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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 1 hour ago

Infusing asphalt with plastic could help roads last longer and resist cracking under heat
Incorporating 8–10% recycled plastic into asphalt enhances road durability, flexibility, and heat resistance, reducing cracking and maintenance needs. This approach diverts plastic waste from landfills, lowers demand for petroleum-based materials, and shows minimal microplastic release. Challenges include sourcing clean plastic and ensuring safe processing, but early results indicate environmental and economic benefits.

"Reuse of Recycled Plastic for Plastic Road Design" by Tahsina Islam

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 2 hours ago

Structural differences found in brains of people with panic disorder

Panic disorder (PD) is a mental health disorder characterized by recurring panic attacks, episodes of intense fear and anxiety accompanied by physical sensations and physiological responses such as a racing heart, shortness of breath, dizziness, blurred vision and other symptoms. Estimates suggest that approximately 2–3% of people worldwide experience PD at some point during their lives.

Better understanding the neural underpinnings and features of PD could have important implications for its future treatment.

Researchers of many institutes worldwide recently carried out a new study shedding new light on the neuroanatomical signatures of PD, via the analysis of a large pool of brain scans collected from people diagnosed with the disorder and others with no known psychiatric diagnoses. Their paper, published in Molecular Psychiatry, identifies marked differences in the brains of individuals with PD, such as a slightly thinner cortex and frontal, temporal and parietal brain regions that are smaller than those of people with no known mental health disorders.

The team's analyses allowed them to pin-point various marked differences between the brains of people with PD and others with no known psychiatric or mental health disorders. The researchers found that people with PD had a slightly thinner cortex and that some parts of their brain had a smaller surface area or a reduced volume.

They identified subtle but consistent reductions in cortical thickness and surface area in frontal, temporal, and parietal regions, along with smaller subcortical volumes within the thalamus and caudate volumes, among individuals with PD.

Among other things, these regions govern how emotionally salient information is perceived, processed, modulated, and responded to. The analyses also showed that some differences are age-dependent and that early-onset PD (before age 21) is linked to larger lateral ventricles.

Overall, the findings of this recent study appear to confirm existing models of PD that suggest that the disorder is linked to disruptions in brain regions associated with the processing and regulation of emotions. 

Laura K. M. Han et al, Structural brain differences associated with panic disorder: an ENIGMA-Anxiety Working Group mega-analysis of 4924 individuals worldwide, Molecular Psychiatry (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41380-025-03376-4.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Saturday

The secrets under our skin
Mysterious undulating microstructures in our skin, called rete ridges, could help explain how the organ can regenerate and why it is that humans don’t have fur. The ridges act “like velcro to keep the top layer of your skin attached firmly to the bottom layer of your skin”, biologist Ryan Driskell, who co-authored a new study on the ridges, tells Nature. Driskell and his colleagues scoured the animal kingdom to find the skin that most resembled humans’ and found clues as to how these ridges form.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Saturday

Maternal perinatal depression may increase the risk of autistic-related traits in girls
Maternal perinatal depression is associated with an increased risk of autistic-related traits in toddlers, with a stronger effect observed in girls. Mouse models indicate that prenatal stress may disrupt oxytocin signaling, particularly affecting female offspring. These results highlight the importance of supporting maternal mental health to reduce adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes, especially in girls.

Changrong Duan et al, Sex differences in the risk of autistic-related traits in toddlers born to mothers with perinatal depression: Evidence from human cohort and mouse study, Molecular Psychiatry (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41380-026-03456-z

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Saturday

Sleep disruption damages gut's self-repair ability via stress signals from brain: A biological chain reaction
Chronic sleep disruption impairs the gut’s ability to repair itself by triggering stress signals from the brain via the vagus nerve, leading to increased oxidative stress in intestinal stem cells. This weakens the gut lining and heightens susceptibility to gastrointestinal disorders. Targeting specific molecules in this brain-gut pathway may offer therapeutic strategies to protect gut health in sleep-deprived individuals.

Mingxin Zhang et al, Sleep disturbance triggers aberrant activation of vagus circuitry and induces intestinal stem cell dysfunction, Cell Stem Cell (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2026.01.002

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Saturday

The body processes good fats and bad fats differently, study finds

The concept of "good fats" and "bad fats" has influenced diet trends, public health policy, and biomedical research for decades. Now, a new study offers new insights into how the body handles good fats and bad fats at the molecular level—opening a door to new treatments for obesity, diabetes, and other metabolic conditions. Their study is featured on the cover of the February edition of Cell Metabolism.

The researchers  found that if you can tweak bile acids, you can find a way to selectively absorb the good fats and excrete the bad fats, with many metabolic benefits. That includes the secretion of hormones like glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), the same mechanism that underlies popular weight loss drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic.

Dietary fat is essential to survival, and humans have evolved to process it very efficiently. Bile acids are detergent molecules that help break fat into small droplets in the intestine, allowing fats to be efficiently absorbed into systemic circulation. While this was quite useful for our ancestors living in times when food was scarce, this advantage becomes a disadvantage in a world where high-fat food options are readily available.

