Page 2 - Study

Cutting pollution to Covid level may stop glaciers from disappearing: Study

Reducing air pollution to levels similar to those during the COVID-19 pandemic could protect the Himalayan glaciers and prevent them from disappearing by the end of the century, a study by an international research team from India, Germany and the UK has found. Analysing the situation during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, the team found that cleaner air during the period ensured that less soot was deposited on the glaciers, resulting in 0.5 to 1.5 milimeter (mm) less snow melting per day. The rapid retreat of glaciers and the loss of snow cover already pose a threat to the sustainable water supply of billions of people in Asia who live in the catchment areas of rivers such as the Indus, Ganges and Yangtze, according the researchers. If emissions of air pollutants such as soot could be reduced to at least the level of the lockdowns, snowmelt could be reduced by up to half, they said. The study, published in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, found that a switch to clean

Delivering Covid vax to respiratory tract may give better protection: Study

Delivering the COVID-19 vaccine directly to the respiratory tract -- the primary site of entry inS-CoV-2 infection -- may lead to improved protection against the disease, a study in monkeys has found. The global COVID-19 vaccination campaign saved an estimated 20 million lives, researchers said. However, while current COVID-19 vaccines provide protection against developing severe disease, they do little to prevent infection and transmission, they said. "The failure of the current generation ofS-CoV-2 vaccines delivered by the intramuscular (IM) route to block infection likely relates to their inability to induce robust mucosal immune responses at the portal of entry," said study corresponding author Dan H. Barouch, from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), US. "In this study, we demonstrated that novel immunisation strategies can markedly increase mucosal immunity in non-human primates and improve protective efficacy against a mucosal virus challenge," Barouch said. The .

Global marine life on the move due to rising sea temperatures: Study

Rising sea temperatures due to climate change are causing tropical marine species to move from the equator towards the poles, according to a study. The research, published in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution, also shows that temperate species are receding as it gets too warm, they face increased competition for habitat, and new predators arrive on the scene. This mass movement of marine life, termed tropicalisation, is changing the ecological landscape of our oceans and leading to a cascade of consequences for ecosystems, biodiversity, and potentially the global economy, the researchers said. The publication of the study coincides with the start of COP28 in Dubai, where global policymakers congregate and make pledges to tackle the impact of global warming. In recent years, climate change has altered the physical factors that affect species dispersal, such as ocean currents in areas that separate tropical/subtropical and temperate regions, the researchers said. These ...

Rising heat stress poses grave health risk for workers in Tamil Nadu: Study

Rising heat stress due to soaring global temperatures poses a grave occupational health risk to the salt pan workers in Tamil Nadu, according to a study. The research, published in the journal Kidney International Reports, reveals the urgent need for adaptation strategies and improved health care access to protect vulnerable individuals. Between 2017 and 2020, 352 workers were studied in seven salt pans in Tamil Nadu. The workload for different job roles and classified heat stress levels were evaluated. Key indicators such as pre- and post-shift heart rates, core body temperatures, urine characteristics, sweat rates, and kidney function parameters were measured. The study led by researchers at Sri Ramchandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai, found that every participant had either a heavy or moderate workload, and an alarmingly close to 90 per cent of workers were found to be working above the recommended limits of heat exposure. International regulations advise

'123456' the most common password, can be cracked in under a second: Study

The most common password was "123456" and a hacker would probably take less than a second to crack it, according to a study conducted by NordPass, a software company that helps users organise their passwords. The password "123456" was held by about 45 lakhs accounts, the study found in partnership with independent experts specialising in researching cybersecurity incidents, according to the Panama-based company's website. The second and the third most popular passwords were "admin" and "12345678", used in about 40 lakhs and 13.7 lakhs accounts, respectively, the study findings on the website show. In India, the most common password was "123456", kept in around 3.6 lakhs accounts, followed by "admin", used in around 1.2 lakhs accounts, according to the website. The research team analysed passwords from a 6.6 Terabyte-database, which were stolen by employing various stealer malware, such as Redline, Vidar, Taurus, Raccoon, Azorult, and Cryptbot, it said. Malware logs included both .

