Knowledge Update

​London, April 20 (IANS) Savouring positive memories and images is likely to generate positive emotions in the human mind and can prove to be effective in treating individuals with anxiety or depression, reveals a new research.

A team of researchers from University of Liverpool investigated individuals' emotional reactions using a social technique called social broad-minded affective coping (BMAC) technique -- an intervention that aims to elicit positive affect or emotion through the use of mental imagery of a positive memory. 

"The findings suggest that the BMAC has the potential to be a practical and effective method for boosting mood amongst individuals with specific mental health problems such as anxiety or depression," said lead researcher Peter Taylor from University of Liverpool in Britain.

The findings showed that following the social BMAC, the participants showed an increase in feelings of social safeness, warm positive affect and relaxed positive affect, whilst the negativity decreased.

The results, which provide preliminary support for the effectiveness of the social BMAC in activating specific types of emotion, have been detailed in the journal Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice.

As part of the study 123 participants, recruited online, completed self-report measures of self-attacking (thinking mean, diminishing, insulting, and shaming thoughts about oneself), social safeness (feelings of warmth and connectedness) and pleasure.

The participants were encouraged to engage all the senses, think about the meaning of the memory to them, savour the positive feelings they experienced, and consider the positive feelings in the mind of another before reflecting upon the feelings they experience as well as what this means to them. 

Participants completed state measures of positive and negative affect and social safeness/pleasure before and after the intervention.​

​New York, April 20 (IANS) Using the Oculus Rift virtual reality (VR) headset, a eam of researchers has discovered that a simple technique borrowed from ophthalmology dating back to the Victorian Age can improve user performance in VR environments.

London, April 20 (IANS) Human limbs share a genetic programme with the respiratory organs of fishes such as sharks and skates, reveals a new research, providing evidence to support a century-old, widely discounted theory on the origin of limbs.

German anatomist Karl Gegenbaur, in 1878, first proposed the theory that human limbs were evolved from gills -- respiratory organs of sharks and skates. 

These fishes have a series of skin flaps -- that protect their gills -- and are supported by arches of cartilage -- a connective tissue found joints between bones -- with finger-like appendages called branchial rays attached to them.Investigation into the embryos of the little skates -- cartilaginous fishes -- revealed striking similarities between the genetic mechanisms used in the development of its gill arches and those in human limbs.

The researchers found 'sonic hedgehog' -- a critical gene in limb development -- performing the same two functions in the development of gill arches and branchial rays in skate embryos as it does in the development of limbs in mammal embryos.In mammal embryos, the Sonic hedgehog gene sets up the axis of the limb in the early stages of development. 

In human limb development, it dictates the identity of each finger and maintains the growth of the limb skeleton.In the later stages of development, Sonic hedgehog maintains outgrowth so that the limb grows to its full size."In a hand, for instance, Sonic hedgehog tells the limb which side will be the thumb and which side will be the pinky finger," said Andrew Gillis from the University of Cambridge in Britain. 

The study, detailed in the journal Development, provides greater understanding of the origin of jawed vertebrates -- the group of animals that includes humans.

"Gegenbaur looked at the way that these branchial rays connect to the gill arches and noticed that it looks very similar to the way that the fin and limb skeleton articulates with the shoulder," Gillis explained.​

Washington, April 20 (IANS) March was the 11th consecutive month a monthly global temperature record was broken, the longest such streak since record-keeping began in 1880, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has said.

"At the risk of sounding like a broken record, March set another heat record for the globe," Xinhua quoted the NOAA as saying in a statement on Tuesday.

"As Earth continues to warm and is influenced by phenomena such as El Nino, global temperature records are piling up."

For March, the average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.22 degrees Celsius above the 20th century average of 12.7 degrees Celsius, according to the NOAA monthly report.

This was not only the highest for the month of March in the 1880-2016 record, but also the highest monthly temperature departure among all months on record, surpassing the previous all-time record set last month by 0.01 degrees Celsius.

Most of the Earth's land surfaces were warmer or much warmer than average in March, said the report, with record warmth notable across eastern Brazil, most of eastern and central Africa, much of southeastern Asia, and large portions of northern and eastern Australia.

