Category: LIFESTYLE

New Delhi, Dec 13 (IANS) Half of teenagers in the US are almost constantly online on social media platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat, finds a study, raising concerns about technology’s impact on youth.

The study by Pew Research Centre, based on a survey of US teenagers ages 13 to 17, showed that nine-in-10 teenagers reported to be mostly on YouTube.

Overall, 73 per cent of teenagers said they watch YouTube daily, making it the most widely used and visited platform. This share includes 15 per cent who describe their use as “almost constant.”

“Nearly half of teenagers say they are online almost constantly, up from 24 per cent a decade ago. This share has stayed consistent over the past few years. Overall, nearly all teenagers – 96 per cent – report using the internet daily,” the report said.

The alarming report comes even as the Australian government, last month, passed a social media ban for children under 16. The ban will apply to Instagram, X, Snapchat, and others from late 2025.

Meanwhile, Pew research showed that about 6-in-10 teenagers in the US reported using TikTok and Instagram, and 55 per cent said they use Snapchat.

About six-in-10 also reported visiting TikTok daily. This includes 16 per cent who report being on it almost constantly.

Roughly half of teenagers said they go on Instagram or Snapchat daily. This includes about one-in-10 who say they’re on each of these platforms almost constantly.

The share of teenagers who say they use Instagram almost constantly has increased slightly, from 8 per cent in 2023 to 12 per cent today.

The use of Facebook (32 per cent) and X (17 per cent) has steeply declined over the past decade among teenagers.

Further, about a quarter of teenagers (23 per cent) said they use WhatsApp, while 14 per cent reported using Reddit.

Across all five platforms, one-third of teens use at least one of these sites almost constantly.

Notably, “no gender differences” were observed in the shares of teenagers who reported using Instagram and Facebook almost constantly.

Yet, teenage girls use Instagram (66 per cent vs. 56 per cent) and TikTok more widely than teenage boys (66 per cent vs 59 per cent). On the other hand, boys are more likely than girls to use YouTube (93 per cent vs. 87 per cent).

–IANS

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New Delhi, Dec 13 (IANS) Industry must devise ways to skill, train, and provide employment opportunities to physically impaired citizens, said Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal.

Goyal said this during his address at the BML Munjal Awards 2024 in New Delhi.

Evoking Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for skilling the nation and enabling the physically impaired citizens, he called on industry leaders to make skill development available in Braille, and also for those who have other physical impairments.

“There is a need to develop certain skills that would help them become independent,” Goyal said, citing the example of SEEPZ in Mumbai, where 1,500 visually impaired children are trained by the Gem and Jewellery sector for jobs in the same industry.

Goyal suggested that industry leaders identify the strengths of the disabled and make them employable.

“Grievance centres and customer support centres are areas where divyangjans can work, and even in sports. We can also promote divyangjan sports festivals to encourage them more,” he noted.

At the event, he also mentioned about the book titled ‘The Making of Hero’ — based on the journey of the Hero Group from its initial days to the present. The Minister highlighted the company’s efforts to take India to the world stage in automobile manufacturing.

Lauding the organisers for releasing the book also in Braille, he said: “The effort will inspire divyangjans to dream big”.

Further, Goyal also expressed hope that the book will inspire many entrepreneurs to become job creators. Collective commitment of 1.4 billion people will take India to greater heights and that will happen when they aspire big, he added.

The Minister also urged the organisers of the event to engage startups and younger organisations in the award ceremony in the journey towards a Viksit Bharat.

–IANS

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New Delhi, Dec 13 (IANS) The Ayurveda manufacturing sector has seen an 8-fold growth in the last 10 years, said Union Minister Prataprao Jadhav.

He said this at the 10th World Ayurveda Congress (WAC 2024) and the Arogya Expo. The central theme for the WAC2024 is, “Digital Health: An Ayurveda Perspective,” and it aims to delve into the transformative potential of modern technologies in advancing Ayurveda.

“Thousands of minds are gathered here to discuss digital health,” said Jadhav, Union Minister of State, Independent Charge, Ministry of Ayush, in his address.

He added that the event marks “a pivotal juncture where various streams of ideologies, cultures, and innovations converge”.

The Union Ayush Minister also mentioned that nationwide “Desh Ka Prakriti Parikshan Abhiyan” launched on the occasion of the 9th Ayurveda day on October 29.

“This initiative to evaluate the Prakriti of over 1 crore individuals based on Ayurveda principles represents a significant milestone,” Jadhav said while requesting everyone to actively participate in the campaign.

Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, Ministry of Ayush­­­­ informed that we have tech-enabled solutions now with Ayush Grid, it revolutionises healthcare with innovations, enhancing effectiveness, safety, and affordability.

