Knowledge Update

New York, Jan 16 (IANS) Researchers from Harvard University have developed a multiregional brain-on-a-chip that models the connectivity between three distinct regions of the brain.

The in-vitro model was used to extensively characterise the differences between neurons from different regions of the brain and to mimic the system's connectivity.

"The brain is so much more than individual neurons. When modelling the brain, you need to be able to recapitulate that connectivity because there are many different diseases that attack those connections," said Ben Maoz, a postdoctoral fellow in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). 

Researchers from the Disease Biophysics Group at SEAS and the Wyss Institute modelled three regions of the brain most affected by schizophrenia - the amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.

They began by characterising the cell composition, protein expression, metabolism, and electrical activity of neurons from each region in vitro.

"It's no surprise that neurons in distinct regions of the brain are different but it is surprising just how different they are," added Stephanie Dauth, co-first author of the paper.

"We found that the cell-type ratio, the metabolism, the protein expression and the electrical activity all differ between regions in vitro. This shows that it does make a difference which brain region's neurons you're working with," Dauth noted.

The team then looked at how these neurons change when they're communicating with one another. 

"When the cells are communicating with other regions, the cellular composition of the culture changes, the electrophysiology changes, all these inherent properties of the neurons change," said Maoz in a paper published in the Journal of Neurophysiology. 

The team doped different regions of the brain with the drug Phencyclidine hydrochloride -- commonly known as PCP -- which simulates schizophrenia. 

The brain-on-a-chip allowed the researchers for the first time to look at both the drug's impact on the individual regions as well as its downstream effect on the interconnected regions in vitro.

"The brain-on-a-chip could be useful for studying any number of neurological and psychiatric diseases, including drug addiction, post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury," the authors wrote.

Colombo, Jan 15 (IANS) Sri Lanka is building a mega port city project in its capital Colombo that will transform the country into an international financial and business hub in the Indian Ocean region in the coming years.

​London, Jan 15 (IANS) If you think playfulness is associated only with childhood, you may be wrong. A new study suggests that playfulness in adults is a positive trait which may help them to see things from new perspectives, turn monotonous tasks into something interesting as well as help them when choosing partners and in romantic relationships. The study showed that playful people are able to reinterpret situations in their lives so that they experience them as entertaining or are able to reduce stress levels. People who describe themselves as playful are also viewed by others as such. Playfulness should not be equated with humour. Instead we need a new vocabulary to describe it, said Rene Proyer from Martin Luther University (MLU) in Halle-Wittenberg, Germany. "Playfulness is an independent personality trait that shares certain aspects with five global dimensions -- including extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience and emotional stability that are frequently used to describe personality -- but which cannot be interchanged," Proyer explained. In the study, the researchers identified four basic types of playful adults. "There are people who like to fool around with friends and acquaintances. We describe this as other-directed playfulness. By contrast, light-heartedly playful people regard their whole life as a type of game," Proyer said. Another category includes people who like to play with thoughts and ideas -- this describes intellectual playfulness. These people are able to turn monotonous tasks into something interesting. The psychologist describes the final group as being whimsically playful. "These people tend to be interested in strange and unusual things and are amused by small day-to-day observations." Conversely, playfulness in adults has also been associated with negative connotations. Playful people are sometimes not taken seriously or are seen as unreliable, as they may easily change perspectives to find unusual and novel solutions, to complex problems. The study was published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.

New York, Jan 15 (IANS) If you can spare 20 minutes everyday for moderate exercise, it will stimulate your immune system and make you less prone to diseases like arthritis and fibromyalgia, a new research has found. Scientists at the University of California (UC) in San Diego found one session of moderate exercise can act as an anti-inflammatory. "Our study found one session of about 20 minutes of moderate treadmill exercise resulted in a five per cent decrease in the number of stimulated immune cells producing TNF," said Suzi Hong from UC. Scientists noted that during exercise, the brain and sympathetic nervous system are activated, enabling the body to carry out work while the hormones that are released into the blood stream trigger adrenergic receptors, which immune cells possess. According to the researchers, exercises do not have to be intense to have anti-inflammatory effects, but a moderate session would suffice. "Patients with chronic inflammatory diseases should always consult with their physician regarding the appropriate treatment plan, but knowing that exercise can act as an anti-inflammatory is an exciting step forward in possibilities," Hong noted in a study published in Brain, Behaviour and Immunity.

​New York, Jan 15 (IANS) A new image analysis technique can use cell phone images to quickly find and track important biological molecules, including tell-tale signs of disease.

