Knowledge Update

London, April 20 (IANS) Human limbs share a genetic programme with the respiratory organs of fishes such as sharks and skates, reveals a new research, providing evidence to support a century-old, widely discounted theory on the origin of limbs.

German anatomist Karl Gegenbaur, in 1878, first proposed the theory that human limbs were evolved from gills -- respiratory organs of sharks and skates. 

These fishes have a series of skin flaps -- that protect their gills -- and are supported by arches of cartilage -- a connective tissue found joints between bones -- with finger-like appendages called branchial rays attached to them.Investigation into the embryos of the little skates -- cartilaginous fishes -- revealed striking similarities between the genetic mechanisms used in the development of its gill arches and those in human limbs.

The researchers found 'sonic hedgehog' -- a critical gene in limb development -- performing the same two functions in the development of gill arches and branchial rays in skate embryos as it does in the development of limbs in mammal embryos.In mammal embryos, the Sonic hedgehog gene sets up the axis of the limb in the early stages of development. 

In human limb development, it dictates the identity of each finger and maintains the growth of the limb skeleton.In the later stages of development, Sonic hedgehog maintains outgrowth so that the limb grows to its full size."In a hand, for instance, Sonic hedgehog tells the limb which side will be the thumb and which side will be the pinky finger," said Andrew Gillis from the University of Cambridge in Britain. 

The study, detailed in the journal Development, provides greater understanding of the origin of jawed vertebrates -- the group of animals that includes humans.

"Gegenbaur looked at the way that these branchial rays connect to the gill arches and noticed that it looks very similar to the way that the fin and limb skeleton articulates with the shoulder," Gillis explained.​

Washington, April 20 (IANS) March was the 11th consecutive month a monthly global temperature record was broken, the longest such streak since record-keeping began in 1880, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has said.

"At the risk of sounding like a broken record, March set another heat record for the globe," Xinhua quoted the NOAA as saying in a statement on Tuesday.

"As Earth continues to warm and is influenced by phenomena such as El Nino, global temperature records are piling up."

For March, the average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.22 degrees Celsius above the 20th century average of 12.7 degrees Celsius, according to the NOAA monthly report.

This was not only the highest for the month of March in the 1880-2016 record, but also the highest monthly temperature departure among all months on record, surpassing the previous all-time record set last month by 0.01 degrees Celsius.

Most of the Earth's land surfaces were warmer or much warmer than average in March, said the report, with record warmth notable across eastern Brazil, most of eastern and central Africa, much of southeastern Asia, and large portions of northern and eastern Australia.

Most of northwestern Canada and Alaska, along with vast regions of northern and western Asia, observed temperatures at least three degrees Celsius above their 1981-2010 average.

The weather phenomenon called El Nino continued to weaken in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean during March, but the month globally averaged sea surface temperature remained 0.81 degrees Celsius above the 20th century monthly average, also a record high.

In total, "the six highest monthly global ocean temperature departures have all occurred in the past six months," the report said.

For the first three months in 2016, the average temperature for the globe was 1.50 degrees Celsius above the 20th-century average.

This was also the highest temperature for this period in the 1880-2016 record, surpassing the previous record set in 2015 by 0.28 degrees Celsius.​

​London, April 20 (IANS) Shakespeare is more popular globally than with people in Britain though the bard has made a significant contribution to Britain's economy and culture, a new research revealed on Tuesday.

According to a new survey "All the World's", commissioned by the British Council and conducted by YouGov, the great playwright has been proved more popular outside Britain (65 percent) than in his own country (59 percent), Xinhua reported.

A total of 18,000 respondents in 15 countries participated in the survey in November 2015. Survey showed only 59 percent British people like Shakespeare, while 68 percent Chinese respondents like him.

The top five countries "like Shakespeare" are India (89 percent) , Mexico (88 percent), Brazil (87 percent), Turkey (79 percent) and South Africa (73 percent). Scores of France and Germany were the lowest, with 51 percent and 44 percent, respectively.

The survey also revealed that 84 percent of Brazilians said they found him relevant to today's world, compared with 57 percent in Britain. Meanwhile, 83 percent of Indian respondents said they understood Shakespeare, however, in Britain, only 58 percent of respondents said so.

Contributable factors for the results included Shakespeare's works being translated into more contemporary editions and adaptation into other formats, said British Council.

This new research also underlined the continued importance and relevance of Shakespeare in the 21st century. Over a third of those questioned said Shakespeare made them feel more positive about Britain in general.

