Knowledge Update

​New York, Nov 23 (IANS) In the largest study of its kind, researchers have discovered rare genetic variations linked to schizophrenia, a severe mental disorder that often includes psychotic experiences, such as delusions or hearing voices that are not there.

The Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, an international team led by Jonathan Sebat from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine in the US analysed the genomes of more than 41,000 people.

Their study, published in the journal Nature Genetics, revealed several regions of the genome where mutations increase schizophrenia risk between four- and 60-fold.

These mutations, known as copy number variants, are deletions or duplications of the DNA sequence. 

A copy number variant may affect dozens of genes, or it can disrupt or duplicate a single gene. 

"This type of variation can cause significant alterations to the genome and lead to psychiatric disorders," said Sebat.

Analysing the genomes of 21,094 people with schizophrenia and 20,227 people without schizophrenia, the team of more than 260 researchers found eight locations in the genome with copy number variants associated with schizophrenia risk. 

The researchers also found that these copy number variants occurred more frequently in genes involved in the function of synapses, the connections between brain cells that transmit chemical messages.

"We're confident that applying this same approach to a lot of new data will help us discover additional genomic variations and identify specific genes that play a role in schizophrenia and other psychiatric conditions," Sebat said.

Washington, Nov 23 (IANS) Aiming to understanding why the roundworm that causes river blindness has started developing resistance to the drug used as the first-line treatment for the disease, a new study sheds light on the genetic makeup of the parasite.

The drug ivermectin remains the first-line treatment to target the parasite. The drug's discoverers were honoured with the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine just last year.

But after several decades of exposure to ivermectin, these parasites are beginning to show resistance.

"We want to understand the origin of this resistance," said senior study author Makedonka Mitreva, Associate Professor of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

The parasite that causes river blindness infects about 37 million people in parts of Africa and Latin America, causing blindness and other major eye and skin diseases in about five million of them. 

The parasite is a roundworm called Onchocerca volvulus and is carried by black flies that thrive near rivers and streams. 

"Are these parasites evolving to survive the treatment, or are the surviving worms actually new strains that have been introduced due to migration of the black flies or of the parasite itself?" Mitreva asked.

To find out, Mitreva and her colleagues studied samples of the roundworms that have been stored since the early 1990s, before large-scale ivermectin treatment programmes began. 

They also are sequencing present-day strains for comparison. The current study, published in the journal Nature Microbiology, reports data only from the historical samples.

"We worked hard to find samples of the parasite that had not been exposed to the drug because we needed to establish an ancestral baseline," Mitreva said. 

The new study included 27 roundworm samples taken in the early 1990s from four distinct regions -- West African forest, West African savanna, Uganda and Ecuador.

"In West Africa, there are two separate strains of this parasite based on geographic areas -- the savanna strain and the forest strain," Mitreva said.

"The severity of the disease caused by each strain is very different. The savanna strains are much more virulent and have been associated with higher rates of blindness. The forest strains cause a mild skin disease. That's why we wanted to see how they differ genetically," she added.

According to Mitreva, the Uganda strains, collected in central Africa, could not be classified as either the forest or savanna strain. Similarly, the strains from Ecuador, in South America, were also very different from the African strains.

In general, Mitreva said, large-scale control efforts -- including mass treatment with ivermectin and the use of insecticides to reduce black fly populations -- have been very effective over the past 30 years. 

But since pockets of drug resistance are showing up, she said studies such as this one are important if the World Health Organisation's goal of eliminating the parasite by 2025 is to be met

​Washington, Nov 23 (IANS) NASA has selected SpaceX to provide launch services for the agencys April 2021 mission designed to make the first-ever global survey of Earths surface water.

The mission is likely to be launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The total cost for NASA to launch the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission is approximately $112 million, which includes the launch service; spacecraft processing; payload integration; and tracking, data and telemetry support, the US space agency said on Wednesday.

Designed to make the first-ever global survey of Earth's surface water, in addition to high-resolution ocean measurements, the SWOT mission will collect detailed measurements of how water bodies on Earth change over time.

The satellite will survey at least 90 per cent of the globe, studying Earth's lakes, rivers, reservoirs and oceans, at least twice every 21 days, aid in freshwater management around the world, to improve ocean circulation models and weather and climate predictions. 

