Knowledge Update

​London, Feb 7 (IANS) Nearly 250,000 jobs in Britain's public sector could be replaced by websites and artificially intelligent "chat bots" in the near future, leading to higher efficiency in the sector, a new report said.

​New York, Feb 7 (IANS) People who regularly eat pasta -- the fundamental component of Italian Mediterranean cuisine -- may have better diet quality, greater intake of vitamin and minerals and can better manage blood sugar levels, compared to those who do not eat pasta, new research shows. Pasta is a low-sodium and cholesterol-free food with a low glycemic index -- foods that keep blood sugar levels in control. "The study shows that pasta eaters have better quality diets than those who don't eat pasta," said Diane Welland, dietitian and Nutrition Communications Manager for the National Pasta Association -- a US based organisation. The findings showed that pasta eaters had a greater intake of nutrients and minerals that most people lack in their diets such as folate -- that helps the body form red blood cells and reduces the risk of defects during foetal growth --; iron -- used to carry oxygen in the blood and aids in reducing anemia --; magnesium -- a mineral used in building bones and releasing energy from muscles -- and dietary fiber -- which helps reduce blood cholesterol levels and lower risk of heart disease, obesity and Type 2 diabetes. In addition, eating pasta also led to less intake of saturated fat -- which can help lower the level of cholesterol in your blood to decrease the risk of heart disease and stroke -- and less added sugar -- like sucrose and high fructose corn syrup that contain a whole bunch of calories with no essential nutrients. "Pasta can be an effective building block for good nutrition, as it serves as a perfect delivery system for fruits, vegetables, lean meats, fish and legumes," Welland added. For the study, presented at The Obesity Society's annual meeting in New Orleans, the team conducted a survey to examine the associations between pasta consumption, shortfall nutrient intakes as defined by the 2015 Dietary Guidelines (2015 DG) and diet quality in comparison to non-pasta consumption in the US adults.

​Beijing, Feb 7 (IANS) Shipping 44.9 million iPhones to China, Apple has beaten Xiaomi, touted as the 'Apple' of China that shipped 41.5 million smartphones and slipped to fifth spot, market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) has revealed. According to IDC's Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker report, Apple dropped from 58.4 million iPhones in 2015 and Xiaomi from 64 million Mi phones, drops of 23 per cent and 36 per cent, respectively. Oppo, which shipped 78.4 million phones -- more than double the 35.4 million it shipped in 2015. Huawei came in at second, shipping 76 million phones, while Vivo managed to almost double its shipments, going from 35 million in 2015 to 69 million last year. "Increased dependence on mobile apps has led to consumers to seek phone upgrades, thus helping drive the large growth in fourth quarter of 2016. In lower tiered cities, there was a similar demand by consumers, which Oppo and vivo met by aggressively pushing mid-range smartphones in these cities," said Tay X iaohan, Senior Market Analyst, IDC Asia/Pacific's Client Devices team, in a statement. Despite the decline, IDC does not believe Chinese vendors have actually eaten away Apple's market share. Most Apple users are expected to be holding out for the new iPhone that will be launched this year, and that will help the brand to see a growth in 2017. Apple's 10-year anniversary iPhone will also likely attract some of the high-end Android users in China to convert to an iPhone. "The smartphone market in China saw a 19 per cent year-on-year growth and 17 per cent quarter-on-quater growth fourth quarter of 2016. For the full year of 2016, the market grew by nine per cent with top Chinese smartphone vendors taking up a larger share of the market," the findings showed. At present, out of the top three Chinese vendors in China, Huawei is the most successful with half of its shipments coming from markets outside China in fourth quarter of 2016. Cameras will continue to be a key focus in the marketing messages by vendors especially given the strong selfie culture in China, as exemplified by the popularity of apps such as Meitu, the report added.

​Brasilia, Feb 7 (IANS) Tourism revenue during the Brazilian Carnival is expected to hit 5.8 billion reais ($1.8 billion), a government report said.

