Knowledge Update

​New York, May 2 (IANS) More than one-third of US children with autism spectrum disorders have wandered away from a safe environment within the past 12 months, new research shows.

"Elopement, or wandering, places children with autism spectrum disorders at risk of serious injury or even death once they are away from adult supervision," said senior investigator Andrew Adesman, chief of developmental pediatrics at Cohen Children's Medical Centre (CCMC) of New York.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) referes to a group of complex brain development disorders characterised by difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviours.

"Despite its clear relevance to the safety of these children, there has been little research on elopement," Adesman pointed out.

The researchers examined data from a Centres for Disease Control and Prevention survey of parents and guardians of more than 4,000 children ages six to 17 diagnosed with ASD, an intellectual disability or developmental delay. 

For their studies, analysis was restricted to only those children with ASD.

The researchers found that wanderers were more likely to not realise when they are in danger, to have difficulty distinguishing between strangers and familiar people, to show sudden mood changes, to over-react to situations and people, to get angry quickly, and to panic in new situations or if change occurs.

The researchers also found that wanderers were more than twice as likely to elope from a public place, compared to their home or school. 

The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies in Baltimore, US.

"As the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders in the United States continues to rise, there is a need to better understand the behaviors that may compromise the safety and well-being of these children," principal investigator of the study Bridget Kiely from CCMC noted.​

​Beijing, May 1 (IANS) Business activity in China's non-manufacturing sector expanded at slower pace in April, official data showed on Sunday.

The purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the non-manufacturing sector stood at 53.5 in April, down from 53.8 in March and well above the 50 mark that separates expansion

​Moscow, May 2 (IANS) Firing Kalashnikovs, flying gunships, stomping about in tanks and sweating it out in army fatigues, that's Russia's cutting edge arsenal of ideas for attracting tourists. Amid the annexation of Crimea and the conflict with Ukraine, "military tourism" appears all set to boom in Russia. Inbound tour operators are offering tourists a quasi-combat experience, be it firing AK-47 assault rifles in underground firing ranges, roaring on in T-90 tanks or an edge-of-the-space flight in a MiG-29. And tourists like Japan's Toshihiro Yokoi and his friend, who are willing to shell out upwards of 15,000-18,000 euros for a spin in the MiG-29, are relishing the opportunity. "The emotions (we felt) during the suborbital flight were both exciting and interesting," Yokoi said, shortly after the flight, where he experienced the 9G (G-force). Next on his agenda is a zero gravity flight experience in a four-engine IL-76 at Nizhniy Novgorod in the Volga federal district. For those who would feel peevish in a fighter jet and more at home close to land, there's Uralvagonzavod, one of the world's largest manufacturers of tanks located around 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from Moscow, which has been offering tourists a ride in the mighty T-90 from April this year, or a visit to the armour museum in the national capital, where tanks from the great war, armoury and other military equipment are on display. For those with vintage taste and World War buffs, Russian leader Joseph Stalin's bunker in Moscow is now a tourist attraction too. If one wishes to have a live and feel about what's it to be like in the army, a new tourism circuit allows you to spend a day in a military training camp and train with soldiers in fatigues. The objects of war and the thrill of handling tanks and weapons is catching up as a tourism offering. Three years ago Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu even offered to organise a new sport-military show - a tank Biathlon for tourists, which involves a speed race through manoeuvres and taking precision shots from the tank's canon. "All guests can witness military flight, fireworks, military music and tanks across many models. The military museum is also popular with Russian and China tourists during summer," Marina Solokov of the Moscow-based Indigo Tour told IANS. Paresh Navani of the Russian Information Centre, says Defence Tourism in Russia is just about to zip off the blocks. "Defence tourism is also taking off in Russia with options like MiG 29 flights to the edge of space where passengers are also allowed to control the aircraft, World War II bunker visits, firing Kalashnikov rifles, visits to battle tank ranges with the ability to control the systems. In the region of Crimea tourists can also visit nuclear submarines that are in active service," he said. Chinese tourists, who top the list of tourists visiting Russia with a million of them visiting Russia in 2015, have already cottoned to military tourism and are driving the demands, says Pavel Kretov of Academservice, an inbound tour operator based in Moscow. "It (military tourism) has just started. Chinese tourists are very interested. It was started because of the demand fuelled by the Chinese tourists," Kretoc says, adding that in Moscow there are numerous shooting galleries where one can spray a few live bullets from a pistol to an AK-56. However, while the guns and tanks await, revved up for tourists, there's one issue which continues to niggle the tourism administration, which can prove to be a dampener to takers of such tourism: pricing. It is something which Valery Korovkin, head of the International Development division of the Federal Agency for Tourism, believes will be levelled out over a period of time. "You have to start with something. It's expensive now, but in a year it can go down if there is enough demand," Korovkin said​

​London, May 2 (IANS) Two of Britain's leading charities have announced their biggest ever donations for research to curb dementia.