“More than 1.3 billion dollar investment is in the pipeline from global partners,” he added.

The biennial event is organised by the World Ayurveda Foundation (WAF), an initiative of Vijnana Bharati. This year’s edition of this landmark event is set to unite Ayurveda practitioners, researchers, and enthusiasts from around the globe.

More than 5,500 Indian delegates and over 350 delegates from 54 countries have registered to participate in the 4-day event. The event will also include in-depth discussions and knowledge sharing on leveraging cutting-edge digital tools and innovations to enhance healthcare delivery, redefine research, and integrate Ayurveda into the rapidly evolving global health landscape.

–IANS

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New Delhi, Dec 13 (IANS) The oncology test market in India is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 2 per cent through 2033, according to a report on Friday.

The report by GlobalData, a data and analytics company, showed that the rise in cancers in the country is primarily due to lifestyle changes, environmental factors, and an ageing population.

Cancer poses a significant social and healthcare burden in India, creating a rising demand for advanced oncology diagnostic and treatment services. More than 1 Million new cases are diagnosed annually and around 900,000 deaths are recorded per year.

In 2024, India accounted for over 3 per cent of the Asia-Pacific (APAC) oncology tests market, the research reveals.

But, by accelerating efforts to develop innovative solutions and support cutting-edge research, the country aspires to increasingly address the healthcare needs of both its own population and global communities.

“Oncology tests in India face several challenges related to access, affordability, and technological adoption. Because of inadequate infrastructure and expertise, the adoption and integration of new approaches like AI-assisted diagnostics, precision medicine, and minimally invasive therapies are low,” said Shreya Jain, Medical Devices Analyst at GlobalData.

“Tailored diagnostics, like genomic tests calibrated for Indian cohorts, can enhance early detection accuracy, improve risk stratification, and ensure that treatments align with the unique genetic profiles of Indian patients. This not only helps improve survival rates in India but also contributes to the global understanding of cancer biology,” Jain said.

A recent report by ResearchAndMarkets.com, a market research firm showed that the future of the cancer diagnostic tests market in India is promising for companies seeking entry. This positive outlook is due to several factors including government initiatives like the National Cancer Control Programme and the Ayushman Bharat Scheme, which are increasing focus on cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment.

–IANS

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New Delhi, Dec 12 (IANS) With Assembly elections in Delhi approaching, the political parties are mounting aggressive campaigns and rhetoric to woo the electorate. However, the pangs and troubles of Ghazipur residents remain far from being addressed.

The mound of garbage remains a source of constant worry for the residents here. Despite promises by leaders including former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, their problems have remained unaddressed.

Many Ghazipur locals spoke about their problems in an interaction with IANS on Thursday.

Munni Devi, a local resident, said: “The situation is getting worse day by day. The pile of garbage is continuously increasing. Wherever you look, only garbage is seen. The water canal has become a garbage dump. Dead cattle are found in the canal. What are the MCD people doing? We have been tolerating the filth for years.”

“Arvind Kejriwal had promised to remove garbage, but the promise has not been fulfilled,” she said.

Rajesh, another local, said: “I have been living here for years. The problem regarding the garbage dump has not been solved. Arvind Kejriwal promised that he will remove the garbage but there hasn’t been any progress in the past 10 years. The garbage pile-up has only increased.

“For 10 years, we have been living in filth and stink. Problems increase during rainy days,” he added.

Balmitra Devi said she has given up all hopes of any improvement.

“No government will solve our problem. I have been living here for 40 years. Pollution has entered our house. As soon as you go out, you have to come face to face with filth. One has to face a lot of difficulties,” she said.

Nirmala Devi, a housewife, said: “We cannot eat bread at home. I want to ask Kejriwal what work he has done in 10 years. What work did you do after staying in MCD for two years?”

Shafiq said that when Arvind Kejriwal comes for campaign this time, he will definitely ask him about the promise.

“The problem has not reduced during Kejriwal’s government. When he comes to ask for votes, we will ask what happened as you had promised,” he said.

Khalid, another resident, said that the garbage heap in Ghazipur only makes for political fodder and no solution.

Sartaj said: “The pile of garbage will never end. The present government promised but see what happened. There are diseases all around. Fires break out here during summers. People have trouble breathing.”

“Since childhood, I have been seeing the pile of garbage. But, no government has come forward to remove it. We have to face a lot of problems,” said Nitin.

–IANS

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Jaipur, Dec 12 (IANS) Rajasthan BJP chief and Rajya Sabha MP Madan Rathore on Thursday highlighted the commendable progress made under the Union Health Ministry’s TB Disease Eradication Programme.

