Knowledge Update

​New York, Jan 12 (IANS) Sounding an alarm bell for those who take unnecessary stress at workplace or at home, researchers have now linked chronic psychosocial stress with an heightened risk of developing heart disease and stroke. According to the team from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, heightened activity in the amygdala -- a region of the brain involved in stress -- can lead to cardiovascular disease in humans apart from established causes like smoking, high blood pressure and diabetes. Previous research has also shown that the amygdala is more active in people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression but before this study, no research had identified the region of the brain that links stress to the risk of heart attack and stroke. "Our results provide a unique insight into how stress may lead to cardiovascular disease. This raises the possibility that reducing stress could produce benefits that extend beyond an improved sense of psychological wellbeing," said lead author Dr Ahmed Tawakol from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Eventually, chronic stress could be treated as an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease, which is routinely screened for and effectively managed like other major risk factors, Dr Tawakol added in a paper published in the prestigious journal The Lancet. In the study, 293 patients were given a combined PET/CT scan to record their brain, bone marrow and spleen activity and inflammation of their arteries. The patients were then tracked for an average of 3.7 years to see if they developed cardiovascular disease. In this time, 22 patients had cardiovascular events including heart attack, angina, heart failure, stroke and peripheral arterial disease. Those with higher amygdala activity had a greater risk of subsequent cardiovascular disease and developed problems sooner than those with lower activity. The researchers also found that the heightened activity in the amygdala was linked to increased bone marrow activity and inflammation in the arteries, suggesting this may cause the increased cardiovascular risk. Although more research is needed to confirm that stress causes this chain of events as the study was relatively small, these findings could eventually lead to new ways to target and treat stress-related cardiovascular risk, the researchers noted. "These clinical data establish a connection between stress and cardiovascular disease, thus identifying chronic stress as a true risk factor for acute cardiovascular syndromes," wrote Dr Ilze Bot, Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research, Leiden University, The Netherlands, in a linked comment.

​New York, Jan 12 (IANS) Regular intake of a "western diet" -- consisting of foods that are high on sugar and fat levels -- is behind an alarming rise of conditions such as overeating and obesity, researchers warned. However, according to the study, the increased "peripheral endocannabinoid signalling" in the western food is the key factor that triggers an anxiety in the people to eat more. The endocannabinoid system -- located throughout the mammalian body, including the brain and all peripheral organs -- helps in many aspects inside our body with major functions related to intake of food, balancing the energy and reward. Endocannabinoids are the signalling molecules present inside this system. The findings showed blocking the actions of these endocannabinoids can lead to normalisation of food intake and meal patterns, thus help in the treatment or cure of overeating and obesity. "Our research shows that targeting cannabinoid receptors in the periphery with pharmacological inhibitors that do not reach the brain holds promise as a safe therapeutic approach for the treatment of overeating and diet-induced obesity," said lead author Nicholas V. DiPatrizio, Assistant Professor at the University of California, Riverside. "This therapeutic approach to targeting the periphery has substantial advantages over traditional drugs that interact with the brain and cause psychiatric side-effects," DiPatrizio added. Using a mouse model, the team fed a group of mice on a western diet for 60 days and another who was kept on a low fat or sugar diet. The results revealed that the mice group on the western diet displayed 'hyperphagia' with increased weight. These also had the tendency to intake larger amount of food with the habit of consuming more calories at a higher pace. "These hyperphagic responses to western diet were met with greatly elevated levels of endocannabinoids in the small intestine and circulation," DiPatrizio said, adding that further research is necessary to identify whether similar mechanisms drive obesity in humans. The study appears in the journal Physiology and Behavior.

​Kathmandu, Jan 12 (IANS) Nepal's tourism industry rebounded in 2016 after taking a big hit in the previous year by way of twin disasters -- a devastating earthquake and crippling trade embargo.

Foreign tourist arrivals to Nepal jumped 39.71 per cent to 753,002 in 2016 -- boosted by robust visitor growth from India, China, the US, UK and Sri Lanka, according to statistics released by the Department of Immigration.

According to The Kathmandu Post, however, 2016 arrivals were still 4.69 per cent down from 2014 when the country welcomed 790,118 foreign visitors.

The tourism boom is expected to continue in 2017 and remains a major economic growth driver even as the industry sees low overseas promotional activities.

A breakdown of arrivals by market shows Indian travellers at the top of the list. Arrivals from the southern neighbour reached 118,249 last year -- up 57.40 per cent. 

Chinese tourist arrivals jumped 55.26 per cent to 104,005. Travel trade entrepreneurs said Chinese arrivals did not increase as expected last year as the key entry point, Tatopani Customs in Sindhupalchowk, was closed after the April 2015 earthquake that killed nearly 9,000 people. 

However, Rasuwagadhi has emerged as an important surface route with 23,452 Chinese visitors entering the country through this point last year.

Meanwhile, visitors from the US, Sri Lanka and the UK jumped 25.67 per cent, 29.64 per cent and 55.71 per cent, respectively.

October, November and December were the most busy months for the industry, accounting for nearly one-third of total arrivals during the year.

"It's a dramatic growth. The industry is returning rapidly to its pre-earthquake growth level," said Kedar Neupane, Director General of the Department of Immigration. 

"The tourism boom is expected to continue in 2017 given a level of promotion by Nepal in the major source markets."