Sikkim flash flood: Study warned about threat of South Lhonak lake bursting

A study by an international team of researchers had warned two year ago that the South Lhonak lake in Sikkim may burst in the future and significantly impact the downstream region. An outburst in the South Lhonak Lake on the intervening night of October 3-4, triggered a flash flood in the Teesta river basin, leaving 14 people dead and 102 others, including 22 army personnel, missing. The event also resulted in the breach of the Chungthang dam, which is the largest hydropower project in Sikkim. The 2021 study, published in the journal Geomorphology, highlighted that South Lhonak Lake had witnessed a significant growth in the past decades due to glacial retreat, thereby increasing its chances of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOF). GLOFs occur when lakes formed by melting glaciers suddenly burst open. This can happen due to various reasons, such as too much water accumulating in the lake. Studies show that the glacier receded about 2 kilometres in 46 years from 1962 to 2008. It furt

6 wks following flooding event critical for public health monitoring: Study

Floods heighten risk of dying in the three to six weeks window following the event, new research in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) says. The risk of deaths in general increased by 2.1 per cent, whereas that in people having heart and lung illnesses increased by 2.6 and 4.9 per cent, respectively, a team of researchers led by those at Australia's Monash University found. This increased risk peaks for around 25 days, but persists for up to 50-60 days after the first day of flooding, they said in their study, having studied deaths in 761 communities from 35 countries that experienced at least one flooding event from 2000 to 2019. In the aftermath of a flood, risk of deaths from natural causes could get enhanced due to contamination of food and water, exposure to disease-causing fungi, bacteria or virus, impaired access to health services, and psychological impairment. These flood-and-death associations varied with local climate type and were stronger in populations with low ...

Omicron subvariant BA.5 more virulent, study in mice finds

Scientists have used engineered mice to compare SARS-COV-2 Omicron subvariants and found that the BA.5 strain was more virulent likely due to its ability to rapidly replicate early during infection. The research, published in the journal Science Advances, addresses a challenge to studying and understanding rapidly evolving variants of concern due to a lack of animal models for running tests that could help explain why variants and subvariants each behave differently in people. The genetically modified mice, called K18-hACE2, used in the research express a human receptor that allowed SARS-COV-2 to enter otherwise inaccessible mouse cells. "One of the things we found is that the strain that causes more pathology, BA.5, replicates much faster early on during infection," said Avery August, a professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) at Cornell University in the US. "By doing that, the virus generates a really strong immune response, which then leads to increased pathology a

Upgrading iron plants could lower 2 yrs' worth of emissions by 2050: Study

Roughly two years' worth of global carbon emissions could be cut down by 2050 if iron and steel plants worldwide were upgraded earlier than their scheduled repair, scientists report in a new Nature study. While upgrading these processing plants with low-emissions technology five years earlier than their scheduled refit could lower 70 gigatonnes of carbon emissions, retrofitting them at their scheduled refit could cut down roughly 60 gigatonnes of emissions, the researchers from the University College London, UK, said in their study. Most of the total projected carbon savings, about 74 per cent, could be achieved by upgrading blast oxygen furnaces globally, all of which contribute to around 63 per cent of the world's steel production, the research team found by creating a vast database of more than 19,500 individual processing units across nearly 4,900 iron and steel plants. The second highest net carbon savings (16 per cent of the projected total) could come from retrofitting electr

Implantable device could allow injection-free diabetes management: Study

The study was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science

Unhealthy snacks raise risk of strokes and cardiovascular disease: Study

The researchers discovered that just half of the people matched the nutritional value of their meals and snacks. This disparity has a detrimental impact on health indicators like blood sugar and fat levels, and addressing it may be as simple as changing one's diet.With unhealthy snacks, 25 per cent of people nullify the positive effects of healthy meals, increasing their risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease.Researchers from the School of Life Course & Population Sciences and ZOE outline the snacking behaviours of 854 participants from the ZOE PREDICT project in their findings, which were published today in the European Journal of Nutrition.Dr Sarah Berry from King's College London and chief scientist at ZOE said, "Considering 95 per cent of us snack, and that nearly a quarter of our calories come from snacks, swapping unhealthy snacks such as cookies, crisps and cakes to healthy snacks like fruit and nuts is a really simple way to improve your health."Contrary to what is ...

Bad air quality linked to rise in suicide risk in rural populations: Study

Air pollution driven by wildfires have been linked with a heightened risk of committing suicide in rural populations, according to new research in the US. Every 10 per cent increase in particulate matter, or PM2.5, pollution in the rural counties was linked to a rise of 1.5 per cent in monthly suicide rates, the study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, US, found. There is now evidence linking air pollution, long known for its bad effects on physical health, with mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and suicide, according to David Molitor, a professor of finance at the university and co-author of the study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). For the study, the researchers used data on deaths by suicide and satellite-based measurements of wildfire smoke and PM2.5 concentrations in the US from 2007-19. They then compared year-on-year monthly levels of smoke exposure at the county-level to changes in .