The report, issued on Monday by the National Commerce Confederation (CNC), showed that food and beverage services in bars and restaurants are projected to bring in around 57 per cent of the income, followed by hotels and transportation, Xinhua news agency reported.

However, the total volume of income expected from the Carnival in 2017, which will last from February 24 to March 1, is 5.7 per cent lower than last year and the worst prediction in the past three years.

Rio de Janeiro, host of the largest carnival, will receive the largest boost to its income, estimated at 2.4 billion reais ($770 million), followed by Sao Paulo, with 1.5 billion reais ($480 million), the report said.

The two states will claim 68 per cent of the tourism revenue during the Carnival celebrations, with large parades also staging in the southern state of Minas Gerais and the northeastern states of Bahia, Ceara and Pernambuco, it added.

Sydney, Feb 7 (IANS) A treatment made with antibodies from horses may provide an effective and economical option to fight Ebola infection, says a study.

"This is a cost-effective treatment that can be used in low-income countries in Africa where equine production facilities are already in operation for producing snake-bite antivenin," said one of the lead researchers Alexander Khromykh, Professor at University of Queensland in Australia.

"It's the first time that equine antibodies have been shown to work effectively against Ebola infection," Khromykh pointed out.

The post-exposure treatment made with antibodies from horses was administered over five days to monkeys infected 24 hours previously with a lethal dose of Ebola virus.

The treatment suppressed viral loads significantly and protected the animals from mortality, showed the findings published in the journal Scientific Reports.

The largest recorded outbreak of Ebola virus occurred primarily in West Africa from 2014 to 2016, infecting 30,000 people and killing more than 11,000, with exported cases in Europe and North America.

The outbreak resulted in the establishment of the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response and an acceleration of research on development of vaccines and therapies.

This led to the development of monoclonal antibodies that were used in Britain to treat infected health workers returning from Africa.

"The down side is that monoclonal antibodies require considerable investment for scale-up and manufacture, and are expensive," Khromykh said.

"Equine antibodies are a considerably cheaper alternative, with manufacturing capacity already in place in Africa. Antibodies from vaccinated horses provide a low-cost alternative, and are already in use for rabies, botulism and diphtheria," Khromykh said.

The research resulted from a strong collaboration between Australian, French and Russian scientists and a Queensland-based company Plasvacc Pty Ltd.

​Sydney, Feb 7 (IANS) Australian researchers are a step closer to understanding immune complications caused by commonly prescribed medications, the media reported.

Many well-known and commonly prescribed drugs that are successfully used to treat diseases can also have harmful side effects. While it has been known that some drugs can inhibit the immune system, why it occurs has remained a mystery, Xinhua news agency reported.

Research published by Monash University and the University of Melbourne on Tuesday has taken the most significant step yet in understanding the process that inhibits the immune system.

The research team investigated Mucosal associated invariant T (MAIT) cells, a specialised type of immune cells, to discover what type of drugs were activating the MAIT cells.

They found that some drugs prevented the MAIT cells from performing their main function of detecting infections while others activated the immune system.

Andrew Keller, lead author of the study which was published in Nature Immunology, said the research should lead to a much better understanding of immune reactions by some people to certain drugs.

Keller said that the T cells were an integral part of the body's immune system.

"They protect the body by 'checking' other cells for signs of infection and activating the immune system when they detect an invader," Keller said in a statement.

"This arrangement is dependent on both the T cells knowing what they're looking for, and the other cells in the body giving them useful information."

Sidonia Eckle from the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity at the University of Melbourne said the implications point to possible links between MAIT cells and drug hypersensitivities.

"A greater understanding of the interaction between MAIT cells and other host cells will hopefully allow us to better predict and avoid therapeutics that influence and cause harm," Eckle said.

