Babraham (Cambridge): Scientists at Babraham Institute have developed a new technique for rejuvenating skin cells. This technique has allowed scientists to rewind the cellular biological clock by around 30 years according to molecular measures, significantly longer than previous reprogramming methods.The results of the research were published in the journal, 'eLife'.Scientists have been able to partly restore the function of older cells, as well as rejuvenate the molecular measures of biological age.As we age, our cells' ability to function declines and the genome accumulates marks of ageing. Regenerative biology aims to repair or replace cells including old ones. One of the most important tools in regenerative biology is our ability to create 'induced' stem cells.The process is a result of several steps, each erasing some of the marks that make cells specialised. In theory, these stem cells have the potential to become any cell type, but scientists aren't yet able to reliably recreate the conditions to re-differentiate stem cells into all cell types.The new method, based on the Nobel Prize-winning technique scientists use to make stem cells, overcomes the problem of entirely erasing cell identity by halting reprogramming part of the way through the process. This allowed researchers to find the precise balance between reprogramming cells, making them biologically younger, while still being able to regain their specialised cell function.In 2007, Shinya Yamanaka was the first scientist to turn normal cells, which have a specific function, into stem cells that have the special ability to develop into any cell type. The full process of stem cell reprogramming takes around 50 days using four key molecules called the Yamanaka factors.The new method, called 'maturation phase transient reprogramming', exposes cells to Yamanaka factors for just 13 days. At this point, age-related changes are removed and the cells have temporarily lost their identity. The partly reprogrammed cells were given time to grow under normal conditions, to observe whether their specific skin cell function returned. Genome analysis showed that cells had regained markers characteristic of skin cells (fibroblasts), and this was confirmed by observing collagen production in the reprogrammed cells.To show that the cells had been rejuvenated, the researchers looked for changes in the hallmarks of ageing. As explained by Dr Diljeet Gill, a postdoc in Wolf Reik's lab at the Institute who conducted the work as a PhD student: "Our understanding of ageing on a molecular level has progressed over the last decade, giving rise to techniques that allow researchers to measure age-related biological changes in human cells. We were able to apply this to our experiment to determine the extent of reprogramming our new method achieved."Researchers looked at multiple measures of cellular age. The first is the epigenetic clock, where chemical tags present throughout the genome indicate age. The second is the transcriptome, all the gene readouts produced by the cell. By these two measures, the reprogrammed cells matched the profile of cells that were 30 years younger compared to the reference data sets.The potential applications of this technique are dependent on the cells not only appearing younger but functioning like young cells too. Fibroblasts produce collagen, a molecule found in bones, skin tendons and ligaments, helping provide structure to tissues and heal wounds. The rejuvenated fibroblasts produced more collagen proteins compared to control cells that did not undergo the reprogramming process.Fibroblasts also move into areas that need repairing. Researchers tested the partially rejuvenated cells by creating an artificial cut in a layer of cells in a dish. They found that their treated fibroblasts moved into the gap faster than older cells. This is a promising sign that one day this research could eventually be used to create cells that are better at healing wounds.In the future, this research may also open up other therapeutic possibilities. The researchers observed that their method also had an effect on other genes linked to age-related diseases and symptoms. The APBA2 gene, associated with Alzheimer's disease, and the MAF gene with a role in the development of cataracts, both showed changes towards youthful levels of transcription.The mechanism behind the successful transient reprogramming is not yet fully understood and is the next piece of the puzzle to explore. The researchers speculate that key areas of the genome involved in shaping cell identity might escape the reprogramming process.Diljeet concluded, "Our results represent a big step forward in our understanding of cell reprogramming. We have proved that cells can be rejuvenated without losing their function and that rejuvenation looks to restore some function to old cells. The fact that we also saw a reverse of ageing indicators in genes associated with diseases is particularly promising for the future of this work."Professor Wolf Reik, a group leader in the Epigenetics research programme who has recently moved to lead the Altos Labs Cambridge Institute, said, "This work has very exciting implications. Eventually, we may be able to identify genes that rejuvenate without reprogramming, and specifically target those to reduce the effects of ageing. This approach holds promise for valuable discoveries that could open up an amazing therapeutic horizon."&nbsp;—ANI

Scientists at Babraham Institute have developed a new technique for rejuvenating skin cells. This technique has allowed scientists to rewind the cellular biological clock by around 30 years according to molecular measures, significantly longer than previous reprogramming methods.

Scientists Reprogram Old Skin Cells To Regain Youthful Function

Mumbai: Ravichandran Ashwin says the work done on his batting technique before the start of the season has yielded results in IPL 2022, where Rajasthan Royals have given him the opportunity to bat higher up the order.Batting at No 3, Ashwin smashed a 38-ball 50 against Delhi Capitals at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Wednesday, albeit in a losing cause."No license has been given. Starting from the season it was communicated to me properly that I will be used as a batter up the order. We had a few practice games where I opened also."Have worked a lot on my batting so it's nice to see whatever has been worked on translates into the field," the veteran off-spinner said after the match.Talking more about the work he put in before the IPL, he said:"I was in good batting rhythm before the start of the season. Worked a little bit on my batting, like tried to transfer my body wait forward, made a little switch on my technique. Pretty good feel about the knock but it didn't come at a winning cause."Royals are currently placed third in the standings with 14 points from 12 games, while Delhi are positioned at fifth spot with 12 points from as many games.Ashwin said Royals need to bounce back strongly in their remaining two games to ensure their place in the IPL 2022 play-offs."Back end of the tournament is always pressure. Hopefully, we can turn it on and string a couple of wins together," he said.After the bowlers restricted Royals to 160/6, Mitchell Marsh's 62-ball 89 and David Warner's unbeaten 52 off 41 balls helped Ddelhi overhaul the target with 11 balls to spare.&nbsp;Marsh also picked up two wickets with the ball."In the Powerplay the ball was swinging and nipping around, so one of the tougher Powerplay I have batted since I started playing T20 cricket. We assessed that we have to get through powerplay unscatched," Marsh said.He also heaped praise on fellow Australian Warner."I just love batting with Davey (Warner). We have had a lot of great partnerships."He is someone I have looked upto for a long time now and I feel very lucky over the last 18 months I was able to bat with him a lot," he said.—PTI

Ravichandran Ashwin says the work done on his batting technique before the start of the season has yielded results in IPL 2022, where Rajasthan Royals have given him the opportunity to bat higher up the order.

Why Ashwin is making an impact with the bat in IPL 2022

Washington: Scientists have developed a new technique for imaging mRNA molecules in the brains of living mice. The research reveals new insights into how memories are formed and stored in the brain and could allow scientists to learn more about diseases such as Alzheimer's in the future.The paper is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).There is still a lot of mystery surrounding the process of how memory is physically created and stored in the brain. It is well known that mRNA a type of RNA involved in the creation of proteins is produced during the process of forming and storing memories, but the technology for studying this process on the cellular level has been limited. Previous studies have often involved dissecting mice in order to examine their brains.A team of researchers led by a University of Minnesota Twin Cities faculty member has developed a new technique that gives scientists a window into RNA synthesis in the brain of a mouse while it is still alive."We still know very little about memories in the brain," explained Hye Yoon Park, an associate professor in the University of Minnesota Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the study's lead author. "It's well known that mRNA synthesis is important for memory, but it was never possible to image this in a live brain. Our work is an important contribution to this field. We now have this new technology that neurobiologists can use for various different experiments and memory tests in the future." The University of Minnesota-led team's process involved genetic engineering, two-photon excitation microscopy, and optimized image processing software. By genetically modifying a mouse so that it produced mRNA labeled with green fluorescent proteins (proteins derived from a jellyfish), the researchers were able to see when and where the mouse's brain generated Arc mRNA, the specific type of molecule they were looking for.Because the mouse is alive, the researchers could study it for longer periods of time. Using this new process, the researchers performed two experiments on the mouse in which they were able to see in real time over a month what the neurons -- or nerve cells -- were doing as the mouse was forming and storing memories.Historically, neuroscientists have theorized that certain groups of neurons in the brain fire when a memory is formed, and that those same cells fire again when that moment or event is remembered. However, in both experiments, the researchers found that different groups of neurons fired each day they triggered the memory in the mouse. Over the course of several days after the mouse created this memory, they were able to locate a small group of cells that overlapped, or consistently generated the Arc mRNA each day, in the retrosplenial cortex (RSC) region of the brain, a group which they believe is responsible for the long-term storage of that memory. "Our research is about memory generation and retrieval," Park said. "If we can understand how this happens, it will be very helpful for us in understanding Alzheimer's disease and other memory-related diseases. Maybe people with Alzheimer's disease still store the memories somewhere -- they just can't retrieve them. So in the very long-term, perhaps this research can help us overcome these diseases." —ANI

 Scientists have developed a new technique for imaging mRNA molecules in the brains of living mice. The research reveals new insights into how memories are formed and stored in the brain and could allow scientists to learn more about diseases such as Alzheimer's in the future.