The Alzheimer's Society and Alzheimer's Research UK on Sunday announced their biggest ever financial commitments to the cause, each pledging 50 million pounds ($73 million), Xinhua news agency reported.

The 100 million pounds will be added to the $220 million already announced by Prime Minister David Cameron to pay for Britain's first ever Dementia Research Institute.

The Medical Research Council also announced on Sunday the launch of a search for an outstanding scientist to head the new institute, expected to be an expert to drive forward world class research.

The new institute, due to open in 2020, will bring together scientists and experts from across the globe to transform the landscape of dementia, one of the biggest conditions facing the human race.

The research will help to drive new approaches to diagnosis, treatment, care provision and ultimately prevention of the disease.

Science Minister Jo Johnson said: "We want Britain to lead the way in tackling this terrible condition, and scientific research and understanding is crucial to this."

Government officials estimate that in 20 years the number of Britons suffering from dementia will be around 1.7 million, double the current figure. 

​New York, May 1 (IANS) Imagine a brain-machine interface that does not just figure out what sounds you want to make, but what you want to say.

Researchers have taken a step in that direction by building a "semantic atlas" that shows in vivid colours how the brain organises different words by their meanings.

The atlas identifies brain areas that respond to words that have similar meanings.

Detailed maps showing how the brain organises different words by their meanings could eventually help give voice to those who cannot speak, such as people who have had a stroke, brain damage or motor neuron diseases such as ALS.

While mind-reading technology remains far off on the horizon, charting language organisation in the brain brings decoding inner dialogue a step closer to reality, the researchers said.

"This discovery paves the way for brain-machine interfaces that can interpret the meaning of what people want to express," said study lead author Alex Huth, postdoctoral researcher in neuroscience at University of California, Berkeley.

For example, clinicians could track the brain activity of patients who have difficulty communicating and then match that data to semantic language maps to determine what their patients are trying to express.

Another potential application is a decoder that translates what you say into another language as you speak.

The findings, published in the journal Nature, are based on a brain imaging study that recorded neural activity while study volunteers listened to stories from "The Moth Radio Hour" - a public radio show in which people recount humorous and poignant autobiographical experiences.

They showed that at least on third of the brain's cerebral cortex -- including areas dedicated to high-level cognition -- is involved in language processing.

Notably, the study found that different people share similar language maps.

"The similarity in semantic topography across different subjects is really surprising," Huth said.​

​London, May 1 (IANS) Listening to traffic reports on the radio could be so dangerous for your driving that you could even miss an elephant standing by the side of the road, warns a study.

"Anything that draws our attention away from driving can be problematic, even if it's auditory like listening to the radio or having a hands-free phone conversation," said one of the researchers Gillian Murphy of University College Cork in Ireland.

The researcher applied a prominent theory of attention, Perceptual Load Theory, to driving, a task where attention is crucial.

Perceptual Load Theory states that we have a finite amount of attention and that once that capacity is maxed out, we cannot process anything else.

To test whether paying attention to radio traffic reports can be bad for our driving, Murphy asked 36 people to drive a route in a full-sized driving simulator while listening to a traffic update on the radio.

While driving, 18 participants were asked to complete a simple task and 18 to complete a complex task. The simple task was to listen for when the voice giving the update changed gender. The complex task was to listen for news of a particular road.

The study found that only 23 percent of the drivers undertaking the complex task noticed a large, unexpected visual stimulus -- an elephant or gorilla by the side of the road.

By contrast, 71 percent of the drivers undertaking the simpler task noticed it.

Drivers undertaking the complex task were also worse at obeying road signs, remembering which vehicle had just passed them and even at driving itself. Their speed, lane position and reaction times to hazards were all affected.

The findings were presented at the British Psychological Society's annual conference in Nottingham in Britain.

"Road safety campaigns are so focused on telling us to keep our eyes on the road, and this is certainly important, but this research tells us that it's simply not enough. We should focus on keeping our brains on the road," Murphy said​

​New York, May 1 (IANS) Have you ever been bullied in school, college or social media? A new study shows that the combined effect of both face-to-face and cyber-bullying may increase the risk of aggressive behaviour in teenagers.

These teenagers were twice as likely to show aggressive behaviours themselves like verbal hostility, physical fighting and damaging property.

Teenagers who were victims of both face-to-face and cyber-bullying, representing three percent of the youth, were more than twice as likely as those experiencing just one form of bullying to engage in aggressive behaviours.

"Victims who had been subjected to multiple forms of peer aggression were at increasingly greater risk of showing aggressive behaviours themselves," said senior author Andrew Adesman from Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York.

"These behaviours may involve retaliatory measures against their aggressors, acting aggressive in order to fend off future bullying attempts, or worse, learning by example and engaging in bullying of previously uninvolved peers," Adesman added.

