News Around

Barcelona (Spain), 28 November: Large amounts of sediment can be transported from shallow waters to the deep ocean by the cascading of cold, dense waters, a study in this week's Nature suggests. As climate changes, this could have repercussions for the environment.

Water and sediment are transferred to the bottom of the ocean via steep-sided valleys called submarine canyons. It's currently thought that most of these flows are initiated by river floods or sediment collapse. But now Miquel Canals and colleagues show that the process can also be triggered by changes in seawater density.

Future changes in climate could alter the frequency and intensity of these dense shelf water cascading events, which also reshape the canyon floors. So there may be knock-on effects for deep-sea ecosystems and carbon storage.

(ResearchSEA)

LA (USA), 28 November: Ecologists have spotted a never-before-seen pattern in encroachment of gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) in northeastern United States. The moths' invasion occurs in periodic pulses rather than as a smooth wave- controlling population peaks at frontiers may therefore help to fight their spread.

Gypsy moth invasion is arguably the most intensively studied species invasion in history. Since its accidental release near Boston in 1869, the species has swarmed across more than a million square kilometers of United States, defoliating up to 50,000 square kilometers of forest each year.

By analyzing more than four decades' worth of data stretching back to 1960, researchers led by Derek Johnson have spotted that the moths' spread happens in pulses, which occur roughly every four years. As they explain in this week's Nature, this is probably because moths that spread far beyond the current frontier cannot establish breeding populations unless they colonize in sufficient numbers. Thus, moths can spread only at times when their populations are high and so targeting large groups of moths near the edges of the current distribution could help to slow their advance.

(ResearchSEA)

Los Angeles (USA), 28 November: Political Pet Toys has launched its new range of pet chew toys for Christmas. The brand new chew toys that have been added to the range includes Donald Rumsfeld, Karl Rove, Kim of North Korea and the president of Iran.

Political Pet Toys has received many e-mail requests from family members whose relatives are in the military and stationed in Iraq begging for a Donald Rumsfeld chew toy to be made, and other emails from democrats requesting a Karl Rove chew toy. For full effect, Kim of North Korea and the president of Iran are hugging the nuclear missiles they both have dearly wanted for so long.

The creator of Political Pet Toys, Anthony Russell, said today, "What was even more astonishing than how many e-mails we have been receiving over the last few months from family members of troops stationed in Iraq wanting a Rumsfeld chew toy, was how many e-mails we received after he was fired last week, with people begging us to make him so they could purchase the chew toy as a Christmas gift." Russell added, "We have also been receiving e-mails from the usual suspects who are democrats wanting a Karl Rove chew toy and republicans wanting Kim of North Korea and the president of Iran- so we really do try to accommodate all political persuasions at Political Pet Toys."

The pet ownership figures in US are huge with 62% of all US households owning at least one pet, which equates to a staggering 64.2 million homes. These figures indicate pet owners would be the biggest voting block in US today- aside from the number of households who have relatives in the military.

Although family members of soldiers, democrats and republicans will want their dogs to rip these toys to shreds, it is not possible in the literal sense, as each chew toy is made from a PVC-Rubber compound so as to be soft on the animals' gums and will last for years.

(EWORLDWIRE)

Vienna (Austria), 27 November: The analysis of two burial sites of three infants, dated at 27,000 years old, is reported in a Brief Communication in this week's Nature. Two of the babies, estimated to have died shortly after birth and probably twins, were found together. A third, thought to have died after less than three months, was found one meter away.

The well-preserved burials were recovered as ‘blocks’ and analyzed by laser scanning and computer imaging. Christine Neugebauer-Maresch and colleagues believe that the pair of skeletons found together, embedded in red ochre, are twins because their thigh bones are of equal size, indicating they were the same age at death. Their bodies were covered with a mammoth shoulder bone (scapula) supported by part of a tusk, and one of the babies was decorated with over 30 ivory beads.

The burials represent the first findings of such young individuals from the Upper Palaeolithic period and add to the sparse Palaeolithic human remains found so far in Europe. The researchers write that the evidence for ritual burial activities, including the use of red ochre and decoration, indicates that even infantswere important members of these hunter-gatherer communities. They also argue that the fossils of these extremely young individuals will contribute valuable insights into the development of early modern humans.

(ResearchSEA)

Reno (USA), 27 November: A study of 22 historical strike-slip earthquakes has revealed new insights into how an earthquake propagates along a fault and where the end point of a future earthquake rupture is likely to occur. The study, compiled by Steven Wesnousky, is published in this week’s Nature.

Earthquake faults are made up of lots of differently sized segments or ‘steps’, so that when an earthquake occurs, the rupture trace is often discontinuous. The length of an earthquake rupture along the fault will therefore depend on how much stress builds up at the junctions between these fault segments.

Wesnousky studied maps of historical strike-slip earthquakes such as the 1992 Landers quake in California and the 1999 Izmit quake in Turkey. The rupture lengths of these earthquakes ranged from 10 to 420 km. He found that two-thirds of the endpoints of strike-slip earthquake ruptures are associated with these fault steps or with the ends of active fault traces. There appears to be a critical distance of fault step- 3 to 4 km- above which earthquake ruptures do not propagate, and below which rupture propagation ceases only 40% of the time. This limiting dimension observed also seems to be largely independent of the total length of the fault.

The results from this study may be of practical importance in assessing seismic hazards along a fault and how far any future earthquake is likely to propagate along it.

(ResearchSEA)

New Delhi (India), 27 November: European Commission and Indian Ministry of Labor and Employment today signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen dialogue and exchange on employment and social affairs issues of common interest. It follows a decision at EU-India Summit in September 2005 to reinforce cooperation between two partners, including in the area of employment and social policy. It will provide the framework to exchange ideas on areas such as social protection, social cohesion, labor legislation, employment, labor relations and social dialogue. The first exchange under the new agreement- a high-level joint seminar on skills, training and employment- kicks off today.

Vladimir Spidla, EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, and Oscar Fernandes, Indian Minister of Labor and Employment, agreed that the MoU would provide a solid basis for policy dialogue and cooperation. Commissioner Spidla said: "This MoU will provide mutual learning opportunities for both sides. India is a rapidly emerging economy and a major player in international trade- it is time for a policy dialogue between EU and India on employment and social affairs issues. In a globalized world, we can all learn from each other. From our side, we look forward to discuss with India the European experience of integrated employment and social policy."

MoU comes at a time when both sides face up to the challenges linked to globalization, from fostering economic growth and creating quality jobs to safeguarding social cohesion and sustainable development.

(Www.mediabharti.com)

London (UK), 26 November: A protein that stimulates repair in mouse heart is described in a paper published online by Nature this week. The researchers demonstrate that thymosin beta4 (Tbeta4), known to be vital in the initial development of heart tissue, can also promote new vasculature in failing adult heart muscle.

Using mice with Tbeta4 deficiency, Paul Riley and colleagues have determined that Tbeta4 can stimulate the movement of cells from an outer layer of the heart into the heart muscle, where they then form endothelial and smooth muscle cells as part of the process of new vessel formation and stabilization. A second small molecule, AcSDKP, is shown to contribute to the repair process. The team finds that when Tbeta4 is not present, AcSDKP cannot entirely rescue the heart defect, although it does have some protective effect.

The researchers believe Tbeta4 could have therapeutic potential in humans as it could promote heart cell survival after cardiac injury, and understanding how it works is a step towards this aim.

(ResearchSEA)

Milan (Italy), 26 November: A potential stem cell treatment for muscular dystrophy is reported in a paper published online by Nature this week. The team transplanted a specific type of stem cell into the bloodstream of an animal model with the disease, demonstrating that they correct most of the dystrophic abnormalities.

Muscular dystrophy causes muscle degeneration, progressive paralysis and eventually death. Giulio Cossu and colleagues used mesoangioblasts in their study- stem cells, gathered from small blood vessels, that are 'programmed' to develop into muscle cells. They isolated these cells from normal and dystrophic dogs- that is, with an altered dystrophin protein. This animal is the only model system to present with the full spectrum of the disease pathology in humans. Stem cells isolated from dystrophic animals were modified to contain a corrected version of the dystrophin protein. The animals were injected five times at monthly intervals and improvements were seen in all cases. Those receiving unmodified donor cells showed a generally greater improvement than those injected with the corrected versions, but the potential success of using genetically corrected stem cells means that this form of transplant may be used on patients in the absence of life-long immune suppression treatment.