Scientists Develop Technique For Imaging mRNA Molecules In Brains Of Living Mice

Minneapolis (St. Paul): A group of researchers have come out with the first-of-its-kind comprehensive global dataset of the Earth's lakes and reservoirs which demonstrates how they have changed over the past 30+ years.The study highlighting the Reservoir and Lake Surface Area Timeseries (ReaLSAT) dataset was recently published in Scientific Data, a peer-reviewed, open-access journal published by Nature.The research was conducted by data scientists from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities with funding from NASA and the U.S. National Science Foundation. The data will provide environmental researchers with new information about land and fresh water use as well as how lakes and reservoirs are being impacted by humans and climate change. The research is also a major advancement in machine learning techniques. A paper highlighting the Reservoir and Lake Surface Area Timeseries (ReaLSAT) dataset was recently published in Scientific Data, a peer-reviewed, open-access journal published by Nature.Highlights of the study include:The ReaLSAT dataset contains the location and surface area variations of 681,137 lakes and reservoirs larger than 0.1 square kilometers (south of 50 degrees north latitude). The previous most comprehensive database, called HydroLAKES, had identified only 245,420 lakes and reservoirs for the part of the world and minimum size being considered in this study.ReaLSAT provides data on the surface area of each body of water for each month from 1984 to 2015. This makes it possible to quantify changes in lake and reservoir area over time, which is key to understanding how changing climate and land use are altering bodies of fresh water. The HydroLAKES data contains only a static shape for each water body.The ReaLSAT dataset is the culmination of eight years of research. It represents a major milestone in the application of new knowledge-guided machine learning for use in the environmental sciences. Unlike other existing efforts, this dataset can now be extended nearly automatically via machine learning and can be quickly replicated for a wide variety of earth observation data that are becoming available at increasingly better resolution."Around the world, we are seeing lakes and reservoirs changing rapidly with seasonal precipitation patterns, long-term changes in climate, and human management decisions," said Vipin Kumar, the senior author of the study and Regents Professor and William Norris Endowed Chair in the University of Minnesota Twin Cities Department of Computer Science and Engineering. "This new dataset greatly improves the ability of scientists to understand the impact of changing climate and human actions on our fresh water across the globe."Building a global dataset of lakes and reservoirs and how they are changing required a new type of machine learning algorithms that meld knowledge of the physical dynamics of water bodies with satellite imagery. "ReaLSAT is a shining example where environmental challenges motivated a new class of knowledge-guided machine learning algorithms that are now being used in numerous scientific applications," Kumar said. Scientists who study the environment agree that ReaLSAT will improve their work."The availability and quality of surface fresh water is central to sustainable use of our planet," said Paul C. Hanson, a Distinguished Research Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Limnology and a co-author of the study. "Because ReaLSAT shows changes in lakes and their boundaries, rather than just water pixels across the landscape, we can now connect ecosystem process about water quality with hundreds of thousands of lakes around the world."&nbsp;—ANI

 A group of researchers have come out with the first-of-its-kind comprehensive global dataset of the Earth's lakes and reservoirs which demonstrates how they have changed over the past 30+ years.

Scientists Use New Techniques To Identify Lakes And Reservoirs Worldwide

Washington: Superconductors may eventually replace bulk magnets in equipment like electric motors, MRI scanners, and CT scanners. But the problem is that conventional high-temperature superconductors require a long and complicated manufacturing process and are made up of costly rare earth metals.This has led to shift to magnesium diboride (or MgB2)-based superconductors which are cheaper, light in weight, and easier to fabricate and mould into intricate shapes.The findings of the research were published in Ceramics International.A group of researchers from Shibaura Institute of Technology (SIT), led by Professor Muralidhar Miryala, solved this problem by outlining an all-new, low-cost, and efficient method for refining boron.Previous research has shown that using nanoscale boron to make MgB2 results in better magnetic characteristics. However, commercial nanoscale boron is expensive. Ball milling, a popular method for refining boron introduces impurities which hinder the superconductor's performance. Thus, there is a need for a low-cost method for the nanoscale refining of boron. Now, in a paper published in Ceramics International (version available online on 14 June 2022), a team of researchers from Shibaura Institute of Technology (SIT), led by Professor Muralidhar Miryala, solved this problem by outlining an all-new, low-cost, and efficient method for refining boron.The team used a technique called ultrasonication, a technique that employs ultrasound waves to agitate particles in a sample. First, they placed commercially available crystalline boron in distilled water. This was then subjected to ultrasonic sound waves of 20 kHz. The researchers subjected the crystalline boron to the ultrasonic treatment for varying periods of time to see which time period would be ideal. The resulting superconductor samples were checked for impurities, microstructure, and magnetic properties. "We found that our samples of MgB2 were around 95% pure, which is much higher than the ball milling method that only produced 75% purity. The samples had a refined microstructure and had a 35% improvement than other methods. All of this was achieved with only 30 minutes of ultrasonic treatment", says Prof. Miryala. This makes this new method of ultrasonication using distilled water extremely efficient at refining boron without having to use expensive materials. It brings down the cost of making MgB2 superconductors while also improving their magnetic characteristics.According to Prof. Miryala, "Although ultrasonication as a method has been explored before for refining, previous attempts have used ethanol or hexane. This increases the cost of the process. The use of distilled water brings down the cost while still being as good or even better than the previous mediums."Overall, this study represents a huge step forward in making superconductors easily available for commercial purposes in devices. In addition, the study also brings into focus the ultrasonication technique, which is currently in its early stages of development. "This new technique will create more avenues of research. Other researchers can work on the optimization of this method to bring out its complete potential as well as apply this technique in their respective fields," comments Prof. Miryala.The researchers are confident that their findings will make cheap superconductors a reality soon enough!&nbsp;—ANI

Superconductors may eventually replace bulk magnets in equipment like electric motors, MRI scanners, and CT scanners. But the problem is that conventional high-temperature superconductors require a long and complicated manufacturing process and are made up of costly rare earth metals.

Researchers Find New Refining Technique To Make Cheaper Superconductors

Washington: According to new research, scientists have discovered a new technique of converting methane gas into methanol using light and dispersed transition metals such as copper.As per a study published in Chemical Communications, the reaction was the best obtained to date for the conversion of methane gas into liquid fuel under ambient conditions of temperature and pressure (25 °C and 1 bar respectively).The term bar as a unit of pressure derives from the Greek word for weight (baros). One bar is equivalent to 100,000 Pascals (100 kPa), which is very close to the standard atmospheric pressure at sea level (101,325 Pa).The results of the study are an important step in making natural gas available as an energy source for the production of alternative fuels to gasoline and diesel. Although natural gas is considered a fossil fuel, its conversion into methanol emits less carbon dioxide (CO2) than other liquid fuels in the same category.In Brazil, methanol plays a key role in biodiesel production and in the chemical industry, which uses it to synthesize many products.Furthermore, methane capture from the atmosphere is crucial to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change, as the gas has 25 times the potential of CO2, for example, to contribute to global warming."There's a great debate in the scientific community about the size of the planet's methane reserves. According to some estimates, they may have double the energy potential of all other fossil fuels combined. In the transition to renewables, we'll have to tap into all this methane at some point," Marcos da Silva, first author of the article, told Agencia FAPESP. Silva is a PhD candidate in the Physics Department of the Federal University of Sao Carlos (UFSCar).The study was supported by FAPESP via two projects (20/14741-6 and 21/11162-8), by the Higher Research Council (CAPES, an agency of the Ministry of Education), and by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq, an arm of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation). According to Ivo Freitas Teixeira, a professor at UFSCar, Silva's thesis advisor and last author of the article, the photocatalyst used in the study was a key innovation. "Our group innovated significantly by oxidizing methane in a single stage," he said. "In the chemical industry, this conversion occurs via the production of hydrogen and CO2 in at least two stages and under very high temperature and pressure conditions. Our success in obtaining methanol under mild conditions, while also expending less energy, is a major step forward." According to Teixeira, the results pave the way for future research into the use of solar energy for this conversion process, potentially reducing its environmental impact still further.PhotocatalystsIn the laboratory, the scientists synthesized crystalline carbon nitride in the form of polyheptazine imide (PHI), using non-noble or earth-abundant transition metals, especially copper, to produce active visible-light photocatalysts.They then used the photocatalysts in methane oxidation reactions with hydrogen peroxide as an initiator. The copper-PHI catalyst generated a large volume of oxygenated liquid products, especially methanol (2,900 micromoles per gram of material, or umol.g-1 in four hours)."We discovered the best catalyst and other conditions essential to the chemical reaction, such as using a large amount of water and only a small amount of hydrogen peroxide, which is an oxidizing agent," Teixeira said. "The next steps include understanding more about the active copper sites in the material and their role in the reaction. We also plan to use oxygen directly to produce hydrogen peroxide in the reaction itself. If successful, this should make the process even safer and economically viable."Another point the group will continue to investigate relates to copper. "We work with dispersed copper. When we wrote the article, we didn't know whether we were dealing with isolated atoms or clusters. We now know they're clusters," he explained.In the study, the scientists used pure methane, but in future they will extract the gas from renewables such as biomass. According to the United Nations, methane has so far caused about 30% of global warming since the pre-industrial age. Methane emissions from human activity could be reduced by as much as 45% in the decade ahead, avoiding a rise of almost 0.3°C by 2045.The strategy of converting methane into liquid fuel using a photocatalyst is new and not available commercially, but its potential in the near term is significant. "We began our research over four years ago. We now have far better results than those of Professor Hutchings and his group in 2017, which motivated our own research," Teixeira said, referring to a study published in the journal Science by researchers affiliated with universities in the United States and United Kingdom, and led by Graham Hutchings, a professor at Cardiff University in Wales.&nbsp;—ANI

