Scientists find 6,200 year old parasite egg in ancient skeleton

ISLAMABAD: In a skeleton more than 6,200 years old scientists have found the earliest known evidence of infection with a parasitic worm that now afflicts more than 200 million people worldwide, Fox News reported.

Archaeologists discovered a parasite egg near the pelvis of a child skeleton in northern Syria and say it dates back to a time when ancient societies first used irrigation systems to grow crops. Scientists suspect the new farming technique meant people were spending a lot of time wading in warm water ideal conditions for the parasites to jump into humans.

That may have triggered outbreaks of the water borne flatworm disease known as schistosomiasis. The invention of irrigation was a major technological breakthrough (but) it had unintended consequences said Gil Stein a professor of Near Eastern archaeology at the University of Chicago one of the report s authors.

Stein said there was evidence of wheat and barley farming in the town where the skeletons were found and that irrigation might have also spurred outbreaks of other diseases like malaria by creating pools of stagnant water for mosquitoes to breed. Other experts agreed it was likely that irrigation spread parasitic diseases beginning in ancient times.

Egypt along the Nile was a hotspot for generations because people were crammed into the flood plain and there were probably a lot of people who had low level (flatworm) infections for their entire lives said Quentin Bickle a parasite expert at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

People would have known there was something weird going on but they wouldn’t have known what to do about it.

Scientists find compound to fight virus behind SARS, MERS

GENEVA: An international team of scientists say they have identified a compound that can fight coronaviruses, responsible for the SARS and MERS outbreaks, which currently have no cure.

Coronaviruses affect the upper and lower respiratory tracts in humans. They are the reason for up to a third of common colds. A more severe strain of the virus, thought to have come from bats, triggered the global SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) epidemic in 2002, which killed nearly 800 people.

The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) is a new strain discovered in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and thought to have originated in camels. More deadly but less contagious, it has so far killed 193 people out of 636 confirmed cases.

Now, a team of scientists led by Edward Trybala from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and Volker Thiel from the University of Bern, have discovered a compound called K22, which appears to block the ability of the virus to spread in humans.

"This finding is important in light of the fact that some emerging coronaviruses, such as SARS and MERS... are potential pandemic-causing pathogens," Trybala said in an email to AFP.

In "our work we found a novel strategy to combat these viruses," he added.

The team screened 16,671 different compounds before realising that K22 could combat a weak form of coronavirus that causes mild cold-like symptoms.

They then went on to show that it can fight more serious strains, including SARS and MERS.

- ´Viral factories´ -

In an article for specialist journal "PLOS Pathogens", the scientists explained that the virus reproduces in the cells that line the human respiratory system. The virus takes over the membranes that separate different parts of human cells, reshaping them into a sort of protective armour in order to start its production cycle, and so creating "viral factories," Trybala told AFP.

K22 acts at an early stage in this process, preventing the virus from taking control of the cell membranes and so opening up "new treatment possibilities," he said.

"The results confirm that the use of the membrane of the host cell is a crucial step in the life-cycle of the virus," the researchers wrote.

Their work shows that "the process is highly sensitive and can be influenced by anti-viral medications".

They said the recent SARS epidemic and MERS outbreak mean there should be urgent investment in testing K22 outside the laboratory and developing medicines.

While K22 still has a way to go before it can be tested on humans, Trybala still believes "that identification of this new strategy of combating coronaviruses will aid to develop an effective and safe antiviral drug".

Earlier this month, experts gathered in Geneva by the World Health Organization confirmed that MERS was spreading but had yet to reach the level of global emergency.

Most of the MERS cases and deaths so far have been in Saudi Arabia, but the virus has been imported to more than a dozen other countries. All of those cases have involved people who became ill while in the Middle East.

Iran registered its first death from MERS on Thursday, and has registered six cases of the infection. (AFP)

Pentagon scientists show off life-size robot

WASHINGTON: US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel got a first-hand look at a life-size robot that resembles Hollywood's "Terminator," the latest experiment by the Pentagon's hi-tech researchers.

But unlike the cinematic version, the hulking Atlas robot is designed not as a warrior but as a humanitarian machine that would rescue victims in the rubble of a natural disaster, officials said on Tuesday.

The 6-foot-2-inch (187 centimeters) Atlas is one of the entrants in a contest designed to produce a man-like life-saver machine, the brainchild of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

The competition, which will require the bots to navigate rough terrain and enter buildings, was created in the aftermath of Japan's Fukushima quake and tsunami disasters.

DARPA, the Pentagon's research arm known for futuristic projects often evoking science fiction, showed off the Atlas robot to Hagel, but except for LED lighting, the humanoid was apparently switched off on a "static" display.

Brad Tousley, head of DARPA's Tactical Technology Office, told Hagel that Hollywood has created unrealistic expectations of what real robots can do. Building robots that can climb ladders, open doors and carry objects requires daunting feats of engineering and computer science, he said.

Scientists also showed Hagel the latest technology for prosthetics, including a mechanical hand that responds to brain impulses and a prosthetic arm controled by foot movements.

A wounded veteran who once worked with Hagel in the 1980s demonstrated one of the devices, giving the Pentagon chief a thumbs up with his prosthetic left arm.

"It's the first time in 45 years, since Vietnam, I'm able to use my left hand...," said Fred Downs, who lost his limb in a landmine explosion during the war.

He controled the device using two accelerometers strapped to his feet, manipulating the elbow, wrist and fingers.

Hagel hugged Downs and shook his mechanical hand.

"He and I worked together many years ago," said Hagel, referring to a stint in the Veterans Administration during Ronald Reagan's presidency. "How you doing, Fred? How's your family?"

Hagel said the new technology would have a dramatic effect on the lives of wounded soldiers.

"This is transformational," he said. "We've never seen anything like this before."

Justin Sanchez, a medical doctor and program manager at DARPA who works with prosthetics and brain-related technology, showed Hagel a video of a patient whose brain had been implanted with a sensor, allowing her to control a mechanical arm with her thoughts.

Scientists then displayed a shiny black mechanical hand and arm that responds to brain impulses, and said sensors would be attached to allow the fingers to send sensations back to the brain.

The tactile feedback system should be operational within a few months, officials said.

"People said it would be 50 years before we saw this technology in humans," Sanchez said. "We did it in a few years."

DARPA managers showed Hagel other technologies, but reporters were ushered out after the first three demonstrations due to concerns about revealing military secrets.

A US defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Hagel was given an update on "PLAN X," a cyber warfare project, a system to link tactical air controllers using tablets and a new long-range anti-ship missile that would be less dependent on global navigation systems.