Knowledge Update

London, Sep 23 (IANS) Using data from the European Space Agency's Planck satellite, researchers have confirmed what cosmologists have assumed all along - our universe expands the same way in all directions.

Most current cosmological studies assume that the universe behaves identically in every direction. If this assumption were to fail, a large number of analyses of the cosmos and its content would be flawed.

"We're very glad that our work vindicates what most cosmologists assume. For now, cosmology is safe," said study first author Daniela Saadeh from University College London.

The new study, published today in the journal Physical Review Letters, studied the cosmic microwave background (CMB) which is the remnant radiation from the Big Bang. 

"The finding is the best evidence yet that the universe is the same in all directions," she said.

"Our current understanding of the universe is built on the assumption that it doesn't prefer one direction over another, but there are actually a huge number of ways that Einstein's theory of relativity would allow for space to be imbalanced. Universes that spin and stretch are entirely possible, so it's important that we've shown ours is fair to all its directions," she explained.

The team used measurements of the CMB taken between 2009 and 2013 by the European Space Agency's Planck satellite. 

The spacecraft recently released information about the polarisation of CMB across the whole sky for the first time, providing a complementary view of the early universe that the team was able to exploit.

The researchers modelled a comprehensive variety of spinning and stretching scenarios and how these might manifest in the CMB, including its polarisation. They then compared their findings with the real map of the cosmos from Planck, searching for specific signs in the data.

"We calculated the different patterns that would be seen in the cosmic microwave background if space has different properties in different directions. Signs might include hot and cold spots from stretching along a particular axis, or even spiral distortions," Saadeh noted.

"We then compare these predictions to reality. This is a serious challenge, as we found an enormous number of ways the Universe can be anisotropic," collaborating author Stephen Feeney from Imperial College London added.

The researchers calculated the odds that "the universe prefers one direction over another at just one in 121,000".

New York, Sep 23 (IANS) Individuals carrying a gene mutation are at an increased risk of developing neurological disorder related to touch and proprioception -- our "sixth sense" or body awareness -- a study has found.

The study was conducted on two young patients -- one nine and the other 19-years-old -- who were diagnosed with progressive scoliosis -- a unique neurological disorder in which a person's spine has a sideways curve.

The findings revealed that a gene called PIEZO2 that controls specific aspects of human touch and proprioception, is either directly required for the normal growth and alignment of the skeletal system or that touch and proprioception indirectly guide skeletal development. 

"The results establish that PIEZO2 is a touch and proprioception gene in humans. Understanding its role in these senses may provide clues to a variety of neurological disorders," said Carsten G. Bonnemann from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) -- a US based public research organisation.

The mutations in the PIEZO2 gene caused the two patients to have movement and balance problems as well as the loss of some forms of touch, the study said.

"Our results suggest they are touch-blind. The patient's version of Piezo2 protein may not work, so their neurons cannot detect touch or limb movements," added Alexander T. Chesler from National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) -- a US based public scientific research agency. 

Further examinations suggested that the patients also lacked body awareness. They could not feel vibrations from a buzzing tuning fork. Nor could they tell the difference between one or two small ends of a caliper pressed firmly against their palms. 

Nevertheless, the patients could feel other forms of touch. They could feel the stroking or brushing of hairy skin. 

However, one claimed it felt prickly instead of the pleasant sensation reported by unaffected volunteers. 

Despite these differences, the patients' nervous systems appeared to be developing normally, the researchers said. 

They were able to feel pain, itch, and temperature normally. The nerves in their limbs conducted electricity rapidly and their brains and cognitive abilities were similar to the control subjects of their age.

"What's remarkable about these patients is their nervous systems compensate for their lack of touch and body awareness," Bonnemann said. 

The study suggests the nervous system may have several alternate pathways that we can tap into when designing new therapies.

