Knowledge Update

London, Nov 10 (IANS) Scientists have for the first time used a neural prosthetic to restore walking movement directly to the legs of non-human primates.

In the study, the researchers from Brown University in Rhode Island, US, used a wireless "brain-spinal interface" to bypass spinal cord injuries in a pair of rhesus macaques, restoring intentional walking movement to a temporarily paralysed leg. 

Walking is made possible by a complex interplay among neurons in the brain and spinal cord. 

Electrical signals originating in the brain's motor cortex travel down to the lumbar region in the lower spinal cord, where they activate motor neurons that coordinate the movement of muscles responsible for extending and flexing the leg.

To calibrate the decoding of brain signals, the researchers implanted the brain sensor and wireless transmitter in healthy macaques. The signals relayed by the sensor could then be mapped onto the animals' leg movements. 

They showed that the decoder was able to accurately predict the brain states associated with extension and flexion of leg muscles.

"The system we have developed uses signals recorded from the motor cortex of the brain to trigger coordinated electrical stimulation of nerves in the spine that are responsible for locomotion," said David Borton, Assistant Professor at Brown University.

The study, published in the Journal Nature, suggests that a brain-controlled spinal stimulation system may enhance rehabilitation after a spinal cord injury.

​New York, Nov 10 (IANS) Microsoft has released its new Windows 10 Creators test version which can let a user control external monitors from tablets without attaching a mouse.

"Use it just like you would a physical touchpad to control content on the connected screen," software engineer Dona Sarkar said in a blog.

London, Nov 16 (IANS) Using artificial intelligence techniques, a team of researchers has designed a system that can automatically learn the association between images and the sounds they could possibly make.

​Beijing, Nov 10 (IANS) India represents the future and its user value may surpass China in a few years, a top executive from global internet and technology conglomerate LeEco has said. "No matter how hard it is to crack the Indian market, we will try our best to grasp the opportunity there," YT Jia, Co-founder and Chairman, LeEco, said at the company's investor meeting in Beijing on Thursday. "We will focus on India, China and the US and achieve breakthroughs in these three valuable regional markets," Jia added. Since its entry into India in January this year, LeEco has introduced two generations of its phones, one generation of SuperTV and entertainment membership services.

​New York, Nov 10 (IANS) Technology giant is officially selling refurbished unlocked iPhones in its online store at prices discounted by up to 15 per cent off compared to new models. According to a report in technology website The Verge, a listed refurbished rose gold 64GB iPhone 6S Plus is on sale for $589 and a silver 16GB iPhone 6S Plus is $529. Just like the new devices, Apple's refurbished phones come with a one-year warranty and include a new battery and outer shell. Apple has been selling refurbished Macs, iPads, MacBooks and Mac accessories, among other products. Apple has previously sold refurbished phones in 2007.

​New York, Nov 10 (IANS) If you want to improve your sleep, better cut down on smartphone use near bedtime, suggests a new study that found longer average screen-time is associated with poor sleep quality and less sleep overall.

Poor sleep is associated with health conditions such as obesity, diabetes and depression.

"Exposure to smartphone screens, particularly around bedtime, may negatively impact sleep," the study said.

For the study, Matthew Christensen from the University of California - San Francisco, US, and colleagues sought to test the hypothesis that increased screen-time may be associated with poor sleep by analysing data from 653 adult individuals across the US.

Participants installed a smartphone application which recorded their screen-time, defined as the number of minutes in each hour that the screen was turned on, over a 30-day period.

They also recorded their sleeping hours and sleep quality.

The researchers found that each participant totalled an average of 38.4 hours over this period, with smartphones being activated on average for 3.7 minutes in each hour.

Longer average screen-time was associated with poor sleep quality and less sleep overall, particularly when smartphones were used near participants' bedtime, according to the study published in the journal PLOS ONE.

New York, Nov 10 (IANS) Ever got irritated when Facebook asked you to re-think a password for your account even if you typed in the one you have been using for years? That's because the social networking platform wants your account safe.

​New York, Nov 10 (IANS) Individuals who regularly consume sugar-sweetened beverages such as soda, colas and other carbonated beverages, and non-carbonated fruit drinks such as lemonade and fruit punch, may be at an higher risk of developing prediabetes, new research has revealed.