He said that if the government, Nepal Tourism Board and private sector conduct aggressive promotional activities, this year could be an extraordinary year. 

"We can expect 1 million tourists in 2017 considering the current environment," Neupane said.

According to Neupane, Nepal could see a boom in Chinese arrivals this year following Beijing's announcement of Nepal Tourism Promotion Year 2017 in a bid to encourage its citizens to visit the Himalayan nation.

"The industry carried out massive marketing activities after the earthquake, leading to the recovery," said tourism entrepreneur Basant Raj Mishra. 

"The arrival of foreign volunteers as well as conferences held by NGOs in Nepal last year contributed to the growth."

Suman Pandey, chairman of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Nepal Chapter, said 2017 looked promising; but the crumbling Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), Nepal's only international aerial gateway, could be a major setback.

"The hospitality industry in Nepal can accommodate more than 3 million tourists, but the airport is already choked with capacity constraints even though arrivals are way short of the one million mark," he said.

Global travel guide Lonely Planet has named Nepal the world's 'best value destination' for 2017. 

Likewise, Nepal's Langtang region has been featured in The New York Times' '52 places to go in 2017' list.

Nepal has also appeared in the January travel issue of China Daily. 

"Nepal remains a fabulous choice for budget-conscious travellers, whether it's the country's world famous trekking routes or the wildlife in the southern region. Travel costs per day are as low as $50 on average," it said.

​Los Angeles, Jan 12 (IANS) Over one million Chinese visited Los Angeles in 2016, making the Tinseltown their No.1 tourist destination in the US.

Los Angeles has become the first ever American city to receive more than one million Chinese visitors in one year, Xinhua news agency reported citing US officials. 

The year 2016 was a big year for LA's tourism industry. 

Besides reaching the mark of one million Chinese visitors, both the city's domestic and international visits reached an all-time high, according to a report released by Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board (LA Tourism). 

Last year, total domestic visits to LA reached 40.2 million -- a 3.8 percent increase over 2015. 

An additional 7.1 million international visitors also made the second largest city of the United States their ultimate destination -- a 3.5 percent rise over the previous year, statistics showed.

"Tourism is booming in Los Angeles, and it's helping to drive our whole city's economy forward," said LA Mayor Eric Garcetti.

LA also plans to attract more tourists in the future, especially Chinese tourists.

In 2016, China was the second largest international market for LA after Mexico. 

China accounted for 75 percent of the destination's overall growth of international tourism and the number of Chinese visitors grew nearly 22 percent -- the seventh consecutive year of at least 20 percent visitation growth from that country.

Buoyed by Chinese visits, LA tourism will open its fourth office in China's Chengdu -- also called "Land of Pandas". 

Offices of LA tourism already exist at Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. 

​New York, Jan 12 (IANS) When a star comes close to the black hole only to be ripped apart, the outward gas streamer gathers itself into planet-size objects which are then flung across the galaxy in a game of cosmic 'spitball', new research has revealed.

The team from Harvard University noted that the closest of these planet-mass objects might be within a few hundred light-years of Earth with a weight somewhere between Neptune and several Jupiters.

"A single shredded star can form hundreds of these planet-mass objects. We wondered: Where do they end up? How close do they come to us? We developed a computer code to answer those questions," said lead author Eden Girma.

These planet-size objects glow from the heat of its formation and are very different from a typical planet because they made of star-stuff.

"It takes only a day for the black hole to shred the star and only about a year for the resulting fragments to pull themselves back together," said the study presented at the conference of American Astronomical Society recently.

Almost 95 per cent of the planet-mass objects will leave the galaxy entirely due to their speeds of about 10,000 km per second. It would take about a million years for one of these objects to reach Earth's neighborhood. 

"Since most other galaxies also have giant black holes at their cores, it is likely that the same process is at work in them," Girma added.

​Las Vegas, Jan 11 (IANS) Not just smartphones, convertibles or cameras, it was time for ground-breaking products in 5G technology, self-driving vehicles, digital health, Artificial Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), robotics and machine learning to be showcased at the world's biggest annual electronics event here.

Canberra, Jan 11 (IANS) The Australian government plans to tax all online transactions, Treasurer Scott Morrison said on Wednesday, as part of a so-called 'tax strike' on the rapidly-growing digital economy.

Toronto, Jan 11 (IANS) Playing a musical instrument does not only produce melodies but can make the elderly more reactive and alert in daily life, says a new study. According to the researchers from Université de Montréal, musicians have a faster reaction time to sensory stimuli than non-musicians have. "The more we know about the impact of music on really basic sensory processes, the more we can apply musical training to individuals who might have slower reaction times," said lead researcher Simon Landry. Playing an instrument also has implications for preventing some effects of ageing. "As people get older, for example, we know their reaction times get slower. So if we know that playing a musical instrument increases reaction times, then maybe playing an instrument will be helpful for them," Landry explained. In the study that involved 16 musicians and 19 non-musicians, the researchers found significantly faster reaction times with musicians for auditory, tactile and audio-tactile stimulations. "The idea is to better understand how playing a musical instrument affects the senses in a way that is not related to music," Landry added in a paper published in the journal Brain and Cognition.

​New York, Jan 11 (IANS) Microsoft is launching a web-based account privacy dashboard that gives users control over their data and lets them monitor the information Microsoft services use.