Knowledge Update

Seoul, Nov 29 (IANS) Samsung Electronics Co. on Tuesday confirmed that it was reviewing the "possibility" of creating a holding company structure to improve the company's corporate structure and enhance its transparency.

New York, Nov 29 (IANS) Individuals who suffer problems associated with walking such as reduced speed, imbalance, among others, can be at an significant risk of developing decline in memory and thinking, a study has found. Walking is part of the complex cognitive task known as gait that includes everything from a person's stride length to the accompanying swing of each arm. Previous studies have reported that slower gait speed might predict cognitive impairment and dementing illnesses, supporting the role of gait speed as a possible subclinical marker of cognitive impairment. In the study, researchers from Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, US, used a non-invasive computerised gait analysis test that could identify patients at high risk for cognitive decline and to target appropriate therapies. They measured gait parameters, such as stride length, ambulatory time, gait speed, step count, cadence, stance time, arm swing on each patients. The results showed that alterations in several of the gait parameters were associated with decline in memory, thinking and language skills, and visual perception of the spatial relationship of objects. "The presence of gait disturbances increases with advancing age and affects the independence of daily living, especially in the elderly," said lead author Rodolfo Savica, neurologist at Mayo Clinic. For the study, the researchers analysed 3,426 cognitively normal participants who were between ages 70 to 89. The study was published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

​Toronto, Nov 28 (IANS) Children exposed to tobacco smoke in early childhood adopt anti-social behaviour, engage in proactive and reactive aggression, and face conduct problems at school, even drop out at age 12, a research has showed.

Exposure to tobacco smoke is toxic to the developing brain at a time when it is most vulnerable to environment input, the researchers said.

"Young children have little control over their exposure to household tobacco smoke, which is considered toxic to the brain at a time when its development is exponential," said lead author and Professor Linda Pagani from the University of Montreal in Quebec, Canada. 

Parents who smoke near their children often inadvertently expose them to second- and third-hand smoke. 

Abnormal brain development can result from chronic or transient exposure to toxic chemicals and gases in second-hand tobacco smoke. These compounds eventually solidify and create third-hand smoke. 

In the study, the researchers found compelling evidence that suggests other dangers to developing brain systems that govern behavioural decisions, social and emotional life as well as cognitive functioning.

Anti-social behaviour is characterised by proactive intent to harm others, lack prosocial feelings, and violate social norms. 

Such behaviours include aggression, criminal offences, theft, refusal to comply with authority, destruction of property and is also associated with academic problems in later childhood. 

"These long-term associations should encourage policy-makers and public health professionals to raise awareness among parents about the developmental risks of second-hand smoke exposure," Pagani said. 

For the study, published in the journal Indoor Air, the team examined 1,035 boys and girls born in 1997 and 1998. 

Their parents reported whether anyone smoked at home when their children were aged 1.5 to 7.5 years. At age 12, their children self-reported their anti-social behaviour and academic characteristics.

London, Nov 28 (IANS) Using a combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and brain scanning technology, a team of researchers has developed a novel method that can help remove specific fears from the brain.

The new technique that could read and identify a fear memory can pave way of treating patients with conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and phobias, the study said.

Neuroscientists, from the University of Tokyo, developed 'Decoded Neurofeedback' -- which used brain scanning to monitor activity in the brain, and identify complex patterns of activity that resembled a specific fear memory. 

In the study, the team included 17 healthy volunteers in whom a fear memory was created by administering a brief electric shock when they saw a certain computer image. 

Using brain scanner, the researchers monitored the volunteers' mental activity and were able to spot signs of that specific fear memory. Using AI algorithms, they also developed a fast and accurate method of reading the fear.

The findings showed that the volunteers' brains showed brain patterns of that specific fear memory, even when they were resting and not consciously aware of the fear. 

Because the researchers could decode these brain patterns quickly, they gave the participants a reward of small amount of money, so that the fear memories would become associated with rewards. However, the volunteers were told that the reward depended on their brain activity, although they didn't know how. 

At the end of the reward therapy that continued for three days, the team showed the volunteers the pictures previously associated with the shocks.

"We could not identify enhanced activity in the amygdala -- the brain's fear centre. This meant that we were been able to reduce the fear memory without the volunteers ever consciously experiencing the fear memory in the process," said lead author Ai Koizumi from the University of Tokyo. 

The study was published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.

New Delhi, Nov 28 (IANS) A father's love can have a special influence on young adults, while it can boost the maths grades of the teenage daughter, it may improve the language skills in the son, researchers said.

The study found that fathers from low-income families support their teenagers in ways that result in greater optimism, self-efficacy, and, ultimately, higher achievement at school. 

This is even true for men with low levels of education or those who were not proficient enough in English to help their children with their homework.

"Low-income fathers affect their adolescents' beliefs about themselves and their future, and these beliefs influence their achievement by increasing their determination...," said Marie-Anne Suizzo from the University of Texas in the US.

These positive effects extend to both sons and daughters, albeit in different ways, the study said. 

Experiencing their father's warmth first influences daughters' sense of optimism and then spills over into their feeling more determined and certain about their academic abilities. This in turn leads to better math grades. 

There is a more direct link between the father's involvement and teenage boy's belief in their ability to succeed on the academic front. 

Fathers' involvement with teenage boys' belief in their ability to succeed on the academic front, results in heightened self-confidence and their success in English language, arts classes, the researchers explained.

Counselors and educators should encourage fathers to communicate warmth and acceptance to their children, because of the positive influence these emotions have on their well-being, Suizzo suggested.

In the study, published in the journal Sex Roles, the team analysed 183 sixth-graders from low-income, ethnic minority families. They asked about how optimistic and motivated they were about their schoolwork, and how their experiences were with their fathers. 

