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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 4 hours ago

Antifungal use during pregnancy shows link to altered hormone levels in babies

Many pregnant women develop fungal infections, which are often treated with widely used azole-based antifungal medicines. A new study suggests that the use of these medicines during pregnancy may be associated with changes in fetal hormone production, with effects persisting in children after birth.
In 589 mother–child pairs, azole antifungal use during pregnancy was associated with altered infant adrenal hormone levels at three months, still within normal ranges. Human fetal tissue and rat experiments supported the findings. Causality and long-term health effects remain unclear, warranting further safety research.

Gylli Mola et al, Prenatal antifungal exposure disrupts fetal steroidogenesis and is associated with persistent effects in children, Communications Medicine (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s43856-026-01815-z

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 5 hours ago

Blue light could cut food poisoning from raw chicken

While cooking kills Campylobacter, cross-contamination from handling raw meat is thought to be the main route of infection. Symptoms typically last about a week and include stomach cramps, fever, nausea and, in many cases, bloody diarrhea.
A low-power blue light could be the key to significantly reducing food poisoning caused by raw chicken .

In a study published in the journal Microbiology, researchers working in collaboration with the Animal and Plant Health Agency, tested a new technique known as violet-blue photodynamic inactivation (VB-PDI) against 64 different strains of Campylobacter, which is found in around three-quarters of all raw chicken sold in the U.K. Every strain was killed by the treatment, regardless of species or antibiotic resistance profile.

The findings build on previous research that showed blue light treatments could work more effectively than treating chicken with chlorine to kill specific strains of bacteria.
Violet-blue light killed all 64 tested Campylobacter strains, including antibiotic-resistant strains, without added chemicals. One strain showed no increased tolerance after 15 exposure rounds. Trials on naturally contaminated poultry in processing settings are needed before commercial use.
VB-PDI works by shining a safe, visible violet-blue light onto bacteria, causing molecules naturally found inside their cells to produce lethal levels of destructive compounds called reactive oxygen species. Crucially, the method needs no physical contact with the food and no added chemicals, making it a promising option for use on poultry carcasses in processing plants after slaughter, before products reach consumers.

The researchers estimate that if the technique could reduce contamination of chicken carcasses by a factor of 100, the proportion of highly contaminated carcasses reaching retail could fall from around 1 in 10 to just 1 in 50.
The team also found no evidence that Campylobacter bacteria could develop resistance to the treatment. Strains that were already resistant to antibiotics were killed just as effectively as fully susceptible ones. When one strain was repeatedly exposed to the light over 15 rounds in the laboratory, in an attempt to force resistance to evolve, no increase in tolerance was seen.
Because VB-PDI uses simple, low-power LEDs with a long lifespan and minimal running costs, the team also thinks it could offer a low-cost option for poultry producers, including in low- and middle-income countries where food safety infrastructure is limited.

Finlay Bembridge et al, One light to rule them all: photodynamic inactivation of diverse Campylobacter, Microbiology (2026). DOI: 10.1099/mic.0.001769

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 5 hours ago

Stem cells survive rough space travel

In early 2024, laboratory-grown neurospheres (i.e. clusters of neural stem cells) were sent to the International Space Station (ISS) to be exposed to microgravity. The return trip was delayed several times due to bad weather in the landing zone. As a result, the cells were outside controlled culture conditions for longer than anticipated—beyond the limit of what they were expected to survive.
Despite being subjected to severe stress, some of the cells survived. After recovery, they were still able to develop into nerve cells and glial cells and functioned normally in the researchers' tests.

A key finding is that cells placed in 3D-printed support structures fared particularly well across all groups. They survived and continued to divide.

Some neural stem cells survived prolonged uncontrolled conditions during their return from the ISS. After recovery, they retained the ability to form neurons and glial cells and functioned normally in tests. Cells in 3D-printed support structures showed particularly good survival and continued to divide.

Robert Fredriksson et al, Boundary cap neural crest stem cells exhibit remarkable resilience to environmental stressors associated with International Space Station mission, npj Microgravity (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41526-026-00646-5

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 6 hours ago

Laughter, sighs and screams reveal unwritten social rules in everyday life

Alongside words, humans have a treasure trove of nonverbal tools to help express themselves. We chuckle, sigh and gasp to communicate our feelings without uttering a word. What has amazed researchers for ages is how we rarely stop to think about how we know which sound belongs in which situation. Could unwritten social rules guide these everyday nonverbal sounds?
Of the 10 nonverbal vocalizations studied, laughter topped the list at 7.55 on a nine-point scale, followed by sighs at 6.69 and gasps at 6.63. Moans, groans and grunts landed above 6 on the acceptability scale. The ones that drew the strongest disapproval were growls, cries, screams and retches.

