Knowledge Update

Sydney, April 10 (IANS) A pioneering anaesthesia technique that makes surgery safer for patients with obstructed airways has helped save at least one life already, doctors in Australia said on Monday.

"An adult patient with an infected epiglottis was in danger of having his airway blocked by rapid swelling, and this technique enabled us to safely control his airway without surgery," said Anton Booth, Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia.

"It is also making a difference to quality of life for those people who may previously have been unsuitable for surgery," Booth said in a university news release.

In a study conducted at Australia's Princess Alexandra Hospital, the team combined two relatively new techniques.

"Traditionally with anaesthesia we expect patients to stop breathing, as we are putting them into a state resembling a medically-induced coma," Booth said.

"Our job as anaesthetists is to take over breathing for the patient to keep them oxygenated, often through intubation. In patients undergoing surgery for narrowed airways we can't insert a tube into the trachea where the surgeons are trying to operate," he said.

"Instead we implemented a way to keep the patient breathing spontaneously during anaesthesia," Booth added.

The team supplemented that approach by adding high-flow nasal oxygen supply, previously used in intensive care and respiratory units.

"Through this combination we have been able to manage anaesthesia for patients with very challenging airway narrowing," he said.

"We have been able to achieve quite spectacular improvements in oxygen levels while patients are in deep anaesthesia. This is a modern alternative to traditional techniques and has great potential to be used in many other scenarios," Booth said.

The technique, known as STRIVE Hi, was detailed in the British Journal of Anaesthesia.

New York, April 10 (IANS) Just by looking at images of winter scenery and imagining yourself in such a setting can help you have increased cognitive control, say researchers.

Cognitive control is the ability to deliberately inhibit responses or make choices that maximise the long-term best interests of the individual. For example, when a person is very hungry and sees a sandwich but does not eat it, he/she is exhibiting cognitive control.

"Metaphorical phrases like 'coldly calculating', 'heated response' and 'cool-headed' actually have some scientific validity, which we demonstrate in our study," said lead researcher Idit Shalev from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) in Israel. 

The findings, published in the journal Psychological Research, demonstrated that the perception of cold temperatures elicits greater cognitive control, even from a photo.

"Previous research focused on the actual effect of temperature on the psychological phenomenon known as 'cognitive control'," Shalev said. 

"But this is the first time we were able to measure the effects of perceived temperature," Shalev added.

In one of the experiments conducted for the study, 28 students were shown images of winter scenery, a temperature-neutral concrete street and a sunny landscape, and told to picture themselves in those settings.

The researchers then measured how the participants performed on an "anti-saccade task", an established cognitive control measure which requires looking in the direction opposite to which an object is moving.

"The result indicated that those viewing the cold landscape did better and that even without a physical trigger, cognitive control can be activated through conceptual processes alone," Shalev said.

The researchers said there is a possible explanation for the relation of temperature and cognitive control with social proximity. 

"While signals of warmth induce a relaxed attitude, cool signals trigger alertness and a possible need for greater cognitive control," Shalev explained.

​New York, April 8 (IANS) In a tough challenge to team collaboration tool Slack, Facebook has announced to offer a version of Workplace for free.

Workplace, Facebook's messaging service for businesses, is one of the many products used by businesses to chat and share files within their select groups.

​New York, April 8 (IANS) Researchers have discovered a protein that could help make vaccinations more effective and also provide protection from other diseases such as cancer.

The researchers purified a protein found on the exterior of bacteria (neisseria meningidis) and used it as an accessory to provide a better vaccination response. 

Typically, vaccines can either increase the amount of antibody production or they can stimulate cells (called cytotoxic T cells) to directly kill the offending agent. 

The protein, called PorB, is unique in that it can do both, the researchers said. 

The study, published online in the journal Scientific Reports, may lead to greater understanding of how vaccine enhancers work and can best be used.

"This study has wide implications as it could not only be used to help the body identify and fight off bacterial infections, but it could also potentially help the body use its own machinery to fight off other diseases like cancer, HIV, and influenza before they have a chance to establish within the body," explained corresponding author Lee Wetzler, Professor of Medicine and Microbiology at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) in the US.

In this study, the researchers used two experimental models. The first model was given a vaccination with antigen and mixed PorB, while the second model was given the antigen alone. 