A News and Views article by Jeffrey Chamberlain reports that given the results in the paper, 'a fairly straightforward infusion of stem cells into the blood-stream might one day be able to treat muscular dystrophy.'

(ResearchSEA)

Brussels (Belgium), 26 November 2006: At occasion of joint EU-India Aviation Summit held in New Delhi, Vice-President Jacques Barrot and India's Minister for Civil Aviation Mr. Praful Patel signed a "Joint Declaration" that will lay the foundation for closer cooperation between EU and India in a range of areas of civil aviation.

"Given the strong growth and infrastructure challenges facing India's aviation sector, I am extremely pleased with the prospects of enhancing cooperation in civil aviation with India. The scope for cooperation is huge and will benefit both India and EU industry", said Vice-President Jacques Barrot.

India is one of the world’s fastest growing aviation markets and is of increasing strategic importance to the EU and its industry. In his opening speech at the joint EU-India Aviation Summit, Vice-President Barrot described the common challenges faced by India and the EU in aviation and invited India to face these in partnership through closer cooperation with the EU.

In 2004, India and EU upgraded their already strong overall relationship into a strategic partnership. This strategic partnership is underpinned by an agreed Joint Action Plan in which civil aviation plays a key enabling role.

Since the adoption of the Joint Action Plan in September 2005, co-operation in area of civil aviation has been given new impetus. On this basis Vice-President Barrot and Minister Patel agreed in Delhi on two important concrete steps forward in enhancing EU-India aviation relations in the future.

As a first significant step, the two sides agreed to restore legal certainty to all the bilateral air services agreements between India and EU Member States. Therefore, it was agreed that a "horizontal agreement" will be finalized as a matter of priority. To that effect, the parties will meet in early 2007. Aim of the "horizontal agreement" will be to amend certain provisions in the bilateral agreements thereby bringing these into conformity with Community law thus restoring legal certainty to these agreements and the operators flying under them.

Secondly, building on the very successful results achieved under the 1999-2006 "EU-India Civil Aviation Co-operation Project", Messrs. Barrot and Patel agreed to prepare a Joint Action Plan that will set out the key priorities for strengthening future technical and technological co-operation. This Joint Action Plan, which will also be finalized as a matter of priority, and a new technical co-operation programme that will start in 2007 will be important instruments in taking forward the wide range of areas of mutual interest of industry, regulators and the wider public of both sides, as identified during the aviation summit.

The Joint Action Plan will identify the main priority areas for future technical cooperation which will cover aviation safety (including strengthening the cooperation with the European Air Safety Agency), security, airport infrastructure, air traffic management, environmental policy, economic regulation, training and industrial co-operation.

At EU-India Aviation Summit, Vice-President Barrot also invited India to become associated in major EU technological programmes such as GALILEO, the satellite navigation programme, and SESAR, the air traffic management project.

(Www.mediabharti.com)

Tokyo (Japan), 23 November: Researchers have discovered two mutations in the H5N1 avian influenza virus that enable it to recognize human receptor proteins. The amino acid changes, reported online this week in Nature, might prove useful molecular markers for assessing the pandemic potential of H5N1 samples.

To replicate efficiently in humans and acquire the potential to cause a pandemic, it’s thought that bird influenza viruses must acquire the ability to recognize human host cell receptors. Yoshihiro Kawaoka and colleagues looked for mutations in a protein called haemagglutinin that sits on the surface of the H5N1 virus and binds with host receptor proteins. They found two separate mutations in the haemagglutinin of H5N1 viruses known to recognize avian receptors that enabled these viruses to recognize human receptors.

(ResearchSEA)

Leipzig (Germany), 23 November: A detailed analysis of Neanderthal DNA provides a unique insight into the genetic changes that accompanied the transition from early hominid to modern man. The study, reported in this week’s Nature, paves the way for a Neanderthal genome-sequencing effort.

Svante Pääbo and colleagues analyzed over one million base pairs of DNA from a 38,000-year-old Neanderthal fossil, and compared the results against the human and chimpanzee genomes. The results suggest that Neanderthal and human DNA diverged around 500,000 years ago.

The data also suggest that the effective population size of the common ancestor of humans and Neanderthals was similar to that of contemporary humans. This suggests that earlier hominids, such as Neanderthals, may have expanded from small-sized populations, just like modern humans.

(ResearchSEA)

San Diego (USA), 23 November: PageTech, leading provider of PCL transformation tools for developers, announced that it has become the first U.S. member of PDFA Competence Center. Headquartered in Berlin, Germany, the PDFA organization is a liaison of the world's foremost companies in PDF technology. The aim of PDFA Competence Center is to promote the exchange of information and experience in the area of long-term archiving in accordance with the new International Standards Organization's ISO 19005: PDFA file format.

New PDFA standard is a product of over 3 years of collaboration by AIIM, Adobe, NPES, ARMA, NARA, Library of Congress, U.S. Courts and many other organizations. It was necessary to define this device-independent and self-contained derivative of PDF format that could be internationally accepted as new standard for long-term electronic archiving. PDFA is also self-documenting and transparent to direct analysis with basic tools for indexing. Because of its various benefits, PDFA will eventually replace TIFF format as the de facto standard for document archiving.

Earlier this year, PageTech was the first PCL to PDF product vendor to convert PCL raster image and character objects into the smallest PDFs using the Adobe's JBIG2 compression method.

(EWORLDWIRE)

New Delhi (India), 22 November: In pursuance to the ongoing Jammu & Kashmir Utsav, the Indian Armed Forces organized on-spot painting competition during India International Trade Fair-2006 at Amphi Theatre in Defence Pavilion on Sunday. The theme of competition was “Iron Fist with a Velvet Glove”.

Through this competition children expressed their feelings about Indian Armed Forces and how they feel about the state of Jammu & Kashmir. Over 40 students from Army Public School (Dhaula Kuan), Army Public School (Delhi Cantt) and Naval Public School (Sarojini Nagar) participated in competition.

First prize won by Araka Pal of Naval Public School in 8-12 yrs. category. And, for the age group of 12-18 years, the first prize winner was Omkar Sharma of Army Public School, Delhi Cantt.

(Www.mediabharti.com)

Ohio (USA), 22 November: An enzyme that produces a toxic protein involved in Alzheimer disease is also important for myelination or insulation of nerve cell axons, according to a study in December issue of Nature Neuroscience. These results suggest that targeting this enzyme (BACE1) as a treatment for Alzheimer disease may produce significant adverse side effects.

Most nerve cell axons are wrapped with a layer of myelin, which acts like an insulator of electrical wires to allow nerve impulses to travel more quickly to their destination. Riqiang Yan and colleagues studied mice with a deletion of the BACE1 gene to determine the effects of eliminating this enzyme. The thickness of the myelin sheath in these mice was reduced along axons throughout the brain and spinal cord. These effects were visible as early as 15 days following birth and lasted into adulthood. The authors show that under normal conditions BACE1 exerts its effect by activating neuregulin, a known participant in the initiation of myelination.

Behavioral testing also revealed that these mice exhibited lower pain thresholds and decreased grip strength- typical signs of demyelination. Although inhibition of BACE1 may be a viable candidate for reducing the conversion of amyloid precursor protein into the plaques deposits seen in Alzheimer disease, these results suggest that as a therapeutic technique, it should be approached with caution.

(ResearchSEA)

Brussels (Belgium), 22 November 2006: European Union-India Aviation Summit, jointly organized by European Commission and the Ministry of Civil Aviation of India, will take place in New Delhi on 23-24 November 2006. The Summit aims to enhance political and industrial co-operation between India and the EU in aviation sector. India is one of the world's fastest growing aviation markets and of strategic importance to EU and its industry. India is also taking a lead in market opening in Asia.