These same sounds landed very differently depending on the setting. Laughter was rated highest in positive, lively social situations but was heavily restricted in formal settings or those marked by power differences. Screams weren't always frowned upon; instead, they were more acceptable in high-energy, positive settings. Sighs stood out as being considered appropriate only when alone.

Vocalizations were rated significantly more appropriate at home and in social settings like bars or parties than at work or in public places such as stores or libraries. These sounds were less welcome in formal settings, especially when there was a clear power difference between people, but became more acceptable in positive, relaxed social settings.

These findings reveal the situational principles behind everyday vocal display rules.

Roza G. Kamiloğlu, Vocal display rules in everyday life: when is it appropriate to laugh, sigh or scream?, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2026). DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2025.0151

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 6 hours ago

Blood counts, kidney function markers, electrolytes and most liver enzymes gave the same results no matter how long patients had fasted. Across 121 routine laboratory tests, only a handful needed fasting to be accurate.

In the paired within-person comparisons, only 10 tests showed differences large enough to exceed clinical error thresholds. With fasting under 8 hours, blood glucose was 10.8% higher, triglycerides were 20.1% higher and lipase, a pancreatic digestive enzyme, was 36.4% higher. Glucose then dropped steadily, by about 4.3 mg/dL for each additional hour of fasting.

They also found that whether patients fasted for 8–12 hours or longer than 12 hours made no clinically meaningful difference to any of the test results. Extending the fast beyond 12 hours did nothing for the accuracy of test results and instead caused unnecessary discomfort for patients.

Based on these results, researchers proposed replacing a one-size-fits-all fasting rule with test-specific requirements, since fasting duration mattered for only a handful of tests. To ensure these findings hold water beyond the South Korean population, further research involving more diverse populations is required before clinical standards can be redefined.

Sunghwan Shin et al, Fasting Duration and Differences Across Routine Laboratory Tests, JAMA Internal Medicine (2026). DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2026.4718

Liv Tybjærg Nordestgaard et al, Time to Stop Fasting Before Blood Sampling, JAMA Internal Medicine (2026). DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2026.4726

Part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 6 hours ago

Do you really need to fast before every blood test says a new study

Even a routine blood test may come with an overnight fasting requirement. Many medical practices still ask patients to go without food for 8–12 hours before blood is drawn. While the protocol was originally recommended for glucose and lipid testing, over time, it became the default requirement for almost all routine blood panels. Why it is still followed for such a broad range of routine lab tests is a question that researchers asked in a recent study.
The team set out to determine whether fasting is really necessary before routine blood tests and whether the length of the fast actually matters. They analyzed millions of test results from routine blood work collected from 101,148 adults.

For most tests, it made little clinical difference whether patients had fasted for a few hours or much longer. Only a handful showed meaningful changes. Blood glucose, triglycerides, liver enzymes and lipase were noticeably higher when patients had fasted for less than 8 hours.
Lab tests act as the guiding light for many diagnoses. They also help monitor existing conditions while raising red flags regarding one's risk of developing a disease or condition in the future. Eating is one of many factors that can affect blood test results. Since it is also the most easily controllable, fasting for somewhere between 8 and 12 hours has become a norm for blood tests across the globe. However, people spend most of their day in a nonfasting state, so nonfasting tests better represent their habitual physiology.
Fasting also creates logistical and clinical challenges for both patients and laboratories. Patients may be unable to get blood tests done on the same day they are ordered, requiring a separate visit. Early-morning fasting blood draws can also create a rush at hospitals and laboratories. Unless fasting provides a clear clinical advantage for a particular test, these costs may outweigh the benefits of routinely requiring it.

Existing evidence on tests performed after fasting is heavily dominated by cholesterol and triglyceride testing, leaving very little data for other tests. To fill this gap, researchers designed this study as a large-scale retrospective analysis of real-world hospital data. They screened nearly 10 million test results collected from 670 hospitals.

Based on the time since the last meal documented by the phlebotomist, the team divided the patients into three main fasting-duration categories: less than 8 hours, 8–12 hours and more than 12 hours. Using statistical models, they compared average test results across the three fasting groups. To rule out differences in patients' health as the cause, they compared the same people across separate visits, each with a different fasting duration.