The SWOT spacecraft will be jointly developed and managed by NASA and the French space agency Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES).

NASA said its launch services programme at Kennedy Space Center in Florida will manage the SpaceX launch service. 

SpaceX currently has nine NASA missions on its planned launch manifest for upcoming contracts, but it still hasn't provided a definite date for resuming launches following the explosion of a SpaceX rocket during pre-flight checks on a launch pad in September, Techcrunch.com reported.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket exploded on September 1 at Cape Canaveral, Florida during a pre-launch test, destroying the rocket itself and a $200-million communications satellite that was set to play a key role in Facebook's plans to provide internet access to remote villages in Africa. No one was injured in the explosion.

In a series of tweets in September, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk termed the launch pad accident as the "the most difficult and complex failure" in the company's 14-year history.

​Beijing, Nov 15 (IANS) Chinese internet and technology conglomerate LeEco on Tuesday announced receiving $600 million in funding from Chinese institutional investors and that it has appointed Anthony Gao (Gao Jun) as new President for its Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

Beijing, Nov 15 (IANS) The Chinese yuan on Tuesday fell sharply to an almost eight-year low against the US dollar.

The central parity rate of the yuan weakened 204 basis points to 6.8495 against the dollar, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trading System (CFETS).

​San Francisco, Nov 15 (IANS) In a bid to help charity organisations get seamless donations, Apple Pay has made it easier and secure to donate to non-profit organisations with just a touch.

London, Nov 14 (IANS) Global carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels are projected to rise only slightly in 2016, marking three years of almost no growth, says a study.

The researchers said that carbon emissions did not grow last year and the projected rise of only 0.2 per cent for 2016 marks a clear break from the rapid emissions growth of 2.3 per cent per year in the decade to 2013, with just 0.7 per cent growth seen in 2014.

The study, published in the journal Earth System Science Data, however, pointed out that although the break in emissions rise ties in with the pledges by countries to decrease emissions until 2030, it falls short of the reductions needed to limit climate change well below two degrees Celsius.

"This third year of almost no growth in emissions is unprecedented at a time of strong economic growth. This is a great help for tackling climate change but it is not enough. Global emissions now need to decrease rapidly, not just stop growing," Corinne Le Quere, Professor at University of East Anglia (UEA) in Britain who led the data analysis, said.

The analysis by researchers at the University of East Anglia and the Global Carbon Project, a group of scientists who measure how much carbon dioxide (CO2) humans emit every year, and how much is subsequently absorbed by plants, land surfaces and oceans, showed emissions growth remained below one per cent despite GDP growth exceeding three per cent.

The researchers identified decreased use of coal in China and the US as the main reason behind the three-year slowdown.

China - the biggest emitter of CO2 at 29 per cent - saw emissions decrease by 0.7 per cent in 2015, compared to growth of more than five per cent per year the previous decade. 

The scientists have projected a further reduction of 0.5 per cent is projected for 2016.

The US, the second biggest emitter of CO2 at 15 per cent, also reduced its coal use while increasing its oil and gas consumption and saw emissions decrease 2.6 per cent last year.

US emissions are projected to decrease by 1.7 per cent in 2016.

The European Union's 28 member states are the third largest emitter causing 10 per cent of emissions. The EU's CO2 emissions went up 1.4 percent in 2015, in contrast with longer term decreases.

India contributed 6.3 per cent of all global CO2 emissions in 2015, the study said.

The Global Carbon Budget analysis showed that, in spite of a lack of growth in emissions, the growth in atmospheric CO2 concentration was a record-high in 2015, and could be a record again in 2016 due to weak carbon sinks.

"Part of the CO2 emissions are absorbed by the ocean and by trees. With temperatures soaring in 2015 and 2016, less CO2 was absorbed by trees because of the hot and dry conditions related to the El Niño event. Atmospheric CO2 levels have exceeded 400 parts per million (ppm) and will continue to rise and cause the planet to warm until emissions are cut down to near zero," Le Quere said.

​Toronto, Nov 15 (IANS) Indian-origin researchers at York University in Toronto have developed a solution for water treatment that uses only naturally available antimicrobial substances and sugar.

The paper strip solution called "DipTreat" is laced with sugar to kill E. coli bacteria in contaminated water.

"We were able to efficiently remove almost 90 per cent of bacteria by dipping the special paper strip, DipTreat, in contaminated water samples," said one of the researchers Sushanta Mitra.