According to new research, scientists have discovered a new technique of converting methane gas into methanol using light and dispersed transition metals such as copper.

Scientists Discover New Technique To Convert Methane Gas Into Liquid Methanol

Rishikesh (The Hawk): During the workshop organized at AIIMS Rishikesh Urologist experts from across the country were apprised of the latest advances in Urodynamics. Urologists shared their views while discussing the latest techniques related to urology.
In the two-day conference, expert doctors said that the use of the latest technologies in the medical field reduces the risk and can make the treatment related to urology easier. The chief guest of the program, Professor (Dr.) Dr. Meenu Singh, Executive Director, AIIMS Rishikesh said that this conference would especially benefit the MCh students of the Department of Urology. she said that not only the patients but also the team of doctors performing the surgery would be benefitted by adopting the latest techniques and better procedures in the treatment of patients. Dr. Meenu said that along with the experience in the treatment of the patient, the communication style of the doctor also depends. Therefore, there is a need to adopt sensitivity with the patients.
Guest of honor Prof. Manoj Gupta Dean of Academics told the need for its evaluation from time to time. He said that this national conference would help everyone to understand the basic concepts of urodynamics and also to gain experience in the treatment process by sharing information about treatments and techniques with each other.
Urologists from all over the country were apprised of the purpose of the conference and the latest advances in urodynamics by Professor (Dr.) Ankur Mittal, HOD Department of Urology AIIMS Rishikesh. He said that urodynamics is a difficult area for many urologists, but there is no doubt that the interpretation and management of patients who undergo urodynamic testing will benefit all of us after extensive discussions at the conference. Male and female urinary tract disorders were also discussed extensively at the conference. Urologists from different fields also highlighted how to diagnose rare urological disorders early to reduce the suffering of the patients. Along with this, live workshops were also organized on the related subject.
Dr. Arup Kumar Mandal and Dr. Vikas Panwar Urologists of AIIMS Rishikesh also addressed the conference. During this, Professor SK Singh Head of the Department of Urology PGI Chandigarh, Prof. Amlesh Seth head of Delhi AIIMS, Prof. Sameer Trivedi BHU Varanasi, Prof. Shivam SMS Jaipur, Dr. Sankhwar from KGMU Lucknow, Dr. Mayank Agarwal, Dr. Aparna Hegde, Dr. Sanjay Sinha, and Dr. Lalit Shah, etc many urologists were present.&nbsp;

During the workshop organized at AIIMS Rishikesh Urologist experts from across the country were apprised of the latest advances in Urodynamics. Urologists shared their views while discussing the latest techniques related to urology.

Urologists Share Views On Latest Techniques Related To Urology At AIIMS Rishikesh

Mandi (The Hawk): The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi has devised a method to evaluate the earthquake resistance of structures in the Himalayan region.
The approach is straightforward and enables decision-makers to prioritise any strengthening and repair work needed to increase the structure's resistance to earthquakes.
The Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering has published the study's findings. Sandip Kumar Saha, an assistant professor in the school of civil and environmental engineering at IIT Mandi, is the principal investigator and co-author of the study with Yati Aggarwal.
The continuing collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates makes the Himalayas one of the most earthquake-prone places in the world.
Periodic earthquakes have caused tremendous damage to these areas in terms of both human life and property loss.
More than 1,350 people died and at least 100,000 were injured in the Great Kashmir Earthquake of 2005, which also destroyed tens of thousands of homes and other structures and left millions of people homeless.
Although earthquakes cannot be avoided, damage can be reduced by designing structures such as buildings and other infrastructures to resist seismic activity.
Assessing the current vulnerabilities and strengths of existing structures is the first step in making sure they are earthquake-safe.
Conducting a thorough assessment of each building's seismic susceptibility is neither practical nor affordable.
Buildings are frequently subjected to Rapid Visual Screening (RVS) in order to examine building vulnerabilities on a broad scale.
To determine whether a structure is safe to occupy or needs immediate engineering work to improve seismic safety, RVS employs visual information.
Due to some characteristics that are specific to the buildings in this region, existing RVS methodologies, which are based on data from various nations, are not particularly suitable to the India Himalayan region.
For instance, there are several non-engineered constructions in the Himalayan region (as well as most of India).
Due to inadequate planning by the stakeholders and a lack of understanding among the local construction workers, there is also an unorganised distribution and growth of infrastructure. Therefore, it is imperative to utilise a region-specific RVS guideline that takes into account elements like local building methods, typology, etc.
"We have developed an effective method to screen reinforced concrete (RC) buildings in the Indian Himalayan region so that repair work may be prioritised according to the condition of the buildings and the risk from impending earthquakes can be minimised," Saha said in a statement describing the research.
Researchers have gathered a lot of information about the different kinds of buildings found in the Mandi region, as well as the typical characteristics of these buildings that are related to their earthquake vulnerability.
In order to create standards for determining the number of stories in mountainous buildings for their RVS, a numerical research was also conducted. Further, a better RVS approach was suggested based on the vulnerable traits found in buildings.
The single-page RVS form used in the approach created for screening buildings is easy to complete and doesn't require significant technical knowledge. It considers the many characteristics of vulnerability that are particular to the buildings in the case study area.
Buildings are given a seismic vulnerability score using calculations based on these observations, which separates the weaker structures from the stronger ones and facilitates improved maintenance and repair decision-making.
The calculations are made in a way that minimises the likelihood of human subjectivity or prejudice in the assessment of a building.
We have shown that the proposed method is effective for separating reinforced concrete buildings in hilly locations according to the damage that they are projected to undergo in the case of an earthquake, the researcher Aggarwal said when discussing the advantages of the study.
In addition to the Himalayan region's general earthquake risk, it is necessary and crucial to analyse the buildings there since a major earthquake is imminent due to the "seismic gap" of the last two centuries.
(Inputs from Agencies)

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi has devised a method to evaluate the earthquake resistance of structures in the Himalayan region. The approach is straightforward and enables decision-makers to prioritise any strengthening and repair work needed to increase the structure's resistance to earthquakes.

IIT Mandi creates a technique to evaluate earthquake-prone buildings in the Himalayas

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi has devised a method to evaluate the earthquake resistance of structures in the Himalayan region.
The approach is straightforward and enables decision-makers to prioritise any strengthening and repair work needed to increase the structure's resistance to earthquakes.