Previous studies have showed that mutations in PIEZO2 may have various effects on the Piezo2 protein that may result in genetic musculoskeletal disorders, including distal arthrogryposis type 5, Gordon Syndrome, and Marden-Walker Syndrome, the researchers concluded in the paper, published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

​Washington, Sep 22 (IANS) The inclusion of the Chinese yuan in the Special Drawing Right (SDR) basket by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an important milestone for the international monetary system, said a senior IMF official.

​New York, Sep 22 (IANS) Greenland lost nearly 2,700 gigatons of ice from 2003-2013, not about 2,500 gigatons as scientists previously thought -- a 7.6 percent difference, a study says.

"It's a fairly modest correction," said study co-author Michael Bevis of The Ohio State University in the US. 

"It doesn't change our estimates of the total mass loss all over Greenland by that much, but it brings a more significant change to our understanding of where within the ice sheet that loss has happened, and where it is happening now," Bevis, who is also the leader of GNET, the Greenland GPS Network, said.

The researchers found that the same hotspot in the Earth's mantle that feeds Iceland's active volcanoes has been playing a trick on the scientists who are trying to measure how much ice is melting on nearby Greenland.

According to the new study published in the journal Science Advances, the hotspot softened the mantle rock beneath Greenland in a way that ultimately distorted their calculations for ice loss in the Greenland ice sheet. This caused them to underestimate the melting by about 20 gigatons (20 billion metric tons) per year.

The new results revealed that the pattern of modern ice loss is similar to that which has prevailed since the end of the last Ice Age.

During the last Ice Age, Greenland's ice sheet was much larger than now, and its enormous weight caused Greenland's crust to slowly sink into the softened mantle rock below. 

When large parts of the ice sheet melted at the end of the Ice Age, the weight of the ice sheet decreased, and the crust began to rebound. It is still rising, as mantle rock continues to flow inwards and upwards beneath Greenland.

"This result is a detail, but it is an important detail," Bevis said. 

"By refining the spatial pattern of mass loss in the world's second largest -- and most unstable -- ice sheet, and learning how that pattern has evolved, we are steadily increasing our understanding of ice loss processes, which will lead to better informed projections of sea level rise," Bevis noted.

The team used GPS to measure uplift in the crust all along Greenland's coast. 

That is when they discovered that two neighbouring stations on the east coast were uplifting far more rapidly than standard models had predicted.

"We did not expect to see the anomalous uplift rates at the two stations that sit on the 'track' of the Iceland hot spot," Bevis said. 

"We were shocked when we first saw them. Only afterwards did we make the connection," Bevis pointed out.

He added that the discovery holds big implications for measuring ice loss elsewhere in the world.

​New York, Sep 22 (IANS) Nearly four per cent of all deaths - approximately 433,000 per year -- are due to the fact that people worldwide spend more than three hours a day just sitting down, a study has found.

Various studies over the last decade have demonstrated how the excessive amount of time we spend sitting down may increase the risk of death, regardless of whether or not we exercise.

The new study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, now estimates the proportion of deaths attributable to that 'chair effect' in the population of 54 countries, using data from 2002 to 2011.

"It is important to minimise sedentary behaviour in order to prevent premature deaths around the world," said lead author of the study Leandro Rezende from University of Sao Paulo in Brazil.

He also highlighted that "cutting down on the amount of time we sit could increase life expectancy by 0.20 years in the countries analysed."

The results revealed that over 60 per cent of people worldwide spend more than three hours a day sitting down - the average in adults is 4.7 hours/day -- and this is the culprit behind 3.8 per cent of deaths.

Among the territories studied, there were more deaths in the regions of the Western Pacific, followed by European countries, the Eastern Mediterranean, America and Southeast Asia. 

The highest rates were found in Lebanon (11.6 per cent), the Netherlands (7.6 per cent) and Denmark (6.9 per cent), while the lowest rates were in Mexico (0.6 per cent), Myanmar (1.3 per cent) and Bhutan (1.6 per cent). 

The authors calculated that reducing the amount of time we sit by about two hours (by half) would mean a 2.3 per cent decrease in mortality.

