It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Sunday, April 12, 2020
Bangladesh executes assassin of country’s founding leader
The former military leader was hanged in the early hours of Sunday. He was believed to have been hiding in India before being arrested last week.
Bangladesh has executed the assassin of the country's founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, who was killed during a military coup in 1975.
Former military leader Abdul Majed was hanged at the Dhaka Central Jail in the early hours of Sunday. He met with his wife and four relatives on Friday, after President Abdul Hamid rejected his mercy plea on Thursday.
He was arrested in Dhaka on Tuesday this week, in what Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said was "the biggest gift" for Bangladesh this year. He was believed to have spent many years hiding in India.
Majed was convicted in 1998, along with a dozen other officers. The Supreme Court of Bangladesh upheld the sentence in 2009, and five of the officers were executed several months later.
Rehman and most of his family were killed in the military coup. His daughter, Sheikh Hasina serves as the current prime minister of Bangladesh.
After the coup, Majed was given important diplomatic positions under the successive governments. An indemnity law enacted by the post-coup government prevented a prosecution of the killers. This law was overturned in 1996, when Hasina came to power.
Former East Pakistan became independent Bangladesh in 1971 after a nine-month freedom struggle, under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rehman.
Fossil suggests Homo erectus is 200,000 years older than thought By Brooks Hays Scientists unearthed the world's oldest Homo erectus cranium in South Africa. Photo by Angeline Leece April 3 (UPI) -- Paleontologists have unearthed the oldest fossil belonging to the hominin species Homo erectus.
The 2 million-year-old fossil skull, excavated over a five-year period in South Africa, suggests the early human relative emerged between 100,000 and 200,000 years earlier than previously thought
Scientists described the discovery in a new paper published this week in the journal Science.
"The Homo erectus skull we found, likely aged between 2 and 3 years old when it died, shows its brain was only slightly smaller than other examples of adult Homo erectus," lead study author Andy Herries, research professor and head o the the archaeology and history department at the La Trobe University in Australia, said in a news release.
Using high-resolution dating methods, scientists confirmed the fossil cranium is at least 2 million years old, which means Homo erectus shared the African continent with at least two other hominin species, Paranthropus robustus and Australopithecus sediba.
"Unlike the situation today, where we are the only human species, 2 million years ago our direct ancestor was not alone," Herries said.
Because the skull predates fossils from other Homo erectus both inside and outside of Africa, scientists suggest the discovery proves Homo erectus emerged and evolved in Africa -- not Asia, as has been previously been suggested.
"Our discovery suggests, though, that Homo erectus likely did not evolve in eastern Africa as so often thought but perhaps somewhere else in Africa, or potentially in South Africa itself," researchers wrote in The Conversation. "More evidence is needed before firm conclusions can be reached, of course."
The dig site that produced the ancient skull, the Drimolen Fossil Hominin site located northeast of Johannesburg, has yielded a variety of significant hominin fossils. Analysis of additional fossils by an international team of scientists is ongoing.
The ongoing research suggests southern Africa presented hominins a variety of challenges, which may explain why each of the three hominin species living in the region evolved very different adaptations.
The remains recovered from the Drimolen Fossil Hominin site offer a snapshot of the complex experimentation that defined early human evolution. Some of those early experiments were more successful than others.
"One of the questions that interests us is what role changing habitats, resources, and the unique biological adaptations of early Homo erectus may have played in the eventual extinction of Australopithecus sediba in South Africa," said study co-author Justin Adams, researcher at Monash University's Biomedicine Discovery Institute.
"Similar trends are also seen in other mammal species at this time. For example, there are more than one species of false sabre tooth cat, Dinofelis, at the site -- one of which became extinct after two million years," Adams said. "Our data reinforces the fact that South Africa represented a truly unique mixture of evolutionary lineages -- a blended community of ancient and modern mammal species that was transitioning as climates and ecosystems changed."
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Ancient long-lived pioneer trees store majority of carbon in tropical forests By Brooks Hays 4/10/2020 Old-growth forest on Barro Colorado Island, in Panama, hosts 300 tree species. Photo by Christian Ziegler/UT-Austin
April 10 (UPI) -- Trees that grow fast, live long and reproduce slowly, known as long-lived pioneers, store the majority of carbon found in tropical forests.
