Knowledge Update

​New York, Oct 4 (IANS) Do you know why some people are better at performing complex duties and multi-tasking? Because their brains are not static and the level of coordination between different parts of their brains seems to ebb and flow.

After analysing the brains of people at rest or carrying out complex tasks, researchers at Stanford University have learnt that the integration between those brain regions also fluctuates.

When the brain is more integrated, people do better on complex tasks.

"The brain is stunning in its complexity and I feel like, in a way, we've been able to describe some of its beauty in this story," said study lead author Mac Shine, post-doctoral researcher in the lab of Russell Poldrack, Professor of psychology.

"We've been able to say, 'Here's this underlying structure that you would never have guessed was there, that might help us explain the mystery of why the brain is organized in the way that it is,"" Shine added.

For the past 100 years, scientists have understood that different areas of the brain serve unique purposes. Only recently have they realised that the organisation isn't static.

In a three-part project, the researchers used open source data from the Human Connectome Project to examine how separate areas of the brain coordinate their activity over time - both while people are at rest and while they are attempting a challenging mental task.

They then tested a potential neurobiological mechanism to explain these findings.

For the resting state condition, the researchers used a novel analysis technique to examine functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data of people who weren't doing any particular task.

They found that even without any intentional stimulation, the brain network fluctuates between periods of higher and lower coordinated blood flow in the different areas of the brain.

The researchers found that the brains of participants were more integrated while working on complicated task than they were during quiet rest.

"This research shows really clear relationships between how the brain is functioning at a network level and how the person's actually performing on these psychological tasks," noted co-author Poldrack in a paper appeared in the journal Neuron.

The researchers plan to further investigate the connection between neural gain and integration in the brain.

They also want to figure out how universal these findings are to other behaviours, such as attention and memory.

This research may also eventually help us better understand cognitive disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease or Parkinson's disease.

​London, Oct 4 (IANS) Suffering from those itchy red pimples? Take heart, as your skin may age more slowly than those with no history of acne, a study has found.

Signs of ageing such as wrinkles and skin thinning often appear much later in people who have experienced acne in their lifetime. 

It has been suggested that this is due to increased oil production but there are likely to be other factors involved, the study said.

The findings revealed that people who have previously suffered from acne are likely to have longer telomeres in their white blood cells, meaning that their cells could be better protected against ageing.

Telomeres are repetitive nucleotide sequences found at the end of chromosomes, which protect them from deteriorating during the process of replication. 

The telomeres gradually break down and shrink as cells age, eventually leading to cell death, which is a normal part of human growth and ageing.

"Our findings suggest that the cause could be linked to the length of telomeres which appears to be different in acne sufferers and means their cells may be protected against ageing," said lead author Simone Ribero, a dermatologist at King's College London. 

Previous studies have shown that white blood cell telomere length can be predictive of biological ageing and is linked with telomere length in other cells in the body.

"For many years dermatologists have identified that the skin of acne sufferers appears to age more slowly than in those who have not experienced any acne in their lifetime. Whilst this has been observed in clinical settings, the cause of this was previously unclear," Ribero said.

'Longer telomeres are likely to be one factor explaining the protection against premature skin ageing in individuals who previously suffered from acne," added Veronique Bataille from King's College London. 

In the study the team measured the length of white blood cell telomeres in 1,205 twins. 

A quarter of the twins reported having experienced acne in their lifetime.

Statistical analyses which adjusted for age, relatedness, weight and height showed that telomere length in acne sufferers was significantly longer, meaning that white blood cells were more protected from the usual deterioration with age. 

The researchers also examined gene expression in pre-existing skin biopsies from the same twins to identify possible gene pathways linked to acne. 

One gene pathway (the p53 pathway), which regulates programmed cell death, was found to be less expressed in acne sufferers' skin. 

This requires further investigation to identify other genes involved in cell ageing and how they differ in acne sufferers, the researchers noted, in the paper published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.

Washington, Oct 4 (IANS) After collecting some key samples on the Red Planet for the past four years, NASA's Curiosity rover is driving toward uphill destinations as part of its two-year mission extension that commenced from October 1.

The destinations include a ridge capped with material rich in the iron-oxide mineral hematite, about two-and-half km ahead and an exposure of clay-rich bedrock beyond that.

These are key exploration sites on lower Mount Sharp where Curiosity is currently investigating evidence of ancient, water-rich environments that contrast with the harsh, dry conditions on the surface of Mars today.

"We continue to reach higher and younger layers on Mount Sharp. Even after four years of exploring near and on the mountain, it still has the potential to completely surprise us," said Indian-origin project scientist Ashwin Vasavada from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

Curiosity has taken more than 180,000 images since landing on Mars in August 2012. 