Even a more modest reduction in sitting time, by 10 per cent or half an hour per day, could have an immediate impact on all causes of mortality (0.6 per cebt) in the countries evaluated.

In the words of the experts, measures aimed at addressing the determining factors behind this sedentary conduct would be necessary. 

"Some examples of this approach were recently highlighted by the World Health Organisation," Rezende said.

"For example, a strategic health communication campaign was developed to promote physical activity among women in Tonga (Oceania), while a bicycle-sharing system was developed in Iran in addition to a sustainable transport system in Germany," he noted.

London, Sep 22 (IANS) Do not blame your genes for not being able to reduce that ever-burgeoning waistline. While your genes can increase the risk of obesity, they do not hamper weight-loss, researchers have found.

People carrying a gene associated with fat mass and obesity -- FTO gene -- are at risk of being heavier and increasing their obesity levels. Carriers of this FTO gene are known to be on average 3 kilos heavier and 70 per cent more likely to be obese. 

However, carrying the risk version of the FTO gene has no effect on weight loss, as people with FTO gene respond just as well to weight loss interventions as everyone else, the study said.

"You can no longer blame your genes. Our study shows that improving your diet and being more physically active will help you lose weight, regardless of your genetic makeup," said lead author Professor John Mathers at Newcastle University in Britain.

Moreover, the response to weight loss interventions for people carrying the risk variant of the FTO gene was similar for men and women, younger and older and of different ethnicities, the researchers stated. 

"This is important news for people trying to lose weight as it means that diet, physical activity or drug-based weight loss plans will work just as well in those who carry the risk version of FTO," Mathers added.

For the study, published in the journal The BMJ, the team used individual data from 9,563 adults, who were enrolled in random controlled weight loss trials around the world to find out whether carrying the risk version of the FTO gene affects the amount of weight loss.

The causes of the obesity epidemic are multiple and complex, but current evidence suggests they have little to do with gene profiles, Alison Tedstone, Chief nutritionist at Public Health England, said in a linked editorial. 

​New York, Sep 22 (IANS) Growing up in a well-off home can benefit a child's physical health, but lack of good relationship with parents, or the presence of abuse, may affect health, as well as well-being during mid-life, a study has found.

"Good parent-child bonds may be necessary to enforce eating, sleeping and activity routines," said researcher Assistant Professor Matthew A. Andersson at Baylor University in Texas, US.

The study found that if the parent-child relationships are strained or abusive, meals may be less coordinated among the family, and children are more likely to eat sugary or high-fat foods as snacks, even in place of proper meals. 

Sleep and activity routines could also become irregular, keeping children from developing healthy lifestyles and social and emotional skills necessary for successful ageing.

On the other hand, good parent-child bonds in economically disadvantaged homes, might promote health, but do not seem to lessen the negative impact of low socio-economic status as the children age, Andersson said. 

Parents with less education and fewer financial advantages are more apt to threaten or force obedience rather than have constructive dialogue, and that may lessen warm relations. 

In addition, disease rates or inflammation among those children when they become adults have been linked strongly to abuse, mistreatment or lower levels of parental warmth.

"Without adequate parent-child relationship quality to match, socio-economic advantage during childhood may not offer much protection against major chronic disease as children become adults and reach middle age," Andersson stated.

In the study, good health at mid-life was defined as being free from 28 possible conditions -- cancer, circulatory or respiratory disease, endocrine diseases, nervous system diseases, infectious and parasitic diseases, skin and digestive disease and musculoskeletal conditions.

For the study, the team analysed data on disease or poor health of middle-aged adults. They surveyed 2,746 respondents aged 25 to 75 in 1995 about their childhood treatment by parents. 

Surveys were conducted again nearly 10 years later, with 1,692 of the individuals taking part. 

The follow-up analysis revealed that childhood abuse continued to undermine any protection from disease when linked to childhood socio-economic advantage, the researchers concluded, in the paper published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.

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The global financial crisis is attributed to a large scale lending, to subprime borrowers by the small,
medium and large private banks, a phenomenon observed in USA. The crisis spread to European