The team analysed adolescents between ages 10 and 17 on how they behaved after experiencing face-to-face bullying, cyber-bullying and both.

The results revealed that overall, 43 percent of the teens in the study reported having been the victim of face-to-face bullying, while seven percent reported that they experienced some form of cyber-bullying.

The teenagers who experienced both forms of victimisation, 38 percent showed aggressive behaviour, compared with 15 percent of those who were cyber-bullied and 4 percent of those were victims of face-to-face bullying.

"This phenomenon may lead to a vicious cycle whereby bullies create bullies out of those they victimize."

The study was scheduled to be presented at the ongoing Pediatric Academic Societies 2016 Meeting in Baltimore in the US.​

New York, May 1 (IANS) To cut down the waste that fashion industry generates, a team of US researchers has developed a new fibre from a green tea by-product that is 100 percent biodegradable.

Young-A Lee and her research team have designed a vest and shoe prototype from the cellulosic fibre grown in LeBaron Hall on the Iowa State University campus, US, and testing it if it is a viable alternative.

"Fashion is an ephemeral expression of culture, art and technology manifesting itself in form. Fashion companies keep producing new materials and clothing to fulfill consumers' desire and needs," Lee said.

"These items eventually go underground and take spaces of Earth like other trash," Lee, who is an associate professor of apparel, merchandising and design at Iowa State, added.

LeBaron Hall has plastic bins in which all trash is dumped. The bins contain a gel-like film consisting of cellulose fibres --- a byproduct of kombucha tea -- that feeds off a mixture of vinegar and sugar.

The cellulose fibre reduces waste by creating a continuous cycle of reuse or regeneration, what is known as cradle-to-cradle design. Even if clothing is recycled or repurposed, it still eventually ends up in the trash.

The material has been tested for other applications, such as cosmetics, foods and biomedical tissue for wound dressing but it is relatively new to the apparel industry.

The fact that the fibre is 100 percent biodegradable is a significant benefit for the fashion industry, which by its very nature generates a lot of waste.

Lee said she envisions a truly sustainable fabric or material that is biodegradable and goes back into the soil as a nutrient rather than taking up space in a landfill.​

​New York, May 1 (IANS) Researchers have found that an elusive brain receptor may play an important role in the death of neurons from neurological diseases.

Strokes, seizures, traumatic brain injury and schizophrenia leads to persistent, widespread acidity around neurons in the brain.

Analysing NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) - a family of brain receptors that are critical to learning and memory - the researchers found that one of these receptors called N3A functions through a different mechanism than all other NMDA receptors.

"We found that in contrast to all other NMDA receptors, acidity can reactivate dormant N3A receptors," said one of the researchers Gabriela K. Popescu, professor at University of Buffalo, in US.

The results, published in Scientific Reports, showed that, as acidity increases after a stroke or an epileptic seizure, reactivation of N3A receptors may be one reason why neurons die after these neurologic events.

"When the N3A receptors were exposed to acidic conditions they reactivate, causing neurons to become more sensitive to the neurotransmitter glutamate, which can, under certain circumstances, kill them," said lead author Kirstie A. Cummings, doctoral candidate.

Also, N3A proteins were found to be more abundant in brains of people with schizophrenia -- a disease associated with high acidity in the brain, causes brains to shrink.

Finding ways to prevent acidification or the reactivation of N3A receptors may prevent brain damage from strokes or seizures, the researchers suggested.

In addition, the researchers have identified the site on the receptor where acidity acts to reactivate these receptors, a different location from the site where acidity acts to inhibit all other NMDA receptors.

"This site is new and unique and thus can be used to make drugs that are very specific to the N3A receptor," Popescu said.​

​New York, April 30 (IANS) Family, social and community strength can have a protective effect against adverse childhood experiences, researchers say.

Ccommunity support can boost kids to become strong and increase their chances of flourishing from long-term physical and mental health problems that results from childhood hardship and trauma.

People who experience economic hardship, exposure to violence or the death of a loved one are more likely to have lasting physical and mental health problems.

"We focused on questions about ACEs exposure, but also family, social and community assets that could serve to moderate that risk or enhance resilience," said lead study author Iman Sharif from Nemours/Alfred I duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington in the US.

The team analysed data from the 2011-2012 National Survey of Children's Health to gauge children's health and well-being, physical, emotional and behavioural health indicators, family context and neighbourhood environment.

Additional protective factors identified included fathers in excellent mental health, mothers and fathers who had completed at least some college, living in a neighbourhood with amenities such as sidewalks, a library, a park and a recreation centre, and mothers in good physical health.

"With appropriate screening to identify children at risk we can support children and families through the patient-centred medical home, linking parents to mental health services and building community social supports to help children succeed," Sharif advised.

The study was scheduled to be presented at the Pediatrics Academic Societies 2016 meeting in Baltimore.​