Scientists arrived at their discovery after analyzing the different development strategies used by various tree species.
"In an earlier study we found that trees pursue different strategies during their development, and those strategies can be classified according to two independent criteria," lead study author Nadja Rüger, a scientist with the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research, told UPI.
Some tree species, scientists found, grow fast and die young. Other species grow slow and reach old age. Different tree species also achieve different statures.
Fertility also influences a trees' development pattern. Some trees grow big and tall but are limited in their reproductive abilities. Smaller species like shrubs can reproduce in great numbers, but they fail to get very big.
Long-lived pioneers are a unique group. They grow fast, helping to pioneer new patches of forest. But they also grow old, allowing them to reach great stature. There are trade-offs, of course. Long-lived pioneers, or infertile giants, produce only small numbers of offspring.
To better understand how the different characteristics of tree species influence the formation, composition and evolution of tropical forests, scientists plugged data on growth rates, longevity, stature and fertility into sophisticated computer models.
"We discovered that the nearly 300 unique tree species can be represented in our computer model by just five functional groups and still produce accurate forecasts of tree composition and forest biomass over time," study co-author Caroline Farrior, assistant professor of integrative biology at the University of Texas at Austin, told UPI.
The models showed long-lived pioneers account for a majority of a forest's biomass and carbon storage.
The research -- published this week in the journal Science -- could be used to craft more effective conservation plans, and to prioritize the protection for forests with larger numbers of long-lived pioneers.
When studying forest development and composition in the past, scientists focused mostly on the trade-off between growth and survival -- grow fast and die young, or grow slow and grow old. But the latest analysis showed that balancing the trade-off between stature and reproduction is just as important.
For the most recent study, scientists utilized tree data meticulously collected from dense forests on Barro Colorado Island in Panama. Researchers are currently working to see if they can repeat their predictive modeling efforts for forests that haven't already been extensively studied by scientists.
"One of our goals is to extend this approach to forests with less complete data, very young secondary forests and tropical dry forests," Rüger said. "If this succeeds, it will be much easier than today to scientifically support renaturation projects and sustainable timber use in tropical forests, and also, of course, to estimate how effectively re-growing forests contribute to carbon storage and, therefore, to climate mitigation."
Rates of depression, suicidal thoughts are high among transgender teens By HealthDay News
Overall, 78.5 percent of transgender teens had a mental health condition, with depression the most common, a new study found. Photo by Wokandapix/Pixabay
Depression, suicidal thoughts and self-injury are common among U.S. transgender teens, new research shows.
The study also found that hormone therapy leads to significant improvements in gender dysphoria -- the feeling of being uncomfortable with the gender they were assigned at birth.
For the study, the researchers analyzed the medical records of 158 transgender teens treated at a pediatric endocrinology clinic between 2014 and 2019.
The patients included 107 affirmed males (female to male), 47 affirmed females (male to female), and four who considered themselves non-binary. Affirmed gender is an individual's declared gender identity.
Overall, 78.5 percent had a mental health condition, with depression the most common (66.5 percent). Suicidal thoughts were more common among affirmed males (70 percent) than among affirmed females (49 percent), the study found.
In addition, self-injuring (cutting) was more common among affirmed males (56 percent) than among affirmed females (25.5 percent).
On average, both affirmed males and affirmed females began hormone treatment between age 15 and 16. Both groups reported significantly lower gender dysphoria after starting hormonal treatment.
On a scale of 0 to 10, gender dysphoria dropped for affirmed males from 8.08 to 3.99 after starting treatment. For affirmed females, gender dysphoria fell from 7.87 before treatment to 2.96 after treatment began, according to the report.
The study was published in a special supplemental section of the Journal of the Endocrine Society.
"An increasing number of transgender youths are seeking therapeutic options to change their bodies and match their gender identity," lead researcher Dr. Veronica Figueredo, a resident at Nicklaus Children's Hospital in Miami, Fla., said in a news release from the Endocrine Society.
GLMA, an organization that works to ensure health equity for LGBTQ individuals, offers transgender health resources.