Washington: An advanced imaging-based method from scientists at Scripps Research offers a new way of studying mitochondria, which are best known as the "powerhouses" of cells.
In their report in the Journal of Cell Biology, the scientists described a set of techniques that enables the imaging and quantification of even subtle structural changes inside mitochondria, and the correlation of those changes with other processes ongoing in cells.
Mitochondria are involved not only in energy production, but also in several other critical cellular functions, including cell division and cell-preserving responses to various types of stress. Mitochondrial dysfunctions have been observed in a host of diseases including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease and different cancers, and researchers are eager to develop treatments that can reverse these dysfunctions. But the scientific tools for studying the fine details of mitochondria structure have been limited.
"We now have a powerful new toolkit for detecting and quantifying structural, and thus functional, differences in mitochondria--for example, in diseased versus healthy states," says study senior author Danielle Grotjahn, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology at Scripps Research.
The co-first authors of the study were Grotjahn lab members Benjamin Barad, PhD, a postdoctoral research associate, and Michaela Medina, a PhD candidate.
Mitochondria are one of the many membrane-bound molecular machines, or "organelles," that dwell within the cells of plants and animals. Typically numbering in the hundreds to thousands per cell, mitochondria have their own small genomes and have a distinctive structure with an outer membrane and a wavy inner membrane where key biochemical reactions occur.
Scientists know that the appearance of mitochondrial structures can change dramatically depending on what the mitochondrion is doing, or what stresses are present in the cell. These structural changes therefore can be highly useful markers of cell conditions, though until now there hasn't been a good method for detecting and quantifying them.
In the study, Grotjahn's team put together a computational toolkit to process imaging data from a microscopy technique called cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET)--which essentially images biological samples in three dimensions, using electrons instead of light. The researchers'
"surface morphometrics toolkit," as they call it, enables the detailed mapping and measurement of the structural elements of individual mitochondria. This includes the bends of the inner membrane and the gaps between membranes--all potentially useful markers of important mitochondrial and cellular events.
"It allows us essentially to turn the beautiful 3-D pictures of mitochondria we can get from cryo-ET into sensitive, quantitative measurements--which we can potentially use to help identify the detailed mechanisms of diseases, for example," Barad says.
The team demonstrated the toolkit by using it to map structural details on mitochondria when their cells are subjected to endoplasmic reticulum stress--a type of cell stress that is seen often in neurodegenerative diseases. They observed that key structural features such as the curvature of the inner membrane, or the minimum distance between inner and outer membranes, changed measurably when under this stress. With their successful, proof-of-principle demonstrations of the new toolkit, the Grotjahn lab will now use it for studying in more detail how mitochondria respond to cellular stresses or other changes induced by diseases, toxins, infections and even pharmaceuticals.
"We can compare the effects on mitochondria in cells treated with a drug versus the effects on untreated mitochondria, for example," Medina says. "And this approach is not limited to mitochondria--we can also use it to study other organelles within cells." —ANI

An advanced imaging-based method from scientists at Scripps Research offers a new way of studying mitochondria, which are best known as the "powerhouses" of cells.

Scientists Develop New Technique For Studying Mitochondria

Boston: While medications to reduce the course of neurodegenerative disorders are available, there are no treatments. Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, on the other hand, are searching for innovative techniques to reduce neuronal deterioration and cure amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a deadly motor neuron disease. The researchers discovered that proteins in the innate immune system may be at the basis of the illness.
The findings of the study will be published in Neuron.
"The unmet need for therapies for neurodegenerative diseases is huge, and our work opens up a whole new pathology that we could address," says Judy Lieberman, MD, PhD, a researcher in the program in cellular and molecular medicine at Boston Children's and a co-principal investigator on the project.
"We revealed an innate immune molecule playing a role in neurodegeneration, which opens up a new avenue for thinking about neuronal health," says Isaac Chiu, PhD, associate professor in immunology at Harvard Medical School and a co-principal investigator on the project.
The researchers found that inactivating a molecule in the brain linked with inflammation prevents cellular damage in human neurons and delays the progression of ALS in mice. The role of inflammatory proteins in the brain
When cells recognize danger, like an infection, immune molecules are activated to sound an alarm that recruits and activates immune cells to the site of damage to try to eliminate it and orchestrate tissue repair. Sometimes, the immune response involves a family of proteins called gasdermins, which trigger cells to die through a highly inflammatory process called pyroptosis. One type of gasdermin, gasdermin E, is expressed in the brain most highly in nerve cells. But no one knew what it's doing.
The research team, led by Dr. Lieberman and Chiu, first examined how gasdermin E affects neurons. The team developed models of neurons from mice and from human samples and looked at the effects of gasdermin E on axons, or the parts of neurons that send electrical signals. The researchers found that when neurons detect a hazard, gasdermin E drives damage to the powerhouse of the cell, known as mitochondria, and the axons. The axons degenerate, but the cells don't die. "If you look at a plate of neurons, you see a jungle of axons. But if you look at a plate where gasdermin E is activated, you see retractions of these cellular processes," explained Himanish Basu, a postdoctoral researcher in Chiu's lab at Harvard University who led this study. This retraction happens in nerves in the muscles of patients with ALS, a progressive disease characterized by muscle twitching and weakness, but eventually progressing to muscle atrophy and paralysis. "Our study is an example of how immunology can help explain neurodegeneration on a mechanistic level, and what drives axon loss and neuronal injury," said Dylan Neel, an MD/PhD student in Chiu's lab who co-led this study.
Gasdermin E in ALS
To better understand the relationship between gasdermin E and neurodegeneration, the team created models of ALS motor neurons by transforming stem cell samples of ALS patients into neurons. The researchers found that gasdermin E is present at high levels in these neurons. And they could protect axons and mitochondria from damage by silencing gasdermin E.&nbsp;
The team then wanted to test whether the effects they saw in cells could translate to improvements in symptoms related to neurodegeneration. The researchers silenced gasdermin E in a mouse model of ALS. They found that it delayed the progression of symptoms and led to protected motor neurons, longer axons, and less overall inflammation. These findings suggest that gasdermin E drives changes to neurons that may contribute to disease progression. "Inflammation is a double-edged sword, and could be very destructive based on context," said Chiu.
Though some drugs can block the effects of other gasdermins, it is still unclear whether gasdermin E can be targeted with drugs. But this work is an important first step towards developing new approaches for treating ALS. "We describe a pathway and molecules that you can target for treating many neurodegenerative diseases," said Dr. Lieberman. (ANI)

While medications to reduce the course of neurodegenerative disorders are available, there are no treatments. Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, on the other hand, are searching for innovative techniques to reduce neuronal deterioration and cure amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a deadly motor neuron disease.

Researchers Give Insight Into Techniques To Reduce Neuronal Deterioration, Cure Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Education of physically or mentally handicapped children through modified and individually focused methods and techniques of teaching. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) defines Special Education as Specially designed instruction, at no cost to parents, to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability.
The second definition is more applicable in the U.S.A., the first one is a universal one because not everywhere facilities for special education are offered free of cost.
To elaborate and understand in detail: Special education is the education which meets the need of those children who are different from average children either mentally, physically and or socially. The children may suffer from emotional disturbance, mental retardation, deafness, dumbness, blindness and any other ailments which hamper the intellect growth of the individual. The teaching methods in special education schools also differ from standard schools and are more individual-oriented to adapt to the individual’s needs. Depending upon the condition of the individual, education policies and educational laws, the students may or may not be admitted to a standard academic school. There are separate schools or separate classrooms for students with special needs but some students with mild impairments are allowed in a regular school or classrooms for a limited or full period of time. As the students require more care and attention, special education is also referred to as ‘Special Needs Education’ or ‘Exceptional Children Education’. Just, like a standard school, special school teachers receive specialised education training from educational institutes skilled in this area. Special education schools have certain norms and infrastructure which facilitates the development of children with special needs. But all this wasn’t available earlier, there were very few schools and people were largely unaware of them. Nobody knew how to take care of them. That brings us to the origins of special education.
<h2></h2>
<h2>History of Special Education</h2>
Special education was not prevalent before mid-1500’s. People with disabilities were looked down upon. There was a certain amount of acceptance towards the physically handicapped but those with mental disabilities were largely avoided or considered unwanted. Between 27 BC-AD 476/1453, there were certain people who took care of handicapped and disabled people. Whether they were educated and returned to normalcy is unknown? During 5th and 15th Century (Middle Ages) the church provided care for the same but the modern methodology of special education was still amiss. The development of advanced special education is mentioned below:

<h3><ins>Chronology / </ins><ins>Major Developments</ins></h3>

Mid 1500’s
Pedro Ponce de León, a Spanish Benedictine Monk was able to teach deaf children to speak, read and write Spanish. He had opened a school at San Salvador Monastery in Madrid for such individuals.

<h3>In 1620</h3>

Juan Pablo Bonet, a Spanish Priest developed the use of sign language to teach speech to the deaf. His system of signs and manual alphabet were depicted in his book titled Reducción de las Letras y arte para enseñar a hablar a los mudos in Madrid. It means ‘Summary of the letters and the art of teaching speech to the mute’. It was published in 1620. Bonet's system influenced American Sign Language, French Sign Language, Spanish Sign Language and others.

<h3>During 1640 and 1653.</h3>

John Bulwer, an English physician and philosopher wrote five works exploring the Body and human communication, particularly by the gesture. In his book ‘Chirologia: or the natural language of the hand (1644)’, he depicts ‘Hand Gestures’ for communication. He also proposed the education of deaf people through an academy mentioned in his works ‘Philocophus’ and ‘The Dumbe mans academia.’

