Knowledge Update

New York, Jan 6 (IANS) An hour-long nap after lunch may help older adults to preserve their memories, improve their ability to think clearly as well as to make decisions, a study has found. Sleep plays a key role in helping older adults maintain their healthy mental function, necessary for people as they age, the researchers said. In the study, led by Junxin Li from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, the team examined nearly 3,000 Chinese adults aged 65 and older to learn whether taking an afternoon nap had any effect on their mental health. The researchers found that nearly 60 per cent of the people took an afternoon nap after lunch. Their nap time was between about 30 minutes to more than 90 minutes, with most people taking naps lasting about 63 minutes. The results showed that people who took an hour-long nap after lunch had better health condition compared to people who did not take a nap -- neither shorter nor longer. Conversely, those who took no naps at all had four-to-six times more decrease in their mental ability. In addition, people who did not take a nap at all, and those who took shorter or longer naps, experienced about the same decline in their mental abilities that a five-year increase in age would be expected to cause, Li stated. The study was published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

​New York, Jan 6 (IANS) Cancer death has seen a steady decline in US, with the toll dropping to 25 per cent -- or 2.1 million fewer -- between 1991 and 2014, owing to steady reductions in smoking, advances in early detection and treatment, says a report.

According to 'Cancer Statistics 2017' annual report of the American Cancer Society, the cancer death rate dropped from its peak of 215.1 (per 100,000 population) in 1991 to 161.2 (per 100,000 population) in 2014. 

The death rates decreased for the four major cancer sites: lung (-43 per cent between 1990 and 2014 among males and -17 per cent between 2002 and 2014 among females), breast (-38 per cent from 1989 to 2014), prostate (-51 per cent from 1993 to 2014) and colorectal (-51 per cent from 1976 to 2014).

"The continuing drops in the cancer death rate are a powerful sign of the potential we have to reduce cancer's deadly toll," said Otis W. Brawley, Chief Medical Officer of the American Cancer Society.

While the overall cancer incidence rate was stable in women and declined by about two per cent per year in men, the cancer death rate decreased by about 1.5 per cent annually in both men and women.

In addition, the report found significant gender disparities -- the cancer incidence rate is 20 per cent higher in men than in women, while the cancer death rate is 40 per cent higher in men.

Liver cancer -- a highly fatal cancer -- was found to be three times more common in men than in women. 

While the incidence and death rates of cancers of the esophagus, larynx and bladder, were found to be about four-fold higher in men, the incidence rates of melanoma -- skin cancer -- were about 60 per cent higher in men than in women and death rates were more than double in men compared with women, the researchers stated.

The report was published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. 

​New York, Jan 6 (IANS) Feeling depressed? Take heart, a novel suite of 13 speedy mini interactive-apps may help you de-stress and lower anxiety and depression, suggests a study.

The apps -- called IntelliCare -- offer exercises to de-stress, reduce self-criticism and worrying, methods to help your life feel more meaningful, mantras to highlight your strengths, strategies for a good night's sleep and more.

"We designed these apps so they fit easily into people's lives and could be used as simply as apps to find a restaurant or directions," said lead author David Mohr, Professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Illinois, US.

In the study, 96 participants robustly used the IntelliCare interactive apps as many as four times daily -- or an average of 195 times -- for eight weeks. They spent an average of one minute using each app, with longer times for apps with relaxation videos.

The participants reported that they experienced about a 50 per cent decrease in the severity of depressive and anxiety symptoms. 

The short-term study-related reductions are comparable to results expected in clinical practice using psychotherapy or with that seen using antidepressant medication, the researchers said.

"Using digital tools for mental health is emerging as an important part of our future. These are designed to help the millions of people who want support but can't get to a therapist's office," Mohr said.

The study will be published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.

​New York, Jan 6 (IANS) By transforming the most common type of cells found in wounds into fat cells, researchers have reported finding a way to manipulate wounds to heal as regenerated skin rather than scar tissue.

"Essentially, we can manipulate wound healing so that it leads to skin regeneration rather than scarring," said principal investigator George Cotsarelis, Professor of Dermatology at Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, US.

Fat cells called adipocytes are normally found in the skin, but they are lost when wounds heal as scars. The most common cells found in healing wounds are myofibroblasts, which were thought to only form a scar. 

Scar tissue also does not have any hair follicles associated with it, which is another factor that gives it an abnormal appearance from the rest of the skin.

Researchers used these characteristics as the basis for their work -- changing the already present myofibroblasts into fat cells that do not cause scarring.

