Knowledge Update

​New York, Jan 24 (IANS) Nicotine may have a direct impact on the restoration of normal brain activity in people suffering from psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia -- a disorder affecting 51 million people worldwide, a study has found.

The findings showed that when mice with schizophrenic characteristics were given nicotine daily, their sluggish brain activity increased within two days and within a week it was normalised.

"Since the repeated administration of nicotine restores normal activity to the prefrontal cortex, it could pave the way for a possible therapeutic target for the treatment of schizophrenia," said lead author Uwe Maskos from Integrative Neurobiology of Cholinergic Systems Unit or Institut Pasteur -- a French non-profit private foundation.

It has been observed that schizophrenic patients often use smoking as a form of self-medication to alleviate the deficit symptoms caused by their disorder or to combat the serious side effects of their treatment -- lethargy, lack of motivation, etc. 

Patients with schizophrenia -- 80 to 90 per cent of whom are often heavy smokers -- have impairments in the prefrontal cortex -- the brain region associated with cognition, decision-making and working memory.

Recently, the genetic mutation CHRNA5, which encodes a nicotinic receptor subunit, was identified as being associated with the cognitive impairments in schizophrenic patients and with nicotine dependence.

In the new study, scientists introduced the human CHRNA5 gene into mice with the aim of reproducing the cerebral deficits that characterise schizophrenia, namely behavioural deficits in situations of social interaction and while performing sensorimotor tasks.

The results showed that mice with the CHRNA5 mutation had reduced activity in their prefrontal cortex. 

The drop in activity measured in this model is similar to that observed in patients with psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and addiction, the researchers said.

The study was published online in the journal Nature Medicine.

​London, Jan 24 (IANS) Using the 3D-printing technology, a team of Spanish scientists has for the first time created proper human skin that can be used in transplants on burn patients and those with other skin problems and also in chemical tests.

According to José Luis Jorcano, professor, department of bioengineering and aerospace engineering at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), the new human skin is one of the first living human organs created using bioprinting to be introduced to the marketplace. 

It replicates the natural structure of the skin, with a first external layer, the epidermis with its stratum corneum, which acts as protection against the external environment, together with the dermis -- another thicker, deeper layer. 

The last layer consists of fibroblasts that produce collagen, the protein that gives elasticity and mechanical strength to the skin.

The skin "can be transplanted to patients or used in business settings to test chemical products, cosmetics or pharmaceutical products in quantities and with timetables and prices that are compatible with these uses," Luis Jorcano noted. 

When creating skin, instead of cartridges and coloured inks, injectors with biological components are used. 

The act of depositing these bioinks is controlled by a computer, which deposits them on a print bed in an orderly manner to then produce the skin.

"We use only human cells and components to produce skin that is bioactive and can generate its own human collagen, thereby avoiding the use of the animal collagen that is found in other methods," the researchers noted in a paper published in the scientific journal Biofabrication.

"This method of bioprinting allows skin to be generated in a standardised, automated way, and the process is less expensive than manual production," Alfredo Brisac, CEO of Spanish bioengineering firm BioDan Group pointed out.

Currently, this development is in the phase of being approved by different European regulatory agencies to guarantee that the skin that is produced is adequate for use in transplants on burn patients and those with other skin problems. 

In addition, these tissues can be used to test pharmaceutical products, as well as cosmetics and consumer chemical products where current regulations require testing that does not use animals.

​London, Jan 23 (IANS) With social media substituting real-life communication, one-third of people communicate less face-to-face with their loved ones, a key factor for damaging relationships, a study has found. The findings showed that a significant third of people communicate less with their parents (31 per cent), children (33 per cent), partners (23 per cent) and friends (35 per cent) because they can see and communicate with them via social media. "Digital communication is an opportunity to bridge the gaps in our modern lives caused by living in different cities or countries. However, it cannot replace face-to-face communication -- at least not always and not completely," said Astrid Carolus, media psychologist at the University of Wurzburg in Germany. Although social media can help ease communication channels and bridge time zones and distance barriers, it does not always make people happy. It can strain relationships as well as leaving people feeling down and upset, as they constantly compare their lives to those of others. The hunt for "likes" and social validation leads people to share increasing amounts of private information on social media platforms, putting not only themselves but also their friends, family and colleagues at risk. Further, 21 per cent of parents admitted that relationships with their children have been damaged as a result of them being seen in a compromising situation on social media. In contrast, only 14 per cent of parents said they were annoyed by their children's online behaviour. In addition, around one-in-five (16 per cent) people also said that their relationship with their spouse or partner has been damaged as a result of them being seen in a compromising situation on social media. However, many people believe that the quality of their relationships does not suffer at all and is even better as a result of being connected with their loved ones online. "Under certain circumstances they perceive their online communication as "hyper-personal communication" and thus they can misread and over-interpret the messages on social media. We feel especially close, we blind out the rather negative, focus on the possible positive intentions behind a message and over-interpret," Carolus noted.

