Knowledge Update

New York, Jan 19 (IANS) In a ray of hope for those suffering from heart conditions, a team of scientists has developed the world's first soft robotic sleeve that is fitted around the heart, where it twists and compresses the heart's chambers just like healthy cardiac muscle would do.

To create a device that does not come into contact with blood, the team from Harvard University and Boston Children's Hospital developed a thin silicone sleeve that uses soft pneumatic actuators placed around the heart to mimic the outer muscle layers of a human heart.

"This research demonstrates that the growing field of soft robotics can be applied to clinical needs and potentially reduce the burden of heart disease and improve the quality of life for patients," said lead author Ellen T Roche, a former PhD student at Harvard and is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the National University of Ireland.

The actuators twist and compress the sleeve in a similar motion to the beating heart. 

The device is tethered to an external pump, which uses air to power the soft actuators.

Unlike other therapeutic systems known as ventricular assist devices (VADs), the soft robotic sleeve does not directly contact blood, avoiding that risk.

With heart failure affecting 41 million people worldwide, researchers expect the device may be able to bridge a patient to transplant or to aid in cardiac rehabilitation and recovery. 

"The sleeve can be customised for each patient. If a patient has more weakness on the left side of the heart, for example, the actuators can be tuned to give more assistance on that side," Roche noted in a paper published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

The pressure of the actuators can also increase or decrease over time, as the patient's condition evolves. The device is tethered to an external pump, which uses air to power the soft actuators.

According to the researchers, soft robotic devices are ideally suited to interact with soft tissue and give assistance that can help with augmentation of function, and potentially even healing and recovery.

​London, Jan 19 (IANS) Lithium batteries can be charged faster in the near future as scientists have got new insights into why adding charged metal atoms to tunnel structures within batteries improve their performance.

Rechargeable lithium batteries have helped power the 'portable revolution' in mobile phones, laptops and tablet computers. 

"Understanding these processes is important for the future design and development of battery materials and could lead to faster charging batteries that will benefit consumers and industry," said Saiful Islam, Professor at the University of Bath.

The team from the University of Bath and University of Illinois-Chicago also found a way to develop new generations of lithium batteries for electric vehicles that can store energy from wind and solar power.

The study noted that storing electrical energy more quickly than current electrodes is important for future applications in portable electronics and electric vehicles.

"Developing new materials holds the key to lighter, cheaper and safer batteries, including for electric vehicles which will help cut carbon emissions," added Islam in a paper published in the journal Nature Communications.

New York, Jan 19 (IANS) Scarcity of food or other resources may drive some baboon males to attack and kill infants of their own kind, a study has found.

The findings showed that some baboon males vying for a chance to father their own offspring expedite matters in a gruesome way -- they kill infants sired by other males and attack pregnant females, causing them to miscarry.

The behaviour reduces their waiting time to breed with pregnant and nursing females, who otherwise would not become sexually available again for up to a year.

"In situations where males have few opportunities, they resort to violence to achieve what's necessary to survive and reproduce. When reproductive opportunities abound, this behaviour is less frequent," said lead author Matthew Zipple, graduate student at Duke University in North Carolina, US.

Shortages of fertile females were particularly common in times of food scarcity, when baboon troops distance themselves from each other and females take 15 per cent longer between successive births -- which means males who don't kill have even longer to wait.

The perpetrators are more prone to commit domestic violence when forced to move into a group with few fertile females, Zipple added.

It was also more common when the incoming male achieved high social status very quickly, when he stayed in the group for three months or more or when there were many infants and pregnant females in the group.

"It's not just who they are, it's the circumstances they find themselves in that makes the difference," Zipple said.

In addition, the researchers found that immigrant males were responsible for roughly 2 per cent of infant deaths and 6 per cent of miscarriages between 1978 and 2015. 

But when cycling females were few, the death rates more than tripled.

The findings come from a long-term study of wild baboons monitored on a near-daily basis since 1971 at Amboseli National Park in southern Kenya.

The study appeared online in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

​Mumbai, Jan 17 (IANS) By 2020, 20 per cent of organisations will use smartphones in place of traditional physical access cards globally, market research firm Gartner has predicted.

​New York, Jan 18 (IANS) Twitter has finally shut down the Vine app service, revamping it into Vine Camera that will let users shoot 6.5 seconds looping videos which can be later uploaded.

​London, Jan 18 (IANS) A month after photo-sharing app Instagram launched live video streaming in the US, the feature has now been expanded to Britain.

According to a report in Engadget, people in Britain can now swipe across into the camera and select "Live" mode.

​New York, Jan 18 (IANS) Microsoft has acquired Sweden-based company Simplygon to accelerate innovation in enabling 3D for everyone.

Developer of automatic 3D data-optimisation solutions, Simplygon was developed by Donya Labs AB, a privately-held company based in Sweden.

​Agartala, Jan 18 (IANS) The railways will launch a train for religious tourists on February 17 that will originate in Guwahati and cover shrines in West Bengal and Odisha, it was announced on Wednesday.

The Aastha Circuit Tourist Train will be jointly operated by the Northeast Frontier Railway and the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp.

It will "take travellers to a mix of popular pilgrimage destinations across the eastern part of the country at affordable rates", a railway official said.

The train will cover Gangasagar in West Bengal, Sri Swami Narayan temple, Kalighat and Birla temple in Kolkata, Jagannath temple and Konark temple in Puri district and Lingaraj temple in Bhubaneswar.

The train will run from Guwahati and will return in six nights and seven days. A round trip will cost Rs 6,161.

Beijing , Jan 17 (IANS) China on Tuesday announced more measures to attract foreign investment, promising easier access and better environment.

Foreign firms will face fewer restrictions when entering service, manufacturing and mining sectors, said a State Council document, according to Xinhua news agency.

​London, Jan 18 (IANS) British Prime Minister Theresa May said Britain was to leave the European Union's single market but would pursue ambitious new trade agreements.

During her eagerly-awaited Plan for Britain speech at Lancaster House in London on Tuesday, the Conservative leader outlined the government's 12-point program of goals they