Saturday, April 11, 2020
China becomes world's top patent filer: UN
by Nina Larson
Huawei helped China gain the patent top spot
China last year became the world leader in international patent filings, unseating the United States which had held the top spot for more than four decades, the UN said Tuesday.
A record 265,800 international patent applications were filed last year, a hike of 5.2-percent from 2018, the World Intellectual Property Organisation said in its annual report.
WIPO's complex system of registering international patents involves multiple categories.
In the main category—the Patent Cooperation Treaty, or PCT—China topped the ranking for the first time, with 58,990 applications.
It thus overtook the United States, which filed 57,840 applications, and which has topped the PCT ranking since the system took effect in 1978.
China and the United States were followed by Japan, Germany and South Korea as the world's top patent application filers, WIPO found.
"China's rapid growth to become the top filer of international patent applications via WIPO underlines a long-term shift in the locus of innovation towards the East, with Asia-based applicants now accounting for more than half of all PCT applications," WIPO Director General Francis Gurry said in a statement.
WIPO's report showed Asian-based applicants accounting for 52.4 percent of all filings, while Europe and North America accounted for less than a quarter each.
Huawei top filer
And for the third consecutive year, China-based telecoms giant Huawei Technologies topped the global ranking in 2019 with 4,411 PCT applications.
This came despite a relentless campaign by Washington, which has lobbied allies worldwide to avoid the company's telecoms gear over security concerns, in the shadow of a wider US-China trade conflict.
'Innovation is not a zero-sum game'
It was followed by Misubishi Electric Corp of Japan, which made 2,661 filings, Samsung Electronics of South Korea with 2,334 filings and Qualcomm Inc of the United States with 2,127 filings.
Gurry, who is due to step down at the end of September after 12 years at the WIPO helm, said that back in 1999 the organisation had received just 276 patent applications from China.
Last year's nearly 59,000 filings marked a "200-fold increase in only 20 years", he said.
While intellectual property increasingly finds itself at the heart of global competition, Gurry said that "it is important to remember that innovation is not a zero-sum game".
"A net increase in global innovation means new drugs, communications technologies, solutions for global challenges that benefit everyone, wherever they live," he said.
"I am pleased that WIPO's IP services are successfully helping foster innovation and spread it worldwide." said Gurry.
Fears over pandemic impact
Gurry is all but sure to be replaced by the current head of Singapore's national patent agency Daren Tang, who last month won a hotly-contested and at-times politicised race against five other candidates, including Chinese national Wang Binying, who has served as deputy chief of the UN agency for a decade.
The March 4 vote by WIPO's coordination committee still needs to be confirmed during the agency's full general assembly, which is usually held in May and is traditionally a formality. It remains unclear if it will be able to go ahead as planned amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gurry told a virtual press conference that it was uncertain how the new coronavirus, which first emerged in China late last year and which has now infected some 1.3 million people and killed more than 70,000 worldwide, will impact international patent filings going forward.
"We don't yet know how deep and how long this crisis is going to be, but it's going to be extremely significant across all of the creative industries," he warne
The antimicrobial properties of silver have been known for centuries. While it is still a mystery as to exactly how silver kills bacteria, University of Arkansas researchers have taken a step toward better understanding the process by looking at dynamics of proteins in live bacteria at the molecular level.
Traditionally, the antimicrobial effects of silver have been measured through bioassays, which compare the effect of a substance on a test organism against a standard, untreated preparation. While these methods are effective, they typically produce only snapshots in time, said Yong Wang, assistant professor of physics and an author of the study, published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
Instead, Wang and his colleagues used an advanced imaging technique, called "single-particle-tracking photoactivated localization microscopy," to watch and track a particular protein found in E. coli bacteria over time.
Researchers were surprised to find that silver ions actually sped up the dynamics of the protein, opposite of what they thought would happen.
"It is known that silver ions can suppress and kill bacteria," Wang said. "We thus expected that everything slowed down in the bacteria when treated with silver. But, surprisingly, we found that the dynamics of this protein became faster."