<h3>During 1760’s</h3>

Charles-Michel, abbé de l’Epée, a French Philanthropic Educator established ‘The Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles’ in Paris during the 1760’s. It was a free public school for the deaf. He also developed the natural sign language in French.

Thomas Braidwood, a Scottish Writing Instructor established 'Braidwood's Academy for the Deaf and Dumb' in 1760 at Edinburgh. It was the first school for the Deaf in Britain.

<h3>During 1770’s</h3>

Samuel Heinicke, a German Advocate and Teacher established the first German public school for the education of the deaf in 1778 at Leipzig. He promoted the oral method (phonetic method) of teaching and reading.

<h3>During 1780’s</h3>

Valentin Haüy, a French Professor founded the first school for the blind in 1784. It was named as ‘Royal Institution for the Young Blind’ in Paris (now the National Institute for the Young Blind, INJA -Institution Nationale des Jeunes Aveugles.

Roch-Ambroise Cucurron Sicard, a French Abbot and Instructor of the deaf, developed the manual system, or silent method, of teaching people with hearing impairments. His works include - Eléments de grammaire générale (1799), Cours d'instruction d'un sourd-muet de naissance (1800) and Traité des signes pour l'instruction des sourds-muets (1808).

<h3>During 1800’s</h3>

Jean Marc Gaspard Itard, a French Physician made first attempt towards the instruction of mentally retarded children on scientific basis. In his book – Reports on the Savage of Aveyron (Rapports sur le sauvage de l’Aveyron -1807), he explained these attempted methods to train and educate an unsocialized 11-year-old boy who had been found in a forest in Aveyron, south of Paris. His other work includes Treatise on the Maladies of the Ear and of Hearing (Traité des maladies de l’oreille et de l’audition) which advocated the combination of sign and oral communication in the education of persons with hearing impairments.

Friedrich Moritz Hill, a German Deaf and Dumb Teacher developed the German System of teaching deaf and dumb during the mid-1800’s. His work includes ‘Teaching guide for deaf and dumb children of clergymen and teachers’ (1840), ‘The clergy and teachers in the service of the deaf’(1882) and ‘Full instructions for teaching deaf-mute children’ (1840).

Édouard Séguin, a French Physician and Educationist established the first private school in Paris around 1840. It was meant for the education of the mentally handicapped. In 1846, he published The Moral Treatment, Hygiene, and Education of Idiots and Other Backward Children (Traitement Moral, Hygiène, et Education des Idiots). This work is considered to be the earliest systematic textbook dealing with the special needs of children with mental disabilities.

<h3>During 1900’s</h3>

Maria Montessori, an Italian Physician and Educator developed effective teaching methods. Her methodology was named the Montessori Method. She opened ‘Casa dei Bambini’ (Children's House) on January 6, 1907. She taught normal children here and the success of Casa soon spread. Montessori education became international spreading all over the globe.

In 1975, USA passes an act - The Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA). It is also known as P.L. 94-142. In modern times this law is known as ‘Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)’.

In the UK, during 1978, The Warnock Report and subsequently, the 1981 Education Act, radically changed the conceptualisation of special educational needs. It introduced the idea of special educational needs (SEN), “statements” of SEN, and an “integrative” - which later became known as “inclusive” - approach, based on common educational goals for all children regardless of their abilities or disabilities: namely independence, enjoyment, and understanding.
By the end of 1900’s, developed nations had created facilities for special education.

<h2>In 2001</h2>
The USA passes an act ‘No Child Left Behind’ according to which all students, including students with disabilities, will have to be to be proficient in math and reading by the year 2014.

<h3>In 2004</h3>
IDEA was reauthorized. There were several changes like - call for more accountability at the state and local levels. School districts were told to provide adequate instruction and intervention for students.
Today, there are many special education institutes throughout the world. Some of the countries which have special education institutes are – Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Portugal, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and many more.

<h3>Philosophy of Special Education</h3>
Every educational institute has a philosophy towards achieving their objectives, so do the special education institutes. This philosophy forms the basis of course curriculum and requires the provision of providing a secure, caring and stimulating environment which stimulates emotional, intellectual, physical and social growth. Below are mentioned some of the essential philosophies that any special education institution should consider.

Each individual is unique, sociological and psychological techniques need to be varied to get the best out of them. At the same time, certain principles for instruction are important and universally applicable to most learning situations in the field of special education.
Varied individuals will have specific abilities and achievement levels. They will have individual goals apart from academic ones and teachers need to understand that the individual goals are also important. Teachers need to gauge both the goals and help in honing them and not ignore the individual ones.
The same opportunity for education, regardless of the state of disability.
Evaluate the student abilities and disabilities on a non-discriminate basis, keeping in mind the unique individual circumstance.
The needs of the special students can change overnight. It is important to understand and modify the education process in tandem with the possible fluctuating needs of each and every student. 
Encourage social interaction between all students and develop teaching methods suited to such an environment.
Techniques and strategies may not show instantaneous results. Some will require modifications and refinements over a period of time to show results.
To provide, not only provide formal education to the students but also develop their intellectual abilities by improving their social, emotional and behavioural skills.
To remain motivated and passionate towards the welfare of special students through education, a strong mind, body and any tool which enhances the abilities.
Be educated and informed to utilize all tools available to create the best possible learning environment for each child and be motivated and passionate so that the teaching is meaningful, flexible and in tune with the student's educational needs.
Share your evaluations, insights and observations with parents, educators, special education teachers and other professionals involved in the field to facilitate a cooperative and beneficial learning environment.
Protect the confidentiality rights of special education students. Be respectful of their emotional needs and of their privacy.
To encourage and foster parental involvement by communicating them of the student’s performance, achievements, illness and whenever a disability requires individualized education.
To ascertain the overall growth and enable each individual to make full use of their potential towards achievement, individuality, independence and living a fulfilling life as much as possible. 
—Vijay GarG / The Hawk

Special Education of physically or mentally handicapped children through modified and individually focused methods and techniques of teaching.

Special Education of physically or mentally handicapped children.

Indiana: A team of researchers developed a technology that may detect symptoms of Parkinson's disease in urine samples. The approach allows researchers to assess if LRRK2 (leucine-rich repeat kinase 2) proteins and their downstream pathways, which have been related to Parkinson's disease, are changed in Parkinson's patients' samples. The technology might potentially lead to widespread noninvasive testing for other neurological diseases, in addition to cancer. "We believe this is a logical and rational approach to move forward for diagnosing Parkinson's disease," said W. Andy Tao, professor of biochemistry at Purdue. "Diagnosis for this type of neurodegenerative disease is difficult." Cognitive and movement testing can take a year or more to confirm the diagnosis, so molecular tests for early diagnosis and intervention can help people with Parkinson's faster, he explained. Tao and eight co-authors from Purdue, Tymora, The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, and Columbia University published their findings in the Communications Medicine journal. "It's going to be a big new area in diagnostic development," predicted co-author Anton Iliuk, Tymora's president and chief technology officer, "especially for neurodegenerative diseases and cancer." Parkinson's disease alone affects an estimated 1% of the over-60 population. Up to a million Americans live with the disease, while 90,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. The paper's co-authors include Marco Hadisurya, a doctoral student in biochemistry; Kananart Kuwaranancharoen, a doctoral student in electrical and computer engineering; Xiaofeng Wu, who received his doctorate in chemistry at Purdue in 2022; Li Li, Tymora Analytical Operations; Zheng-Chi Lee, West Lafayette Junior/Senior High School; Roy Alcalay, MD, Columbia University; and Shalini Padmanabhan from The Michael J. Fox Foundation, which funded the work. The project began several years ago after Padmanabhan read some of Iliuk and Tao's work on the EVtrap (Extracellular Vesicles total recovery and purification) method for urinary analysis and proposed a collaboration. "When I reviewed the data from their previous publication," Padmanabhan said, "it was interesting to note the expression of an important Parkinson's disease-linked protein, LRRK2. This piqued my interest since this approach provided us with an opportunity to determine if LRRK2 proteins or the downstream pathways they impact are actually altered in urinary samples from Parkinson's patients who harbor a mutation in the gene."  In 2017, Tao led a team that developed a blood test that could feasibly detect breast cancer. In that work, Tao and his colleagues compared samples taken from breast cancer patients and a healthy control group. "We identified phosphorylated proteins, which are a typical hallmark of cancers," Tao said. And within those proteins, the team found extracellular vesicles, small packages that cells use as their molecular delivery system. The finding demonstrated that a blood sample yielding phosphoproteins could serve as a potential marker for early cancer diagnosis or for monitoring disease progression. The team was able to rapidly isolate the vesicles from urine samples, using the EVtrap method developed by Tymora. "We have used the method for a number of indications, primarily focusing on different cancers for biomarker discovery and validation," said Iliuk, who received his doctorate in biochemistry at Purdue in 2011. Iliuk and Tao co-founded Tymora Analytical, which specializes in technology and services for detecting disease biomarkers in biofluids. "This kind of analysis opens a new frontier in noninvasive diagnostics development. It's showing that biomarkers previously thought to be undetectable have become uncovered and do a really good job of differentiating disease from non-disease state," Iliuk said. "It's not obvious that urine would be a source of brain-based chemicals or signatures, but it is. These EVs can penetrate the blood-brain barrier quite easily." After export from the brain into the bloodstream, they become concentrated or filtered into urine. But sampling such biomarkers from the brain via spinal tap is a highly invasive procedure. "Especially for early diagnosis that is not the preferred sampling method," Tao said. Urine samples contain proteins that could be disease markers, but many perform housekeeping functions that are unrelated to disease. "Extracellular vesicles provide a way to focus on disease markers because they are released by certain types of cells," he said. Among the many ways to study the impact of LRRK2 is to track its biological pathway, which can be done by analyzing urine, blood and cerebrospinal fluid. The EVtrap method provided an easy way to track changes in urine, which is collected for many clinical studies. The LRRK2 Biobanking Study at Columbia University has a large bank of urine samples available for meaningful Parkinson's disease research. Columbia University co-author Alcalay, who provided many of the samples, also helped correlate EVtrap data with the clinical data. For the Communication Medicine study, the team studied samples from people with and without the LRRK2 gene mutation, and patients with and without the disease. Padmanabhan noted, "This study also highlighted that changes in urinary proteins could serve as a proxy for changes in protein signatures that occur in brain diseases like Parkinson's disease." (ANI)