Newly available vistas include the rover's latest self-portrait from the colour camera at the end of its arm and a scenic panorama from the colour camera at the top of the mast.

"Curiosity's assignment is the ongoing study of ancient habitability and the potential for life," said Curiosity Programme Scientist Michael Meyer from NASA.

This latest drill site -- the 14th for Curiosity -- is in a geological layer about 600 feet thick called the Murray formation. 

Curiosity has climbed nearly half of this formation's thickness so far and found it consists primarily of mudstone, formed from mud that accumulated at the bottom of ancient lakes. 

The findings indicate that the lake environment was enduring, not fleeting. 

For roughly the first half of the new two-year mission extension, the rover team anticipates investigating the upper half of the Murray formation.

"We will see whether that record of lakes continues further," Vasavada said. 

The "Hematite Unit" and "Clay Unit" above the Murray formation were identified from Mars orbiter observations before Curiosity's landing. 

"The Hematite and the Clay units likely indicate different environments from the conditions recorded in older rock beneath them and different from each other. It will be interesting to see whether either or both were habitable environments," added Vasavada.

The mission is also monitoring the modern environment of Mars, including natural radiation levels.

New York, Oct 4 (IANS) US researchers have identified 41 genes that may cause gum disease, paving the way for developing compounds that can be used in targeted treatment of severe periodontitis before loss of teeth and supportive bone occurs.

Periodontal disease is inflammation of the tissue around the teeth, often causing shrinkage of the gums and loosening of the teeth.

In the study, the team "reverse-engineered" the gene expression data to build a map of the genetic interactions that lead to periodontitis and identify individual genes that appear to have the most influence on the disease.

"Our approach narrows down the list of potentially interesting regulatory genes involved in periodontitis," said Panos N Papapanou, Professor at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) in New York.

"This allows us to focus on the handful of genes that represent the most important players in the process rather than the whole transcriptome," Papapanou added.

The researchers examined RNA from healthy and diseased gum tissues of 120 patients with periodontitis. 

Many of the genes identified by Papapanou and his team are implicated in immune and inflammatory pathways, confirming laboratory and clinical observations of the development of periodontal disease.

"Now it's important to do the downstream work of validating these master regulator genes in the lab before we can test these genes in experimental models," Papapanou noted in the paper published in the Journal of Dental Research.

​Mumbai, Oct 1 (IANS) Global connected car production is set to grow almost 10-fold in five years - from 6.8 million in 2015 to 61 million in 2020, according to the latest forecast by research and advisory firm Gartner.

​Breganze (Italy), Oct 1 (IANS) International lifestyle brand Diesel has become the official style partner of AC Milan football club, in a move to reach out to the younger market.

The partnership will last at least for the next 3 years, when Diesel will be dressing the AC Milan team "off-field", said a statement issued on behalf of the brand.

Renzo Rosso, Diesel's founder, said: "This is a long-time dream coming to life, for me, for my family, for Diesel. The extraordinary journeys of Diesel and AC Milan are intrinsically linked: we are two major Italian players, iconic, similar in spirit, with global resonance, and we are teaming up around a dream of pride, passion and bravery. We want to make this collaboration unique, fuelled with irony, innovation and modernity."

AC Milan Vice-President and CEO Barbara Berlusconi, said: "I grew up with the red and black colours. I've always felt they were like a second skin. They've become my passion - the same passion that has driven AC Milan and Diesel to set up this partnership.

"Diesel is a dynamic, international company in the fashion world, oriented towards the younger market, the same one AC Milan appeals to and reaches out to, following the path of other top European clubs."

​Hong Kong, Oct 1 (IANS) Running in minimalist shoes can increase leg and foot muscle volume, finds a new study.

The researchers for the study recruited 38 runners with an average age of 35, who have been running for six years on average with their traditional running shoes (TRS), footwear of heel-to-toe drop over 5 mm, with additional cushioning pad and artificial arch support.

Among the 38 participants, 20 runners selected randomly to the experimental group underwent a six-month training programme.

At the beginning, each participant was given a pair of minimalist running shoes (MRS) and a self-monitoring programme including transition exercise regimes such as calf strengthening exercise and balance training.

The other 18 runners in the control group received the same training programme running with their own TRS.

All the participants were invited to undergo a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning for measuring their right leg and foot muscles before and after six-month intervention.

The mean volume of the extrinsic foot muscles (EFM) attached from the leg to foot increased from around 25,100 mm three per kg to around 27,000 mm three per kg, an increase of 7.05 per cent and the intrinsic foot muscles (IFM) attached from the heel to toes increased from around 4,600 mm three per kg to near 5,000 mm three per kg, an increase of 8.8 per cent.

