Knowledge Update

​London, Nov 6 (IANS) Music therapy may help to reduce depression in children and adolescents with behavioural and emotional problems, finds a study.

The researchers involved 251 children and young people for the study and found that children and young persons, aged 8-16 years, who received music therapy had significantly improved self-esteem and significantly reduced depression compared with those who received treatment without music therapy.

The study published in Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry also found that young people aged 13 and over who received music therapy had improved communicative and interactive skills, compared to those who received usual care options alone. Music therapy also improved social functioning over time in all age groups.

For the study, the children were divided into two groups -- 128 underwent the usual care options, while 123 were assigned to music therapy in addition to usual care. All were being treated for emotional, developmental or behavioural problems.

"This study is hugely significant in terms of determining effective treatments for children and young people with behavioural problems and mental health needs," said Sam Porter, Professor at the Bournemouth University, Britain.

"The findings contained in our report should be considered by healthcare providers and commissioners when making decisions about the sort of care for young people that they wish to support," he said. 

"Music therapy has often been used with children and young people with particular mental health needs, but this is the first time its effectiveness has been shown by a definitive randomised controlled trail in a clinical setting," said Ciara Reilly, Chief Executive of Every Day Harmony.

​New York, Nov 15 (IANS) Instant messaging service WeChat may enhance people's feelings of overall satisfaction with life if they use it for fun and to pursue their interests, says a study.

San Francisco, Nov 9 (IANS) In a direct threat to Microsoft-owned LinkedIn, social networking giant Facebook is experimenting with a job opening tab on its business Pages.

A Facebook spokesperson told TechCrunch: "Based on behaviour we've seen on Facebook, where many small businesses post about their job openings on their page, we're

San Francisco, Nov 16 (IANS) In a fresh bid to empower its over 300 million users, the micro-blogging website Twitter on Wednesday made it easier for them to report cyberbullying.

​London, Nov 5 (IANS) Scientists at Disney Research have developed a 360-degree virtual reality application that enables users to enhance their experience by adjusting feel effects - for instance, a light sprinkle or a heavy downpour - to complement the visuals.

Toronto, Nov 25 (IANS) Researchers have designed a new software that can safeguard data even when the computer is in sleep mode.

The powerful new software -- Hypnoguard -- was designed to protect "data-in-sleep".

​Washington, Nov 5 (IANS) NASA has said its Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, or MMS -- that is giving scientists new insight into Earths magnetosphere -- now holds the Guinness World Record for highest altitude fix of a GPS signal.

Operating in a highly elliptical orbit around Earth, the MMS satellites set the record at 70,006.4 kilometres above the surface, the US space agency said on Friday.

The four MMS spacecraft incorporate GPS measurements into their precise tracking systems, which require extremely sensitive position and orbit calculations to guide tight flying formations.

Earlier this year, MMS achieved the closest flying separation of a multi-spacecraft formation with only about seven kilometres between the four satellites. 

When MMS is not breaking records, it conducts ground-breaking science, NASA said.

Still in the first year of its prime mission, MMS is giving scientists new insight into Earth's magnetosphere. 

The mission uses four individual satellites that fly in a pyramid formation to map magnetic reconnection - a process that occurs as the sun and Earth's magnetic fields interact. 

Precise GPS tracking allows the satellites to maintain a tight formation and obtain high resolution three-dimensional observations.

Understanding the causes of magnetic reconnection is important for understanding phenomena around the universe from auroras on Earth, to flares on the surface of the sun, and even to areas surrounding black holes. 

Shanghai, Nov 5 (IANS) With the internet taking on an industrial dimension whereby new equipment and other technologies are transforming the way goods are produced, industrial innovation must integrate multiple digital concepts to revolutionise existing processes, top executives of 3D software major Dassault Systemes said here at an event.

Digital technology can drive the industrial (r)evolution 4.0 -- innovation programmes to reduce manufacturing costs, increase efficiencies and sustainability, inspire creativity and generate new business models, the French technology company demonstrated at its two-day "Manufacturing in the Age of Experience" event that concluded on Friday.

"Digital's most visible value is to increase productivity and competitiveness, but its true power is the imagination. Manufacturers that succeed will be those that will create a world which does not yet exist," said Pascal Daloz, Executive Vice President, Brands and Corporate Development, Dassault Systemes. 