A team of researchers developed a technology that may detect symptoms of Parkinson's disease in urine samples.

Researchers develop new technique to reveal signs of Parkinson's disease

Washington: In order to protect consumers from becoming ill, produce such as lettuce and spinach are frequently tested for foodborne pathogenic bacteria such as salmonella, listeria monocytogenes, and pathogenic strains of E. coli. Although food testing may be done quickly, it still takes time to determine who is sick and where the contaminated product came from. For the many Americans who have already consumed the product, this is far too late. The present answer, which is frequently a multi-state recall, becomes damage control. Researchers at the University of Delaware want to identify these germs before anyone becomes ill. According to a paper published in the Journal of Food Safety, UD and Delaware-based firm Biospection are set to significantly accelerate testing. Harsh Bais, Kali Kniel, and former PhD student Nick Johnson collaborated with Andy Ragone of Biospection to detect foodborne infections in three to six hours. A microbiologist by trade, Kniel is an expert on crossover pathogens like salmonella, which gleefully jump to new hosts like that delicious, fresh lettuce. "While the produce industry is working diligently to reduce risks associated with microbial contamination, tools like this have incredible potential to improve risk reduction strategies," said Kniel, professor of microbial food safety who works regularly with industry and government agencies to reduce risk of foodborne illness. "Collaborations like ours between academics and biotechnology companies can enhance technology and impact food safety and public health." These pathogens easily find their way into plants, which are unfortunately very welcoming hosts -- hosts that can't tell you where their guests are. Just like humans, plants use defense mechanisms to fight disease. But some human-borne pathogens learned to push open a plant's open-entry gates called stomates -- pores in the leaves or stem -- and make themselves at home. "Because these bacteria are not true pathogens for plants, you cannot physically see early signs that the plant is under stress," said Bais, UD professor of plant biology. "Biospection's technology allows us to say, very quickly, if the opportunistic human pathogen is present in the plant."  As a chemical physicist working in Wilmington, Ragone got to know Kniel and Bais through Delaware's scientific community and lab equipment sharing. A relationship built over time, culminating when Kniel, Bais and Ragone applied for and received research funding from a Delaware Biotechnology Institute Center for Advanced Technology (CAT) grant for scientific technology and intellectual property. The researchers married their interdisciplinary expertise to reduce the risk of foodborne illness, a task that industry and academic researchers struggled with for many years. The result? The team created a multi-spectral imaging platform to look at plant sentinel response. A goal is to use this technique directly on a conveyor, scanning your lettuce before it ever heads to the grocery store. So how do you see a symptom that you can't see? The researchers' technique scans leaves via multispectral imaging and deep UV sensing when the plant is attracting these pathogens. When the researchers looked at benign bacteria, they observed little change. But, with harmful, human-borne pathogens, the test can spot differences in the plant under attack. "Using listeria as an example, in three to six hours, we see a sharp drop of chlorophyll pigments," Bais said. "That's a strong signal that the plant is responding physiologically -- a marker of unusual bacteria." The new, multi-spectral imaging technique is non-invasive, and lightning fast compared to current tests, where a lab scientist extracts a leaf, grinds it up, plates the bacteria and looks for disease. The current method is not commercially available, but Biospection was awarded a National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research grant in 2022 to develop and commercialize it into a real time imaging sensor to inspect plants for disease and other stresses. "Harsh and Kali were certainly instrumental in the techniques that we developed with multi-spectral imaging and the use of deep ultraviolet fluorescence," said Ragone, founder and chief technology officer of Biospection. "We built a portable instrument that could be commercialized." Vertical farming is an agricultural sector that stands to reap the benefits of this new technology. Using less water and less space, vertical farms are a vital step towards more sustainable agriculture. But when it comes to disease, these farms are just as vulnerable as traditional, outdoor agriculture. An incidence of E. coli means a vertical farm must throw away an entire harvest. Biospection is already working with agricultural companies to embed the imaging sensor into vertical farms' shelves and, for outdoor farms, crop drones. "Working with UD, we've laid the scientific foundation to create better instruments," Ragone said. "We're working toward an instrument that's portable, automated and can give an answer in a matter of seconds." (ANI)

In order to protect consumers from becoming ill, produce such as lettuce and spinach are frequently tested for foodborne pathogenic bacteria

New technique for early detection of foodborne bacteria: Study

Massachusetts (US): Engineers are always looking for new materials with combinations of desirable properties. For instance, a material that is both incredibly strong and lightweight may be utilised to reduce fuel consumption in cars and airplanes, while a porous, biomechanically friendly material could be helpful for bone implants. Cellular metamaterials — artificial structures composed of units, or cells, that repeat in various patterns — can help achieve these goals. But it is difficult to know which cellular structure will lead to the desired properties. Even if one focuses on structures made of smaller building blocks like interconnected beams or thin plates, there are an infinite number of possible arrangements to consider. So, engineers can manually explore only a small fraction of all the cellular metamaterials that are hypothetically possible. A computer method that minimises the time required for users to rapidly design a metamaterial cell from any of those smaller building pieces and assess the attributes of the final product has been developed by researchers from MIT and the Institute of Science and Technology Austria. Their approach, like a specialized CAD (computer-aided design) system for metamaterials, allows an engineer to quickly model even very complex metamaterials and experiment with designs that may have otherwise taken days to develop. The user-friendly interface also enables the user to explore the entire space of potential metamaterial shapes, since all building blocks are at their disposal. “We came up with a representation that can cover all of the different shapes engineers have traditionally shown interest in. Because you can build them all the same way, that means you can switch between them more fluidly,” said MIT electrical engineering and computer science graduate student Liane Makatura, co-lead author of a paper on this technique. Makatura wrote the paper with co-lead author Bohan Wang, an MIT postdoc; Yi-Lu Chen, a graduate student at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA); Bolei Deng, an MIT postdoc; Chris Wojtan and Bernd Bickel, professors at ISTA; and senior author Wojciech Matusik, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT who leads the Computational Design and Fabrication Group within the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. The research will be presented at SIGGRAPH. A unified method: Choosing a representation to explain potential designs is usually the first step taken by a scientist developing a cellular metamaterial. This selection establishes the range of shapes that can be explored. For instance, she may choose a technique that represents metamaterials using many interconnecting beams. However, this prevents her from exploring metamaterials based on other elements, such as thin plates or 3D structures like spheres. Those shapes are given by different representations, but so far, there hasn’t been a unified way to describe all shapes in one method. “By choosing a specific subspace ahead of time, you limit your exploration and introduce a bias based on your intuition. While this can be useful, intuition can be incorrect, and some of the other shapes may have also been worth exploring for your particular application,” says Makatura. She and her collaborators took a step back and closely examined different metamaterials. They saw that the shapes that comprise the overall structure could be easily represented by lower-dimensional shapes — a beam could be reduced to a line or a thin-shell could be compressed to a flat surface. They also noticed that cellular metamaterials often have symmetries, so only a small part of the structure needs to be represented. The rest can be built by rotating and mirroring that initial piece. “By combining those two observations, we arrived at this idea that cellular metamaterials could be well-represented as a graph structure,” she says. With their graph-based representation, a user builds a metamaterial skeleton using building blocks that are created by vertices and edges. For instance, to create a beam structure, one places a vertex at each end point of the beam and connects them with a line. Then the user employs a function over that line to specify the thickness of the beam, which can be varied so one part of the beam is thicker than another. The process for surfaces is similar — the user marks the most important features with vertices and then chooses a solver that infers the rest of the surface. These easy-to-use solvers even allow users to quickly construct a highly complex type of metamaterial, called a triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS). These structures are incredibly powerful, but the usual process to develop them is arduous and prone to failure. “With our representation, you can also start combining these shapes. Perhaps a unit cell containing both a TPMS structure and a beam structure could give you interesting properties. But so far, those combinations really haven’t been explored to any degree,” she says. At the end of the process, the system outputs the entire graph-based procedure, showing every operation the user took to reach the final structure — all the vertices, edges, solvers, transformations, and thickening operations. Within the user interface, designers can preview the current structure at any point in the building procedure and directly predict certain properties, such as its stiffness. Then, the user can iteratively tweak some parameters and evaluate it again until a suitable design is reached. A user-friendly framework: The researchers used their system to recreate structures that spanned many unique classes of metamaterials. Once they had designed the skeletons, each metamaterial structure took only seconds to generate. They also created automated exploration algorithms, giving each a set of rules and then turning it loose in their system. In one test, an algorithm returned more than 1,000 potential truss-based structures in about an hour. In addition, the researchers conducted a user-study with 10 individuals who had little prior experience modeling metamaterials. The users were able to successfully model all six structures they were given, and most agreed that the procedural graph representation made the process easier. “Our representation makes all sorts of structures more accessible to people. We were especially pleased with users’ ability to generate TPMS. These complex structures are usually difficult even for experts to generate. Still, one TPMS in our study had the lowest average modeling time out of all six structures, which was surprising and exciting,” she says. In the future, the researchers want to enhance their technique by incorporating more complex skeleton thickening procedures, so the system can model a wider variety of shapes. They also want to continue exploring the use of automatic generation algorithms. And in the long term, they’d like to use this system for inverse design, where one would specify desired material properties and then use an algorithm to find the optimal metamaterial structure. —ANI