"The secret is to regenerate hair follicles first. After that, the fat will regenerate in response to the signals from those follicles," Cotsarelis said.

The study showed hair and fat develop separately but not independently. Hair follicles form first, and the Cotsarelis lab previously discovered factors necessary for their formation. 

The new study - published online in the journal Science - details additional factors actually produced by the regenerating hair follicle to convert the surrounding myofibroblasts to regenerate as fat instead of forming a scar. 

As they examined the question of what was sending the signal from the hair to the fat cells, researchers identified a factor called Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP). It instructs the myofibroblasts to become fat. 

"Typically, myofibroblasts were thought to be incapable of becoming a different type of cell," Cotsarelis said. 

"But our work shows we have the ability to influence these cells, and that they can be efficiently converted into adipocytes," Cotsarelis noted.

This was shown in both the mouse and in human keloid cells grown in culture.

"The findings show we have a window of opportunity after wounding to influence the tissue to regenerate rather than scar," said the study's lead author Maksim Plikus, Assistant Professor at University of California, Irvine. 

The findings could lead to new therapies to help wounds heal without scarring.

​London, Jan 6 (IANS) Global warming is replicating conditions that triggered an abrupt sea level rise of several meters in the ocean around Antarctica some 15,000 years ago, warns a study.

"The changes that are currently taking place in a disturbing manner resemble those 14,700 years ago," said one of the researchers Michael Weber from University of Bonn in Germany.

At that time, changes in atmospheric-oceanic circulation led to a stratification in the ocean with a cold layer at the surface and a warm layer below. 

Under such conditions, ice sheets melt more strongly than when the surrounding ocean is thoroughly mixed. 

This is exactly what is presently happening around the Antarctic, said the study published in the journal Scientific Reports.

"The reason for the layering is that global warming in parts of Antarctica is causing land based ice to melt, adding massive amounts of freshwater to the ocean surface," Chris Fogwill from the Climate Change Research Center in Sydney explained.

"At the same time as the surface is cooling, the deeper ocean is warming, which has already accelerated the decline of glaciers in the Amundsen Sea Embayment (in West Antarctic ice sheet)," Fogwill added.

To investigate the climate changes of the past, the scientists studied the frozen "climate archive" - drill cores from the Antarctic ice sheet. 

"The largest melt occurred 14,700 years ago. During this time the Antarctic contributed to a sea level rise of at least three meters within a few centuries," Weber noted.

The research team used isotopic analyses of ice cores from the Weddell Sea region -- southernmost tip of the Atlantic Ocean - which now flows into the ocean about a quarter of the Antarctic melt.

Through a combination of ice sheet and climate modelling, the isotopic data showed that the waters around the Antarctic were heavily layered at the time of the melting events, so that the ice sheets melted at a faster rate. 

"The big question is whether the ice sheet will react to these changing ocean conditions as rapidly as it did 14,700 years ago," co-author Nick Golledge from Antarctic Research Centre in Wellington, New Zealand, said.

​London, Jan 6 (IANS) Consuming foods such as bananas, potatoes, grains and legumes that are rich in resistant starch may help check blood sugar, enhance satiety as well as improve gut health, a study has found.

Resistant starch is a form of starch that is not digested in the small intestine and is therefore considered a type of dietary fibre.

"We know that adequate fibre intake -- at least 30 grams per day -- is important for achieving a healthy, balanced diet, which reduces the risk of developing a range of chronic diseases," said Stacey Lockyer, Nutrition Scientist at British Nutrition Foundation, a Britain-based charity. 

Apart from occurring naturally in foods, resistant starch is also produced or modified commercially and incorporated into food products.

Unlike the typical starch, resistant starch acts like a type of fibre in the body as it does not get digested in your small intestine, but is is fermented in the large intestine.

This dietary fibre then increases the production of short chain fatty acids in the gut, which act as an energy source for the colonic cells, thus improving the gut health and increasing satiety.

According to the researchers, there is consistent evidence that consumption of resistant starch can aid blood sugar control. It has also been suggested that resistant starch can support gut health and enhance satiety via increased production of short chain fatty acids.

"Whilst findings support positive effects on some markers, further research is needed in most areas to establish whether consuming resistant starch can confer significant benefits that are relevant to the general population. However, this is definitely an exciting area of nutritional research for the future," Lockyer said.

The study was published in the journal Nutrition Bulletin.

Washington, Jan 6 (IANS) Humans likely established permanent settlements on the high-altitude Tibetan plateau at least 7,400 years ago, much before the advent of agriculture 5,200 years ago, says a study.