The discovery will be key to developing a new generation of inexpensive and portable water treatment devices, with human health benefits around the world - from the far north of Canada to the remote villages of India, Mitra said.

"Now with DipTreat, we have learned it will take less than two hours to fish, trap and kill E. coli in water," Mitra, Professor at York University's Lassonde School of Engineering.

While using porous paper strips to trap the bacterial cells, for killing, the researchers used an antimicrobial agent extracted from the seeds of moringa -- commonly known as drumstick or horseradish tree. 

As a result, the DipTreat solution for water treatment uses only naturally available antimicrobial substances and sugar, with minimal environmental and health impact. 

Currently, popular water treatment systems use silver nanoparticles and clays, whose long term impact on human health is yet to be fully understood, according Mitra. 

So far, DipTreat is effective for small quantities of water. For example, someone who is hiking can collect a glass of water and then dip the paper strips to purify it before drinking. 

The researchers believe that the invention could lead to a much greater impact. 

Published in the journal Environmental Science Water Research & Technology, the study is co-authored by Mitra, Saumyadeb Dasgupta and Naga Siva Gunda.

​New York, Nov 22 (IANS) Researchers have identified that X chromosome -- one of the sex chromosomes that determines whether an individual is male or female -- plays a major role in the increased incidence of cancer occurrence in males.

"Across virtually every type of cancer, occurrence rates are higher in males than in females. In some cases, the difference might be very small -- just a few percent points -- but in certain cancers, incidence is two or three times higher in males," said Andrew Lane from at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Massachusetts, US. 

Men outpace women in developing many cancers, including those associated with tobacco use, such as kidney, renal, bladder, and oral cancers, Lane said. 

The disparity is present among boys and girls, as well as men and women.

"Data from the National Cancer Institute show that males carry about a 20 per cent higher risk than females of developing cancer. That translates into 150,000 additional new cases of cancer in men every year," Lane added.

In the study, the researchers specifically focussed on tumour suppressor genes -- which protect the cells from cancer. In cancers, these tumour suppressor genes are often mutated or deleted and are no longer functional.

X chromosome were the only genes that were mutated more frequently in male cancers than female cancers.

Males have an X and a Y chromosome, and females have two X. 

In females, one of the X chromosomes shuts down and remains inactive for life to balance out the gene expression. 

The study showed that some genes on the inactivated X chromosome in female cells "escape" that dormant state and function normally. 

Thus females are protected from cancer to some relative extent because they have two copies of these genes whereas males only have one, the researchers said. 

So if they are going to get a cancer that those genes are involved in, they have to mutate them twice, whereas males only have to have one mutation, Lane said.

The study was reported in a paper published online in the journal Nature Genetics. 

​New York, Nov 22 (IANS) In a new breakthrough research, Brazilian scientists have developed a new technology that will enable parents to watch their unborn babies grow in realistic three-dimensional immersive visualisation.

The new technology combines magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) -- which provides high-resolution foetal and placental imaging with excellent contrast -- and ultrasound data to scan segments of the mother's womb and foetus to build a 3-D model which can be brought to life by using a virtual reality (VR) headset.

"The 3-D foetal models combined with virtual reality immersive technologies may improve our understanding of foetal anatomical characteristics and can be used for educational purposes and as a method for parents to visualise their unborn baby," said Heron Werner Jr. from the Clinica de Diagnostico por Imagem, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Sequentially-mounted MRI slices are used to begin construction of the model. A segmentation process follows in which the physician selects the body parts to be reconstructed in 3-D. 

Once an accurate 3-D model is created -- including the womb, umbilical cord, placenta and foetus -- the virtual reality device can be programmed to incorporate the model, the study said.

The virtual reality foetal 3-D models are remarkably similar to the post-natal appearance of the newborn baby. 

They recreate the entire internal structure of the foetus, including a detailed view of the respiratory tract, which can aid doctors in assessing abnormalities, Werner added.

The technology also can help coordinate care with multidisciplinary teams and provide better visual information to parents to help them understand malformations and treatment decisions.

"We believe that these images will help facilitate a multidisciplinary discussion about some pathologies in addition to bringing a new experience for parents when following the development of their unborn child," Werner said.

The study will be presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago, US.