Most of northwestern Canada and Alaska, along with vast regions of northern and western Asia, observed temperatures at least three degrees Celsius above their 1981-2010 average.

The weather phenomenon called El Nino continued to weaken in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean during March, but the month globally averaged sea surface temperature remained 0.81 degrees Celsius above the 20th century monthly average, also a record high.

In total, "the six highest monthly global ocean temperature departures have all occurred in the past six months," the report said.

For the first three months in 2016, the average temperature for the globe was 1.50 degrees Celsius above the 20th-century average.

This was also the highest temperature for this period in the 1880-2016 record, surpassing the previous record set in 2015 by 0.28 degrees Celsius.​

​London, April 20 (IANS) Shakespeare is more popular globally than with people in Britain though the bard has made a significant contribution to Britain's economy and culture, a new research revealed on Tuesday.

According to a new survey "All the World's", commissioned by the British Council and conducted by YouGov, the great playwright has been proved more popular outside Britain (65 percent) than in his own country (59 percent), Xinhua reported.

A total of 18,000 respondents in 15 countries participated in the survey in November 2015. Survey showed only 59 percent British people like Shakespeare, while 68 percent Chinese respondents like him.

The top five countries "like Shakespeare" are India (89 percent) , Mexico (88 percent), Brazil (87 percent), Turkey (79 percent) and South Africa (73 percent). Scores of France and Germany were the lowest, with 51 percent and 44 percent, respectively.

The survey also revealed that 84 percent of Brazilians said they found him relevant to today's world, compared with 57 percent in Britain. Meanwhile, 83 percent of Indian respondents said they understood Shakespeare, however, in Britain, only 58 percent of respondents said so.

Contributable factors for the results included Shakespeare's works being translated into more contemporary editions and adaptation into other formats, said British Council.

This new research also underlined the continued importance and relevance of Shakespeare in the 21st century. Over a third of those questioned said Shakespeare made them feel more positive about Britain in general.

Previous research conducted by the British Council in 2014 showed that Shakespeare was the leading personality that 18 to 34 year olds in Brazil, China, Germany, India and the US most identified with contemporary British arts and culture.​

​New Delhi, April 20 (IANS) The heat is slowly picking up in the burgeoning VR gaming market and Indian VR players are set to jump on the bandwagon. The $599 Oculus Rift virtual reality (VR) device is now being shipped. The $799 high-end HTC Vive is set to hit the global market later this year and Sony's $399 fully-immersive PlayStation VR is

Beijing, April 20 (IANS) China collected 2.98 trillion yuan ($458 billion) in taxes in the first quarter of 2016 -- up 9.8 percent year-on-year, data from the State Administration of Taxation (SAT) showed on Wednesday.

​San Francisco, April 20 (IANS) US chip-maker Intel has said that it will cut 12,000 jobs globally by mid-2017 in a restructuring initiative designed to meet the challenge of declining personal computer market.

​Beijing, April 20 (IANS) The Chinese economy will overcome the difficulties it is facing currently and will continue to occupy an enviable position over the next two decades, Jack Ma, founder and chairman of e-commerce giant Alibaba, said on Wednesday.

​New York, April 12 (IANS) Scientists have created a new, low-cost approach to build a knee model for studying knee pain and impaired mobility.

The reconstructed knee model closely simulates the movement of the patella (kneecap) observed in cadaver knee models. 

Because the kneecap acts like a shield for knee joint, it can easily be broken. Falling directly onto the knee is a common cause of patellar fractures. 

Researchers Gian Luca Gervasi, Roberto Tiribuzi and a team from the University of Ioannina, Greece and Giuliano Cerulli from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Italy used a motion tracking system to measure the position of the patella as different loads and forces were applied to the knee model at various degrees of flexion.

They used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of a real knee to develop the computer-aided design software files used by a 3D printer to create the three main components of the knee and a navigation system for combining them with artificial ligaments and a tendon.

The team presented the results of static experiments in the study published in the journal 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing.​