"The EU and its industry have much to offer India in facing the significant challenges of unprecedented growth in air traffic," said Vice-President Jacques Barrot, Commissioner for Transport, before leaving for India. "The EU-India Aviation Summit is an excellent opportunity for bringing together top-level policy makers and industry executives to identify priority areas for enhanced co-operation."

The Summit will be opened by Vice-President Jacques Barrot and Shri Praful Patel, Minister for Civil Aviation of India. The European delegation includes nearly 150 representatives from airlines, airports, aerospace industries, national governments and the European Commission. A similar number of Indian participants will attend. A parallel exhibition on EU and India aviation opportunities and co-operation is also being organized.

(Www.mediabharti.com)

Boston (USA), 21 November: A molecule that regulates the first steps of bone repair in mice is reported in a study in December issue of Nature Genetics. The molecule, bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2), was long known to be part of a family of proteins that can promote bone growth, but this is the first study to establish one of the BMP proteins as absolutely required for the natural regenerative response.

Vicki Rosen and colleagues deleted the gene encoding BMP2 specifically in developing limbs in mice. While there were no abnormalities observed at birth, by 13 weeks of age all of the mice examined had reduced bone mineral density and spontaneous forearm fractures. Moreover, none of the fractures showed any sign of the normal healing response, despite the presence of progenitor cells at the site of fracture that are the precursors to the bone-generating process. These progenitor cells, which express the receptor for BMP2, failed to differentiate in the BMP2-deficient limbs.

(ResearchSEA)

California (USA), 21 November: An X-ray image of micrometer-sized stick figures taken in a record time of just 25 femtoseconds is described by Henry Chapman and colleagues in the December issue of Nature Physics. The image, patterned into a metal film, was taken at around a trillion times faster than a conventional flash photograph- just moments before the film evaporated at a temperature of 60,000 degrees Celsius.

The image was collected using radiation produced by the FLASH 'free-electron laser' that began operation at the DESY facility in Germany earlier this year. This feat demonstrates an important proof-of-principle for a technique that should enable atomic-scale imaging of the structure of a much wider range of molecules than is possible using conventional synchrotron sources.

Free-electron lasers represent an exciting development in fields ranging from structural biology to nanotechnology. These lasers produce an intense and extremely short burst of X-rays enabling the structure of individual organic molecules to be collected, without the need to first form them into a crystal as is needed in conventional X-ray analysis. Although atomic-scale resolution is not demonstrated in the present work, this could soon be possible when the first of a new generation of more powerful free-electron sources, such as the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in the US, are complete.

(ResearchSEA)

Brussels (Belgium), 21 November: European Commission will today request formal consultations with India in WTO regarding India’s import regime for spirits and wines. This decision follows an investigation carried out in the framework of the European Union’s Trade Barriers Regulation (TBR) at the request of European Spirits Organization.

An European Union Trade Barriers Regulation Investigation concluded that access to the potentially large Indian market for spirits and wines is severely restricted due to a high duty burden and restrictions on retail distribution in certain Indian States. European Union considers that these trade barriers are in clear breach of international trade rules. After having allowed India a considerable period of time to address the problem, EU now hopes to use WTO consultation process to arrive at a mutually satisfactory solution with India.

European Commission spokesman for Trade Peter Power said: "We will always respect genuine sensitivities in India's development but this is out and out protectionism which even the Indian Government has not been able to justify in the past. That is why there must be change and why we have no alternative but to pursue the matter in this way."

EU spirits and wine producers have for a number of years raised concerns about the excessive duty burden on imports of spirits and wines into India. Despite various efforts by industry representatives, EU Member States Governments and European Commission, progress on this issue has so far been limited.

(Www.mediabharti.com)

University of Pittsburgh (USA), 20 November: Researchers have identified a brain circuit that they believe enables us to view the world stably even though our eyes move constantly.

It’s well known that, when viewing a scene, our eyes flit around from one location to another. Yet our perception of the scene remains steady. Online this week in Nature, Marc Sommer and Robert Wurtz describe a brain circuit that may control this perceptual stability in monkeys.

The circuit relays information about these quick eye movements from the midbrain via the thalamus to the frontal cortex, where neurons alter their receptive field to anticipate the effects of the movements. A similar circuit is likely to exist in human brains, the authors say.

(ResearchSEA)

San Francisco (USA), 20 November: Researchers have identified 3 molecules in tarantula venom that help make the spider’s bite so painful. The peptides activate the same receptor as the hot component of chili peppers, suggesting that tarantulas and chili plants use similar scare tactics to help ward off predators.

Much is known of the specific spider toxins that cause shock, paralysis and death, but the molecules that promote pain and inflammation are less well characterized. In this week’s Nature, David Julius and colleagues describe three peptides, isolated from the venom of the West Indian tarantula Psalmopoeus cambridgei, that bind to and activate a particular receptor on sensory neurons to cause pain. When the newly discovered peptides are injected directly into the hind paw of a mouse, inflammation can be seen and the mice act as if in pain, but only if they have the receptor.

The receptor, which allows ions to pass across the membrane of the cell, is also activated by capsaicin, the active component of chili peppers. So the study suggests that P. cambridgei and chili plants use similar signaling mechanisms to cause pain and scare predators away.

The newly discovered peptides are also unusual because they trigger an excitatory response. Peptides with similar structures that bind to other ion channels are already known, but cause inhibitory responses.

(ResearchSEA)

Brown University (USA), 20 November: ‘Fresh’ features spotted on the Moon’s surface may have been formed from within as little as 10 million years ago, a paper in this week’s Nature proposes.

Peter Schultz and colleagues describe unusually fresh-appearing surface features, and propose that they were formed as gases escaped from deep-seated fractures within the Moon.

The discovery may explain why both the Apollo and Lunar Prospector missions detected evidence of radon being released from the Moon’s interior. Such areas may offer insights into the Moon’s deep interior and the team suggest they should be sites for further exploration by upcoming missions.

(ResearchSEA)

London (UK), 19 November: A paper in this week’s Nature shows that non-dividing retinal cells implanted into adult mouse retina can generate new photoreceptors, suggesting a possible way to regenerate the photoreceptors lost during many forms of blindness.

Previously, stem cells transplanted into the adult retina have not integrated correctly and it was thought that the retinal environment inhibits regeneration. Robin Ali and colleagues extracted immature retinal cells from newborn mice at a time when many rod photoreceptors are normally being generated, and transplanted them into adult mouse retinas.

They show that the cells differentiate into rods, form synaptic connections and, when transplanted into certain mouse models of inherited retinal degeneration, improve the animals’ response to light. Surprisingly, they found that this was possible only using rod precursor cells during a specific time window of development, when they have stopped dividing (rather than proliferating stem cells). The results suggest that precursor cells grown from human adult or embryonic stem cells might also serve to restore sight, and challenge the assumption that stem cells offer the best prospect for tissue repair.

(ResearchSEA)

Bremerhaven (Germany) 19 November: Analysis of a new, high-resolution ice core in Antarctica suggests that the abrupt millennial-scale climate changes of past 150,000 years were closely linked between hemispheres. The finding supports the idea that Atlantic Ocean currents connect Greenland and Antarctica in a bipolar seesaw.

In this week's Nature, Hubertus Fischer and colleagues describe a temperature reconstruction from a new Antarctic ice core that matches the resolution of earlier results from Greenland very well. Each of the 25 abrupt temperature variations indicated by Greenland ice cores has a direct counterpart in the Antarctic ice. Moreover, the size of the temperature variations in both hemispheres also corresponds directly.

The new core spans a 150,000-year period, and its success is due largely to its geographical location. The core was drilled in an area facing the South Atlantic with plenty of snowfall. This means it has more centimeters of ice per year than other East Antarctic ice cores, and can yield direct comparisons with information collected from Greenland cores.

New results dismiss the idea that the large temperature fluctuations in Greenland could have been just local events, and point to the Atlantic Ocean circulation as the mechanism for heat transport.

(ResearchSEA)

University of Montpellier (France), 19 November: Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV), the ape-like form of HIV, may be endemic in wild gorilla populations, a Brief Communication in this week's Nature suggests. The animals are still hunted for food and medicinal uses, so it's possible that these practices might pose a risk to humans.

