Knowledge Update

New York, May 3 (IANS) Scientists have discovered three new species of mouse lemurs - the smallest primates in the world - in Madagascar.

Twenty years ago, there were only two species of mouse lemurs. Today, including the newly-discovered species Microcebus ganzhorni, Microcebus manitatra and Microcebus boraha, mouse lemurs comprise 24 species, which are only found in the highly biodiverse island of Madagascar.

"We didn't go into this work looking for a new species, but there was no real way to get around the fact that there are three new species here to describe," said lead study author Scott Hotaling from University of Kentucky in the US.

The findings were published in the journal Molecular Ecology.

"From a conservation perspective, knowing what's there is important," Hotaling said. 

"These animals are facing diminishing habitats and tremendous pressures," Hotaling pointed out.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List, 94 percent of lemurs are threatened with extinction. 

Of the 101 surviving lemur species, 22 are critically endangered, 48 are endangered and 20 are vulnerable - making them one of the most threatened groups of vertebrates on Earth.

But almost as important as the species discovered is how they were discovered -- using recently developed methods that allowed researchers to statistically model the evolutionary process on University of Kentucky's supercomputer.

The researchers believed that this objective approach to assessing genetic differences between individuals could have significant potential for clarifying diversity in other species.​

​New York, May 3 (IANS) Antibiotics are essential for fighting bacterial infection, but, paradoxically, they can also make the body more prone to infection and diarrohea by allowing gut pathogens to “breathe”, says a study.

Antibiotics benefit pathogen growth by disrupting oxygen levels and fibre processing in the gut, the study said.

The findings, published in the journal Cell Host Microbe, could lead to development of new strategies to prevent the side effects of antibiotic treatment.

Exactly how the resident "good" microbes in the gut protect against pathogens, such as Salmonella, and how antibiotic treatments foster growth of disease-causing microbes have been poorly understood.

But the new research in a mouse model has identified the chain of events that occur within the gut lumen after antibiotic treatment that allow "bad" bugs to flourish.

The process begins with antibiotics depleting "good" bacteria in the gut, including those that breakdown fibre from vegetables to create butyrate, an essential organic acid that cells lining the large intestine need as an energy source to absorb water, said lead researcher Andreas Baumler, professor at University of California Davis Health System in the US.

The reduced ability to metabolise fibre prevents these cells from consuming oxygen, increasing oxygen levels in the gut lumen that favour the growth of Salmonella.

Most persons infected with Salmonella develop diarrohea, fever, and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

"Unlike Clostridia and other beneficial microbes in the gut, which grow anaerobically, or in the complete absence of oxygen, Salmonella flourished in the newly created oxygen-rich micro environment after antibiotic treatment," Baumler said. 

"In essence, antibiotics enabled pathogens in the gut to breathe," Baumler noted.​

New York, May 3 (IANS) There are nearly one trillion species on the Earth while 99.999 percent of species still remain undiscovered, the largest-ever analysis of microbial data has revealed.

Biologists from Indiana University have combined microbial, plant and animal community datasets from government, academic and citizen science sources, resulting in the largest compilation of its kind.

Altogether, the data represents over 5.6 million microscopic and non-microscopic species from 35,000 locations across all the world's oceans and continents, except Antarctica.

Estimating the number of species on the Earth is among the great challenges in biology.

"Our study combines the largest available datasets with ecological models and new ecological rules for how biodiversity relates to abundance. This gave us a new and rigorous estimate for the number of microbial species on Earth," said associate professor Jay T Lennon.

The advent of new genetic sequencing technology provides an unprecedented large pool of new information, he added.

These data sources pull together 20,376 sampling efforts on bacteria, archaea and microscopic fungi and 14,862 sampling efforts on communities of trees, birds and mammals.

"This research offers a view of the extensive diversity of microbes on Earth. It also highlights how much of that diversity still remains to be discovered and described," added Simon Malcomber, director of the National Science Foundation's Dimensions of Biodiversity programme.

The estimate, based on the intersection of large datasets and universal scaling laws, appeared in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The results suggest that actually identifying every microbial species on the Earth is an almost unimaginably huge challenge.

To put the task in perspective, the Earth Microbiome Project -- a global multidisciplinary project to identify microscope organisms -- has so far cataloged less than 10 million species.

"Of those cataloged species, only about 10,000 have ever been grown in a lab, and fewer than 100,000 have classified sequences," Lennon said.