New York, Nov 28 (IANS) US researchers have identified neuro-metabolite alterations across the brain that linked stuttering to changes in brain circuits that control speech production and circuits that support attention and emotion.

Stuttering is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds and syllables.

The study found that affected brain regions included major nodes of the speech-production network -- associated with the regulation of motor activity, the default-mode network -- involved in the regulation of attention -- and the emotional-memory network -- responsible for regulating emotion.

Attention-regulating portions of the brain are related to control circuits that are important in governing behaviour, the researchers said. 

"People with changes here are more likely to stutter and have more severe stuttering. And emotions like anxiety and stress also tend to make stuttering worse, likely because this network interacts with language and attention control circuits," said lead author Bradley S. Peterson, Director at Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) in the US. 

For the study, the scientists performed proton shift imaging of the brain in 47 children and 47 adults, both with and without stuttering.

The results confirmed that disturbances in neuronal or membrane metabolism contribute to the development of stuttering.

The study was published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

​Washington, Nov 28 (IANS) US consumers spent about $44.5 billion during this Thanksgiving weekend, slightly below a year ago, the country's largest retail trade association said on Sunday. More than 154 million consumers shopped over Thanksgiving weekend, from Thursday to Sunday, two per cent above the 151 million shoppers last year, Xinhua news agency quoted the National Retail Federation as saying. "It was a strong weekend for retailers, but an even better weekend for consumers, who took advantage of some really incredible deals," NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. "In fact, over one-third of shoppers said 100 per cent of their purchases were on sale," he said. Average spending per person over Thanksgiving weekend totalled $289.19, about 3.5 per cent lower than $299.6 last year, making the total spending 1.56 per cent lower than the last year, said the NRF. Stronger sales were expected in the rest of the holiday season as less people have finished their holiday shopping compared with last year. "With mid-season shopping behind us, it's not too late for retailers to tweak their online and in-store strategies to help increase traffic and see a big payoff during the last few weeks of the holiday season," Shay said. The total retail sales in this year's holiday season from November to December were expected to reach $655.8 billion, 3.6 per cent higher than the last year, better than the average level of 3.4 per cent since 2009, because stronger US economic fundamentals have driven income gains, said NRF in October.

Seoul, Nov 28 (IANS) Hit by Galaxy Note 7 fiasco and a massive corruption scandal, south Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics may be heading for a split as part of a restructuring plan during a shareholders' conference call on Tuesday.

​Beijing, Nov 28 (IANS) Archaeologists have found ruins of a pentagonal structure in China's Shanxi province which is believed to have been a tribal meeting hall or a leader's office 6,000 years ago, authorities said on Monday.

The semi-subterranean house, discovered at the neolithic ruins in Taoyuan, a village in the province, covered a total area of 90 square metres, with surviving walls reaching a maximum of 50 cm, Xinhua news agency quoted Xue Xinming, a researcher with Shanxi provincial Institute of Archaeology, as saying.

The walls were painted with a mixture of grass and mud inside, and several holes were also found where wooden pillars were located to support the house and walls, said Xue.

A cylinder-shaped fireplace was also found underground in the house, which ancient people used for heating, cooking and lighting.

According to Xue, the pentagonal building was rare for that period as the prehistoric people only built structures larger than 80 square metres in the shape.

"Such a big building perhaps was an office of a tribe leader or a public venue for meetings or worship ceremonies of a major tribe," he said, adding it was the first of its kind found in Shanxi province.

Previously, a dozen prehistoric pentagonal buildings had been found in China, mainly located in Lingbao city in Henan province.

The discovery is part of findings from an excavation that began in August in Taoyuan to prepare for highway construction in the area, said Zheng Yuan, excavation team leader of the project.

Zheng said the total excavation area is 2,500 square metres, and aside from four house ruins, they have also discovered ruins of a pottery kiln and unearthed a variety of pottery pieces.

She said the excavation is important for researching society and life in the Miaodigou Culture, the most powerful period in prehistoric China, which was centred around the provinces of Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan.

New York, Nov 27 (IANS) A novel way to pause the development of early mouse embryos for up to a month in the lab has been identified, a finding that has potential implications for assisted reproduction, regenerative medicine, ageing and even cancer, researchers say.

In the study, the researchers were able to stop the development of early-stage mouse embryos -- known as blastocysts -- using drugs that inhibit the activity of mTor, a master regulator of cell growth.

"Normally, blastocysts only last a day or two, maximum, in the lab. But blastocysts treated with mTOR inhibitors could survive up to four weeks," said the study's lead author Aydan Bulut-Karslioglu, post-doctoral student at the University of California -San Francisco (UCSF).

The paused embryos could quickly resume normal growth when mTOR inhibiters were removed. When implanted back into a recipient mother, they developed into healthy mice, the researchers said.

"mTOR is this beautiful regulator of developmental timing that works by being a nutrient sensor. It doesn't just drive cells into growing willy-nilly. It tunes cell growth based on the level of nutrients that are available in the environment," added Miguel Ramalho-Santos, Associate Professor at UCSF. 

The new research could have a big impact on the field of assisted reproduction -- technology used to achieve pregnancy in procedures such as fertility medication, artificial insemination, in vitro fertilisation and surrogacy -- where practitioners are currently limited by the rapid degradation of embryos once they reach the blastocyst stage.

Further, pausing the development of early-stage embryos may also avoid the compromise of freezing embryos and give practitioners more time to test fertilised blastocysts for genetic defects before implanting them, Bulut-Karslioglu said.

Humans too may have the ability to delay implantation of fertilised embryos in some circumstances, suggested the practitioners of in vitro fertilisation, in the paper published online in the journal Nature.