Rathore said that in 2015, the country reported 237 TB cases per 1 lakh population, which reduced to 195 cases in 2023—a decline of 17.7 per cent over eight years.

The TB-related deaths dropped by 21 per cent during the same period, according to Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Anupriya Patel’s response to a parliamentary question.

Rathore emphasised that the government is working tirelessly to combat TB by providing free medicines and diagnostic services and dispelling societal misconceptions about the disease.

“Financial support of ₹500 per month is being extended to TB patients through the Ni-Kshay Poshan Yojana to ensure better nutrition. Additionally, the Ni-Kshay Mitra initiative offers TB patients and their families extra support, including nutritional, clinical, and vocational assistance,” he said.

He said that in Rajasthan, the number of TB cases dropped from 1.65 lakh in 2023 to 1.45 lakh by October 2024.

Rathore credited the Union Health Ministry for integrating Ayushman Arogya Mandir with TB testing and treatment services and focusing on high-burden areas with targeted interventions.

“Awareness campaigns and the establishment of additional molecular diagnostic laboratories at sub-district levels have further bolstered the program’s success,” he claimed.

He added that the achievements underscore the Union Health Ministry’s commitment to eradicating TB and ensuring a healthier future for the nation.

–IANS

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New Delhi, Dec 12 (IANS) Researchers at the Raman Research Institute (RRI), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), have been able to accurately predict the exact time of the emergence of the first crack in aged clay and blood — a finding that can aid in the diagnosis of conditions like anaemia.

The study can also help in forensics and improving the quality of paints used for coatings.

Researchers studying material science at the RRI proposed a relation between the time of emergence of the first crack, fracture energy — which is the sum of the plastic dissipation and the stored surface energy — and the elasticity of the drying clay sample which can help predict the first crack.

They used the theory of linear poroelasticity, where they estimated the stress at the surface of the drying sample at the time of crack onset.

Linear poroelasticity is a theory for porous media flow that describes the diffusion of water (or any mobile species) in the pores of a saturated elastic gel.

The team equated the stress with Griffith’s criterion which states that a crack will grow when the energy released during propagation is equal to or greater than the energy required to create a new crack surface.

The research, published in the journal Physics of Fluids, detailed that the relation thus obtained was validated by performing a series of experiments. They further said that the same scaling relation worked for other colloidal materials such as silica gels.

“This correlation can be useful while optimising material design during product development. We can apply this knowledge and suggest tweaking in the material composition at the time of manufacturing of industry-grade paints and coatings so that they can have better crack resistance and improve the product quality,” said Professor Ranjini Bandyopadhyay, head of the RheoDLS lab and faculty at the Soft Condensed Matter group at RRI.

In the study, the team used Laponite — a synthetic clay with disk-shaped particles sized 25-30 nanometres (nm) and one nm in thickness.

They created multiple Laponite samples with increasing elasticities, which were then dried at temperatures ranging from 35 to 50 degrees Celsius in a petri dish.

The samples took between 18-24 hours to dry completely and the rate of evaporation and elasticity were measured for each sample. As water evaporated from the Laponite samples, the particles rearranged and stresses developed on the surface of the material.

Higher sample elasticity indicates a better ability of the sample to deform under the influence of these stresses.

It was also noted that the cracks started developing first at the outer walls of the petri dish and later progressed inwards. Later, networks of cracks developed as the sample aged (passing of time).

–IANS

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New Delhi, Dec 12 (IANS) Scientists at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bengaluru, an autonomous institute under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), have developed novel flexible near-infrared plasmonic devices for wearable sensors and medical imaging tools.

The team introduced a new approach to achieve flexible near-infrared plasmonic devices using affordable scandium nitride (ScN) films.

“This could revolutionise the design of future optoelectronic devices, flexible sensors, and medical imaging tools that rely on NIR light, by introducing scalable and cost-effective plasmonic materials,” said the researchers in the paper, recently published in the journal Nano Letters.

Plasmonics is a field that leverages the interaction between light and free electrons in metals to create extremely confined electromagnetic fields. Traditionally, plasmonic materials have been rigid and possess limited design possibilities. Most of them, like gold or silver, tend to be costly and possess limited versatility.

The research holds promise for a wide array of industries, from telecommunications to biomedicine, offering a new material foundation for developing next-generation flexible and wearable plasmonic devices.

The team led by Prof. Bivas Saha demonstrated a method to grow flexible plasmonic structures.

They produced ScN layers with exceptional quality and flexibility by pairing scandium nitride with van der Waals layer substrates, materials with weak interlayer interactions. This introduced a new pathway in plasmonic materials research.