Martine Peeters and colleagues analyzed hundreds of fecal samples taken from chimpanzees and gorillas living in remote forest regions of Cameroon. Samples from both species contained antibodies that were reactive against HIV-1, but RNA analysis indicated that the gorillas were infected with a different strain of SIV that is closely related to an HIV-1 lineage (group O) found in humans in west central Africa.

Because the gorillas lived nearly 400 kilometers apart, it's likely that SIV infection is endemic in gorillas, as it is in chimpanzees. And the authors suspect that chimpanzees were the original reservoir of immunodeficiency viruses now found in chimpanzees, gorillas and humans. The survey focused on the western species of gorilla (Gorilla gorilla), and it's not yet known whether SIV is prevalent in the eastern species (Gorilla beringei). Additional field studies are needed to establish the scale of the problem in wild gorillas.

(ResearchSEA)

Miami (USA), 16 November: The identification of a new genetic cause of a damaging kidney disease is reported in a study to be published in December issue of Nature Genetics. The particular variant of nephrotic syndrome under study has also provided the first evidence that some cases of the disease may be fully reversible after therapy.

Nephrotic syndrome is caused by a malfunction of the filtering apparatus of the kidney, which leads to body swelling and kidney damage. In many cases it leads to severe kidney disease, requiring dialysis or a kidney transplant. Mutations in several genes have been found to underlie the disorder, but 70% of all cases remain unexplained.

Friedhelm Hildebrandt and colleagues identify mutations in the gene PLCE1 in 5 families with early-onset nephrotic syndrome. Two of the children in these families responded fully to steroid therapy, and remain free of symptoms several years after the cessation of treatment. While the symptoms of some forms of nephrotic syndrome are known to respond to steroid treatment, this is the first report of a fully reversible form of the disease. The authors suggest that the developmental defect defined by loss of PLCE1 function may allow for a window in time during which treatment can be effective.

(ResearchSEA)

California (USA), 16 November: Whole-genome sequencing allows bacterial evolution to be observed on a laboratory timescale, scientists report in a paper to be published in the December issue of Nature Genetics. Experimental studies of bacterial evolution have been carried out for many years, but the identification of the genetic mutations that underlie the observed changes in bacterial growth properties has been a difficult and laborious process.

Bernhard Palsson and colleagues applied an approach recently developed by Nimblegen Systems, Inc. for rapid, cost-effective genome sequencing. They grew a strain of Escherichia coli in a medium in which glycerol was the main carbon and energy source, and then isolated individual bacteria from each of 5 populations after approximately 660 generations– 44 days. Whole-genome sequencing allowed the authors to identify 9 sequence differences between bacteria isolated at the end of experiment, and the strain that was used at the start.

Some of the mutations could be easily understood in terms of E. coli biology- mutations in the gene encoding glycerol kinase, for example, which catalyzes the first step in glycerol breakdown. Others were found in genes that previously had no known role in glycerol metabolism, hinting at the complexity of a bacterium’s response to changing environmental conditions. This approach promises to improve our understanding of evolution at the genetic level, both in bacteria, and in other organisms with modestly sized genomes.

(ResearchSEA)

University of Luebeck (Germany), 16 November: Applying a gentle current to the brain during a particular phase of sleep can enhance memory, a study online this week in Nature suggests.

It’s thought that sleep helps the brain to consolidate memories, so certain tasks learned before a nap are better remembered than those learned without a subsequent snooze. Jan Born and colleagues now show that applying an electric current with a certain frequency to the scalp during non-rapid-eye-movement sleep can induce a memory enhancement of around 8% on a word-learning task.

Five bouts of the current, which was an oscillating potential similar to that seen naturally in slow wave sleep, were applied over half an hour. If the frequency of the current or the phase of sleep in which it was applied were altered, the memory enhancement was not seen. And the effect is all the more impressive because the effect was seen in medical students, who are presumed to be pretty good at remembering words already.

(ResearchSEA)

New Delhi (India), 14 November: For the first time ever, more than 100 recognized European Higher Education Institutions from more than 25 European Countries will gather in New Delhi for the European Higher Education Fair from 24 to 26 November.

The European Union has taken the initiative to provide an opportunity to the Indian students, to get a close and direct insight into the high quality and diversity of the European Higher Education and Research and to get to know Europe better.

Within the framework of the EU-Asia regional cooperation, the European Commission is organizing 7 European Higher Education Fairs (EHEF) and Asia-Link Symposia in Asia, namely in China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

In India, the EHEF will follow-up on the recently agreed India-EU Joint Action Plan (JAP) where Higher Education Cooperation and Academic Exchanges have been identified as a mutual interest priority. Under the leitmotiv Innovation and Culture, the EHEF will contribute to "bringing together peoples and cultures" through the promotion of the EU as a study and research destination as well as of the EU policies and programmes in higher education and research.

The Asia-Link Symposium will focus on the theme "Academic cooperation and student mobility between India and Europe", setting the platform for high level international dialogue between high ranking Indian and European officials and relevant stakeholders. The discussions will be on sharing experiences on the relevance of the Bologna Process to India, on strengthening the India-EU academic/institutional collaboration including Joint Study Programmes. The Symposium will further promote regional and multilateral networking between Higher Education Institutions in Europe and India.

The European Higher Education Fair will showcase more than 100 Universities under one roof and the entire gamut of high quality study opportunities in all European Union Member States including acceding States.

The EHEF and the Symposium will take place between 24 and 26 November 2006 at India Habitat Centre, Lodi Road, New Delhi.

(Www.mediabharti.com)

By Brij Khandelwal

Agra (India) 14 November: As the host to the world's best-known memorial to love, the Taj Mahal city was probably best suited to show why- and how- Indian democracy thrives. And Agra did that admirably the other day.

Even as voters in many Western countries appear to be getting tired of the electoral process, Agra answered why the poorest of the poor still do make it to the ballot box religiously during every election in India.

Just as the Diwali and Eid merrymaking seemed to be petering out, folks in Agra got involved in the biggest festival of them all: elections to the Agra Municipal Corporation, the body that comes in for brickbats round the year.

After a week of full-throated propaganda, road shows, processions, blaring loudspeakers, long and short marches and all the acrobatic tricks to draw the attention of the voters, Tuesday proved to be the day of reckoning.

Initially voters came out in trickles, in two's and three's. But as the day progressed, they were out there in full force-- unending queues of anxious decision-makers, many properly dressed for the occasion and in high morale and betraying a feeling that the success of Indian democracy depended on their one single vote.

It was clear that unlike in the West, people here enjoy frequent elections and the attendant activities that go with them.

A round of the city on polling day provided deep insights into the dynamic process of politicization of the masses. Mohallas (small neighborhoods) in the interior like Hospital Road, Mantola, Ghatia, Belanganj and Loha Mandi saw almost everyone out on the streets, cajoling and convincing the people to vote for one or the other candidate.

Men, women in burqas and children too had a jolly good outing. As the bazaars were closed children used the deserted streets to play cricket. The women gossiped and the men folk indulged in heated political discussions.

Posh colonies like Kamla Nagar and Jaipur House were a little sedate in contrast, but the momentum picked up in the afternoon as word went round that the candidates of rival parties were better positioned electoraly.

Civil Lines and Vijay Nagar Colony had almost every resident queuing up to vote. The stray 'halwai' shop that risked opening up or the corner 'panwala' had the frenzied supporters crowding up like vultures on whatever was available as snacks.

Bansi Wala in Kamla Nagar had special kachoris and jalebis to go with the festive mood.

"Don't you think it's all such a waste of time?" I asked a committed worker of a political party.

Surendra Sharma's answer was revealing: "No! So many people stand to gain as money stacked in almirahs gets circulated and everyone makes some money through work or as part-time wages.

"And look at the energy channeled creatively to strengthen the democratic process. Elections serve as a safety valve in our society to let off the pent up stress and anger."

At the polling booths, almost everywhere, party workers shared their packed lunches with the supervisory staff and also with the humble and ill paid Home Guards.

Frayed tempers at some polling booths did threaten to vitiate the atmosphere. But the seniors through their conciliatory efforts helped restore a degree of sanity and order.