"The results show that this leaves 100,000 times more microorganisms awaiting discovery -- and 100 million to be fully explored. Microbial biodiversity, it appears, is greater than ever imagined," the authors noted.​

​London, May 2 (IANS) Treating patients who have early stage lung cancer with radiotherapy can increase their risk of death from causes other than cancer, says a study.

In particular, they found that high doses to the left atrium of the heart and the superior vena cava had the strongest association and increased risk of non-cancer death.

"Our results show that even within a few years a radiation dose to the heart is associated with an increased risk of non-cancer death for early stage lung cancer patients, and they indicate which regions of the heart possibly play a role,” said Barbara Stam from the Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam.

"Validation and further investigations into the exact mechanisms and which heart structures are critical is warranted, but clinically, this could mean that patients might benefit from heart-sparing radiotherapy,” Stam noted.

The findings were presented at the European Society for Radiotherapy & Oncology's ESTRO 35 conference on Monday.

The researchers analysed data from 565 patients diagnosed with early stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) between 2006-2013 in five institutions in Europe and North America , who were treated with a type of radiotherapy called stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). 

SBRT is a specialised type of external beam radiation therapy that can focus radiation beams with extreme accuracy on a tumour, thereby minimising the effect on nearby organs. 

With multiple organs nearby, minimising the dose to one organ is likely to result in a higher dose in another organ.

In order to work out how much radiation was delivered to which sub-structures of the heart, the researchers created a "template" image of the heart and its sub-structures on to which they could map the anatomy of each of the 565 patients -- a process called deformable image registration. 

Radiotherapy for lung cancer patients is linked to increased risk of non-cancer deaths, the findings showed.

As a result of the new findings, researchers said they would be investigating ways to deliver radiotherapy while sparing the crucial heart structures as much as possible​

​London, May 2 (IANS) In a major step towards bringing to the clinic a “game-changing” new antibiotic that was discovered last year, a team of University of Lincoln researchers, including one of Indian-origin, has successfully produced two synthetic derivatives of Teixobactin.

Last year, the discovery of the antibiotic Teixobactin by researchers in the US was hailed as a ‘game-changer’ in the fight against antimicrobial resistance as it is the world’s first known antibiotic capable of destroying “drug resistant” bacteria.

The last new class of antibiotics was discovered nearly 30 years ago.

However, in order for Teixobactin to be developed as a potential drug treatment, several versions of the antibiotic must be produced via chemical synthesis in order to overcome the hurdles of drug development. 

Researchers in laboratories around the world have been working towards this objective since last year’s breakthrough. 

Now Ishwar Singh from the University of Lincoln and his colleagues have become the first group of scientists to synthetically produce two derivatives of Teixobactin, an official statement said.

"Teixobactin originally evolved in soil to kill the bacteria around it, so our challenge was to produce the antibiotic synthetically,” said Singh, a specialist in novel drug design at Lincoln’s School of Pharmacy.

"The method we created to do this uses commercially available ‘building blocks’ and has a single purification step, and we are delighted with the results - we are now able to present the total synthesis of two derivatives of Teixobactin,” Singh noted.

The findings appeared online in the journal Chemical Communications. 

The bacteria against which Teixobactin is effective have, thus far, not shown any detectable resistance and given its mechanisms of attack, scientists are also confident that this is unlikely to occur in the future.

"The process of bringing an antibiotic to clinic is an extremely lengthy one and can often take around 10-15 years. There is much more extensive research and testing to be carried out before we can even consider Teixobactin as a viable medical treatment,” Singh added​

​Tokyo, May 2 (IANS) The G7 energy ministers on Monday agreed to step up energy security and boost investment to counter instability caused by the fall in crude oil prices.

Ministers from Japan, Canada, Germany, Italy, the US, Britain and France and representatives from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and The International Renewable

​New York, May 2 (IANS) Keeping tabs on tweets may be an effective tool to help prepare for -- and prevent -- increases in asthma emergencies, say researchers, including one of Indian-origin.

​New York, May 2 (IANS) More than one-third of US children with autism spectrum disorders have wandered away from a safe environment within the past 12 months, new research shows.

"Elopement, or wandering, places children with autism spectrum disorders at risk of serious injury or even death once they are away from adult supervision," said senior investigator Andrew Adesman, chief of developmental pediatrics at Cohen Children's Medical Centre (CCMC) of New York.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) referes to a group of complex brain development disorders characterised by difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviours.

