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London, Feb 14 (IANS) A specific gene that plays a crucial role in ensuring DNA is copied correctly when cells divide and grow can cause growth defects associated with a rare type of dwarfism, says a study.

"This research sheds new light on the mechanisms underlying DNA replication, and the effect on human health when this process goes wrong," said Grant Stewart from University of Birmingham in Britain.

During the study, published today in Nature Genetics, the researchers looked at genetic information from more than 250 people around the world with microcephalic dwarfism, a group of disorders characterised by short stature and reduced head size.

They found that 29 of the individuals had faulty versions of a gene called DONSON.

Tests on cells growing in the laboratory revealed that this gene plays a crucial role in ensuring DNA is copied correctly when cells divide and grow.

Cells from patients with mutations in the DONSON gene had difficulty in efficiently replicating their DNA and protecting it from uncontrolled damage, ultimately leading to the growth defects typical of microcephalic dwarfism.

This research raises the potential of more accurate diagnoses for patients with genetic microcephaly, in addition to providing an insight into how similar rare hereditary diseases are caused.

Johannesburg, Feb 14 (IANS) A reptile related to early mammals was the first to produce venom in order to survive the rough conditions offered by the deadly South African environment 260 million years ago -- some 100 million years before the very first snake was even born -- a study says.

Computerised tomography (CT) scans of fossils of the dog-sized reptile, Therapsid Euchambersia, showed anatomical features, designed for venom production, according to the study published in the journal, PlosOne.

"Today, snakes are notorious for their venomous bite, but their fossil record vanishes in the depth of geological times at about 167 million years ago. So, at 260 million years ago, the Euchambersia evolved venom more than a 100 million years before the very first snake was even born, " said Julien Benoit from University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.

As venom glands do not fossilise, Benoit and his colleagues at Wits University, in association with the Natural History Museum of London used CT scanning and 3D imagery techniques to analyse the only two fossilised skulls of the Euchambersia ever found, and discovered stunning anatomical adaptions that are compatible with venom production. 

"This is the first evidence of the oldest venomous vertebrate ever found, and what is even more surprising is that it is not in a species that we expected it to be," Benoit said.

The first Euchambersia fossil was found in 1932, and the second in 1966. According to measurements of the two fossils, the Euchambersia was a small dog-like pre-mammalian reptile that grew between 40 and 50 cm long.

"A wide, deep and circular fossa (a space in the skull) to accommodate a venom gland was present on the upper jaw and was connected to the canine and the mouth by a fine network of bony grooves and canals," Benoit said. 

"Moreover, we discovered previously undescribed teeth hidden in the vicinity of the bones and rock: two incisors with preserved crowns and a pair of large canines, that all had a sharp ridge. Such a ridged dentition would have helped the injection of venom inside a prey," Benoit explained.

​Seoul, Feb 13 (IANS) The United States' recent withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement is expected to weaken its economic and strategic status in the Asia-Pacific region, a state-run think tank in Seoul said on Monday.

New York, Feb 13 (IANS) Losing weight through surgical approaches appears to reset chemical messages that fat cells send, substantially reducing people's risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, a study has found. Fat cells -- also known as adipocytes -- send messages to other cells in the form of exosomes -- nanosised blobs whose contents regulate which proteins are produced by genes. However, the messages contained in exosomes from patients who are obese alter how the body processes insulin, setting the stage for Type 2 diabetes, said researchers from the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. For the study, published in the journal Obesity, the team worked with six adults scheduled to receive gastric bypass surgery, whose average age was 38 years, and had an average body mass index (BMI) of 51.2 kg/m2. Blood samples showed that at least 168 microRNAs -- the molecules responsible for sending specific messages -- had changed before and after surgery. Further analyses showed that many of these microRNAs were involved in insulin signalling, the pathways that the body uses to regulate blood sugar. By changing these outgoing microRNAs for the better, adipocytes actively were encouraging higher insulin sensitivity in other cells, warding off Type 2 diabetes, said Robert J. Freishtat, Associate Professor at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Post-surgery each volunteer showed better insulin sensitivity and other improved markers of metabolic health. "These volunteers were essentially cured of their diabetes after surgery. The changes we saw in their surgery-responsive microRNAS correlated with the changes we saw in their metabolic health," Freishtat said. The findings offer hope to the nearly 2 billion adults who are overweight or obese worldwide that many of the detrimental effects of carrying too much weight can recede, even on the molecular level, once they lose weight, the researchers noted.

