Knowledge Update

​Rome, April 7 (IANS) Global prices for all basic foods dropped globally in March, except meat, which rose slightly, said a United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation report.

The FAO's price index for cereal, vegetable oil, sugar, milk and meat markets was at 171 points, a 2.8 per cent fall from the previous month and 13.4 per cent lower year-on-

​Seoul, April 7 (IANS) Riding on an improved performance of its TV and home appliance businesses, LG Electronics Inc. on Friday said its first-quarter operating profit is estimated at 922 billion won ($812.3 million), a market forecast-beating figure.

New Delhi, April 7 (IANS) Driven by e-commerce and financial services, India's internet economy is expected to double from $125 billion to $250 billion -- growing from the current five per cent to 7.5 per cent of the country's GDP, a joint report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE) said on Friday.

​Seoul, April 7 (IANS) The combined sales of Samsung Electronics new flagship Galaxy S8 series, which will officially hit the shelves later this month, are expected to surpass the 40-million-unit-mark, industry data showed on Friday. South Korea's brokerage houses estimated the sales of the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus to be around 43-60 million units, Yonhap news agency reported. Eugene Investment & Securities Co predicted the highest figure of 60 million, while Mirae Asset Daewoo Co expected 51 million units. Samsung Securities Co, a financial arm of Samsung, forecast 45 million phones being sold overall. "As for the Galaxy S models, we can say that a figure around 35 million units can be considered to fall below expectations, while that above 45 million is robust," said Hwang Min-sung, a researcher from Samsung Securities Co. "This year's sales of the Galaxy S8 are not expected to beat the 48 million units posted by the Galaxy S7 last year," Hwang added.' Samsung launched S8 in two screen sizes -- the 5.8-inch Galaxy S8 and 6.2-inch Galaxy S8 Plus -- and will be available from April 21. The device has a bezel-less curved edge "infinity display" covered with pristine glass and a 12MP rear camera with multi-frame processing and optical image stabilisation. It has an 8MP auto-focus front shooter. Available in five different colours, the device has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 octa-core (2.35GHz quad + 1.7GHz quad) processor. For models that will be available in countries other than the US, Samsung has used Exynos octa-core (2.35 GHz quad + 1.9 GHZ quad) processor. The company has also upped the security feature with iris scanner, face recognition and fingerprint scanner -- moved to the back of the device -- to unlock the device.

​New York, April 7 (IANS) Customers are more satisfied with Microsoft's Surface tablets than they are with Apple's iPad and tablets built by Samsung, LG, Amazon, Acer and Asus, a study by US-based marketing information services company J.D. Power said on Friday. According to J.D. Power 2017 US Tablet Satisfaction Study, Microsoft is the highest performer in three areas: variety of pre-loaded applications; internet connectivity; and availability of manufacturer-supported accessories. "The Microsoft Surface platform has expanded what tablets can do, and it sets the bar for customer satisfaction," said Jeff Conklin, Vice President, Service Industries, J.D. Power. Additionally, Microsoft has the highest performance in three styling and design attributes: size of tablet; quality of materials used; and attractiveness of tablet design. Customers who want the newest technology -- early adopters -- are picking up Microsoft Surface tablets instead of iPads. The US Tablet Satisfaction Study, now in its sixth year, measures customer satisfaction with tablets across five factors (in order of importance): performance (28 per cent); ease of operation (22 per cent); features (22 per cent); styling and design (17 per cent); and cost (11 per cent). The 2017 study is based on experiences evaluated by 2,238 tablet owners who have owned their current device for less than one year.

Bengaluru, April 6 (IANS) Leading e-retailer Flipkart on Wednesday opened a mobile website using a UC Browser of China to enable its users to access its offerings even on a slow 2G network.

​Washington, April 7 (IANS) NASA is preparing to launch on Saturday a super-pressure balloon about the size of a football stadium to carry a pioneering telescope designed to detect ultra-high-energy cosmic rays from near space.

The super pressure balloon (SPB) test flight is set to be launched from Wanaka Airport in New Zealand, on a potential 100-day journey.

If weather is conducive for launch, lift-off is scheduled between 8 and 11.30 a.m. locally, NASA said in a statement on Friday.

"At this time, the weather at the ground and lower levels looks very good for a Saturday launch attempt," said Gabe Garde, mission manager for the 2017 Wanaka Balloon Campaign.

"However, we continue to evaluate the forecast stratospheric winds and predicted flight trajectory to ensure conditions are acceptable before launch," Garde added.

The purpose of the flight is to test and validate the SPB technology with the goal of long-duration flight at mid-latitudes. 

In addition, the University of Chicago's Extreme Universe Space Observatory on a Super Pressure Balloon (EUSO-SPB) is a mission of opportunity flying on the 2017 SPB test flight.

EUSO-SPB is designed to detect high-energy cosmic rays originating from outside our galaxy as they penetrate the Earth's atmosphere. 