"It also offers the tantalising prospect of future therapies that manipulate MAIT cell behaviour, for example, by enhancing or suppressing immune responses to achieve beneficial clinical outcome." 

Washington, Feb 7 (IANS) Astronomers have detected a giant black hole that ripped apart a star and then gorged on its remains for an unusually long time -- about a decade, which is more than ten times longer than any observed episode of a stars death by black hole.

Researchers made this discovery using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and Swift satellite as well as European Space Agency's XMM-Newton.

The trio of orbiting X-ray telescopes found evidence for a "tidal disruption event" (TDE), wherein the tidal forces due to the intense gravity from a black hole can destroy an object -- such as a star -- that wanders too close. 

During a TDE, some of the stellar debris is flung outward at high speeds, while the rest falls toward the black hole. As it travels inwards to be ingested by the black hole, the material heats up to millions of degrees and generates a distinct X-ray flare.

"We have witnessed a star's spectacular and prolonged demise," said lead researcher Dacheng Lin from the University of New Hampshire in Durham, New Hampshire.

"Dozens of tidal disruption events have been detected since the 1990s, but none that remained bright for nearly as long as this one," Lin noted.

The extraordinary long bright phase of this event spanning over ten years means that among observed TDEs this was either the most massive star ever to be completely torn apart during one of these events, or the first where a smaller star was completely torn apart, said the study published in the journal Nature Astronomy.

The X-ray source containing this force-fed black hole, known by its abbreviated name of XJ1500+0154, is located in a small galaxy about 1.8 billion light years from Earth.

The sharp X-ray vision of Chandra data showed that XJ1500+0154 is located at the centre of its host galaxy, the expected location for a supermassive black hole.

The X-ray data also indicated that radiation from material surrounding this black hole has consistently surpassed the so-called Eddington limit, defined by a balance between the outward pressure of radiation from the hot gas and the inward pull of the gravity of the black hole. 

​Beijing , Feb 6 (IANS) China will create over 50 million new urban jobs by 2020, it was announced Monday.

The government will improve employment structure and quality and keep the urban headline unemployment rate under 5 per cent by 2020, according to the employment

​Mexico City, Feb 6 (IANS) Mexico City's first constitution was officially published on Sunday, a move that authorities called historic and which is a significant step towards transforming the national capital into this country's 32nd state.

​Auckland, Feb 6 (IANS) A Qatar Airways commercial flight, deemed the world's longest, landed in New Zealand here on Monday after leaving Doha just over 16 hours ago, the media reported.

The flight eclipses what is now the longest duration flight, Emirates' Dubai to Auckland service, by up to an hour. The Doha-Auckland service is 342 km longer than that of its Gulf rival, the New Zealand Herald reported.

Flight QR 920 took off from Doha's Hamad Airport at 3.04 p.m., on Sunday, according to the airline. 

The plane crossed 10 time zones on its flight.

The airline is using a long-range Boeing 777 which has 217 economy and 42 business class seats.

Its flight track took it over Dubai, then over the southern tip of India, Sri Lanka to the south of Indonesia and then through Australia before heading to Auckland.

The return flight - which leaves Auckland Airport at 2.40 p.m., on Tuesday can take up to an hour longer due to prevailing headwinds.

The plane operating is eight years old and the round trip flight between Doha and Auckland will cover 29,066 km.

There are four pilots aboard and 15 cabin crew who will serve 1,100 cups of tea and coffee, 2,000 cold drinks and 1,036 meals.

Air India's Delhi-San Francisco flight is the world's longest by distance but, according to the "Great Circle" route, Doha and Auckland are further apart on the surface of the Earth. Tailwinds mean Air India's flight time is less than 17 hours.

Auckland Airport has estimated the daily Qatar services will pump close to $200 million into the economy, the New Zealand Herald said.

The airline's outspoken chief executive Akbar Al Baker will be in Auckland for the launch of the service and host a gala dinner for the travel industry on Tuesday night.