Prediabetes is a condition in which blood sugar is high, but not high enough to be Type 2 diabetes. If diagnosed early, it is reversible through lifestyle changes such as diet and exercise.

"Our results suggest that high sugar-sweetened beverage intake increases the chances of developing early warning signs for Type 2 diabetes," said Nicola McKeown, Associate Professor at the Tufts University, Massachusetts in the US.

"If lifestyle changes are not made, individuals with prediabetes are on the trajectory to developing diabetes," McKeown added.

The findings showed that adults who drink a can of soda per day or a median of six 12 fluid ounce servings a week are at 46 per cent higher risk of developing prediabetes.

Further, the highest consumers of sugar-sweetened beverages had nearly eight per cent higher insulin resistance scores, compared to low- or non-consumers.

On the other hand, diet soda -- defined as low-calorie cola or other carbonated low-calorie beverages -- intake was found with no associations with risk for either prediabetes or insulin resistance, the study said.

However, and further studies are needed to reveal the long-term health impact of artificially sweetened drinks, the researchers noted.

Intake of sugar-sweetened beverage should be limited, or replaced with healthier alternatives such as water or unsweetened coffee or tea, McKeown recommended.

For the study, the researchers analysed 1,685 middle-aged adults over a period of 14 years, who did not have diabetes or prediabetes during an initial baseline examination.

The findings were published in the Journal of Nutrition.

​Ottawa, Nov 10 (IANS) Middle-aged adults suffering from arthritis, heart diseases, diabetes and depression are more likely to experience disability and limited involvement in society, a study has found.

According to the study, physical and mental chronic conditions, alone and in combination, were strongly associated with disability and social participation restrictions.

However, the impact of these combinations of conditions differed by gender and age.

"What this research shows is that depending on your age and sex, the specific chronic diseases most highly associated with disability in the population differ," said Lauren Griffith, Associate Professor, McMaster University in the study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

The study found that arthritis was consistently associated with disability for men and women across most age groups. In middle-aged adults (45-54 years), depression and arthritis were most often associated with disability and social participation restrictions, especially in women.

Compared to women, combinations of chronic conditions that included diabetes and heart disease were stronger drivers of disability in men, especially in the younger age group (45-54 years).

To conduct the study, the research team analysed population-based data from more than 15,000 participants aged 45 to 85 years.

While the association between single chronic conditions and disability is well documented, there is little research examining the combination of both physical and mental chronic conditions on disability and social participation.

The researchers concluded that knowing which chronic conditions are associated with greater disability and social participation limitations may help clinicians to target treatment strategies for patients.

New York, Nov 10 (IANS) Researchers have identified a gene -- previously known only to regulate bone growth and muscle metabolism in mammals -- that can also act as a promoter of brain maturation, cognition and learning in human and non-human primates.

The findings showed that osteocrin -- a gene found in the skeletal muscles of all mammals -- is completely turned off in rodent brains yet highly active in the brains of non-human primates and humans.

However, the activity of the gene was most intense in neurons of the neocortex, the topmost layer of cells covering the brain and responsible for higher-level cognition, such as long-term memory, thought and language. 

At the same time, osteocrin was noticeably absent from other parts of the brain responsible for non-cognitive functions such as spatial navigation, balance, breathing, heart rate and temperature control.

This suggests a possible role of the gene in the development of cognition -- a cardinal feature that distinguishes the brains of human and non-human primates from those of other mammals, the researchers said.

"We have uncovered what we believe is a critical clue into the evolution of the human brain, one that gives us a glimpse into the genetic mechanisms that may account for differences in cognition between mice and humans," said Michael Greenberg, Professor at the Harvard Medical School, in Boston, US.

Further analysis revealed that osteocrin's activation curbed the growth of neuronal dendrites -- branchlike projections responsible for transmitting signals from one brain cell to the next.

"Restricting dendritic growth is a precision-enhancing mechanism, essential to ensuring that neuronal wires don't get crossed and compromise signal transmission from one cell to the next," added Bulent Ataman, neurobiologist at the Harvard Medical School.

This observation suggests that osteocrin's activity may help enhance nerve cell agility and proper signal transmission to ensure robust communication across neurons, Ataman said.

For their experiments, published in the journal Nature, the team analysed RNA levels -- the molecular footprints of gene activity -- in the brain cells of mice, rats and humans.