The researchers observed that silver ions were causing paired strands of DNA in the bacteria to separate, and the binding between the protein and the DNA to weaken. "Then the faster dynamics of the proteins caused by silver can be understood," said Wang. "When the protein is bound to the DNA, it moves slowly together with the DNA, which is a huge molecule in the bacteria. In contrast, when treated with silver, the proteins fall off from the DNA, moving by themselves and thus faster."
The observation of DNA separation caused by silver ions came from earlier work that Wang and colleagues had done with bent DNA. Their approach, now patent pending, was to put strain on DNA strands by bending them, thus making them more susceptible to interactions with other chemicals, including silver ions.
The National Science Foundation-funded study validated the idea of investigating the dynamics of single proteins in live bacteria. An approach that could help researchers understand the real-time responses of bacteria to silver nanoparticles, which have been proposed for fighting against so-called "superbugs" that are resistant to commonly prescribed antibiotics.
"What we want to do eventually is to use the new knowledge generated from this project to make better antibiotics based on silver nanoparticles," said Wang
More information:Asmaa A. Sadoon et al. Silver Ions Caused Faster Diffusive Dynamics of Histone-Like Nucleoid-Structuring Proteins in Live Bacteria,Applied and Environmental Microbiology(2020).DOI: 10.1128/AEM.02479-19
Trendy workout clothes may advertise that special silver nanoparticles embedded in the fabric will cut the sweaty odor that builds up from repeated gym visits. It turns out there's some truth to these claims.
Silver can kill the bacteria that cause B.O., and new techniques, including nanotech, allow clothing manufacturers to incorporate silver that doesn't come out in the wash or harm the environment. In this video, Reactions explains how all of that is possible.
3-D-printed corals could improve bioenergy and help coral reefs
Researchers from Cambridge University and University of California San Diego have 3-D printed coral-inspired structures that are capable of growing dense populations of microscopic algae. Their results, reported in the journal Nature Communications, open the door to new bio-inspired materials and their applications for coral conservation.
In the ocean, corals and algae have an intricate symbiotic relationship. The coral provides a host for the algae, while the algae produce sugars to the coral through photosynthesis. This relationship is responsible for one of the most diverse and productive ecosystems on Earth, the coral reef.
"Corals are highly efficient at collecting and using light," said first author Dr. Daniel Wangpraseurt, a Marie Curie Fellow from Cambridge's Department of Chemistry. "In our lab, we're looking for methods to copy and mimic these strategies from nature for commercial applications."
Wangpraseurt and his colleagues 3-D printed coral structures and used them as incubators for algae growth. They tested various types of microalgae and found growth rates were 100x higher than in standard liquid growth mediums.
To create the intricate structures of natural corals, the researchers used a rapid 3-D bioprinting technique originally developed for the bioprinting of artificial liver cells.
The coral-inspired structures were highly efficient at redistributing light, just like natural corals. Only biocompatible materials were used to fabricate the 3-D printed bionic corals.
A scanning electron microscope image of the microalgal colonies in the hybrid living biopolymers. Credit: University of Cambridge
"We developed an artificial coral tissue and skeleton with a combination of polymer gels and hydrogels doped with cellulose nanomaterials to mimic the optical properties of living corals," said Dr. Silvia Vignolini, who led the research. "Cellulose is an abundant biopolymer; it is excellent at scattering light and we used it to optimise delivery of light into photosynthetic algae."
The team used an optical analogue to ultrasound, called optical coherence tomography, to scan living corals and utilise the models for their 3-D printed designs. The custom-made 3-D bioprinter uses light to print coral micro-scale structures in seconds. The printed coral copies natural coral structures and light-harvesting properties, creating an artificial host-microenvironment for the living microalgae.
Microalgae growing on the 3D printed coral structure. Credit: Nature Communications
Left: Close-up of coral reef microstructures consisting of a coral skeleton (white) and coral tissue (orange-yellow).
Right: SEM image of 3D printed coral skeleton. Credit: Nature Communications
"By copying the host microhabitat, we can also use our 3-D bioprinted corals as a model system for the coral-algal symbiosis, which is urgently needed to understand the breakdown of the symbiosis during coral reef decline," said Wangpraseurt. "There are many different applications for our new technology. We have recently created a company, called mantaz, that uses coral-inspired light-harvesting approaches to cultivate algae for bioproducts in developing countries. We hope that our technique will be scalable so it can have a real impact on the algal biosector and ultimately reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are responsible for coral reef death."
