Knowledge Update

New York, Dec 13 (IANS) Genes that are known to be essential to life -- the ones that human beings need to survive and thrive in the womb -- also play a critical role in the development of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and lead to the disruption of normal social behaviour, suggests a new study.

ASD is a serious developmental disorder that impairs the ability to communicate and interact.

The findings suggest that ASD stems from an aggregate effect of many damaged essential genes that "work" together during the early stages of development in the womb, as soon as eight weeks after conception. 

ASD is a polygenic disease where many small gene effects contribute to a disorder, the researchers said.

"We know it's not one gene that's causing autism spectrum disorders; it's a background of mutations," said Maja Bucan, professor at the University of Pennsylvania in the US. 

For the study, the researchers analysed almost 4,000 essential genes and 5,000 non-essential genes in 2,013 males with ASD and 317 females with ASD, as well as their siblings who did not have ASD, for known exonic de novo (began in the child) and inherited mutations. 

They found that those with ASD had statistically significant elevated levels of mutations in essential genes compared to their siblings. 

The essential gene mutations were associated with a higher risk of ASD and disruption in normal social behaviour, the researchers noted.

On average, those with ASD had 44 per cent more early-in-childhood mutations and 1.3 per cent more inherited mutations in essential genes than their non-affected siblings.

In addition, the researchers identified a list of 29 "high-priority" essential genes that are co-expressed in the developing human brain with previously identified ASD-associated genes. 

"Focusing in on this group of genes will help shed more light on the complex genetic architecture of this disorder," explained Xiao Ji, a doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania. 

The study was published online in the journal PNAS.

​New York, Dec 13 (IANS) Astronomers believe they have found compelling evidence for two newborn planets, each about the size of Saturn, orbiting around a young star known as HD 163296.

These planets, which are not yet fully formed, revealed themselves by the dual imprint they left in both the dust and the gas portions of the star's protoplanetary disk, the researchers said.

In studying HD 163296, the research team used Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to trace, for the first time, the distribution of both the dust and the carbon monoxide (CO) gas components of the disk at roughly the same level of detail.

"Our new observations provide intriguing evidence that planets are indeed forming around this one young star," said study lead author Andrea Isella, astronomer at Rice University in Houston, Texas, US.

HD 163296 is roughly five million years old and about twice the mass of the Sun. It is located approximately 400 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius.

The researchers found three distinct gaps in the star's dust-filled protoplanetary disk. 

Using ALMA's ability to detect the faint millimeter-wavelength "glow" emitted by gas molecules, Isella and his team discovered that there was also an appreciable dip in the amount of carbon monoxide in the outer two dust gaps.

By seeing the same features in both the gas and the dust components of the disk, the astronomers believe they have found compelling evidence that there are two planets coalescing remarkably far from the central star. 

The width and depth of the two carbon monoxide gaps suggest that each potential planet is roughly the same mass as Saturn, the astronomers said in a study published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

In the gap nearest to the star, the team found little to no difference in the concentration of CO gas compared to the surrounding dusty disk. 

This means that the innermost gap could have been produced by something other than an emerging planet, the study said.

New York, Dec 13 (IANS) After allowing drivers to test retaking control of an autonomous car on a track, researchers found the transition could be risky.

Twenty-two participants drove a 15-second course consisting of a straightaway and a lane change, then took their hands off the wheel and the self-drive car took over, bringing them back to the start.

After going through the process four times, they drove the course 10 additional times with steering conditions that were modified to represent changes in speed or steering, Xinhua news agency reported.

It was noticeable under the researchers' watch that the drivers wobble the wheel to account for over- and understeering, according to a study published last week in the first issue of Science Robotics.

These challenges bring up the possibility that, depending on the particulars of the driver, the driving conditions and the autonomous system being used, the transition back to driver-controlled driving could be an especially risky window of time.

"Many people have been doing research on paying attention and situation awareness. That's very important," said Holly Russell, lead author of the research and former graduate student in the Dynamic Design Lab at Stanford University.

"But, in addition, there is this physical change and we need to acknowledge that people's performance might not be at its peak if they haven't actively been participating in the driving."

New York, Dec 13 (IANS) Breeding rice to require less flooding, altering feed for livestock to lessen intestinal processes that create methane, promoting less meat-intensive diets and deploying more farm bio-digesters can be possible solutions for reducing the polluting gas from food production, a study has shown.

In the journals Earth System Science Data and Environmental Research Letters published on Monday, a group of international researchers reported that emissions of methane have jumped dramatically in recent years and are approaching an internationally recognised worst-case scenario for greenhouse gas emissions, thus speeding sea level rise and more extreme weather.

While most climate change mitigation efforts have focused on carbon dioxide, methane's warming potential is about 28 times greater on a 100-year horizon, and its lifespan in the atmosphere is much shorter, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Methane presents the best opportunity to slow climate change quickly," said Rob Jackson, the papers' co-author and chair of Stanford University's Earth System Science Department. "Carbon dioxide has a longer reach, but methane strikes faster".

Unlike carbon dioxide, the bulk of methane emissions are human-driven. Chief among those, according to the analysis, are agricultural sources such as livestock, which emit methane through bodily functions and manure, and rice fields, which emit methane when flooded.

Natural sources of methane, which account for 40 per cent of all methane emissions, are more uncertain than human-driven ones, which are responsible for 60 per cent of all methane emissions globally. Examples include methane leaking out of natural faults and seeping on the ocean floor, and the potential for increased emissions as permafrost warms.