Whatever be the results of the just concluded local bodies elections, the amount of interest generated this time will not leave the corporators and the mayor in peace. They have promised the moon to the voters, who wouldn't be satisfied for anything less than the stars.

(Www.mediabharti.com)

By Brij Khandelwal

Lucknow (India), 14 November: Activists pushing for breaking of barriers between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, resolved here Tuesday to urge the 3 governments to relax the stringent passport and visa formalities.

The Bangladesh-Bharat-Pakistan People's Forum also demanded downsizing of the armed forces and reduction in the defense budgets of the 3 countries.

The activists, meeting at Lucknow University, stressed the need to hold joint military exercises by the 3 nations on the lines of the India-US and India-British exercises. These resolutions were passed on the second day of the 3-day meet.

They also sought mutual cooperation of the 3 governments in voluntary exchange of militants and terrorist elements operating from their soil while ensuring firm steps to prevent their re-entry.

"This is the second such meet organized by the forum. The first one was held in Murshidabad, West Bengal, in July 2004, shortly after the formation of forum in January the same year," forum convenor Ram Kishore told Www.mediabharti.com.

The meet also resolved to urge the Indian government "to establish through an act of parliament an institute of sub continental studies to facilitate and promote academic research on issues that affect societies in the 3 countries".

Explaining the absence of delegates from Pakistan, Ram Kishore claimed: "They have arrived in Delhi but were denied visa for Lucknow. So, they will participate in a conference we propose to hold in New Delhi on Thursday."

(Www.mediabharti.com)

Sheffield University (UK), 13 November: Social sanctions, not voluntary altruism stop workers in insect societies from reproducing, according to a Brief Communication in this week’s Nature.

Workers of many species of ant, bee and wasp do not lay eggs despite having functional ovaries. Francis Ratnieks and Tom Wenseleers studied ten single-queen species– nine Vespidae wasps and the honeybee– to test theories of worker altruism, social coercion and cooperation. They found that when worker-laid eggs are killed by the queen or other workers, and when this type of 'policing' is effective, the advantage to workers of laying eggs is reduced. They argue that social sanctions are what discourage selfish behavior and quip that this is in line with better law enforcement leading to fewer individuals behaving antisocially in human societies.

(ResearchSEA)

St. Andrews University (UK), 13 November: Researchers have deciphered 3-dimensional structure of Wza, an integral outer-membrane protein that is linked to virulence.

Many bacteria possess an external ‘capsule’ of secreted polysaccharide molecules that help them to colonize surfaces. Wza is responsible for moving these polysaccharides from the inside to the outside of the bacteria where they can function. The capsule is effectively the first point of contact between host and pathogen, making it a potential target for vaccines and other therapies.

The X-ray crystal structure, unveiled online this week in Nature, reveals that most of Wza is located in the space between the inner plasma membrane and the outer cellular membrane or periplasm. The protein, described by James H. Naismith and colleagues, contains a large central cavity that the polysaccharides are transported through. Understanding its structure should also contribute to a broader understanding of how other large polar molecules, such as DNA and proteins, are exported out of cells.

(ResearchSEA)

San Jose (USA), 12 November: PPC Audit, Inc. has released a major update to its cutting-edge Pay-Per-Click (PPC) tracking service. Click fraud is a relatively new term that has emerged from the online advertising industry as a result of Internet users purposely clicking on paid ads for reasons other than good-faith intentions- costing advertisers billions of dollars in lost return on investment each year. PPC Audit was the first to offer a tracking tool designed to detect and deter click fraud back in 2001, and has continued to offer cutting-edge technology solutions.

The most exciting feature of the new software release is the ability to track users that have java-script disabled, a common ploy used to avoid click fraud detection. Company offers advertisers the ability to identify even more subtle click fraud activity over the course of time- when clicks are less frequent in the short-term but consistent over the long-term.

(EWORLDWIRE)

Marburg (Germany), 12 November: The genome of Ustilago maydis, a fungus that causes disease in maize, is unveiled this week in Nature. The organism derives nutrients from a live host, making it the so-called biotrophic plant parasite to have its genetic makeup sequenced.

In particular, Regine Kahmann and colleagues found 12 clusters of genes encoding small, secreted proteins, with unknown functions. The team generated a range of mutant fungi, each with deletions in a particular cluster. Five of the clusters were involved in the process of plant infection. These are the first infection-related factors to be found for U. maydis.

Almost ~7,000 predicted protein-encoding genes were found, but the parasite's genome contained none of the disease-causing signatures found in the genomes of fungi that use enzymes and toxins to kill their hosts. This highlights just how novel is the infection strategy used by U. maydis.

(ResearchSEA)

Palo Alto (USA), 12 November: A new receptor for the sonic hedgehog protein is described online in this week’s Nature. The molecule helps control nerve growth, so it’s hoped that the discovery will aid the development of new therapies for spinal cord injuries.

Early in development, nerve cells must extend connections to specific target cells. The secreted protein sonic hedgehog has a key role in this process, but the underlying mechanisms are murky. Ami Okada and colleagues have discovered a cell surface protein, called Boc, which binds sonic hedgehog and helps spinal cord connections to develop properly.

Sonic hedgehog signaling is involved in the normal development of numerous organs and tissues, and in the development of certain cancers. The components that make up its signaling pathway are therefore of interest to biologists in many different disciplines.

(ResearchSEA)

Vienna (Austria), 12 November: Researchers have cooled tiny mirrors down to very low temperatures in the hope of performing quantum-mechanical experiments and developing ultra-precise measuring devices.

Three such microresonators are described in this week’s Nature. Separate teams, led by Markus Aspelmeyer and Pierre-Francois Cohadon, set up tiny mirrors inside optical cavities filled with laser light. Under finely tuned conditions, the mirrors stopped vibrating and self-cooled from room temperature to around 10 kelvin, a drop of around 30 degrees. The authors believe that their mirrors could be cooled further, making them useful as ultra-sensitive motion detectors, perhaps for the detection of gravitational waves.

Dustin Kleckner and Dirk Bouwmeester’s micromirror was cooled by an active rather than a passive process. Their microresonator included an active feedback loop whereby the mirror’s vibrations were observed and then counteracted with radiation pressure from a laser. The micromirror was cooled all the way down to 135 millikelvin, but the team’s main goal is to cool the mirror to its quantum ground state. This would allow them to observe the transition between classical and quantum behavior in a mechanical system.

(ResearchSEA)

London (UK), 09 November: Conservation strategies that generalize from the distribution of one threatened species to that of another may be flawed, a study in this week’s Nature suggests.

Ian Owens and colleagues studied a database of over 19,000 living bird, mammal and amphibian species to see whether biodiversity patterns were similar. Although the three groups were similar in terms of overall species richness, the distribution of threatened and rare species was different for each group. This means that the distribution of rare birds, for example, does not predict the distribution of rare species in the other two groups.

By themselves, so-called ‘silver bullet’ conservation strategies are unlikely to deliver efficient conservation, the authors say. Instead, priority areas for biodiversity conservation should be based upon high-resolution data from multiple species.

(ResearchSEA)

CT (USA), 09 November: The main features of the Earth's magnetic field have changed little over the past 2,000 million years, a paper in this week's Nature reports. The finding, which was previously assumed rather than tested, lends support to the 'Snowball Earth' hypothesis.

The Earth's magnetic field leaves a tell-tale signature in certain rocks, which can be used to infer information about the latitude at which they formed. But if the early Earth's magnetic field was markedly different to today's axial dipolar field, some of these interpretations could be off the mark.

David Evans compiled a global database of evaporate rocks extending back through Proterozoic time, over 2,000 million years ago. The rocks' magnetic properties suggest that, as now, the Earth's magnetic field was predominantly an axial dipole on average, suggesting that the Neoproterozoic 'Snowball Earth’ was indeed probably shrouded in ice.

(ResearchSEA)

Canberra (Australia), 09 November: Female mammals may take multiple partners because it increases the fitness of their offspring, a field study of Australian marsupials suggests in this week’s Nature.