Norbert Wilson is a professor of food policy at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. His research touches on a number of food issues of such as access, choice, and food waste. He continues to work on food safety and quality issues in international trade and domestic food systems. Additionally, his work is moving to explore equity in food access and health.
Wilson has published in AEA Papers and Proceedings, World Development, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Journal of Public Health, Food Policy and Agricultural Economics, among others.
Prior to the Friedman School, Norbert was a professor of agricultural economics at Auburn University from 1999 to 2016. He was also an economist/policy analyst in the trade directorate (2004-2006) and in the agriculture directorate (2001-2002) of the Organization of Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) in Paris, France.
"Food insecurity is often linked with a number of poor health outcomes such as diabetes and cardiovascular problems," said Norbert Wilson, a professor of food policy at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. Credit: Steffan Hacker
It's a big ask to wipe down everything in sight to avoid bringing COVID-19 home, but having a strategy will keep it manageable, says a University of Alberta expert.
"It's all aboutrisk management," said virologist David Evans. "Think about your process to minimize cross-contamination once you're in the house. Ask yourself what you are touching and how to keep it clean, and avoid touching your face."
All the fuss really is necessary because the virus spreads easily, he added.
He said the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is spread by the droplets and sputum people are coughing up. That spreads out on surfaces and is transmitted between people.
"So someone coughs into their hand, then touches a doorknob and it spreads really easily," explained Evans.
"One person can give it to two more, then two give it to four, four to eight and so on. That exponential function is something we really want to stop, and one of the ways to do that is through good cleaning measures."
He said cleaning and washing knocks the level of the virus below the point at which it can cause infections.
"When you wipe off your doorknobs, you've taken what could be a large load of the virus down to a small load," he explained.
The coronavirus is fragile, easily killed by soap and water, making it doubly important to develop a cleaning routine, he added.
"Viruses are wrapped in fatty envelopes essential for infectivity, but soap cuts through them like dish detergent on a greasy plate. It inactivates those viral membranes."
There's no simple answer to how long the virus lives on different surfaces like cloth, plastic, cardboard and metal since survival will vary, though research suggests the virus can live for up to 24 hours on cardboard and for up to 72 hours on other surfaces, including plastic.
Some surfaces like cardboard and cloth are less hospitable to viruses, Evans said.
"They absorb onto those materials, dry up and are inactivated, so they would disappear faster."
The Government of Canada lists household cleaners that can be used against COVID-19, Evans said. A diluted bleach solution will also work, and if you're facing store shelves sold out of hand wipes or hand sanitizer, use a wet cloth soaked in liquid soap.
Here's what to think about when safeguarding your home against COVID-19.
Shopping
When bringing groceries and other purchases into the house, wash your hands first, before and after putting things away to avoid picking up a load of virus off an item and then touching your face, which can cause infection.
Not everything needs to be wiped down, Evans suggested, since most items being handled would likely have a low virus load, which dies off as the items are put away to sit in the cupboard.
"Once the virus has dried, it's hard to get off a surface and spread through contact."
Wash off, rinse and dry any fruits and vegetables that would be eaten raw, using warm water with dish soap.
Leave cloth shopping bags at home for now.
"They can be washed, but out of caution for the time being, it's OK to use plastic. It helps protect staff bagging groceries," he said.
Doing laundry
It may not be necessary to wash clothing we wouldn't often launder, like coats or gloves, but it depends on the degree of contact with potentially contaminated surfaces.
"It comes down to how likely you are to pick up a big load of virus on an item and then get it on your face. Think about how much virus you've possibly put on that material. A coat probably would have a low amount of virus, and as it's sitting on the cloth, it's decaying," said Evans.
High-touch items like dishcloths, hand and kitchen towels should be changed daily.
Regular laundry detergent is adequate to kill the virus, even in cold water.
"Turn up the water temperature if you prefer, but there's no need to wreck fragile clothing," said Evans.