Besides efforts proposed to curb emissions from agriculture, the researchers said opportunities in other areas include venting and flaring of methane in coal mines, detecting and removing natural gas leaks from oil and gas drilling operations and covering landfills to capture methane emissions.

"We still need to cut carbon dioxide emissions," Jackson said, "but cutting methane provides complementary benefits for climate, economies and human health".

​London, Dec 19 (IANS) Skin plays a significant role in harbouring and transmitting trypanosomes -- the parasite that causes the Human African Trypanosomiasis, more commonly known as African sleeping sickness, which is often fatal if left untreated, a new research has found.

The findings could have a major impact on the way the disease is diagnosed, treated and potentially eradicated.

The disease, which kills thousands in Sub-Saharan Africa every year, is primarily transmitted to humans via the bite of an infected tsetse fly as it takes a blood meal, with diagnosis then confirmed through the presence of parasites in the blood.

The current study, published recently in the journal eLife, showed that substantial quantities of trypanosomes that cause the disease can exist within the skin and can be transmitted back to the tsetse fly vector.

"Our results have important implications with regard to the eradication of sleeping sickness. Firstly, our findings indicate that current diagnostic methods, which rely on observing parasites in the blood, should be re-evaluated and should include examining the skin for parasites," said lead researcher Annette MacLeod from University of Glasgow in Britain.

"In terms of treatment, it may also be necessary to develop novel therapeutics capable of targeting sources of infection outside the blood circulation and in the reservoirs underneath the skin," MacLeod noted.

The team of researchers from University of Glasgow's Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology and the Institut Pasteur in Paris were also able to observe the presence of parasites in human skin biopsies from individuals who displayed no symptoms. 

The study's findings suggest skin-dwelling parasites could be sufficiently abundant in the skin to be ingested, transmitted and so able to spread the disease further.

​New Delhi, Dec 12 (IANS) In a bid to digitally transform the Indian manufacturing industry, Microsoft on Monday showcased three Internet of Things (IoT) solutions here.

The three solutions that are powered by Microsoft Azure Cloud are offered by three startups -- Precimetrix, Teramatrix and Covacsis Technologies -- to help manufacturing

New Delhi, Dec 12 (IANS) Music label and content producer Saregama India Ltd has implemented a Dell-EMC data solution to help accelerate production and distribution of its digital media business.

Tokyo, Dec 12 (IANS) The Japanese government will allow employment of skilled foreign workers in the agricultural sector in special zones, in a bid to ease the labour shortage in the country.

New York, Dec 11 (IANS) Aiming for a weekend getaway? Do not chalk out events, it may spoil the fun as it may seem like another work. According to researchers, scheduling a leisure activity like seeing a movie or taking a coffee break at a specific time led people to anticipate less enjoyment and actually enjoy the event less than if the same activities were unplanned. "People associate schedules with work. We want our leisure time to be free-flowing," said Selin Malkoc, Assistant Professor at the Ohio State University in the US. However, that does not mean one should not plan at all. The research showed that roughly planning an event (but not giving a specific time) led to similar levels of enjoyment as unplanned events. "Time is supposed to fly when you're having fun. Anything that limits and constrains our leisure chips away at the enjoyment," Malkoc added. In the study, the team analysed 13 separate studies that looked at how scheduling leisure activities affects the way we think about and experience them. In one study, college students were given a calendar filled with classes and extracurricular activities and asked to imagine that this was their actual schedule for the week. Half of the participants were then asked to make plans to get frozen yogurt with a friend two days in advance and add the activity to their calendar. The other half imagined running into a friend and deciding to get frozen yogurt immediately. Results showed that those who scheduled getting frozen yogurt with their friend rated the activity as feeling more like a "commitment" and "chore" than those who imagined the impromptu get-together. "If you schedule leisure activities only roughly, the negative effects of scheduling disappear," Malkoc said. "People don't want to put time restrictions of any kind on otherwise free-flowing leisure activities," she noted, in the paper published in the Journal of Marketing Research.

​London, Dec 11 (IANS) For individuals suffering from various mental illness, pets can provide them with unconditional support as well as help manage stigma, a research suggests. The study found that the consistent presence and close physical proximity of their pets can provide an immediate source of calm and therapeutic benefit for people with mental health conditions. "The people we spoke to through the course of this study felt their pet played a range of positive roles such as helping them to manage stigma associated with their mental health by providing acceptance without judgement," said lead author Helen Brooks from University of Manchester in Britain. For 60 per cent of study participants, pets played a central role in the social networks of people managing a long-term mental health problem. "Pets were also considered particularly useful during times of crisis. Pets provided a unique form of validation through unconditional support, which they were often not receiving from other family or social relationships," Brooks added. According to the participants, one reason for this was that their pet helped by distracting them from symptoms and upsetting experiences such as hearing voices or suicidal thoughts. Participants from the study were quoted as saying: "I felt in a sense that my cat was familiar, in that he understood or was an extension of my thoughts." However, despite the identified benefits of pet ownership, pets were neither considered nor incorporated into the individual care plans for people with mental conditions, the researchers said, suggesting that pets should be considered a main source of support in the management of long-term mental health problems. For the research, published in the journal BMC Psychiatry, the team interviewed 54 participants, aged 18 and above, who were under the care of community-based mental health services and had been diagnosed with a severe mental illness.