"Despite its clear relevance to the safety of these children, there has been little research on elopement," Adesman pointed out.

The researchers examined data from a Centres for Disease Control and Prevention survey of parents and guardians of more than 4,000 children ages six to 17 diagnosed with ASD, an intellectual disability or developmental delay. 

For their studies, analysis was restricted to only those children with ASD.

The researchers found that wanderers were more likely to not realise when they are in danger, to have difficulty distinguishing between strangers and familiar people, to show sudden mood changes, to over-react to situations and people, to get angry quickly, and to panic in new situations or if change occurs.

The researchers also found that wanderers were more than twice as likely to elope from a public place, compared to their home or school. 

The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies in Baltimore, US.

"As the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders in the United States continues to rise, there is a need to better understand the behaviors that may compromise the safety and well-being of these children," principal investigator of the study Bridget Kiely from CCMC noted.​

​Beijing, May 1 (IANS) Business activity in China's non-manufacturing sector expanded at slower pace in April, official data showed on Sunday.

The purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the non-manufacturing sector stood at 53.5 in April, down from 53.8 in March and well above the 50 mark that separates expansion

​Moscow, May 2 (IANS) Firing Kalashnikovs, flying gunships, stomping about in tanks and sweating it out in army fatigues, that's Russia's cutting edge arsenal of ideas for attracting tourists. Amid the annexation of Crimea and the conflict with Ukraine, "military tourism" appears all set to boom in Russia. Inbound tour operators are offering tourists a quasi-combat experience, be it firing AK-47 assault rifles in underground firing ranges, roaring on in T-90 tanks or an edge-of-the-space flight in a MiG-29. And tourists like Japan's Toshihiro Yokoi and his friend, who are willing to shell out upwards of 15,000-18,000 euros for a spin in the MiG-29, are relishing the opportunity. "The emotions (we felt) during the suborbital flight were both exciting and interesting," Yokoi said, shortly after the flight, where he experienced the 9G (G-force). Next on his agenda is a zero gravity flight experience in a four-engine IL-76 at Nizhniy Novgorod in the Volga federal district. For those who would feel peevish in a fighter jet and more at home close to land, there's Uralvagonzavod, one of the world's largest manufacturers of tanks located around 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from Moscow, which has been offering tourists a ride in the mighty T-90 from April this year, or a visit to the armour museum in the national capital, where tanks from the great war, armoury and other military equipment are on display. For those with vintage taste and World War buffs, Russian leader Joseph Stalin's bunker in Moscow is now a tourist attraction too. If one wishes to have a live and feel about what's it to be like in the army, a new tourism circuit allows you to spend a day in a military training camp and train with soldiers in fatigues. The objects of war and the thrill of handling tanks and weapons is catching up as a tourism offering. Three years ago Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu even offered to organise a new sport-military show - a tank Biathlon for tourists, which involves a speed race through manoeuvres and taking precision shots from the tank's canon. "All guests can witness military flight, fireworks, military music and tanks across many models. The military museum is also popular with Russian and China tourists during summer," Marina Solokov of the Moscow-based Indigo Tour told IANS. Paresh Navani of the Russian Information Centre, says Defence Tourism in Russia is just about to zip off the blocks. "Defence tourism is also taking off in Russia with options like MiG 29 flights to the edge of space where passengers are also allowed to control the aircraft, World War II bunker visits, firing Kalashnikov rifles, visits to battle tank ranges with the ability to control the systems. In the region of Crimea tourists can also visit nuclear submarines that are in active service," he said. Chinese tourists, who top the list of tourists visiting Russia with a million of them visiting Russia in 2015, have already cottoned to military tourism and are driving the demands, says Pavel Kretov of Academservice, an inbound tour operator based in Moscow. "It (military tourism) has just started. Chinese tourists are very interested. It was started because of the demand fuelled by the Chinese tourists," Kretoc says, adding that in Moscow there are numerous shooting galleries where one can spray a few live bullets from a pistol to an AK-56. However, while the guns and tanks await, revved up for tourists, there's one issue which continues to niggle the tourism administration, which can prove to be a dampener to takers of such tourism: pricing. It is something which Valery Korovkin, head of the International Development division of the Federal Agency for Tourism, believes will be levelled out over a period of time. "You have to start with something. It's expensive now, but in a year it can go down if there is enough demand," Korovkin said​