Housecleaning
The best way to keep your home clear of COVID-19 is by wiping things down behind you after walking in the door, Evans said.
"Think about that entry process, because that lessens the risk of bringing a virus in. Hang up your coat and then wash your hands before you do anything else in the house.
"Then think about what you've touched on the way in. Wipe down doorknobs, light switches, phones, keys.
"Once those commonly touched items are disinfected, viruses aren't going to reappear magically from nowhere, so you're fine."
A group from Texas Tech University's Edward E. Whitacre Jr. College of Engineering is using its time to create much-needed ventilators to aid the medical community.
Texas Tech University's Edward E. Whitacre Jr. College of Engineering has formed a working group at the behest of Dean Al Sacco Jr. to design and build new ventilators to meet the needs of the COVID-19 pandemic.
For almost two weeks, a group of engineering faculty, staff and students, led by Nurcan Bac, senior associate academic dean in the College of Engineering and in partnership with regional high school students and high school engineering programs, has undertaken an effort to supply emergency respirators to health care workers on the South Plains.
"The COVID-19 pandemic has already stretched critical medical supplies to their limits and, hopefully, the ventilators the group has will be enough to provide the care needed in the coming months," Bac said. "However, if they are not, everything that can be turned into a ventilator or a respirator needs to be repurposed to serve that effort.
"In this spirit, everyone helping on the team has drawn inspiration from efforts all over the world. They have come together to generate new designs to turn anything already in a hospital not currently being used as a ventilator into a ventilator or a respirator. Right now, four designs have been developed, and two are already in the prototyping phase, being prepped for testing."
Single arm AMBU-bag compression design build. Credit: Texas Tech University
All four current designs seek to repurpose a bag valve mask (BVM), more commonly known as an artificial manual breathing unit (AMBU) bag into an automated ventilator. The first design uses a single arm to compress an AMBU bag.
The single-arm AMBU bag compression design was designed by Mazan Nachawati and a team of mechanical engineering senior design students under the direction of Jeff Hanson, a mechanical engineering instructor. This design is currently built and in the process of being prepped for stress tests to begin early next week.
The second design involves the use of a rack and pinion gear to compress an AMBU bag. This build was designed by Hans Hudyncia and a team of mechanical engineering senior design students under Hanson's direction.
The first 3-D print of that design was just completed and is currently being constructed. The next phase for that project is to add a motor and controls, then it will be tested.
Rack and pinion gear AMBU-bag compression design rendering. Credit: Texas Tech University
The third design uses a pressure chamber to compress an AMBU bag encased within. This project was designed by Chris O'Neal, Steven Bavousett and a team of mechanical engineering senior design students under Hanson's direction. This design is currently being fabricated and will move forward rapidly in the coming weeks.
The last design, currently referred to as the TTU AMBU-Vent, was started by Frenship High School junior Mark Dannemiller under the direction of his father, Joseph Dannemiller, assistant academic dean of the College of Engineering. This design seeks to springboard off a Massachusetts Institute of Technology design while making several changes to materials and layout.
This design is fully constructed and going through its last round of tests and software updates before undergoing stress testing.
All electronics and controls for these projects are being designed by electrical and computer engineering professor Richard Gale and doctoral student Derek Johnston; mechanical engineering student Preston Abadie, Burak Aksak, associate chair, research and graduate affairs and an associate professor and Kalana Pothuvila.
The TTU AMBU-Vent. Credit: Texas Tech University
All manufacturing processes and supply assessments are being coordinated by Roy Mullins and Chase George of Texas Tech's mechanical engineering shop; Michael Giesselmann, department chair and professor of electrical and computer engineering and Richard Woodcock, unit coordinator of lab support in electrical and computer engineering.
"We sincerely hope all of these efforts result in products that are not needed, but we understand that as the number of people needing non-intrusive ventilation and intrusive ventilations increases, the number of available health care workers free to assist these patients decreases," Bac said.
"These projects are a testament to the community atmosphere we have here on the South Plains and at Texas Tech. Every member of this team is giving their all, sometimes not sleeping much for days, to get those who are and will be affected all the tools they need to get through these trying times.