Researchers have struggled to understand why females mate with multiple males when egg production is costly and ‘sleeping around’ raises the risk of disease and injury. Invertebrate studies suggest that the strategy yields genetic benefits and can increase offspring survival, but the reasons why were unclear and the same effects had yet to be proved for mammals in the wild.

Diana O. Fisher and colleagues studied the practice in the brown antechinus (Antechinus stuartii), a carnivorous mouse-like marsupial. Most females breed only once in their lifetime, mating multiply then giving birth synchronously. Although the paternity of offspring can be tested from a very young age, fathers die before any offspring are born, and so childcare falls to the females. It makes sense then that females should invest maximally in a litter (which eliminates selective female investment as an explanation for why sleeping around is good). And polyandry, the team found, leads to better quality offspring as a result of sperm competition.

(ResearchSEA)

Boston (USA), 08 November: Treating middle-aged mice fed a high-calorie diet with a compound found in red wine improves their health and extends lifespan, a paper published online this week in Nature reports.

David Sinclair and colleagues fed mice high-calorie diets supplemented with resveratrol, a small molecule that has been shown to extend the life spans of various animals. The treatment shifted the animals' physiology towards that of mice fed a standard diet. They lived longer than mice on the same high-fat diet without resveratrol, and even though they didn't lose any weight, their quality of life was also improved– resveratrol-treated mice had healthier livers and better motor coordination.

Resveratrol seems to counter various of the health risks associated with a high-fat diet, but without skimping on the calories. When scaled up, the doses used in the mouse study should be feasible for human consumption, but it's not yet clear whether the molecule will yield similar effects in people. If it does, it may lead to the development of drugs that can reduce some of the negative consequences of excess calorie intake and improve health and survival.

(ResearchSEA)

Memphis (USA), 08 November: Most human tumors harbor genetic mutations in key tumor suppressor genes of p53 pathway, but cancers of the retina were, until now, thought the exception to the rule. In this week’s Nature researchers provide evidence implicating inactivation of the tumor suppressor gene p53 in retinoblastoma and suggest a revised chemotherapy protocol that they hope will minimize side effects and maximize cancer cell death.

Retinoblastomas, which are caused by mutations in the RB1 gene, affect mainly children. Michael A. Dyer and colleagues show that amplification of a gene called MDMX can inactivate the p53 pathway and contribute to the development of these cancers.

They suggest treating patients with 2 drugs, topotecan and nutlin-3, simultaneously. Topotecan is a standard chemotherapy drug and nutlin-3 is a small-molecule inhibitor which binds to MDMX and blocks its interaction with p53. The combination kills retinoblastoma cells in culture and reduces tumor burden by more than 80-fold when human retinoblastoma cells are transplanted into rat eyes.

(ResearchSEA)

Tokyo (Japan), 08 November: Tokyo University of Science entered into Agreement of Cooperation with University of California Santa Cruz, USA, on September 1, 2006. Founded in 1965, UC Santa Cruz is one of 10 campuses in the University of California system.

Through this latest agreement, both universities will engage in academic exchange by pursuing interchange by faculty and students, implementing joint research projects, promoting exchange of academic literature and information and promoting other academic activities.

TUS and UCSC have been established the close cooperative relationship implementing the Silicon Valley Tech Track Summer Program this year. 18 TUS students had participated the intensive English and cultural program.

(ResearchSEA)

Tokyo (Japan), 07 November: Research team from a joint research program of Tokyo University of Science and the Japan Science and Technology Agency have succeeded in producing hydrogen from water through the use of gallium nitride (GaN) crystals for the first time.

Research team from a joint research program of Tokyo University of Science and the Japan Science and Technology Agency have succeeded in producing hydrogen from water through the use of gallium nitride (GaN) crystals for the first time. If commercializable, this technology is expected to lead to the development of fuel cells that run on water and can be used in a wide range of products, from automobiles to computers.

The researchers connected a GaN wafer with platinum using wire, then immersed these in water. When light is applied to the GaN wafer, current flows through the water and causes it to decompose into oxygen and hydrogen through electrolysis. The rate of conversion efficiency, which is the ratio of hydrogen energy to the light energy used, is still 0.5 %. However the researchers improved the efficiency by 1.3 times by introducing the narrower band gap material such as InGaN. "This can be raised to more than 20%," said Kazuhiro Ohkawa, a professor in applied physics department at Tokyo University of Science, who played a leading role in the research. The team plans to continue work on the project to make improvements.

(ResearchSEA)

Tokyo (Japan), 07 November: A research group headed by Takashi Tsuji of Tokyo University of Science's Tissue Engineering Research Center identified mechanisms behind outbreaks of adult T-cell leukemia.

A research group headed by Takashi Tsuji of the Tokyo University of Science's Tissue Engineering Research Center identified mechanisms behind outbreaks of adult T-cell leukemia. This research was pursued in collaboration with Yoshi Utsunomiya from Foundation Jiaikai Imamura Bun-in Hospital and Katsuhiko Ito from Kyoto University and other researchers. The results of this research are expected to lead to the development of new treatments for adult T-cell leukemia.

Adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL) has been characterized as one of the most aggressive human neoplasias and its incidence is thought to be caused by both genetic and epigenetic alterations to the host cellular genes of T-cells infected with human T-cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I). A multilobulated nuclear appearance is an important diagnostic marker of ATLL and we have now identified that the molecular mechanisms underlying these formations occur through microtubule rearrangement via PI3-kinase activation by AILIM/ICOS-signaling.

(ResearchSEA)

Malawi, 07 November: Eye can provide a very reliable way of diagnosing cerebral malaria, researchers in Malawi have shown. By looking at the changes to the retina, doctors are able to determine whether an unconscious child is suffering from this severe form of malaria or another, unrelated illness, leading to the most appropriate treatment.

Because malaria is so common in Africa, children may have an incidental malaria infection whilst actually having another life-threatening illness. This can confuse the diagnosis in an unconscious child. Doctors hope that widespread use of eye examination could greatly reduce the number of children dying from this major childhood killer.

In research funded by the Wellcome Trust and the National Institutes of Health, a study led by Dr. Nick Beare of the St. Paul's Eye Unit, Liverpool, has shown that changes to the retina were the only clinical sign or laboratory test which could distinguish between patients who actually died from cerebral malaria and those with another cause of death. The results of their study are published in the latest edition of the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

"Over a million people a year die from malaria, and most of these are African children," explains Dr. Beare. "Death is usually caused by cerebral malaria, a severe complication of malaria in which the Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasite causes infection of the capillaries that flow through the tissues of the brain, affecting the brain and central nervous system. This can lead to convulsions, coma and death."

Cerebral malaria is accompanied by changes in the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye. These changes, known as malarial retinopathy, include white, opaque patches, whitening of the infected blood vessels, bleeding into the retina and swelling of the optic nerve, the nerve that transmits visual signals to the brain. The first two of these signs are unique to severe malaria, and not seen in any other disease.

Malaria parasites live in red blood cells and make them stick to the inside of small blood vessels, particularly in the brain and also the eye. It is thought that this causes the unique whitening of eye blood vessels. The light-sensitive tissue in the eye is also affected because the parasites disrupt the supply of oxygen and nutrients. However, once children recover, their vision does not seem to be affected.

"In cerebral malaria, the eye acts as a window onto the brain, providing valuable information for the doctors caring for the patients," says Dr. Beare. "Our research demonstrates that the detection of malarial retinopathy is a much needed diagnostic tool in cerebral malaria, and can identify those children at most risk of death. Diagnosis requires special training in eye examination, but is relatively straightforward and cost effective, which is essential in resource-poor settings such as Africa."

Doctors are able to carry out this diagnosis using just an ophthalmoscope, an instrument through which the observer can see the retina at the back of the eye.

Researchers in Malawi have previously shown that up to a quarter of children apparently dying from cerebral malaria in fact had another cause of death. Dr. Beare and his team hope that by confirming the diagnosis of cerebral malaria, appropriate care can be targeted at those most in need. By identifying children who might not have cerebral malaria other causes of coma can be searched for, and potentially treated.