The model that received the PorB had an increase in the response to the vaccine antigen, evidenced by an increased number of activated cells in the lymph nodes and a gain in the production of cytotoxic T cells, as compared to the vaccination with the antigen alone.

"Our study deepens the general understanding of how vaccine adjuvants modulate immune responses," Wetzler said.

"The antigen formulation with PorB triggers a sequence of cellular events at the periphery and in lymphoid tissue that are critical for the establishment of protection to a broad array of infectious diseases, and maybe for other diseases like cancer," Wetzler added.

New Delhi, April 7 (IANS) With the cost of clean technology continues to fall, the world added record levels of renewable energy capacity in 2016, at an investment level 23 per cent lower than the previous year, says an international research.

​Rome, April 7 (IANS) Global prices for all basic foods dropped globally in March, except meat, which rose slightly, said a United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation report.

The FAO's price index for cereal, vegetable oil, sugar, milk and meat markets was at 171 points, a 2.8 per cent fall from the previous month and 13.4 per cent lower year-on-

​Seoul, April 7 (IANS) Riding on an improved performance of its TV and home appliance businesses, LG Electronics Inc. on Friday said its first-quarter operating profit is estimated at 922 billion won ($812.3 million), a market forecast-beating figure.

New Delhi, April 7 (IANS) Driven by e-commerce and financial services, India's internet economy is expected to double from $125 billion to $250 billion -- growing from the current five per cent to 7.5 per cent of the country's GDP, a joint report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE) said on Friday.

​Seoul, April 7 (IANS) The combined sales of Samsung Electronics new flagship Galaxy S8 series, which will officially hit the shelves later this month, are expected to surpass the 40-million-unit-mark, industry data showed on Friday. South Korea's brokerage houses estimated the sales of the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus to be around 43-60 million units, Yonhap news agency reported. Eugene Investment & Securities Co predicted the highest figure of 60 million, while Mirae Asset Daewoo Co expected 51 million units. Samsung Securities Co, a financial arm of Samsung, forecast 45 million phones being sold overall. "As for the Galaxy S models, we can say that a figure around 35 million units can be considered to fall below expectations, while that above 45 million is robust," said Hwang Min-sung, a researcher from Samsung Securities Co. "This year's sales of the Galaxy S8 are not expected to beat the 48 million units posted by the Galaxy S7 last year," Hwang added.' Samsung launched S8 in two screen sizes -- the 5.8-inch Galaxy S8 and 6.2-inch Galaxy S8 Plus -- and will be available from April 21. The device has a bezel-less curved edge "infinity display" covered with pristine glass and a 12MP rear camera with multi-frame processing and optical image stabilisation. It has an 8MP auto-focus front shooter. Available in five different colours, the device has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 octa-core (2.35GHz quad + 1.7GHz quad) processor. For models that will be available in countries other than the US, Samsung has used Exynos octa-core (2.35 GHz quad + 1.9 GHZ quad) processor. The company has also upped the security feature with iris scanner, face recognition and fingerprint scanner -- moved to the back of the device -- to unlock the device.

​New York, April 7 (IANS) Customers are more satisfied with Microsoft's Surface tablets than they are with Apple's iPad and tablets built by Samsung, LG, Amazon, Acer and Asus, a study by US-based marketing information services company J.D. Power said on Friday. According to J.D. Power 2017 US Tablet Satisfaction Study, Microsoft is the highest performer in three areas: variety of pre-loaded applications; internet connectivity; and availability of manufacturer-supported accessories. "The Microsoft Surface platform has expanded what tablets can do, and it sets the bar for customer satisfaction," said Jeff Conklin, Vice President, Service Industries, J.D. Power. Additionally, Microsoft has the highest performance in three styling and design attributes: size of tablet; quality of materials used; and attractiveness of tablet design. Customers who want the newest technology -- early adopters -- are picking up Microsoft Surface tablets instead of iPads. The US Tablet Satisfaction Study, now in its sixth year, measures customer satisfaction with tablets across five factors (in order of importance): performance (28 per cent); ease of operation (22 per cent); features (22 per cent); styling and design (17 per cent); and cost (11 per cent). The 2017 study is based on experiences evaluated by 2,238 tablet owners who have owned their current device for less than one year.