​New York, Feb 13 (IANS) Apple's upcoming iPhone is set to come with wireless charging which will enavle users to charge the phone without having to plug it in. "Apple will sell separate wireless chargers made by Luxshare, the Chinese company behind the inductive charging in the Apple Watch," Forbes.com reported on Sunday. Apple is also planning to introduce a new connector type for accessories for the iPhone, iPad and other devices through its official Made-for-iPhone (MFi) licensing programme. Called 'Ultra Accessory Connector' (UAC), the eight-pin connector is slightly less thick than USB-C and near half as wide as both USB-C and Lightning. Apple will allow accessory manufacturers to make Lightning to UAC, USB-A to UAC, and 3.5mm headset jacks to UAC cables which will allow headphones with an UAC port to connect to various Apple devices. Apple's next generation iPhone 8 is rumoured to sport a bold new design and would feature an OLED display without a bezel. "The iPhone 8 won't be able to buck a trend that's seeing customers increasingly choose older devices, like the iPhone 6s, instead of newer handsets, like the iPhone 7," Fortune quoted Barclays analyst Mark Moskowitz as saying earlier this year. Apple has some opportunities to significantly grow in the coming years by investing in India and expanding its services business which includes Apple Music, added Moskowitz.

New York, Feb 13 (IANS) Apple CEO Tim Cook has called for a crackdown on the epidemic of fake news and asked the governments to launch a public information campaign, media reports said.

According to a report in Telegraph, Cook said that fake news was 'killing people's minds' and necessitates a crackdown by the authorities and technology firms that would help providers of quality journalism and help drive out clickbait.

"The outcome of that is that truthful, reliable, non-sensational, deep news outlets will win," Cook was quoted as saying. 

To educate the people about the threat posed by fabricated online stories, Cook pitched for a campaign akin to those that changed public attitude towards environment. 

"We are going through this period of time right here where unfortunately some of the people that are winning are the people that spend their time trying to get the most clicks, not tell the most truth. It's killing people's minds in a way," Cook said.

He called on those tech firms which have not contributed much towards curbing the fake news, asking them to create tools that help diminish the volume of fake news.

"We must try to squeeze this without stepping on freedom of speech and of the press, but we must also help the reader. Too many of us are just in the complain category right now and have not figured out what to do," Cook added.

London, Feb 13 (IANS) Babies exposed to nicotine before and after birth may be at an increased risk of developing hearing problems due to abnormal development in the auditory brainstem, researchers have found.

The findings showed that the auditory brainstem -- an area of the brain which plays a role in analysing sound patterns -- may have abnormal development in kids when pregnant mothers are exposed to nicotine before and after giving birth. 

Children with impaired auditory brainstem function are likely to have learning difficulties and problems with language development.

"If mothers smoke during pregnancy and their children show learning difficulties at school, they should be tested for auditory processing deficits," said lead author Ursula Koch, professor at the Free University of Berlin in Germany. 

For the study, published in The Journal of Physiology, the team exposed the offspring of the mice to nicotine before birth and via the mother's milk until they were three weeks old -- an age that is approximately equivalent to primary school children. 

Analysing the brains of the mice offsprings, the researchers found that neurons that get input from the cochlea -- sensory organ in the ear -- were less effective at transmitting signals to other auditory brainstem neurons in mice exposed to nicotine.

Moreover, these signals were transmitted with less precision, which deteriorates the coding of sound patterns. These could be part of the underlying causes for auditory processing difficulties in children of heavy smoking mothers, the researchers said.

"We do not know how many other parts of the auditory system are affected by nicotine exposure. More research is needed about the cumulative effect of nicotine exposure and the molecular mechanisms of how nicotine influences the development of neurons in the auditory brainstem," Koch said.

Washington, Feb 13 (IANS) Researchers have used data from the European Space Agency's CryoSat-2 satellite to identify a sudden drainage of large pools below West Antarctica's Thwaites glacier, the media reported.

Thwaites Glacier, already one of the planet's fastest-moving glaciers, is sliding unstoppably into the ocean, mainly due to warmer seawater lapping at its underside, speeding up by about 10 per cent from June 2013 and January 2014, Xinhua news agency reported.

In a study published in The Cryosphere, the researchers from the University of Washington (UW) and the UK's University of Edinburgh reported finding four interconnected lakes drained during the eight-month period.

"This was a big event, and it confirms that the long-term speed-up that we're observing for this glacier is probably driven by other factors, most likely in the ocean," said corresponding author Ben Smith, a glaciologist with the UW's Applied Physics Laboratory, on Sunday. 

"The water flow at the bed is probably not controlling the speed."

The authors used a new technique to discover drops at the glacier's surface of up to 70 feet, over a 20 km by 40 km area.

Calculations show it was likely due to the emptying of four interconnected lakes far below. The peak drainage rate was about 240 cubic metres, per second, the largest melt-water outflow yet reported for subglacial lakes in this region.

The study supports previous UW research from 2014 showing that Thwaites glacier will likely collapse within 200 to 900 years to cause seas to rise by 2 feet. 

​London, Feb 13 (IANS) Data from the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) shows the number of cosmetic surgeries conducted last year fell to 40 per cent -- a near-decade low in the UK from a record-breaking high in 2015, the media reported on Monday.

​London, Feb 13 (IANS) Film production in Britain last year earned a record-breaking $2 billion for the country's economy, a new report revealed on Sunday.

Xinhua news agency quoted the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) as saying that 2016 proved to be a bumper year for Britain's creative industries.