Commenting on the research, Dr. Sohaila Rastan, Director of Science Funding at the Wellcome Trust, said: "This work is impressive and if it can be effectively delivered in a resource-poor setting could have a significant impact on the diagnosis and subsequent treatment of cerebral malaria in children."

(ResearchSEA)

Utrecht (Netherlands), 06 November: New evidence supporting the importance of a class of small RNA molecules in human evolution is reported in two papers to be published in December issue of Nature Genetics. MicroRNAs are small single-stranded molecules consisting of 22 nucleotides, and are thought to regulate the ex-pression of genes by preventing their translation into proteins. Although they were discovered only recently, microRNAs have now been found in many animal and plant genomes, and are predicted to number in the hundreds, or possibly thousands, in the human genome.

Applying a new sequencing technique reported last year, Ronald Plasterk and colleagues examined the complement of microRNAs in human fetal brain and adult chimpanzee brain. They identified 447 new microRNAs, which more than doubles the diversity of known microRNAs. More than half of the human microRNAs were conserved only in chimpanzees, and not found in other organisms, suggesting a recent evolutionary origin. As many as 8% were human-specific and this specificity may signal possible roles in the evolution of the human brain.

In second paper, Kevin Chen and Nikolaus Rajewsky used publicly available data on variation in the human genome called single-nucleotide polymorphisms- SNPs. They were interested to know whether any SNPs occurred at microRNA target sites, and, if so, whether there was any evidence that natural selection was acting to maintain these target sites. They mapped 384 SNPs to microRNA target sites, and found that the variation in these sites between individuals was less than that observed in control regions, suggesting a selective pressure to conserve the sequences of these target sites. The authors were able to infer that 85% of these microRNA target sites are likely to be functional, and suggest that SNPs at such sites might be involved in human disease.

(ResearchSEA)

University of Edinburgh (UK), 06 November: Variation in a gene linked with schizophrenia is associated with the occurrence of psychotic symptoms and cognitive deficits, along with reduced activity in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, reports a paper in December issue of Nature Neuroscience.

The most notable symptoms of schizophrenia are delusions and hallucinations, but the full syndrome is preceded by milder psychotic behaviors and includes general cognitive deficits. Over a 10-year period, Jeremy Hall and colleagues studied young people with schizophrenic relatives, who were therefore at high risk of developing schizophrenia themselves, to assess the differences between individuals who develop symptoms and those who do not. They report that people with a variant of the neuregulin 1- NRG1- gene that has been previously associated with schizophrenia were more likely to develop psychotic symptoms, and to have low IQ scores, than those without the variant. Furthermore, they found that people with the risky neuregulin 1 variant showed lower activation in parts of the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain as measured with functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging - fMRI.

Findings of this study suggest that the behavioral and neural precursors of schizophrenia may have a significant genetic contribution. Further research is required to determine the causal nature of the relationship between the reduction in brain activation and the effects of both genetic variation and cognitive dysfunction.

(ResearchSEA)

Martinsreid (Germany), 06 November: A new method for identifying, with very high confidence, cellular proteins that naturally interact with each other is described in a paper published online this week in Nature Methods. By reducing the rate at which such protein interactions are falsely identified, the approach will help researchers construct more accurate ‘wiring diagrams’ that explain how proteins act together.

Matthias Mann and Matthias Selbach used antibody ‘baits’ immobilized on solid supports to fish out a target protein. Proteins that bind to the target protein under normal cellular conditions are thus also isolated along with the target protein itself. However, other proteins can cross-react with or nonspecifically bind to the antibody bait or solid support. These nonspecific interactions are also detected by the readout method and are known as false positives.

To control for this problem, the authors used a technique called RNA interference to knock out, or turn off, ex-pression of the target protein in one population of cells. If the target protein is absent, only the nonspecific and cross-reactive binders will interact with the antibody bait. All of the isolated proteins from both the normal cell population and the knocked-out population are then identified by mass spectrometry. Proteins that are present in both cell populations are thus identified as false positives and discounted. This method is likely to become an important proteomic tool for studying human proteins, given the diverse range of antibodies and RNA interference reagents currently available.

(ResearchSEA)

Berlin (Germany), 05 November: DNA methylation profile of 3 human chromosomes is reported in a study to be published in December issue of Nature Genetics, marking substantial progress towards a complete accounting of the human ‘epigenome’, the collection of modifications to the human genetic code that occur without changing the original DNA sequence.

DNA methylation refers to the chemical modification of DNA by the addition of methyl groups, which consist of one carbon and three hydrogen atoms. This process can affect the ex-pression of nearby genes, usually silencing or switching them off, and is potentially an important factor in the development of some cancers when it occurs aberrantly. The Human Epigenome Project, whose goal is to catalog all of the sites of methylation in human genome in all major tissues, have now done so in 12 different tissues for chromosomes 6, 20 and 22.

In addition to providing the catalog as a publicly available resource for other investigators, the authors also report that there are only very small differences in the methylation patterns between male and females and between young and old individuals. Significant differences were observed between different tissues, however. Finally, by examining some of the corresponding regions in the mouse genome, they concluded that the pattern of methylation has been generally conserved during evolution, at least among mammals.

(ResearchSEA)

New York (USA), 05 November: A study in November issue of Nature Medicine reports that it is possible to induce infertility in rats by specifically targeting germ cell adhesion in the testis.

Throughout spermatogenesis, developing germ cells adhere to Sertoli cells- ‘nurse’ cells that nurture the developing sperm. If adhesion between these cell types is compromised, infertility can result in men. In current study, C. Yan Cheng and colleagues disrupted the interaction between germ and Sertoli cells using a recently developed molecule- Adjudin- coupled to a mutant form of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), which served to carry the molecule directly to the gonads.

Using this novel delivery approach, the authors induced infertility in adult rats using relatively low doses of the molecule with no obvious side effects. Future studies must now explore whether this approach is equally effective in men.

(ResearchSEA)

Pasadena (USA), 05 November: The operations of two remote quantum systems can be synchronized, according to research to be published in the December issue of Nature Physics. Jeff Kimble and colleagues report that they can synchronize operations in such a way that changes in one system are conditional on what happens in the other, giving a level of real-time control that has not previously been achieved.

Quantum networking plays a key role in a series of proposed quantum communication and information schemes that hold promise for secure information exchange, as well as the ability to solve certain tasks faster than any classical computer. The nodes of quantum networks- distributed over remote locations- host quantum objects like atoms, ions or molecules, whereas quantum channels allow information to be transmitted between the nodes, typically in the form of photons.

A practical quantum network requires synchronized operations to be performed on states stored in separated nodes. The authors address the specific task of producing a pair of identical photons from two quantum nodes. They make one node ready for emitting a single photon, but, before actually releasing the particle, wait for the other node to be ready. This significantly increases the probability that two photons are fired simultaneously, when compared with a situation without such conditional control. The authors believe that their technique could have important implications for the future development of quantum networks.

(ResearchSEA)

New Delhi (India), 02 November: Minda Industries Limited (MIL) announced its unaudited financial results for the quarter ended 30th September 2006.

The sales for Q2 in 2006 were up by a handsome 44.42%, from Rs.5758.08 lakh in Q2 2005-2006 to Rs.8315.85 lakh in Q2 2006-2007. Profit after tax was up to Rs.407.42 lakh in the same quarter as compared to Rs.367.46 lakh in Q2 2005-2006 while earning per share was Rs.3.88 in the quarter ended September 30, 2006, up from Rs.3.5 in Q2, 2005-2006.

"Our performance is in line with our target of 40% top-line growth this year as well which is in keeping with our CAGR of 40 % over the last 3 years', says N.K. Minda, Managing Director, Minda Industries Limited.

Minda Industries Limited (MIL) designs, develops and manufactures switches for 2/3 wheelers and off-road vehicles. It also manufactures lamps for automobiles (2/3 & 4 wheelers). The plans are already underway to manufacture Battery at a new facility in Pantnagar.

(Www.mediabharti.com)

San Diego (USA), 02 November: Those looking for self-help- relief, support and control over their lives- find the step-by-step methodology of PageTwo Systems, Inc. an attractive, workable option. A privately owned Web-based company, the PageTwo Systems program offers a viable alternative to traditional recovery, behavior modification or personal development programs to correct and change negative habits that have plagued them for years.