As these high-energy particles enter the atmosphere, they interact with nitrogen molecules in the air and create a UV fluorescence light. 

EUSO-SPB will be looking downward at a broad swathe of the Earth's atmosphere to detect the UV fluorescence from these deep space cosmic rays coming in from above.

Once launched, the 532,000-cubic-metre balloon will ascend to an operational float altitude of 33.5 kilometres. 

NASA estimates the balloon will circumnavigate the globe about the southern hemisphere's mid-latitudes once every one to three weeks, depending on wind speeds in the stratosphere.

Toronto, April 7 (IANS) Having a furry friend at home may lead to reduced risk of allergy and obesity in children, suggests a new research.

Babies from families with pets -- usually dogs -- showed higher levels of two types of microbes associated with lower risks of allergic disease and obesity, according to the study published in the journal Microbiome.

"The abundance of these two bacteria were increased twofold when there was a pet in the house," said one of the study authors, Anita Kozyrskyj, from the University of Alberta in Canada.

The latest findings from Kozyrskyj and her team's work on fecal samples collected from infants registered in the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development study build on two decades of research that show children who grow up with dogs have lower rates of asthma.

In the current study, the researcher found that exposure to pets in the womb or up to three months after birth increases the abundance of two bacteria, Ruminococcus and Oscillospira, which have been linked with reduced childhood allergies and obesity, respectively.

The pet exposure was shown to affect the gut microbiome indirectly -- from dog to mother to unborn baby -- during pregnancy as well as during the first three months of the baby's life. 

In other words, even if the dog had been given away for adoption just before the woman gave birth, the healthy microbiome exchange could still take place.

The study also showed that the immunity-boosting exchange occurred even in three birth scenarios known for reducing immunity - cesarean section versus vaginal delivery, antibiotics during birth and lack of breastfeeding.

New York, April 7 (IANS) Are you a night owl and have trouble getting up in the morning? It may be because your internal clock is genetically programmed to run slowly, researchers have found.

The findings showed that a mutation in a gene called CRY1 alters the human circadian clock, which dictates rhythmic behaviour such as sleep/wake cycles. 

People who are carriers of the gene variant experienced nighttime sleep delays of 2-2.5 hours compared to non-carriers, the researchers reported in the journal Cell.

"Carriers of the mutation have longer days than the planet gives them, so they are essentially playing catch-up for their entire lives," said lead author Alina Patke, from the Rockefeller University in New York City, US.

Night owls are often diagnosed at sleep clinics with delayed sleep phase disorder (DSPD) -- where a person's circadian ryhthm is delayed from the typical day/night cycle.

Mutation in CRY1 led to the development of DSPD, which affects up to 10 per cent of the population, according to clinical studies.

People with DSPD often struggle to fall asleep at night, and sometimes sleep comes so late that it fractures into a series of long naps. 

People with DSPD also have trouble conforming to societal expectations and morning work schedules, which leads to anxiety, depression, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. 

The gene mutation was discovered while studying the skin cells of people with DSPD. 

The circadian clock responds to external environmental cues, so it is possible for people to manage the effects of the mutation on sleep. 

"An external cycle and good sleep hygiene can help force a slow-running clock to accommodate a 24-hour day," Patke said.

New Delhi, April 7 (IANS) As heart attacks continue to kill one person in every 33 seconds in India, health experts on Friday said that olive oil can help in decreasing cardio vascular diseases.

Olive oil is rich in MUFA or mono unsaturated fatty acids which helps in improving glycemic control and plasma lipid control and increase insulin sensitivity in diabetics and improve cardio vascular health, according to the experts.

The World Heath Organisation estimated that by 2020, cardiovascular disease will be the cause of over 40 per cent deaths in India as compared to 24 per cent in 1990.

"Olive oil contains a very important health benefiting element called oleic acid. It is known to be extremely heart-healthy and capable of fighting free radical damage (or oxidative stress), which has numerous health implications," said Nidhi Dhawan, head dietician at city based Saroj Superspecialty hospital. 

Dhawan said that due to the presence of powerful antioxidants known as polyphenols, olive oil is considered an anti-inflammatory food.

"It has been proven that olive oil is beneficial as it prevents strokes, keeps the heart young, fights osteoporosis, protects from depression, prevents skin and breast cancer," said Neelima Burra, Chief Marketing Officer of Cargill foods. 

The experts were speaking on the occasion of World Health Day.

Unlike other edible oils, olive oil contains about 75 per cent mono saturated fat which makes it the healthiest. 

Cargill food had earlier launched Leonardo Olive -- approved by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) -- keeping in mind the rising cases of cardio vascular and other diseases such as diabetes mellitus, chronic obstructive and pulmonary disease and cancer.

Stating that there was a rise in cardio vascular cases in rural India as well, Burra said that there is a need for the people of rural India to have more awareness about olive oil and its health benefits.