Researchers  engineered a CRISPR tool to disable a critical enzyme for bile acid synthesis, CYP7A1. The tool successfully decreased bile acid levels by 50% in adult mice.

The body absorbs saturated and unsaturated fats differently, a process regulated by bile acids. Reducing specific bile acids in mice selectively decreased absorption of saturated fats while preserving uptake of beneficial polyunsaturated fats, increased GLP-1 secretion, and protected against weight gain. Not all bile acids function identically, suggesting new therapeutic targets for metabolic diseases.

Alvin P. Chan et al, Bile acids regulate lipid metabolism through selective actions on fatty acid absorption, Cell Metabolism (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2025.11.010

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Saturday

Scientists now know why ovarian cancer spreads so rapidly in the abdomen

Ovarian cancer spreads rapidly in the abdomen because cancer cells recruit mesothelial cells, forming hybrid clusters that resist chemotherapy and invade tissue more effectively. Cancer-derived TGF-β1 induces mesothelial cells to develop invadopodia, which penetrate tissue, facilitating cancer dissemination. Targeting these interactions may offer new therapeutic strategies.

Kaname Uno et al, Mesothelial cells promote peritoneal invasion and metastasis of ascites-derived ovarian cancer cells through spheroid formation, Science Advances (2026). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adu5944. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adu5944

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Saturday

Almost half of the world's aquatic environments are severely contaminated by waste, research reveals
Nearly half (46%) of global aquatic environments are classified as dirty or extremely dirty, with plastics and cigarette butts comprising about 80% of waste. Protected areas show up to sevenfold lower contamination, but 31% remain polluted, especially at their edges due to external pressures. Contamination trends vary with socioeconomic development, highlighting the need for integrated global waste management

Victor Vasques Ribeiro et al, Influence of protected areas and socioeconomic development on litter contamination: A global analysis, Journal of Hazardous Materials (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2025.140422

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Saturday

When the interaction between fungi and bacteria becomes a dangerous alliance

Rivals or allies—how do bacteria and fungi interact in our bodies? Until now, bacteria on our mucous membranes were primarily considered to be antagonists of fungi, as they can inhibit their growth. However, an international research team has now been able to show that the yeast Candida albicans and the bacterium Enterococcus faecalis form a dangerous alliance under certain conditions: Instead of fighting each other, they can amplify their impact and cause significantly more severe cell damage together than alone.

In their study, now published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers reveal the mechanisms behind this—and the crucial role of the bacterial toxin cytolysin.

The yeast Candida albicans and the bacterium Enterococcus faecalis are usually harmless inhabitants of our mucous membranes. However, if the immune system is weakened or the microbial balance is disturbed—for example, after antibiotic therapy—they can cause infections. The severity of an infection also depends on how the two microbes interact with each other.

To understand this cooperation better, the team tested numerous E. faecalis strains in cell culture models. They found that only some of them significantly increased cell damage when infected simultaneously with Candida albicans. These strains shared a striking characteristic: they produced cytolysin, a toxin that perforates cell membranes and thus kills the cells. If the corresponding gene was missing in the bacterium, the additional damage did not occur. When it was added, the effect reappeared. The findings from the cell cultures were also confirmed in the mouse model.

Cytolysin-producing bacterial strains increased the damage to the mucous membrane caused by Candida albicans, while variants without the toxin even had a mitigating effect. Not all enterococci are the same. The cytolysin-producing variants have proven to be the dangerous ones. This explains why more severe disease progressions are sometimes observed, even though the same microorganisms are involved in the clinical samples.

In addition to the central role of cytolysin, the research team identified two main mechanisms that explain the dangerous alliance between the two microbes:
Direct contact: The bacteria attach themselves to the fungal cells and thus come into close contact with the host cells. This allows the bacterial toxin cytolysin to act exactly where it causes most of the damage.
Nutrient depletion: Candida albicans consumes sugar (glucose) particularly quickly. The resulting energy deficiency weakens the host cells and makes them more susceptible to the bacterial toxin.
In this way, the fungi and bacteria together create an environment in which they can fully unleash their destructive effects and cause massive cell damage—an impressive example of how complex microbiological interactions shape the course of an infection.

Mario Kapitan et al, Synergistic interactions between Candida albicans and Enterococcus faecalis promote toxin-dependent host cell damage, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2025). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2505310122

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Friday

China awards its first ‘practical PhDs’

A cohort of PhD candidates in China have become the first in the country to be assessed on the basis of practical achievements instead of theses. This new class of PhDs is part of the Chinese government’s broader education reforms to cultivate ‘elite engineers’ that can help boost the country’s innovation. As part of their PhD defence, candidates have to make prototypes and prove that their inventions can be used at scale in the real world. Examples so far include the equipment for a new welding technique and a fire-fighting system for a large seaplane.

First ‘practical PhDs’ awarded in China — for products rather than ...

First ‘practical PhDs’ awarded in China — for products rather than papers

The programme is designed to train more elite engineers who can help to boost the country’s innovation.

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