clue | Common News Update

Mar22021 by adminNo Comments

Contraception app Natural Cycles swipes at new rival from Clue

Technology

Getty ImagesNatural Cycles, the first app to be cleared by US regulators for use as a contraceptive, has criticised the approval of a new birth control service from period tracker app Clue.Natural Cycles knocked Clue's product for relying purely on period dates and also said its approval process had not been as thorough.But Clue said the regulator had determined its digital Birth Control service was "safe and effective".It is due to launch in the US in 2021.The idea behind both apps is that they offer an alternative to traditional forms of contraception, and they work by highlighting the days when they calculate that pregnancy is most likely to occur. These depend on an individual's menstrual cycle. Natural Cycles charges a subscription fee and Clue has a subscription model for access to e...

May222020 by adminNo Comments

Coronavirus: Immune clue sparks treatment hope

Health

UK scientists are to begin testing a treatment that it is hoped could counter the effects of Covid-19 in the most seriously ill patients.It has been found those with the most severe form of the disease have extremely low numbers of an immune cell called a T-cell. T-cells clear infection from the body.The clinical trial will evaluate if a drug called interleukin 7, known to boost T-cell numbers, can aid patients' recovery.It involves scientists from the Francis Crick Institute, King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital.They have looked at immune cells in the blood of 60 Covid-19 patients and found an apparent crash in the numbers of T-cells. Prof Adrian Hayday from the Crick Institute said it was a "great surprise" to see what was happening w...

Feb42020 by adminNo Comments

Govt’s IDBI Bank move may hold a clue for future of public sector banks

Finance

KOLKATA: Life Insurance Corporation of India got all the attention in this budget. IDBI Bank became a footnote. Once a million-pound gorilla in its own way, now looks like a pigmy. But what the government does with the pigmy may well become a signboard for the future of some state-run banks. Dilution of holding in banks has been a long cherished desire of successive governments, despite it being a controversial one. Selling down the remaining 47% shares in IDBI Bank may be just a trickle, for now. Given the government’s over 90 per cent ownership in several lenders, it may not immediately need to beat the drum about bringing them below the contentious 51 per cent level, but divestment may become the order of the day. “Sale of IDBI Bank shares may not elicit huge response from the market im...

Dec112018 by adminNo Comments

'Surprise' Palu tsunami clue found on seafloor

Science

Scientists are getting closer to understanding the tsunami that struck Palu in Indonesia in September. Damaging waves rushed ashore after a Magnitude 7.8 quake, but researchers said at the time that they were surprised by their size. Now, a survey in the bay in front of the Sulawesi city shows significant subsidence of the seabed. This likely contributed to the abrupt displacement of water that then crashed on to land. More than 2,000 people lost their lives in the disaster. Preliminary results of various investigations are being reported here at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union - the largest annual gathering of Earth and space scientists. The quake occurred on what is called a...

Nov232017 by adminNo Comments

Argentina reports new clue in search for missing submarine

World

Ships and planes hunting for a missing Argentine submarine with 44 crew members will return to a previously search area after officials said Wednesday that a noise made a week ago in the South Atlantic could provide a clue to the vessel's location. The Argentina navy spokesman, Capt. Enrique Balbi, said the "hydro-acoustic anomaly" was determined by the United States and specialist agencies to have been produced Nov. 15, just hours after the final contact with the ARA San Juan and could have come from the sub. The sound originated about 30 miles north of the submarine's last registered position, he said. "It's a noise. We don't want to speculate" about what caused it, Balbi said. He said Argentine navy ships as well as a U.S. P-8 Poseidon aircraft and a Brazilian air force plane would ret...