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UNA VITRINA COMERCIAL PARA EL MUNDO Alrededor de 400 expositores se preparan para ofrecer las novedades para los diferentes mercados del mundo Se espera la vista de más de 8 mil compradores Estados Unidos y Sur América, los principales compradores internacionales. De acuerdo con el observatorio de calzado ACICAM -RADDAR, el gasto de los hogares en calzado en el primer trimestre de 2023, llegó…

लाभ में आई IFIN: IL&FS ग्रुप की कंपनी IFIN ने FY20 के लिए 188.7 करोड़ रुपए का शुद्ध लाभ दर्ज किया

Ads से है परेशान? बिना Ads खबरों के लिए इनस्टॉल करें दैनिक भास्कर ऐप नई दिल्ली23 मिनट पहले कॉपी लिंक IFIN का ऑपरेटिंग रेवेन्यू पिछले कारोबारी साल में 36% बढ़कर 374.27 करोड़ रुपए पर पहुंच गया, जो इससे एक साल पहले 275.14 करोड़ रुपए था कारोबारी साल 2018-19 में IFIN को 13,274.52 करोड़ रुपए का घाटा हुआ था कंपनी ने कई लोन की वसूली की है, जिससे 163.69 करोड़ रुपए का इंपेयरमेंट प्रॉविजन खुल गया है IL&FS…

A British-led expedition to the Arctic has made a depressing discovery in the middle of the Arctic Ocean: polystyrene.

The researchers found chunks of plastic and polystyrene on ice floes in the ocean where previously they hadn’t been able to even access due to sea ice.

This is the furthest north of any ocean that plastic detritus has been discovered, only 1,000 miles from the North Pole. It would seem there really is no getting away from plastics in the oceans.

The researchers were part of Pen Hadow’s Arctic Mission to sail to the North Pole, collecting important data along the way, which is still taking place. British explorer Hadow is the only person to have ever trekked solo from Canada to the geographic North Pole without resupply.

The team wasn’t expecting to find polystyrene so far from land, but then they weren’t expecting to be able to access an area that is usually covered by ice all year round.

“For the 25 years I have been exploring the Arctic I have never seen such large and very visible items of rubbish,” said Hadow, the Guardian reports. “The blocks of polystyrene were just sitting on top of the ice.”

One of the large pieces they found was on an ice floe in the middle of international waters in the central Arctic Ocean region – further than anyone has ever got before without icebreakers.

“Finding pieces of rubbish like this is a worrying sign that melting ice may be allowing high levels of pollution to drift into these areas,” marine biologist Tim Gordon of Exeter University, and one of the researchers, added. “This is potentially very dangerous for the Arctic’s wildlife.”

Many rivers – which accumulate and distribute plastic pollution – flow into the Arctic. Before now, it usually got trapped in the ice. Not nice, but at least it’s not going anywhere. Now the sea ice is melting, the new danger is that the pollution, especially tiny pieces like microplastics, will be swept further out to sea.

The discovery of the plastics so far north in this expedition has confirmed this danger. With projections showing that the Arctic will be ice-free in summer by 2040, with easier access opening up human exploration – and exploitation, in many forms – the researchers are worried about the previously untouched area for both flora and fauna.

“The Arctic Ocean’s wildlife used to be protected by a layer of sea ice all year round,” Gordon said. “Now that is melting away, this environment will be exposed to commercial fishing, shipping, and industry for the first time in history. We need to seriously consider how best to protect the Arctic’s animals from these new threats.”

Scientists at the French National Center for Scientific Research have used nerve stimulation to induce signs of consciousness in a man who has been in a vegetative state almost half his life. The unfortunate individual is still far from complete wakefulness, but his case demonstrates consciousness can be restored after a much longer time than previously thought.

The vagus nerve connects the brain to the gut, along with other parts of the body. Stimulation has been shown to sometimes offer benefits to people with depression or epilepsy. It’s also known to have a role in the process of waking from sleep, and in keeping us alert. Putting these pieces together, Dr Angela Sirigu wondered if it could play a role in restoring consciousness to patients with unresponsive wakefulness syndrome.

The longer a person is in a vegetative state, the less likely they are to recover, particularly of their own accord. In order to be confident any responses were a result of their intervention, Sirigu sought the patient who had gone the longest without improvement. The chosen individual had a car accident at the age of 20, and remained unresponsive 15 years later.

After a month of stimulation of the vagus nerve with a current of around a milliamp, the man was able to turn his head on request. His eyes could follow a moving object and he appeared to stay awake longer when read to. He also spontaneously opened his eyes wider when someone’s head rapidly approached his face.

Sirigu reports in Current Biology that electroencephalogram (EEGs) also showed increased brain activity, including in the theta waves used to define the differences between states of consciousness. Metabolic activity was found to have increased in the cortex and sub-cortex, indicating a need for more fuel among brain cells.

These tests led doctors to upgrade the patient’s status from unresponsive to “minimal consciousness”, and Sirigu to conclude in a statement: “Brain plasticity and brain repair are still possible even when hope seems to have vanished.”

PET images compare brain activity by region before and three months after vagus nerve stimulation

A year without increases in consciousness has been identified as the point where waking is unlikely to occur, and after 15, progress is rare indeed.

The vagus exerts its influence on the brain by inducing the release of the hormone norepinephrine (also known as noradrenaline). Norepinephrine also acts as a neurotransmitter, enhancing information sharing between brain regions. Sirigu and co-authors note that, besides bringing hope to the loved ones of those who are in states of limited consciousness, their observations provide insight into where consciousness lies within the brain.

The work, they write, identifies the parietal cortex as “a major player in guiding the expansion of neural activity across brain regions”, promoting further study on this part of the brain.