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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 3 hours ago

Millions of US birth records uncover an autism risk surge tied to common drugs taken during pregnancy
Prenatal exposure to medications that inhibit sterol biosynthesis, including certain antidepressants, antipsychotics, beta-blockers, and statins, is associated with a significantly increased risk of autism spectrum disorder in offspring, with risk rising in a dose-dependent manner. The proportion of pregnancies with such exposure increased from 4.3% in 2014 to 16.8% in 2023.
A landmark study by researchers and published in Molecular Psychiatry has identified a significant association between prenatal prescription of commonly utilized medications and the risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children
Analyzing 6.14 million maternal-child health records from the Epic Cosmos database—representing nearly one-third of all U.S. births between 2014 and 2023—the team found that prescription of medications known to inhibit the cholesterol synthesis pathway were consistently associated with higher rates of ASD in offspring.
These sterol biosynthesis–inhibiting medications (SBIMs) include certain antidepressants, antipsychotics, anxiolytics, beta-blockers and statins. These are the generic names of the 14 medications studied: aripiprazole, atorvastatin, bupropion, buspirone, fluoxetine, haloperidol, metoprolol, nebivolol, pravastatin, propranolol, rosuvastatin, sertraline, simvastatin and trazodone. Many of these are among the most commonly prescribed medications.
Cholesterol is essential for fetal development, especially for the brain, the most cholesterol-rich organ. The fetal brain begins producing its own sterols around 19–20 weeks of gestation. Genetic disruptions in this pathway are known to cause severe developmental syndromes such as Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome (SLOS), in which up to 75% of children meet criteria for ASD. Many widely used medications can unintentionally interfere with this pathway.
The study authors stress that no pregnant patient should discontinue or alter medication without medical supervision, as many SBIMs are essential, often life-saving treatments. Instead, the study calls for a re-evaluation of prescribing practices and for developing safer alternatives for use during pregnancy.
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Eric S. Peeples et al, Sterol pathway disruption in pregnancy: a link to autism, Molecular Psychiatry (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41380-026-03610-7

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa yesterday

Ultra-processed foods damage your focus even if you eat healthily
Higher intake of ultra-processed foods is associated with reduced attention span and lower scores on cognitive tests measuring visual attention and processing speed, independent of overall diet quality. The degree of food processing, rather than just nutrient content, plays a critical role in cognitive decline and increases risk factors for dementia, such as hypertension and obesity.
New research shows that a diet high in heavily processed foods can negatively impact the brain's ability to focus and increases the risk of developing dementia.
The findings demonstrate that a slight daily increase in a person's intake of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) is linked to a measurable drop in attention span—even if someone otherwise eats healthily.
Because the negative effects of UPFs take place regardless of a person's overall diet quality, even for people following a healthy Mediterranean diet, researchers say the degree of food processing plays a critical role in the damage.
Food ultra-processing often destroys the natural structure of food and introduces potentially harmful substances like artificial additives or processing chemicals.
These additives suggest the link between diet and cognitive function extends beyond just missing out on foods known as healthy, pointing to mechanisms linked to the degree of food processing itself.
Eating more UPFs was linked to an increase in dementia risk factors, which include health conditions such as high blood pressure or obesity that can actively be managed to protect the brain.

Barbara R. Cardoso et al, Ultra‐processed food intake, cognitive function, and dementia risk: A cross‐sectional study of middle‐aged and older Australian adults, Alzheimer's & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring (2026). DOI: 10.1002/dad2.70335

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa yesterday

Consuming legumes and soy-based foods may help improve symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by reducing inflammation and irritation

Consuming legumes and soy-based foods may help improve symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by reducing inflammation and irritation, according to a new study published in the March 2026 issue of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases: Journal of the COPD Foundation.

COPD, which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis, is a progressive, inflammatory lung disease that affects  millions and is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide. Previous research has identified diet and nutrition as modifiable risk factors for chronic lung disease, including COPD.

This new study examined how increased isoflavone consumption impacted participants' breathing symptoms, cough, and overall lung health. Isoflavones are a natural substance commonly found in legumes and soy-based foods.

Study results showed people with higher isoflavone consumption experienced fewer breathing-related symptoms, including reduced coughing and less difficulty clearing mucus, and improved lung health.

