Scientists develop blood-based marker to spot acute sleep deprivation

New Delhi, March 10 (IANS) A team of scientists has developed a blood test that can detect when someone has not slept for 24 hours, also called sleep deprivation.

This level of sleep deprivation increases the risk of serious injury or fatality in safety critical situations, according to experts at Monash University in Australia, and the University of Birmingham in the UK.

The biomarker detected whether individuals had been awake for 24 hours with a 99.2 per cent probability of being correct, according to the study published in the journal Science Advances.

“This is a really exciting discovery for sleep scientists, and could be transformative to the future management of health and safety relating to insufficient sleep,” said Clare Anderson, a professor of Sleep and Circadian Science at the University of Birmingham in the UK.

With about 20 per cent of road accidents worldwide caused by sleep deprivation, researchers hope the discovery may inform future tests to quickly and simply identify sleep deprived drivers.

“There is strong evidence that less than five hours’ sleep is associated with unsafe driving, but driving after being awake for 24 hours, which is what we detected here, would be at least comparable to more than double the Australian legal limit of alcohol performance wise,” Anderson added.

The test may be also ideal for future forensic use but further validation is required.This sleep deprivation biomarker is based on 24 hours or more awake, but can detect down to 18 hours awake.Scientists develop blood-based marker to spot acute sleep deprivation | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com

Read More........→May 03, 2024

UK and New Zealand partner for subsea cable earthquake

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the UK’s National Metrology Institute, has partnered with Measurement Standards Laboratory (MSL) in New Zealand to carry out earthquake detection tests through subsea cables in the Pacific Ocean.

The duo will carry out the tests in a 3,876km-long section of the Southern Cross NEXT cable (a subsea cable that connects Aukland, Sydney and Los Angeles), that sits on the floor of the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand. The area has been chosen as it is highly seismically active –meaning it is vulnerable to earthquakes– which the NPL say is “an ideal test bed for advancing the technology and demonstrating its full potential.”

As part of the trial, scientists will turn the cable section into various sensors for earthquakes and ocean currents, by performing ultra-sensitive optical measurements. It will not need any new hardware or infrastructure, only the cable itself. This technique, which was created NPL in 2021, will mean the cable can gather continuous, real-time environmental data from the ocean floor. This will act as an early warning system for coastal communities in the event of a tsunami. If the trial is successful, the concept could be turned into a worldwide monitoring system.

“This technology, pioneered at NPL, is the perfect example of how our science can create impact, delivering tangible benefits for society which will simultaneously improve our understanding of the world,” said Dr Peter Thompson, CEO of NPL in a press release.

UK Science Minister Andrew Griffith echoed this sentiment, adding that “bringing the UK and New Zealand’s brightest minds together, to overhaul how we give advance warning of tsunamis, could save scores of lives. This work proves the value of breakthrough technologies like quantum, as well as the international teamwork that’s crucial to harnessing them. Source: https://totaltele.com/uk-and-new-zealand-partner-for-subsea-cable-earthquake-detection-trial/: 

Read More........→May 02, 2024