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 8 hours ago

Francis Halzen wins Nobel Prize in physics for work on mysterious ghost particles called neutrinos
Francis Halzen won the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for his efforts to demystify a rare group of neutrinos, tiny cosmic particles that scientists believe offer clues to how the universe evolved.
Neutrinos are tiny cosmic particles with a mind-bogglingly small mass. Yet they are everywhere: they spew from stars like the sun and trillions zip through our bodies every second.

Scientists can't glimpse the mysterious ghost particles zooming around on their own. Instead, they measure what happens when the tiny particles collide with other bits of matter, producing flashes of light or charged particles.

Halzen helped pull the curtain back on a rare gang of neutrinos that scientists consider messengers from the cosmos, offering clues to how the universe evolved.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 8 hours ago

Rising heat linked to faster telomere loss in wild birds

Extreme heat can have a profound impact on wild animals, causing their death in the most extreme cases and leaving less visible marks in others. Understanding the effects of temperature changes on specific species could inform conservation efforts and other initiatives aimed at protecting natural ecosystems from climate change.
Researchers carried out a study investigating the effects of high heat on purple-crowned fairy-wrens, small birds living in the tropical savannas of northern Australia.

Their findings, presented in a paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, link hotter conditions to faster shortening of the birds' telomeres, protective stretches of DNA at the ends of chromosomes.
To measure the hidden effects of heat, they examined damage to telomeres, protective regions of DNA that sit at the ends of chromosomes and shorten with stress and aging.
Shorter telomeres are associated with accelerated aging and reduced lifespan. so they used telomere shortening as an indicator of sublethal heat stress, then investigated whether environmental or social conditions could reduce that damage.
The researchers discovered that increased heat exposure pervasively increases telomere damage throughout a bird's life. Over time, this damage can reduce individual fitness and could quietly drive population declines.
The team found that none of the environmental or social conditions they examined appeared to lessen the heat-related telomere loss in young birds. In contrast, adults living in habitats with denser vegetation were found to be partly protected, exhibiting less telomere loss.

This highlights that preserving habitat with dense vegetation cover provides essential climate refugia, giving vulnerable species a fighting chance against increasingly hot conditions.

Justin R. Eastwood et al, Pervasive sublethal impacts of heat exposure revealed by telomere dynamics, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2026). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2025.2877.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa yesterday

A New Cause of High Blood Pressure?

A study has found evidence that a specific brain region could be contributing to some cases of high blood pressure.

And importantly, there may also be a way to reverse it.

According to the 2025 study, carried out by a team from the University of São Paulo in Brazil and the University of Auckland in New Zealand, the lateral parafacial (pFL) brain region can trigger biological changes that raise blood pressure.

The pFL is linked to breathing control – specifically those forceful and deliberate exhalations that happen during exercise or when we cough or laugh.

In tests carried out on rats, the researchers found it can also do something else: tighten up blood vessels.

That combination of breath control and blood vessel signaling could be driving hypertension in some cases, the researchers say.

It might explain why so many people (around 40 percent by some estimates) still have uncontrolled blood pressure despite taking anti-hypertensive medications.

The study suggests that pFL neurons may link changes in breathing rhythms – which wouldn't necessarily be noticeable – to increased activity in the sympathetic nervous system (our 'fight-or-flight' response) that helps control blood pressure, fitting with previous research that has linked hypertension to the brain and nervous system.
"Given that around 50 percent of patients with hypertension have a neurogenic component, the challenge is to understand mechanisms generating sympatho-excitation in hypertension," write the researchers in their published paper.

"Such a revelation would provide much-needed clinical orientation for new therapeutic strategies."

https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.125.326674

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa yesterday

Heat-trapping gas once frozen in Arctic ground is slowly leaking and warming the planet
Arctic permafrost thaw releases methane and carbon dioxide from decomposing organic matter, amplifying global warming. These emissions are projected to add about 0.25°C of warming by 2100, beyond fossil-fuel-driven warming. Thaw also destabilizes ground, threatening buildings, roads and pipelines.

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How can the same El Niño cause drought in one part of the world and floods in another?

El Niño weakens trade winds, shifting warm water and rainfall eastward and favouring wetter conditions in the eastern Pacific and drought in the western Pacific. Changes in atmospheric heating, winds and other oceans extend these effects globally. El Niño shifts weather probabilities, but local systems can still produce opposing extremes.

original article.

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