Previous research conducted by the British Council in 2014 showed that Shakespeare was the leading personality that 18 to 34 year olds in Brazil, China, Germany, India and the US most identified with contemporary British arts and culture.​

​New Delhi, April 20 (IANS) The heat is slowly picking up in the burgeoning VR gaming market and Indian VR players are set to jump on the bandwagon. The $599 Oculus Rift virtual reality (VR) device is now being shipped. The $799 high-end HTC Vive is set to hit the global market later this year and Sony's $399 fully-immersive PlayStation VR is

Beijing, April 20 (IANS) China collected 2.98 trillion yuan ($458 billion) in taxes in the first quarter of 2016 -- up 9.8 percent year-on-year, data from the State Administration of Taxation (SAT) showed on Wednesday.

​San Francisco, April 20 (IANS) US chip-maker Intel has said that it will cut 12,000 jobs globally by mid-2017 in a restructuring initiative designed to meet the challenge of declining personal computer market.

​Beijing, April 20 (IANS) The Chinese economy will overcome the difficulties it is facing currently and will continue to occupy an enviable position over the next two decades, Jack Ma, founder and chairman of e-commerce giant Alibaba, said on Wednesday.

​New York, April 12 (IANS) Scientists have created a new, low-cost approach to build a knee model for studying knee pain and impaired mobility.

The reconstructed knee model closely simulates the movement of the patella (kneecap) observed in cadaver knee models. 

Because the kneecap acts like a shield for knee joint, it can easily be broken. Falling directly onto the knee is a common cause of patellar fractures. 

Researchers Gian Luca Gervasi, Roberto Tiribuzi and a team from the University of Ioannina, Greece and Giuliano Cerulli from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Italy used a motion tracking system to measure the position of the patella as different loads and forces were applied to the knee model at various degrees of flexion.

They used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of a real knee to develop the computer-aided design software files used by a 3D printer to create the three main components of the knee and a navigation system for combining them with artificial ligaments and a tendon.

The team presented the results of static experiments in the study published in the journal 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing.​

​New York, April 20 (IANS) The presence of certain bacteria in the mouth is likely to identify the risk for pancreatic cancer and enable earlier and precise treatment in patients, finds new research.

Pancreatic cancer patients are known to be vulnerable to gum disease, cavities, and poor oral health in general, said the team from New York University.

The findings showed that bacterial changes in the mouth could potentially show us who are at the risk of developing pancreatic cancer.

"Our study offers the first direct evidence that specific changes in the microbial mix in the mouth represent a likely risk factor for pancreatic cancer along with older age, male gender, smoking and a family history of the disease," said one of the researchers Jiyoung Ahn, associate professor and epidemiologist.

Men and women whose oral microbiomes included Porphyromonas gingivalis - an anaerobic bacteria -- had an overall 59 percent greater risk of developing pancreatic cancer than those whose microbiomes did not contain the bacterium. 

Similarly, people whose oral microbiomes contained Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans -- bacteria often found in association with periodontitis -- were at least 50 percent more likely overall to develop the disease. 

Both types of bacteria have been tied to diseases such as periodontitis or inflammation of the gums.

According to previous research, cigarette smoking was also linked to changes in the amount and mix of bacteria in the oral microbiome. 

For the study, the researchers compared bacterial contents in mouthwash samples from 361 men and women who developed pancreatic cancer with samples from 371 people of similar age who did not. 

The team cautioned that further research is needed to determine if there is any cause-and-effect relationship.

The findings were recently presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research held in New Orleans, US.​

​New York, April 20 (IANS) Children who have their dinner along with other family members are generally fit and eating meals together can also help kids cut the risk of developing eating disorders or weight problems later in life, say researchers.

In a study of 200 families, researchers found that children whose family members shared meals that lasted at least 20 minutes each a minimum of four times a week weighed significantly less than peers whose family dinners were three or four minutes shorter.

Parenting styles, parent-child attachment relationships and feeding practices all have been found to be reliable indicators of children's food consumption, eating behaviours and risks for obesity.

“Although the causes of obesity are complex, families have significant influence on children's dietary habits and weight and should be involved in planning healthy living campaigns and efforts to curb food marketing that targets children,” said Barbara H Fiese from the University of Illinois.

"The family system plays an important role in understanding childhood obesity -- not as a source of blame but as part of a larger ecology that may support or derail children's health," the researchers stated in the paper published in the journal Family Relations.

Family communication is key to the developmental processes that promote or disrupt healthy eating habits, physical activity and internal cues to satiety, they noted.​