An on-line course, members move to re-shape the switches that influence habits. Step-by-step, users develop their own personalized 28-day programs guaranteed to transform harmful behavior. The self-help program offers anyone who has access to the Internet and a sincere desire to do, to turn their lives around.

(EWORLDWIRE)

University of Stuttgart (Germany), 02 November: The first experimental demonstration of magnetic refrigeration of a gas is reported in the November issue of Nature Physics. Magnetic refrigeration has been used since the 1930s to cool solid samples. Marco Fattori and colleagues now present evidence suggesting that the ‘new old’ method might also be a valuable tool for producing gases close to zero absolute temperature.

Magnetic refrigeration, also known as adiabatic demagnetization cooling, works by exposing suitable materials to a changing magnetic field. The process converts kinetic energy into magnetic energy, leading to a drop in temperature. In a solid, this typically involves lattice vibrations; in a gas, however, the coupling between the spin of the constituent particles- responsible for magnetism- and their motion is generally too weak to allow cooling to occur.

In the current study the authors show that in a gas made of chromium-52 atoms a coupling exists that is strong enough to allow efficient magnetic refrigeration. Researchers propose that a much broader class of gases might be amenable to adiabatic demagnetization cooling, and expect that the method could become a useful way to reach temperatures near absolute zero in gases- a temperature range that offers a rich assortment of exotic phenomena for physicists to explore.

(ResearchSEA)

Avon, 01 November: The safety rankings for over 250 passenger vehicles, for model-year 2007, have now been released by Informed For Life, an independent, non-profit organization evaluating vehicle safety since 2003.

The top two positions on the list are the Hyundai Entourage and Kia Sedona, both of which are minivans. Based on their low risk index scores it is estimated that these vehicles will reduce the overall risk of serious injury to their occupants by approximately 50 percent compared with the average vehicle. Within the top 25 vehicles, representing the best 10 percent of all 2007 vehicles, are 18 passenger cars, 4 minivans and 3 SUVs, but no pickups.

The detailed listings of all vehicles are available on the organization’s Website.

(EWORLDWIRE)

University of Toronto (Canada), 01 November: Should willing individuals be allowed to sell their kidneys? Yes, according to a Viewpoint article to be published in the November issue of Nature Clinical Practice Nephrology, which argues that failure to regulate kidney sales could be unethical. Abdallah S. Daar asserts that the traditional moral arguments against payment for organs are difficult to sustain under close scrutiny.

In the US, 90,000 patients are on the waiting list, of whom 6,000 die every year. In American cities, there is a 5-7-year wait for an organ from a deceased donor, and some patients take matters into their own hands by advertising for a donor on highway billboards or making personal pleas in the media. By contrast, the Iranian model of state-sponsored, noncommercial kidney transplantation-whereby donors are paid by a government-sponsored agency-has eliminated the waiting list completely.

Elsewhere, black markets for kidneys harm both donors and recipients. In a previous issue of Nature Clinical Practice Nephrology, Jha and Chugh documented the poor financial compensation and inadequate postoperative care received by paid kidney donors, and argued that commercial transplantation would encourage rampant exploitation of the underprivileged. But Daar points out that such exploitation is already happening. If regulating the practice will open it to scrutiny, enforce compliance with standards, remove greedy middlemen, and enable fair distribution of transplanted organs, then it can only be of benefit to both donors and recipients.

(ResearchSEA)

Mclean, 01 November: Spengler, who creates designer tee shirts through her company DivaWear, created a "Vote" shirt that she's found women wear for reasons other than to just look good. "I met a woman at a health spa in Utah who bought one of my shirts," says Spengler. "She told me wearing it inspired her to vote."

Fun and flirty DivaWear designs have grabbed the attention of publications. Spengler will transition into 2007 by building on her socially-responsible theme with a new collection called "Green Tee," a line of organic cotton tees and tanks incorporating embellished, Asian-inspired symbols which represent Good Fortune, Prosperity Love, Peace and Friendship.

(EWORLDWIRE)

Houston (USA), 31 October: Soft Way to Mozart is the 'missing link' to traditional music education, stated the Moscow philharmonic soloist and representative of legendary Neuhaus piano school Yuri Rozum.

Yuri Rozum, world-renowned artist, a full member of the Russian National Academy of Natural Science and the President of the Yuri Rozum International Charitable Foundation, recently issued a letter of endorsement to Soft Way to Mozart, an innovative piano learning computer system. Hailed as a modern day music genius, Yuri Rozums endorsement came after being an eyewitness to how the system worked with his own child. Before using the new system, Rozums daughter was resistant to traditional music lessons. After experiencing Soft Way to Mozart, she is enthusiastically learning piano- successfully and with great pleasure.

Soft Way to Mozart' was created in tandem by musicologist Hellene Hiner and programmer Valeri Koukhtiev in Houston, Texas in 2002. The system works in tandem with classical approaches of music education. The program filling the lack of visual support during the first steps of acquaintance with the space of piano keys and musical notation, said Yuri Rozum a classically trained Moscow conservatory graduate in his testimony.

Many professionals from the US, Canada, Russia, Mexico, Spain, U.K. and other countries switched to Soft Way to Mozart after learning more about the system and getting trained and certified by system creator Hiner.

"The program brilliantly uses the computer for creating the interactive learning of music as a language. By using Soft Mozart, music teachers can apply their time and energy to more complicated professional and artistic tasks during the classes of piano, theory or Solfeggio. The computer takes care of the routine development of basic skills," added Rozum.

Majority of children are deprived of successful music study as there is little support for students in elementary classes of music schools.

(EWORLDWIRE)

Brussels (Belgium), 31 October: European Commission has adopted a Euro 4 million decision in emergency humanitarian aid for victims of floods in India and Bangladesh. Food and shelter, water/sanitation and livelihood rehabilitation interventions will be provided through this funding for the most vulnerable people living in rural regions in southwest Bangladesh and urban and rural areas in India. Funds are channeled through the European Commission Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO).

The 2006 monsoon season in India and Bangladesh began in June and by the end of July, a serious flooding situation had developed in southwest Bangladesh and districts in western and eastern India. Damage from the floods includes loss of standing crops, serious erosion of farmland and property, destruction of livestock, food and tools, as well as the contamination of surface water supplies, open wells, tube wells and latrines. In September, 500,000 people in India were living in emergency makeshift shelters and public buildings, while in Bangladesh 3,000 families were living in such shelters and up to 15,000 families were in need of emergency shelter support.

This emergency decision will provide the most vulnerable people living in the flooded areas with the supply of food, shelter, water/sanitation facilities, as well as assistance in the recovery of livelihoods and in the rehabilitation of damaged housing. Medical support will be provided, together with hygiene education and water purification to help avoid disease outbreaks from contaminated water supplies.

Projects will be implemented through the Commission's operational partners already present in the targeted districts, such as NGOs, UN agencies and the Red Cross. The European Commission Humanitarian Aid department will continue to monitor the evolving flooding situation and will adapt the programme accordingly.

(Www.mediabharti.com)

Bethel (USA), 31 October: In response to the growing demand by American wholesalers and retailers to source products directly from Asia, Wholesalecentral.com has launched an "Asian Sources" directory as a major new feature of its Web site.

Since 1996 Wholesalecentral.com, America's largest network of active wholesale buyers and sellers, has been successfully connecting retailers and wholesalers of general merchandise via its wholesale-only directory and marketplace. That same highly effective platform is now being applied to the import industry, to help unite American wholesalers and retailers with Asian manufacturers.

As part of new Asian Sources directory, Wholesalecentral.com has also launched an "Asian Sources Power Search". Asian Sources Power Search allows buyers to search for specific products directly in the storefronts of the Asian suppliers that are listed in Asian Sources directory.

Launched on October 18, 2006, the Asian Sources directory already has a large presence of Asian sources, with new companies being added every day. Chinese marketing agencies and global promotional efforts are combining to create extreme momentum in membership and buyer usage. As with Wholesalecentral.com, the Asian Sources directory is free to use, with no membership required.

(EWORLDWIRE)