Engineers are always looking for new materials with combinations of desirable properties. For instance

New Technique Simplifies Construction Process For Complex Materials: Study

Washington: Scientists developed a highly accurate method for creating coatings of biologically active materials for a variety of medical products. According to the researchers, such a technique could pave the way for a new era of transdermal medication, including shot-free vaccinations. Researchers described a novel approach to electrospray deposition, an industrial spray-coating process, in Nature Communications. Essentially, Rutgers researchers devised a method to better control the target region within a spray zone as well as the electrical properties of microscopic particles being deposited. The greater command of these two properties, the more likely it is that the spray will hit its microscopic target. Manufacturers used electrospray deposition to convert a flowing liquid, such as a biopharmaceutical, into fine particles by applying a high voltage to it. Each droplet evaporates as it travels to its destination, depositing a solid precipitate from the original solution. “While many people think of electrospray deposition as an efficient method, applying it normally does not work for targets that are smaller than the spray, such as the microneedle arrays in transdermal patches,” said Jonathan Singer, an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in the Rutgers School of Engineering and an author on the study. “Present methods only achieve about 40 per cent efficiency. However, through advanced engineering techniques we’ve developed, we can achieve efficiencies statistically indistinguishable from 100 per cent.” Coatings are increasingly critical for a variety of medical applications. They are used on medical devices implanted into the body, such as stents, defibrillators and pacemakers. And they are beginning to be used more frequently in new products employing biologicals, such as transdermal patches. Advanced biological or “bioactive” materials – such as drugs and – can be costly to produce, especially if any of the material is wasted, which can greatly limit whether a patient can receive a given treatment. “We were looking to evaluate if electrospray deposition, which is a well-established method for analytical chemistry, could be made into an efficient approach to create biomedically active coatings,” Singer said. Higher efficiencies could be the key to making electrospray deposition more appealing for the manufacture of medical devices using bioactive materials, researchers said. “Being able to deposit with 100 per cent efficiency means none of the material would be wasted, allowing devices or vaccines to be coated in this way,” said Sarah Park, a doctoral student in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering who is the first author on the paper. “We anticipate that future work will expand the range of compatible materials and the material delivery rate of this high-efficiency approach.” —ANI

Scientists developed a highly accurate method for creating coatings of biologically active materials

Study Finds Spray Technique For Bioactive Materials

Washington: Researchers used a network-based approach to reclassify around 200 uncommon disorders. Initial comparisons with clinical data show how this can improve therapy efficacy prediction. Furthermore, the study demonstrates for the first time the striking similarities in molecular pathways between uncommon diseases and autoimmune and autoinflammatory ailments such as chronic inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis, and some types of diabetes. The findings have been reported in Science Advances. Network-based approaches frequently reveal what was previously hidden; this is also true in medical research. CeMM Adjunct Principal Investigators Kaan Boztug, Director of St. Anna Children's Cancer Research Institute, and Jörg Menche, a professor at the University of Vienna and Max Perutz Labs, have been using network-based methods for several years to gain better systemic and molecular understanding of rare diseases, congenital immune disorders, and congenital inflammatory disorders. The researchers successfully identified new molecular and mechanistic similarities between rare immune system disorders in their latest study, led by the study's first author Julia Guthrie, by examining the high degree of interconnectedness of molecular interactions, leading to their reclassification. The researchers established that individuals with disorders within the same classification group responded to the same drugs by comparing their findings to clinical data. The researchers analysed roughly 200 uncommon immunological diseases with inflammatory characteristics for their study. The network-based analysis of protein-protein interactions found parallels in the biological pathways underlying various illnesses. The disorders were reclassified as a result of these assessments, and the researchers predicted which medicines would produce the best results for each category. “Compared to existing clinical data, the new disease classification allows for a much better prediction of promising therapies compared to the previous approach. Network biology allows us to gain deeper insights into the intricate interplay between the immune system and diseases. This, in turn, enables us to develop more targeted and personalized approaches for diagnosis and treatment” explained co-study leader Kaan Boztug. The results also indicate that numerous autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases such as chronic inflammatory disorders, multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and type 1 diabetes are closely linked. The study’s first author Julia Guthrie explained, “We were able to identify a group of key genes and their interaction partners that are central to homeostasis. We refer to this network of key genes as ‘AutoCore’. In autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases, the AutoCore resides right at the centre of the associated genes. Additionally, we identified 19 other subgroups that are intended to provide us with better insights into homeostasis and immune system deregulation.” While conventional approaches often categorize immune system disorders according to specific body regions and thus view them in isolation, a systemic approach aims to offer a more detailed picture of underlying mechanisms. Co-study leader Jörg Menche explained, “We increasingly recognized the conceptual and practical limitations of the traditional paradigm of ‘one gene, one disease’ in the research of rare diseases." "This hinders our understanding of the complex molecular network through which the components of the immune system are orchestrated. Therefore, we developed a visualization in the form of a multidimensional network that depicts all currently known monogenic immune defects underlying autoimmunity and autoinflammation, as well as their molecular interactions. As a result, we can see how closely genes are interconnected in rare diseases.” —ANI

Researchers used a network-based approach to reclassify around 200 uncommon disorders

Network-Based Techniques Provide Innovative Avenues To Classify, Treat Rare Diseases