The study also highlights the potential of scandium nitride as a promising plasmonic material for applications that require both flexibility and precision in near-infrared (NIR) optics.

“Scandium nitride’s stability, combined with its compatibility with van der Waals substrates, makes it an exciting candidate for next-generation flexible electronics,” Saha said.

“Our findings are a step towards realising advanced plasmonic devices that are not only high-performing but also adaptable to unconventional applications,” he added.

Saha’s team demonstrated that ScN is a stable material that not only supports NIR plasmonics but also retains its performance when subjected to bending and flexing, making it a frontrunner for flexible device applications.

–IANS

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New Delhi, Dec 12 (IANS) Developing antidepressant medications that target cells in the gut may open a novel path towards effective treatment of mood disorders like depression and anxiety, finds a study. Targeting gut cells may open new ways to reduce depression and anxiety.

New Delhi, Dec 12 (IANS) Developing antidepressant medications that target cells in the gut may open a novel path towards effective treatment of mood disorders like depression and anxiety, finds a study.

These gut-targeting medications may also lead to fewer cognitive, gastrointestinal, and behavioral side effects for patients and their children than current treatments.

“Antidepressants like Prozac and Zoloft that raise serotonin levels are important first-line treatments and help many patients but can sometimes cause side effects that patients can’t tolerate,” said Mark Ansorge, Associate Professor of clinical neurobiology at Columbia University Vagelos.

Ansorge noted that the study, published in the journal Gastroenterology, suggests that limiting these drugs “to interact only with intestinal cells could avoid these issues”.

Further, the team noted that the novel approach may also help pregnant women, without exposing the child.

Antidepressants that raise serotonin (called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs) — the first-line pharmacological treatments for anxiety and depression for over 30 years — are known to cross the placenta and increase problems related to mood, cognitive, and gastrointestinal later in childhood.

On the other hand, leaving depression untreated during pregnancy “also comes with risks to the children,” Ansorge said. “An SSRI that selectively raises serotonin in the intestine could be a better alternative.”

Notably, Serotonin is also produced outside the brain, largely in cells that line the intestines. “In fact, 90 per cent of our bodies’ serotonin is in the gut,” said the team.

This knowledge raises the possibility that increasing serotonin signaling in the gut may impact gut-brain communication and ultimately mood, they noted while testing its possibility in mice.

They found that increasing intestinal serotonin reduces anxiety, and depressive behaviors in mice

“These results suggest that SSRIs produce therapeutic effects by working directly in the gut,” Ansorge said.

The animals also displayed none of the cognitive or gastrointestinal side effects commonly seen in patients taking SSRIs or in mice with increased serotonin signaling throughout their entire bodies.

–IANS

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New Delhi, Dec 12 (IANS) The early-onset colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as colon cancer, incidence rates among adults aged 25-49 are rising across the globe, but India shows the lowest rate among 50 countries, according to a new study.

The research, published in the journal The Lancet Oncology, showed early-onset CRC are rising in 27 of 50 countries/territories worldwide. Of these 20 have seen a faster rise in early-onset. In 14 other countries, including the US, rates are increasing in young adults while stabilising in those 50 years and older.

India, on the other hand, has shown the lowest incidence rate both in terms of early onset and among older adults.

“The increase in early-onset colorectal cancer is a global phenomenon,” said lead author Dr. Hyuna Sung, senior principal scientist, of cancer surveillance research at the American Cancer Society. Sung stated that the trend was previously seen only among high-income Western countries, but now it’s widespread.

The study aimed to examine contemporary CRC incidence trends in young versus older adults using data through 2017 from 50 countries/territories.

Chile, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Ecuador, Thailand, Sweden, Israel, and Croatia reported a faster rise in early-onset CRC among men than women. However, young women experienced faster increases in England, Norway, Australia, Türkiye, Costa Rica, and Scotland.

In 13 countries with increasing trends in both age groups, the annual percentage increase in young compared to older adults was larger in Chile, Japan, Sweden, the Netherlands, Croatia, and Finland, smaller in Thailand, Martinique, Denmark, Costa Rica, and similar in Türkiye, Ecuador, and Belarus.

For the last five years, the incidence rate of early-onset CRC was highest in Australia, Puerto Rico, New Zealand, the US, and the Republic of Korea (14 to 17 per 100,000) and lowest in Uganda and India (4 per 100,000).

Sung urged the need for innovative tools to prevent and control cancers linked to dietary habits, physical inactivity, and excess body weight.

The expert also called for raising awareness of the trend and the distinct symptoms of early-onset colorectal cancer such as rectal bleeding, abdominal pain, altered bowel habits, and unexplained weight loss among young people to boost diagnosis.

–IANS

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