"The mean volume of the forefoot and rearfoot increased by 11.9 per cent and 6.6 per cent respectively. In contrast, the volume of leg and foot muscles in the control group remained unchanged," said Roy Cheung, Assistant Professor at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in a statement.

The study also found a positive correlation between participants' MRS compliance and the changes in leg muscle volume. The more compliant participants are in wearing MRS, the higher the leg muscle volume growth.

The research team explained that as MRS provides minimal cushioning and no mechanical support to the foot arches, the IFM and EFM, which function as important foot arch stabilisers, would experience greater demands for strength.

The volumetric growth of EFM may also be due to higher strain and greater force generation in the posterior and medial calf muscles when running with MRS.

In addition, mid/forefoot landing imposed more stimuli to the anterior part of the foot, especially for the metatarsophalangeal joint, the joint of the foot and toes. Muscles responsible for metatarsophalangeal joint motions may therefore be strengthened with this type of landing.

Beijing, Oct 2 (IANS) China will have 240 million people aged 60 or above by 2020.

By 2020, senior citizens will make up 17 per cent of the population, Xinhua news agency on Sunday quoted Liu Qian, deputy head of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, as saying.

Liu said there were more than 260 million chronically ill patients in the country. These illnesses were to blame for over 86 per cent of deaths in China.

Liu said the per capita annual spending on health was estimated at around $472 last year.

​New York, Oct 2 (IANS) Using a food additive, a team of researchers has created environment-friendly plastic solar cells that can be manufactured at room temperature.

The efficient, semi-printed solar cells have implications for large-scale commercial production, said the researchers from North Carolina State University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Two of the key advantages are that these cells can be mass produced in the open air environment and that the process doesn't pose health or environmental hazards, said Long Ye, post-doctoral research scholar in physics at NC State.

Ye and his colleagues developed a semi-printed plastic solar cell that utilised o-methylanisole (o-MA) as the solvent. 

O-MA is a commonly used flavouring agent in foods and is non-toxic to humans.

Plastic solar cells are popular because they are lightweight, flexible, transparent and inexpensive to manufacture. 

Unfortunately, the halogen-containing solvents used in their manufacture are an obstacle to large-scale commercialisation. 

These solvents are key to making sure that the solar cell's morphology, or structure, maximises its energy efficiency. However, they are environmentally hazardous. 

"Hopefully, this work can help pave the way for printing solar cells in ambient air (room temperature)," Ye added in a paper that appeared in the journal Chemistry of Materials.

​London, Oct 2 (IANS) Excessive sugar consumption -- specifically the sugar fructose such as in soda -- has been linked to a rise in metabolic disease worldwide, a study has found.

Some investigators contend that commonly consumed amounts of sugar do not contribute to this epidemic. While others are convinced that excessive sugar ingestion is a major cause.

"There is still significant controversy as to whether sugar consumption is a major contributor to the development of diabetes," said senior author Mark Herman, Assistant Professor at Duke University.

However, "the study reveals a specific mechanism by which consuming fructose in large amounts, such as in soda, can cause problems", Herman added.

Insulin is a key hormone that regulates blood glucose after eating. Insulin resistance, when the body's metabolic tissues stop responding normally to insulin, is one of the earliest detectable changes in the progression to diabetes.

The likely cause of insulin resistance may not be the build-up of fat in the liver, as commonly believed, but may be caused by excess sugar in the liver that activates a molecular factor known as carbohydrate-responsive element-binding protein, or ChREBP.

ChREBP may then contribute to the development of both fatty liver and increased glucose production, the researchers said.

The ChREBP protein is found in several metabolic organs in mice, humans and other mammals.

"We found that no matter how much insulin the pancreas made, it couldn't override the processes started by this protein, ChREBP, to stimulate glucose production. This would ultimately cause blood sugar and insulin levels to increase, which over time can lead to insulin resistance elsewhere in the body," Herman explained.

To test their hypothesis, researchers studied mice that were genetically altered so their liver insulin signalling pathways were maximally activated -- in other words, their livers should not have been able to produce any glucose.

The researchers found that even in these mice, eating fructose triggered ChREBP-related processes in the liver, causing it to make more and more glucose, despite insulin signals telling it to stop.

Previous studies have reported that high fructose diets can cause multiple metabolic problems in humans and animals, including insulin resistance and fatty liver disease.

The finding could also help scientists one day diagnose metabolic disorders earlier on, potentially allowing patients to make changes to their diets and lifestyles sooner to prevent more serious complications.

The study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.