Early heart attacks and strokes are connected with unhealthy traits: Study

It is estimated that up to 31 per per cent of people globally have metabolic syndrome

6.5% Covid patients died within a year of hospital discharge: ICMR study

The study examined data from 14,419 patients across 31 hospitals, tracking their health over a year through phone follow-ups

Study identifies decline for brain ageing, sheds light on memory decline

A new study offers insight into the cognitive decline of normal ageing, shedding light on how ageing contributes to neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases Most of us who have reached their middle age must have experienced a slowing memory and cognition. Until now, scientists did not have a clear picture of the molecular changes that take place in the brain to cause it. Now, a study on mice has determined that the most pronounced changes occur in the white matter, a type of nervous system tissue that is integral to transmitting signals across the brain. The study that identified a gene "fingerprint" for brain ageing also examined two treatments caloric restriction and infusions of plasma from young mice that affect certain regions of the brain, with the plasma appearing to slow the age-related memory decline. In many neurodegenerative diseases, certain areas of the brain are more vulnerable to damage, but there was a lack of clarity on the exact

Study seeks protection of ecosystems that emerge under disappearing ice

A new scientific study published Thursday suggests the world should start preparing to protect the ecosystems that emerge from under the disappearing ice, as a warming planet is inevitably causing glaciers to melt. If nothing is done to stop global warming, the world could lose glaciers totalling the size of Finland by 2100. Even a best-case scenario if the targets of the Paris Agreement to stop climate change are met foresees glacier shrinkage the size of Nepal, according to the study published in the scientific journal Nature. The analysis from Swiss and French scientists adds to worries about glacier melt and a growing call to step up efforts to protect the planet from climate change. In their research, the scientists say humans have grown to live with glaciers for millennia, and the worrying retreat of the ice cover currently amounting to 10 percent of the Earth's land surface will require both action to stop it and adaptation for its impact. Glaciers play a key role on the

Climate change may turn Thar Desert green by century''s end: Study

India's Thar Desert, known for its arid expanse, could undergo a transformative shift due to the effects of climate change, a study suggests. While many deserts across the globe are predicted to expand with rising temperatures, the Thar Desert might defy this trend and actually turn green within the next century, the researchers said. The Thar Desert is located partly in Rajasthan, and partly in the Punjab and Sindh provinces of Pakistan, covering over 200,000 square kilometres of territory. It is the world's 20th-largest desert and the world's 9th-largest hot subtropical desert. Several studies have projected the growth of Earth's deserts under the influence of global warming. For instance, experts have estimated that the Sahara Desert could increase in size by over 6,000 square kilometres annually by 2050. However, the newly published study, published recently in the journal Earth's Future, offers an unexpected perspective on the Thar Desert. By employing a combination of ...

Far more hurricane-related deaths in US, especially among poor: Study

Hurricanes in the US in the last few decades killed thousands more people than meteorologists traditionally calculate and a disproportionate number of those victims are poor, vulnerable and minorities, according to a new epidemiological study. A team of public health and storm experts calculated that from 1988 to 2019 more than 18,000 people likely died, mostly indirectly, because of hurricanes and lesser tropical cyclones in the continental United States. That's 13 times more than the 1,385 people directly killed by storms that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration figures, but the study authors said those numbers aren't directly comparable. Instead of just looking at people who drowned, were hit by debris or killed directly by the storm, the study in Wednesday's journal Science Advances examines changes in a storm-hit county's overall number of deaths just before, during and after a hurricane and compared those to normal years. Researchers attributed the excess death

Long-term symptoms of Covid-19 can emerge months after infection: Study

Long-term effects of COVID-19 can persist for at least a year after the acute illness has passed, or appear months later, according to a study conducted in the US. The research, published recently in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, is the most comprehensive look yet at how symptoms play out over a year. It expands knowledge of post-COVID-19 conditions, describing trends in more detail than previous research and highlighting significant impacts the epidemic has had on health care system. The study found that for about 16 per cent of the COVID-positive people, symptoms lasted for at least a year, but for others, they appeared for a short time. The team from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and colleagues, assessed symptoms every three months, enabling them to differentiate between symptoms that improve and those that emerge months after the initial infection. "It was common for symptoms to resolve then

Short bursts of intense exercise linked to reduced risk of cancer: Study

Just 4-5 minutes of vigorous activity that makes people huff and puff during daily tasks is associated with a lower risk of some cancers by up to 32 per cent, according to a study. The research, published in the journal JAMA Oncology, used data from wearable devices to track the daily activity of over 22,000 'non-exercisers'. Researchers at the University of Sydney in Australia then followed the group's clinical health records for close to seven years to monitor for cancer. They found that four to five minutes of vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity or 'VILPA' was associated with a substantially lower cancer risk compared to those who undertook no VILPA. Short bursts of activity -- around one minute each -- includes activities like vigorous housework, carrying heavy shopping around the grocery store, bursts of power walking or playing high-energy games with the kids. Adults who don't exercise are at increased risk of developing certain cancers like breast, endometrial