Knowledge Update

​Washington, April 18 (IANS) Citing the impact of demonetisation, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday cut Indias 2017 GDP growth forecast by 0.4 percentage points to 7.2 per cent.

​Thiruvananthapuram, April 19 (IANS) A component of the skin mucus secreted by a frog species found in India can be harnessed to kill influenza viruses, new research has found.

In their experiment, the researchers found that when delivered intranasally, one of the antiviral peptides found in skin secretions from the Indian frog Hydrophylax bahuvistara can kill H1 variety of influenza viruses that can affect humans.

The research, carried out by researchers from Emory University in the US and Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology in Thiruvananthapuram, also showed that the compound can protect unvaccinated mice against a lethal dose of some flu viruses. 

The researchers believe that the compound has the potential to contribute to first-line anti-viral treatments during influenza outbreaks.

Frogs' skins were known to secrete "host defense peptides" that defend them against bacteria. 

The new finding, published in the journal Immunity, suggests that the peptides represent a resource for antiviral drug discovery as well.

Anti-flu peptides could become handy when vaccines are unavailable, in the case of a new pandemic strain, or when circulating strains become resistant to current drugs, said senior author Joshy Jacob, Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Emory Vaccine Center and Emory University School of Medicine in in Atlanta, Georgia, US.

Jacob and his colleagues named the antiviral peptide they identified urumin, after a whip-like sword called "urumi" used in southern India centuries ago. 

Urumin was collected for the study after mild electrical stimulation of the frog.

Peptides are short chains of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. Some anti-bacterial peptides work by punching holes in cell membranes, and are thus toxic to mammalian cells, but urumin was not.

Instead, urumin appeared to only disrupt the integrity of flu virus, as seen through electron microscopy. 

It binds the stalk of hemagglutinin, a less variable region of the flu virus that is also the target of proposed universal vaccines, the study said.

This specificity could be valuable because current anti-influenza drugs target other parts of the virus, Jacob said.

Urumin was specific for H1 strains of flu, such as the 2009 pandemic strain, and was not effective against other current strains such as H3N2, the study pointed out.

​Washington, April 19 (IANS) NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has captured a region of Mars sprayed with mysterious secondary craters.

"Secondary craters form from rocks ejected at high speed from the primary crater, which then impact the ground at sufficiently high speed to make huge numbers of much smaller craters over a large region," NASA said in a statement on Tuesday.

"In this scene, however, the secondary crater ejecta has an unusual raised-relief appearance like bas-relief sculpture," NASA added.

So how did that happen?

One idea is that the region was covered with a layer of fine-grained materials like dust or pyroclastics about one to two metres thick when the Zunil impact occurred (about a million years ago), and the ejecta served to harden or otherwise protect the fine-grained layer from later erosion by the wind, NASA scientists said.

​Hyderabad, April 13 (IANS) The Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC), part of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), on Thursday said it has set a new world record with production of 1512 Ametric tonnes (MT) of nuclear fuel in 2016-17, surpassing its own record

NFC in Hyderabad, which produces fuel assemblies required for all the operating nuclear power reactors in the country, became world's highest producer of nuclear fuel with the production of 1503 MT of pressurised heavy-water reactor (PHWR) fuel bundles during 2015-16.

NFC is the only organisation in the world today having a comprehensive nuclear fuel manufacturing cycle - from ore to core, involving processing of both Uranium and Zirconium streams all under a single roof, it said in a statement.

The organisation made a modest beginning with 100 MT per year Aand went on augmenting it's capacity to cater to the fuel requirement of all the operating Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) and Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs).

NFC attributed the increased production to process improvement and automation, besides the dedicated efforts by its employees.

It also achieved the highest production of 1154 MT of Zirconium Oxide powder and 759 MT of Zirconium Sponge from its production units at Hyderabad and at Zirconium Complex (ZC), Pazhayakayal to meet the Zircaloy requirements of the PHWRs and BWRs.

The Complex is also engaged in the manufacturing of various Zirconium alloy reactor core structurals for PHWRs and BWRs, apart from manufacture of all the sub-assemblies and special requirement of Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) being set up at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu.

NFC over the years has mastered the technology of manufacturing seamless tubes and has been meeting critical requirements of the departments of atomic energy, space and defence, be it for the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), battle tanks, missiles, supercritical boilers or the BrahMos, it added.

NFC is expanding its facilities to meet the future requirement of twenty, 700 MWe PHWRs, proposed to be established in a phased manner across the country.

As part of NFC-Kota project with an outlay of Rs 2400 crore is being executed and further augmentation of the existing facilities at Hyderabad campus and Zirconium Complex, Pazhayakayal are also in the offing, the statement said.

New Delhi, April 18 (IANS) Most of us may not realise this but as cyber security threats rise globally, even a non-secure, multi-function printer can fall prey to hackers who can break into an organisation's network to steal confidential information, global PC and printer major HP India said on Tuesday.

​Helsinki, April 18 (IANS) Among a series of documents signed by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto here in April, the innovation partnership impressed Nokia's head Risto Siilasmaa the most.

Nay Pyi Taw, April 18 (IANS) Myanmar's total foreign trade increased by $1.086 billion in the just-ended fiscal year 2016-2017 from the previous fiscal year 2015-2016, the Ministry of Commerce here said on Tuesday.

​New York, April 18 (IANS) If you thought brain games could make you smarter, think again. In a study, researchers at Florida State University in the US found no evidence that such games increase overall cognitive abilities. An increasing number of people believe brain training helps protect them against memory loss or cognitive disorders, said Neil Charness, Professor of Psychology. "Our findings and previous studies confirm there's very little evidence these types of games can improve your life in a meaningful way," Associate Professor Wally Boot said. The study focused on whether brain games could boost the "working memory" needed for a variety of tasks. In their study, the researchers set up one group of people to play a specially designed brain-training video game called "Mind Frontiers," while another group of players performed crossword games or number puzzles. All players were given lots of information they needed to juggle to solve problems. Researchers tested whether the games enhanced players' working memory and consequently improved other mental abilities, such as reasoning, memory and processing speed. That is the theory behind many brain games: If you improve overall working memory, which is fundamental to so much of what we do every day, then you can enhance performance in many areas of your life. The team examined whether improving working memory would translate to better performance on other tasks. They found no such evidence, according to the study published in the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience "It's possible to train people to become very good at tasks that you would normally consider general working memory tasks: memorizing 70, 80, even 100 digits," Charness said. "But these skills tend to be very specific and not show a lot of transfer. The thing that seniors in particular should be concerned about is, if I can get very good at crossword puzzles, is that going to help me remember where my keys are? And the answer is probably no," Charness said. The researchers suggested that to improve cognitive function, people should better get some aerobic exercise rather than sitting in front of the computer playing these games

Mumbai, April 18 (IANS) Hyderabad-based wearable technology company Ducere Technologies on Tuesday announced its partnership with Tata-owned consumer durables retail chain Croma to offer the worlds first haptic-based interactive insoles -- LECHAL -- for offline distribution. Priced at Rs 6,999, Lechal wearable product is GPS navigated and helps users track their direction, keeps a record for their route and checks fitness levels. By pairing the insoles with the Lechal app to track Maps via bluetooth, the user can set a destination and receive directions via haptic vibrations on his/her feet making any journey truly hands-free. The Lechal app is available on both android and iOS-enabled devices. "We are happy to announce our partnership with Croma, one of the biggest consumer durable retail chains in the country. With union of these two big alliances this year, we truly believe to have a balanced business outcome," said Krispian Lawrence, Founder and CEO Ducere Technologies in a statement.