"The digital factory is not only virtual, connected and automated, but is above all an execution system, where men's skills are turned to innovation, performance, quality and continuous change," Daloz said.

"The virtual becomes constitutive of the products themselves. As a consequence, the value is migrating to the cloud services where data are a strategic asset for the industry to reinvent itself," Daloz noted.

The event highlighted how the digital makeover of the manufacturing sector is essential for creating a dynamic, holistic and more sustainable production model that results in a better consumer experience.

Dassault Systemes provides "3DEXPERIENCE" universes for collaboration and innovation to implement innovative strategies in supply and demand.

The 3DEXPERIENCE platform features virtual design, simulation, manufacturing and collaboration applications in a digital environment that integrate products, processes and supply chains, and offer a federated view of a manufacturer's business in real time.

During the plenary session of the even, top brand leaders of the compnay gave presentations on virtualising the industry value chain 

Top officials from Airbus Helicopters, Doosan Infracore and Honda Motor also shared customer case stories on manufacturing transformation and success.

Dassault Systemes is focused on developing technologies and solutions that propel digital transformation in industries ranging from aerospace to life sciences.

​Shanghai, Nov 5 (IANS) With the internet taking on an industrial dimension whereby new equipment and other technologies are transforming the way goods are produced, industrial innovation must integrate multiple digital concepts to revolutionise existing processes, top executives of 3D software major Dassault Systemes said here at an event.

Digital technology can drive the industrial (r)evolution 4.0 -- innovation programmes to reduce manufacturing costs, increase efficiencies and sustainability, inspire creativity and generate new business models, the French technology company demonstrated at its two-day "Manufacturing in the Age of Experience" event that concluded on Friday.

"Digital's most visible value is to increase productivity and competitiveness, but its true power is the imagination. Manufacturers that succeed will be those that will create a world which does not yet exist," said Pascal Daloz, Executive Vice President, Brands and Corporate Development, Dassault Systemes. 

"The digital factory is not only virtual, connected and automated, but is above all an execution system, where men's skills are turned to innovation, performance, quality and continuous change," Daloz said.

"The virtual becomes constitutive of the products themselves. As a consequence, the value is migrating to the cloud services where data are a strategic asset for the industry to reinvent itself," Daloz noted.

The event highlighted how the digital makeover of the manufacturing sector is essential for creating a dynamic, holistic and more sustainable production model that results in a better consumer experience.

Dassault Systemes provides "3DEXPERIENCE" universes for collaboration and innovation to implement innovative strategies in supply and demand.

The 3DEXPERIENCE platform features virtual design, simulation, manufacturing and collaboration applications in a digital environment that integrate products, processes and supply chains, and offer a federated view of a manufacturer's business in real time.

During the plenary session of the even, top brand leaders of the compnay gave presentations on virtualising the industry value chain 

Top officials from Airbus Helicopters, Doosan Infracore and Honda Motor also shared customer case stories on manufacturing transformation and success.

Dassault Systemes is focused on developing technologies and solutions that propel digital transformation in industries ranging from aerospace to life sciences.

Washington, Nov 5 (IANS) Thirteen individuals have become ill from a serious and sometimes fatal fungal infection previously unseen in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday.

The fungus, Candida auris, is known to occur in healthcare settings such as hospitals and nursing homes, CNN reported.

Seven cases occurred between May 2013 and August 2016 in four states: Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey and New York. As of August 31, four of these seven patients, all with bloodstream infections, died, though it is unclear whether their deaths were due to C. auris.

The remaining six cases were identified after August and are still under investigation.

"It appears that C. auris arrived in the United States only in the past few years," Dr. Tom Chiller, Chief of the CDC's Mycotic Diseases Branch, said in a statement. 

He added that scientists are working to better understand the fungus so they can develop recommendations to protect those at risk.

C. auris bloodstream infections have a 50 per cent fatality rate in some countries, according to one study.

Some strains of this yeast are multidrug-resistant and cannot be treated by the three major classes of antifungal medications. 

First reported in 2009 in Japan, cases have been recorded in South Korea, India, South Africa, Kuwait, Colombia, Venezuela, Pakistan and the United Kingdom.

"Experience outside the United States suggests that C. auris has high potential to cause outbreaks in healthcare facilities," the CDC notes on its website. 

Importantly, this deadly organism is difficult to identify using traditional laboratory biochemical methods.