ratings than new statements in a phenomenon called the illusory truth effect. 

"If you repeat a lie often enough it becomes the truth. And if you look around yourself, you may start to think that everyone from advertisers to politicians are taking advantage of this foible of human psychology," said Lisa K. Fazio, Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, US.

Repetition may be one way that insidious misconceptions, such as the belief that vitamin C prevents the common cold, enter our knowledge base. 

"Repeated statements are easier to process, and subsequently perceived to be more truthful, than new statements," Fazio added.

In the study, the researchers used paired true and un-true statements, but also split their items according to how likely participants were to know the truth. 

The prevailing assumption has been that knowledge constrains this effect i.e., repeating the statement "The Atlantic Ocean is the largest ocean on Earth" will not make you believe it. 

However, contrary to this, illusory truth effects occurred even when participants knew better, Fazio said. 

The study showed that participants sometimes rely on fluency even if knowledge is also available to them.

The participants demonstrated knowledge neglect, or the failure to rely on stored knowledge, in the face of fluent processing experiences.