New Delhi: The art of cybercrime often lies in its power to deceive, with scammers constantly evolving tactics to ensnare unsuspecting victims. In a recent case, a philanthropic professional found herself swindled of nearly Rs three lakh in just five hours, in an operation that displayed a higher level of sophistication by cyber thugs.
The victim, referred to as Mahima (name changed), a resident of Dwarka, received a call from an unfamiliar number around 11 a.m. on July 25. An automated message, claiming her parcel was set to be returned, prompted her to press “1.” Assuming it was related to her frequent e-commerce orders, she complied.
However, as soon as she pressed the digit, a live person entered the call, alleging that the parcel sent in her name contained illegal items, including multiple passports, drugs, and clothing.
According to the police FIR registered at Dwarka cyber police station, accessed by IANS, the caller asserted that these items were linked to “terror outfits.” Mahima was instructed to file a complaint with the Mumbai Police urgently, to which she agreed. Moments later, the call was transferred to another person.
“I got terrified, I was told by the person that I should register a complaint with Mumbai Police to avoid any problem in future. I agreed to his suggestion. The call got transferred to another person,” read the complaint.
This new caller identified himself as a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official, explaining that since the parcel had arrived in her name and was connected to money laundering through numerous bank accounts, she might be considered a suspect.
What alarmed Mahima was that the caller had access to her Aadhaar details, potentially obtained during her recent stay at Mumbai hotels.
“Since I had recently visited Mumbai for my official work, I believed his story,” she said.
The call was transferred once more, with the next caller posing as a ‘DCP of CBI.’ What convinced Mahima of the authenticity of the call were the background sounds, including what seemed like a genuine wireless transmitter and officers conversing in the background, lending credence to the call’s legitimacy.
“I heard sounds like wireless systems and officer noises in the background which made me believe that he is a police officer. He threatened me that since the parcel was in my name I will be arrested even if I have not committed any crime,” she said in her complaint.
Under threat of arrest, Mahima was coerced into cooperating in an ‘investigation’ over a Skype call, during which she was asked to turn on her camera. Despite her compliance, the scammers kept their cameras off.
“He told me that I need to cooperate for the Investigation which will happen over a Skype call. He also told that I should not move out of my room or call anyone. I became very terrified and anxious. Over the Skype call, I was asked to switch on the camera and they kept the camera off,” the FIR read.
As a result, she made multiple UPI transactions totaling Rs three lakh, only to later realise that she had fallen prey to fraudsters.&nbsp;
—IANS

The art of cybercrime often lies in its power to deceive, with scammers constantly evolving tactics to ensnare unsuspecting victims. In a recent case

‘Fake passports, drugs links & wireless sounds’: How a woman philanthropist was duped over a phone call

Jalandhar: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday said the government will soon introduce the technique of artificial intelligence (AI) for enhancing the efficiency of Punjab Police to make it a front ranking force in the country.
Addressing the gathering during the passing-out parade of 2,999 constables here, the Chief Minister envisioned that this initiative will go a long way in further improving the policing in the state.
He said the decision aims at making Punjab a frontrunner in the usage of AI, thereby maintaining law and order in the state.
Mann said this will act as a milestone in equipping the police force with best practices and developing it on scientific lines.
The Chief Minister said being a border state a number of forces inimical to the state have been chalking out nefarious designs to disturb hard earned peace of state but Punjab Police has always foiled such attempts.
He said to further overcome major challenges faced by the state it is imperative that the police force is updated as per advanced requirements in the field of investigation, science and technology.
The Chief Minister reiterated that Punjab will be soon joining hands with multinational Google to update the police on modern lines.
He said a comprehensive blueprint has been already prepared in this regard and the formal agreement will be signed soon.
Mann said it will help enhance the efficiency of Punjab Police to tackle any sort of unforeseen challenge in the state.
The Chief Minister said to check the fatality rate due to road accidents on one hand and to streamline the movement of traffic on roads on the other, the government has launched Sadak Surakhya Force.
He said the first-of-its-kind specialised force will act as a pivotal to save several precious lives that are lost in road accidents daily in Punjab.
—IANS

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday said the government will soon introduce the technique of artificial intelligence (AI)

Punjab to introduce AI to enhance police efficiency: Mann

Uttarkashi (Uttarakhand): The Border Roads Organization team personnel have been instructed to transport machines to enable vertical drilling on the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi through the road they recently built to access the top of the hill, officials said on Saturday. "Soon, a joint meeting of all the departments concerned will be held and decision will be taken on when work on the vertical drilling will commence," said the official.

<div style="text-align:left;"><img src="https://thehawk.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/u1.webp" alt="Silkyara tunnel Rescue operation" style="height: auto;width: auto"/></div>

Officials are exploring the option of vertical drilling too as the heavy duty auger machine that was used in the horoizontal drilling through the mouth of the tunnel from the Silyara side hit an obstacle on Friday evening. A final decision on the vertical drilling option is likely to be taken by Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation.

<div style="text-align:left;"><img src="https://thehawk.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/u2.webp" alt="Silkyara tunnel Rescue operation" style="height: auto;width: auto"/></div>

Expert engineers called in at the site are ready to start the drilling work on the tunnel as soon as the order is received.

<div style="text-align:left;"><img src="https://thehawk.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/u3.webp" alt="Silkyara tunnel Rescue operation" style="height: auto;width: auto"/></div>

Officials earlier today said that manual drilling will begin soon to cut through the rubble that separates rescuers from the 41 trapped workers in the collapsed portion of the Silkyara tunnel. According to officials, manual drillers will get to work once the US-made, heavy-duty Auger drilling machine is removed from the pipeline through which the trapped workers are to be brought out. Manual drillers will work to cut through the remaining rubble that separates the rescuers from the workers and enable the insertion of the pipeline through the further few metres that are yet to be covered. The ongoing operation to rescue workers, who were trapped after a portion of the tunnel collapsed on November 12, entered its 14th day on Saturday. Success could soon be achieved in taking the Auger driller out of the pipeline, officials informed further, adding that the heavy-duty drillers could now be moved back by 22 metres. Speaking to ANI, a senior official involved with the rescue operation said manual drilling could start soon. He added that the remaining debris, extending approximately up to 6 to 9 metres, which stands between the rescuers and the trapped workers, will be removed through manual drilling. Elaborating on the reasons why the officials involved in the rescue operation have decided to remove the Auger from the pipeline, the senior official told ANI, "While drilling with the US-made Auger machine, if we hit an obstruction every two to three feet, we have to remove it. And, every time we hit an obstruction, we have to roll Auger back 50 metres (up to which the pipeline has been laid). After running repairs, the machine has to be pushed back up to 50 metres, which takes about 5 to 7 hours. This is the reason why the rescue operation is taking longer than it should." "The rescue team has now decided that the pipeline will now be extended further through manual drilling over small distances. Even if we hit an obstruction further up, the issue could be resolved manually and the pipeline could be extended further without losing out on precious time," the official added. He informed further that after drilling up to a further 5 metres, the rescuers will reach the final few metres that separate them from the trapped workers. However, the officials refrained from quoting a timeframe within which the rescue mission could be completed, saying that they were hopeful of a positive outcome once the manual drilling starts on Saturday. Earlier, a team of experts, who came to conduct a survey at the tunnel site, informed that there were no heavy objects up to 5 metres inside the tunnel. The team from Parsan Overseas Pvt Ltd Delhi used the ground-penetrating radar (GPR) technique to examine the rescue tunnel. Ground Penetrating Radar, also known as GPR, Georadar, Subsurface Interface Radar, or Geo-probing Radar, is a totally non-destructive technique to produce a cross-section profile of the subsurface without any drilling, trenching or ground disturbances.GPR profiles are used for evaluating the location and depth of buried objects and to investigate the presence and continuity of natural subsurface conditions and features. After examining the rescue tunnel, geophysicist and GPR survey team member B Chendhoor said they were called to the scene after the Auger driller hit an obstruction. After a portion of the tunnel caved in on November 12, the debris falling in the 60-metre stretch on the Silkyara side of the tunnel trapped 41 labourers inside. The workers are trapped in a 2 km-built portion, which is complete, including concrete work, which provides them safety.
—ANI

The Border Roads Organization team personnel have been instructed to transport machines to enable vertical drilling on the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi

Uttarkashi tunnel rescue: BRO personnel to quickly transport machines for vertical drilling to hill top

Uttarkashi: Pipes have been inserted up to 52 metres through the rubble at Silkyara tunnel, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said Tuesday as efforts to rescue the 41 workers trapped there continued for the 17th day.  The breakthrough point is 57 metres, he told reporters in Silkyara.  Rescuers need to dig through around 10 metres of rubble using rat-hole mining technique to bring out the workers. This drilling was earlier carried out by a huge auger machine that got stuck in the rubble on Friday at around 47 metres.  A skilled team of workers began removing the muck by hand using the rat-hole mining technique on Monday while 800-mm diameter pipes were being pushed through the rubble by an auger machine.  "Pipe has gone in up to 52 metres. Earlier it was at 51 metres. It was pushed one metre further in my presence. It will be pushed two metres more to 54 metres after which one more pipe will be laid," Dhami said.  When asked whether there were hurdles on the way, he said steel and iron girders were not being encountered. "Stones are coming in the way but they are being broken using cutters," the chief minister said.
—PTI

Pipes have been inserted up to 52 metres through the rubble at Silkyara tunnel, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said Tuesday

The Hawk

Tag : Technique

Scientists Reprogram Old Skin Cells To Regain Youthful Function

Sunil Aswal

Tag : Technique

Scientists Reprogram Old Skin Cells To Regain Youthful Function

Sunil Aswal

More about Technique