Knowledge Update

​New York, Oct 7 (IANS) Snap Inc -- the parent company of popular photo-sharing messaging service Snapchat -- is considering an initial public offering (IPO) that can value the company at $25 billion or more, media reported on Friday.

New York, Oct 7 (IANS) Snap Inc -- the parent company of popular photo-sharing messaging service Snapchat -- is considering an initial public offering (IPO) that can value the company at $25 billion or more, media reported on Friday.

​Seoul, Oct 7 (IANS) Samsung Electronics saw its operating profit rise in the third quarter despite a global recall of Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, the company said on Friday.

The South Korean tech behemoth posted 7.8 trillion won ($7 billion) in its preliminary figure for operating profit during the July-September period, up 5.55 per cent from the

​London, Oct 7 (IANS) The next time you visit a hospital, do not be surprised if you find robots as your new nursing assistants.

Robots can imitate human motions as well as effectively coordinate their actions with humans even with surgeries, a research has found.

​New York, Oct 8 (IANS) Facebook has introduced a standalone app that allows event seekers to keep up with nearby events and finding things to do with their friends.

Whether you are looking for something to attend this weekend or just wondering what is happening in your area, events app will help get you there, the social media giant said.

​New York, Oct 8 (IANS) Technology giant Google will shut down Panoramio, the location-centric photo sharing service that the company used to augment its Google Maps and Google Earth services, in November, a media report said.

New York, Oct 8 (IANS) A pill that prevents the accumulation of toxic molecules in the brain and can help prevent or delay Alzheimer's, can be the next target in the fight against the neurocognitive disease, according to US scientists.

​New York, Oct 8 (IANS) There is more bad news for Samsung. The company lost some ground following incidents of the Galaxy Note 7 battery exploding, and now a US court has reinstated its decision that Samsung had infringed on Apple's patents and owes the company nearly $120 million.

​London, Oct 6 (IANS) Intake of nitrates, typically found in spinach, can boost sports performance particularly at high altitudes with low oxygen conditions, a study has found.

Nitrate, commonly found in green leafy vegetables like spinach, is important for the functioning of the human body, especially during exercise.

The study showed that nitrate supplementation in conjunction with sprint interval training (SIT) -- short, high intensity exercise -- in low oxygen conditions could enhance sport performance.

For the study, a research team from the University of Leuven in Belgium examined 27 moderately trained participants. They were given nitrate supplements ahead of SIT, which took the form of short but intense cycling sessions three times a week.

Further, to assess differences in performance in different conditions, they included workouts in normal oxygen conditions and in hypoxia conditions, which are low oxygen levels such as those found in high altitudes.

After five weeks, the muscle fibre composition changed with the enhanced nitrate intake when training in low oxygen conditions.

"This is probably the first study to demonstrate that a simple nutritional supplementation strategy, i.e. oral nitrate intake, can impact on training-induced changes in muscle fibre composition," said Peter Hespel, Professor at the University of Leuven.

Athletes participating in sports competitions require energy production in conditions with limited amounts of oxygen.

In these conditions, performing intense workouts requires high input of fast-oxidative muscle fibres to sustain the power.

Enhancing these muscle fibre types through nutritional intake could very well boost the performance, the study said.

"It would now be interesting to investigate whether addition of nitrate-rich vegetables to the normal daily sports diet of athletes could facilitate training-induced muscle fibre type transitions and maybe in the long term also exercise performance," Hespel said.

The observations were published in the journal Frontiers in Physiology.

​New York, Oct 8 (IANS) Mother's milk may boost the immunity of a newborn in such a way that it may work against certain diseases like tuberculosis (TB) just as vaccination does, suggests new research.

"Some vaccines are not safe to give a newborn baby and others just don't work very well in newborns," said lead researcher Ameae Walker, Professor at the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine in the US. 

"If we can instead vaccinate mom or boost her vaccination shortly before she becomes pregnant, transferred immune cells during breastfeeding will ensure that the baby is protected early on," Walker explained.

Scientists have long understood that mother's milk provides immune protection against some infectious agents through the transfer of antibodies, a process referred to as "passive immunity." 

The new research, published in the Journal of Immunology, showed that mother's milk also contributes to the development of the baby's own immune system by a process the team calls "maternal educational immunity."

Specific maternal immune cells in the milk cross the wall of the baby's intestine to enter an immune organ called the thymus. Once there, they "educate" developing cells to attack the same infectious organisms to which the mother has been exposed.

"While our work has used mouse models because we can study the process in detail this way, we do know that milk cells cross into human babies as well," Walker pointed out.

The researchers showed that you can vaccinate the mother and this results in vaccination of the baby through this process.

One of the infectious agents the research team studied was the organism that causes tuberculosis. Generally, babies directly vaccinated against TB do not have a very good response. 

"We hope that by vaccinating the mother, who will eventually nurse the baby, we will improve infant immunity against TB," Walker said. 

"It's like vaccinating the baby without actually vaccinating the baby. In some instances, our work has shown that immunity against TB is far more effective if acquired through the milk than if acquired through direct vaccination of the baby," Walker noted.

"Of course, clinical trials will need to be conducted to test whether this is the case in humans," Walker said.