The findings are based on an extensive analysis of human handprints and footprints found in 1998 in fossilised hot spring mud near the village of Chusang on Tibet's central plateau, at an elevation of 14,000 feet above sea level. 

Analysis of the archaeological site indicated that the prints were made by people at least 7,400 years ago, and possibly as early as 13,000 years ago. 

The findings, published in the journal Science, challenge the previously held view that permanent human occupation of the Tibetan Plateau began no earlier than development of an agricultural economy between 5,200-3,600 years ago.

"Although an agropastoral lifeway may have enabled substantial population growth after 5,000 years, it by no means was required for the early, likely permanent, occupation of the high central valleys of the Tibetan Plateau," the researchers wrote.

The research sheds new light on human colonisation of high-elevation environments, said one of the researchers, Randy Haas from University of Wyoming in the US.

For example, researchers have been puzzled by the striking differences in how Tibetans and Andean highlanders adapted physiologically to the rigors of life at high elevations.

"High-elevation environments were some of the last places in the world that humans colonised, and so they offer something of a natural laboratory for studying human adaptation," Haas said.

New York, Dec 24 (IANS) You do not have to use your fingertips to play a game on Snapchat now, just scan your face in the new 'Selfie Lens' and "enter" into the screen to score some points.

​Washington, Jan 5 (IANS) America's largest department store chain Macy's said it is shutting down 68 stores and cutting more than 10,000 jobs, the media reported. The announcement on Wednesday was issued alongside an unfavourable earnings report, showing comparable store sales dipped 2.1 per cent last quarter, reported CNN. The news caused its stock to plunge nearly 10 per cent during after-hours trading Wednesday. Macy's said it expects to layoff about 3,900 workers as a result of the upcoming store closures, and another 6,200 jobs will be cut as the company works to streamline its management team, according to a press release. A few stores have already been shuttered, but 63 will close down between now and mid-2017, leaving about 660 US stores left open, said the report. The closings are among the 100 stores Macy's said last August that it intends to shutter. Mark Cohen, a professor at Columbia Business School, said it's not the last time Macy's will make this type of announcement. "It's a very hard day for the folks involved obviously, but I would also say it's inevitable," Cohen said. "And there's definitely more to come." Terry Lundgren, who is preparing to step aside as Macy's CEO this year, said he expects 2017 sales to decline at a similar rate to the company's holiday performance.

​Las Vegas, Jan 5 (IANS) Taiwan-based tech major ASUS on Thursday showcased its latest lineup products at Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2017) here. Featured products include ProArt PA32U, the world's first 32-inch direct-lit LED 4K UHD high-dynamic-range (HDR) monitor, Designo Curve MX38VQ, a 37.5-inch ultra-wide QHD monitor with a 2300R curvature, ASUS HiveSpot and HiveDot Mesh Wi-Fi System for reliable, ultra-fast and secure wireless coverage. Other products include mini PCs VivoMini UN65U, and the VivoMini VC66 and VM65 Series. ProArt PA32U has a 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3-enabled USB 3.1 Gen 2 port with DisplayPort 1.2 support. These ports also enable display daisy-chaining, which allows users to connect two 4K UHD displays for increased productivity and more versatile viewing. MX38VQ monitor features 8W stereo speakers incorporating Harman Kardon and ASUS SonicMaster audio technologies, as well as a Qi wireless charging pad on its stand for Qi-enabled devices. ASUS HiveSpot and HiveDot Mesh wi-fi system is a modular, high-speed wireless mesh-networking system for the home that eliminates wi-fi dead spots and dropped connections. With the compact ASUS HiveSpot or ASUS HiveDot mesh-networking nodes, users can enjoy a single-sign-on Wi-Fi network with seamless and secure whole-home coverage. VivoMini UN65U is powered by the latest 7th Generation Intel Core (Kaby Lake) processors, features a dual-storage-bay design, which users can specify with up to a 1TB 2.5-inch hard disk drive (HDD), up to a 512GB M.2 solid-state drive (SSD), or a combination of both for added flexibility. VC66 series PCs are compatible with any monitor, HDMI-equipped TV, or projector and includes four USB 3.0 ports on the front panel for added convenience as well as HDMI, DisplayPort++ and DVI ports. Designed to provide faster performance and stunning 4K UHD visuals, VivoMini VM65 is powered by up to a 7th Generation Intel Core i7 (Kaby Lake) processor and features discrete NVIDIA GeForce 930M Optimus graphics.