Developed by scientists from the University of Southern California (USC), "Hyper-Spectral Phasor" analysis, or HySP, has the ability to look at many different molecules in one pass.

"By looking at multiple targets or watching targets move over time, we can get a much better view of what is actually happening within complex living systems," said Francesco Cutrale from the USC.

The study says that one day it might also be possible for clinicians to use HySP to analyse cell phone pictures of skin lesions to determine if they are at risk of being cancerous.

Clinicians could examine the patient further to be certain of a diagnosis and respond appropriately.

Researchers use fluorescent imaging to locate proteins and other molecules in cells and tissues that works by tagging the molecules with dyes that glow under certain kinds of light.

"Both scientists at the bench and scientists at the clinic will be able to perform their work faster and with greater confidence in the results," Cutrale said in a study published in the journal Nature Methods.

Beijing, Jan 15 (IANS) Beijing, one of the most polluted cities of the world, will spend $2.6 billion to curb deadly air pollution.

The city of about nearly 22 million has been grappling with suffocating smog for years thanks to unbridled industrialisation in and around the capital city. 

Beijing will spend 18.2 billion yuan ($2.6 billion) to fight air pollution in 2017, officials were quoted by Xinhua news agency. 

This year, Beijing will replace coal with clean energy for 700 villages and phase out 300,000 high-polluting old vehicles. 

It will close or upgrade 2,570 polluting factories, said acting mayor Cai Qi Cai said Beijing will take tougher measures to improve the city's air quality in 2017. 

Acts of excessively or secretly discharging pollutants will be severely punished, Cai added. 

Beijing will also set up environment police thie year. 

The environment police squad can detain suspects in serious environment-related cases, the official told municipal lawmakers. 

The environment police will work with the city's environmental protection authorities to crack down on violations in environmental protection, Fang Li, head of the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau. 

​London, Jan 15 (IANS) Want to make your New Year resolution successful? Try relocating, as it may help to overcome the things one wants to change in themselves, a new study says.

The study showed that the time for successful habit change is not based on the calendar, but on big changes in our everyday lives like moving to a new home."Changing your habits is very difficult, including finding the right moment to make a change," said Bas Verplanken, Professor at the University of Bath in Britain.

New Year may be a nice moment to mark the start of a new phase, but "the change in behaviour is embedded in other changes," Verplanken explains."In the case of moving to a new home for instance, people may need to find new solutions for how to do things in the new house, where and how to shop, commute, and so on. All of these aspects are absent when talking about New Year resolutions," Verplanken added.

For the study, the researchers studied the behaviours of over 800 people, half of whom had recently moved and the rest who had been at the same home for several years.The participants responded to questions on 25 environment related behaviours including water and energy use, commuting choices, and waste (food waste, recycling).

The result showed that people who recently relocated reported more change eight weeks later on a composite of twenty-five environment-relevant behaviours compared to participants who had not recently relocated.These results were consistent in spite of the strength of previous habits and views, and are consistent with research from others. The study was presented at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) Annual Convention in the US.

​London, Jan 14 (IANS) The risk of death by cardiovascular diseases due to depression may be just as great as that posed by high cholesterol levels and obesity, a study has found. Worldwide 350 million people are affected by depression, according to the World Health Organisation. "Our study shows that the risk of a fatal cardiovascular disease due to depression is almost as great as that due to elevated cholesterol levels or obesity," said Karl-Heinz Ladwig, professor at Technical University of Munich (TUM) in Germany. Depression accounted for nearly 15 per cent of the cardiovascular deaths. "That is comparable to the other risk factors, such as hypercholesterolemia, obesity and smoking," Ladwig said, noting that these factors cause 8.4 to 21.4 per cent of the cardiovascular deaths. In the study, the team included 3,428 male patients between the ages of 45 and 74 years and observed their development over a period of 10 years. The researchers analysed the relationship between depression and other risk factors like tobacco smoke, high cholesterol levels, obesity or hypertension and how big a role does each factor play? The results show that only high blood pressure and smoking are associated with a greater risk. The study was recently published in the journal Atherosclerosis.

Dubai, Jan 14 (IANS) The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has inaugurated its first "robot pharmacy" at Rashid Hospital in Dubai, a media report said on Friday.

This smart pharmacy is deploying a robot for the first time in the UAE to dispense prescribed medication, which would be done at a click of button based on a bar code,

Beijing, Jan 14 (IANS) Chinese internet and technology conglomerate LeEco has secured over $2 billion in investment from real estate developer Sunac China Holdings, media reports said.