​London, Jan 23 (IANS) While using Facebook do you tend to seek people or groups that match your opinions? If so, you may tend to become isolated and more narrow-minded, a study has revealed. With most people seeking out only the news and views that tally with their own opinions, the social media networking site may be inadvertently helping people to stick to and strengthen their belief, creating an "echo chamber" where controversial theories, biased views and selective news are often repeated, unchallenged and accepted as fact. "So instead of sharing to challenge or inform, social media users are more likely to share an idea already commonly accepted in their social groups for the purpose of reinforcement or agreement," CNN reported on Monday, quoting Alessandro Bessi of University of Southern California. This leads to the misinformation or fake news to spread unchecked. "Indeed, we found that conspiracy-like claims spread only inside the echo chambers of users that usually support alternative sources of information and distrust official and mainstream news," Bessi added. The study found that anything that conforms to our ideas, we tend to like and share it, leading to reckless sharing sometimes as we share something without really examining the content. This may explain how certain phenomena, leads to proliferation of biased narratives fomented by unsubstantiated rumours, mistrust, and paranoia, researchers noted. The problem of unreliable information going "viral" online had become so serious it was classed of one of the biggest social threats by the World Economic Forum, the researchers stated, in the paper published in the journal PNAS.

​Beijing, Jan 23 (IANS) China has 731 million internet users, roughly the size of Europe's population, according to a report.

China has the world's largest internet users followed by India.

​New York, Jan 23 (IANS) Taiwan technology giant Foxconn is teaming up with Cupertino, San Francisco-based Apple to set up a display-panel manufacturing facility in the US with an investment of $7 billion, the media reported on Monday.

Beijing, Jan 23 (IANS) The number of people, who opted for mobile payments in China soared 31.2 per cent in 2016 to reach 469 million, a new study revealed on Monday.

This strong growth was partly due to a continued increase in users connecting to the internet through their mobile phones, which grew 75 million, or 12.1 percent, in 2016, to

Dubai, Jan 23 (IANS) UAE's Emirates Airline will launch a new daily service from Dubai to the US, via Greece, from March 12, an official said here on Monday.

The new route to Newark Liberty International Airport complements Emirates' existing four daily flights between Dubai and New York's John F. Kennedy airport, by offering passengers with another access to the New York Metropolitan area, Xinhua news agency reported citing an airline statement.

The airline will operate a wide-body Boeing 777-300ER on the route.

"After careful review, Emirates concluded that extending one of our Dubai-Athens flights to Newark would be commercially and operationally feasible," said Tim Clark, Emirates Airline president.

Beijing, Jan 23 (IANS) The second-child policy implemented in China increased the number of births to 17.86 million in 2016, an increase of 7.9 per cent and the highest annual number since since 2000, according to health authorities.

The number of newborns has increased by 1.31 million compared with 2015, the National Health and Family Planning Commission revealed on Sunday.

The portion of the births to couples who already had at least one child rose quickly to at least 45 per cent last year, Yang Wenzhuang, a division director of the commission, said. 

The proportion was around 30 per cent before 2013, the China Daily reported.

"It demonstrates that the universal second-child policy (implemented early last year) came in time and worked effectively," Yang said.

"Some regions, mostly large cities in eastern areas, began recording second children as comprising more than half of local newborns," he added.

Yang expected that by 2020, the number of new births each year would stand between 17 to 20 million in China.

The top decision makers intensified efforts in late 2013 to adjust birth policies in place for three decades that limited most couples to just one child, aiming at addressing major demographic challenges such as an aging population and a looming labour shortage.

Starting in early 2014, couples in which one was an only child could have a second child. The universal second-child policy was implemented at the start of 2016.

By 2050, the policy is expected to bring about an extra 30 million working age people and reduce the nation's aging rate by 2 per cent, commission projections showed.

A 2015 survey by the commission found nearly 75 per cent of respondents were reluctant to have a second baby, largely due to economic burdens, the China Daily said.

Other major concerns were age, parents' career development, and a lack of caregivers, it showed. 

In the mid-1950s, the average number of annual births in China was around 18 million, almost the same as in 2016. But the fertility rate (the average number of children a woman will have during her life) has dropped from more than six then to less than two.

​Canberra, Jan 22 (IANS) Australia on Sunday announced an overhaul of security at all its international airports, with technology set to replace passports as means of identifying passengers by 2020.

The Department of Immigration and Border Protection is seeking tenders for a self-processing system to be introduced later this year, Australia's ABC News reported.

The system will use fingerprints, iris or facial structure recognition at major air and sea ports.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said the aim was for more than 90 per cent of passengers to avoid paperwork or manual processing by staff.

"In many cases that will mean people, whilst they'll still have to carry their passport, may not have to present their passport at all in the long term," Dutton said on Sunday.

"But in the immediate term, this will make it easier, it will make it quicker, for people going in and out of our airports."

Under the new system, the existing SmartGates that scan passports electronically - introduced less than 10 years ago - would be retired.

Dutton said the $78 million upgrade would also boost security at the nation's borders by making it easier to detect threats, ABC News reported.

He said cutting down processing times for travellers was also likely to boost tourism.

Forty-million air and sea travellers were processed by the Australian Border Force in the 2015-16 year, the Guardian reported citing an official report.