Daniel C. Belz et al, Isoflavone Intake is Associated With Decreased Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Morbidity, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases: Journal of the COPD Foundation (2026). DOI: 10.15326/jcopdf.2025.0695

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa yesterday

Mechanical forces from the beating heart may help prevent cancer cell growth

Scientists may have discovered another way the human body tries to protect itself from cancer. New research on mice suggests that the heart's constant beating may prevent tumor growth in cardiac tissue. Most organs are vulnerable to cancer, but the heart is something of an anomaly. While cancer can spread from other parts of the body to the heart, tumors rarely start there. It's a medical mystery that has puzzled scientists for years.

Researchers at the International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) suspected that it may have something to do with mechanical load and physical forces of the heartbeat, so they decided to investigate. That is, the physical stress the heart muscle is under as it constantly contracts and relaxes to pump blood could be what helps protect the heart from cancer growth.

The study is published in the journal Science, as well as a Perspective.

The team first transplanted a donor mouse heart into the neck of another mouse. This second heart had a blood supply but was not mechanically pumping blood around the body. Then they injected cancer cells into both hearts to compare tumor behavior. While tumor cells spread aggressively in the transplanted heart, cancer cells replaced only about 20% of the tissue in the original beating heart.

To understand what could be happening at the cellular level, the scientists created engineered heart tissue (EHT) in the lab. They varied the mechanical load on the tissue by stretching and altering pressure to monitor its effect on the growth of human lung cancer cells. The more pressure they put on the EHT, the slower the cancer cells grew.

"Mechanical forces in the beating heart protect it from cancer by halting cancer cell proliferation," they wrote in their paper.

The research team also analyzed cell samples of patients whose cancer had spread to the heart and compared them with tumors in other parts of the body. According to the study's findings, mechanical forces alter how cells organize their DNA by interacting with the protein Nesprin-2.
When the heart squeezes, Nesprin-2 senses the pressure and helps transmit that mechanical signal to the cell's nucleus. In response, the packaging of DNA in a structure called chromatin changes. It becomes less compact, which makes it easier for the cell to access and activate genes that slow cancer cell growth.

When researchers silenced the Nesprin-2 protein in those cancer cells, they couldn't sense the mechanical pressure and began to grow and multiply. "Nesprin-2 is a key molecule sensing these forces and translating them into reduced cell proliferation."

If scientists could mimic these mechanical forces with drugs or technology, they could potentially stop cancer cells in their tracks.

Giulio Ciucci et al, Mechanical load inhibits cancer growth in mouse and human hearts, Science (2026). DOI: 10.1126/science.ads9412

Wyatt G. Paltzer et al, The heart puts pressure on cancer growth, Science (2026). DOI: 10.1126/science.aeg8798

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Friday

Tinnitus Is Linked to a Crucial Brain Chemical

The so-called ‘happy’ chemical, serotonin, has a curious connection to tinnitus.

Over the years, numerous studies have linked phantom noises, which ring, hiss, buzz, or throb in the ear, to a change in how the brain modulates serotonin.

In mice, neuroscientists have mapped a neural pathway between a serotonin-producing part of the brainstem and the auditory region.

When researchers artificially activated this pathway, mice behaved as if they were experiencing a sound only they could hear.

It's producing symptoms that we would expect to be experienced as tinnitus in humans.

The findings suggest that targeting this serotonin pathway may be a useful approach for treating tinnitus.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2509692123

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Friday

More than 600,000 seabirds killed in single marine heat wave

A marine heat wave off Australia in 2023–2024 caused the deaths of over 629,000 seabirds, with short-tailed shearwaters comprising 96% of casualties, representing more than 5% of their population. Increasing frequency and intensity of marine heat waves, driven by rising ocean temperatures, are placing unprecedented pressure on seabird populations and threatening their long-term survival.
While it's not unusual for some birds to die at sea, this wasn't just a handful of unlucky individuals. Thousands of shearwaters were washing up across the country's east coast, stretching thousands of kilometers from Queensland down to Tasmania.

With the help of concerned local residents-turned-community scientists from across Australia, a team of scientists from the Adrift Lab has managed to piece together the full picture. They linked the deaths to a marine heat wave in the middle of the shearwater breeding season when the birds are at their most vulnerable.

Their research suggests that the shearwaters washing up on the beaches were only a tiny fraction of the overall number that died during the heat wave. In total, the researchers estimate more than 629,000 seabirds died, with the short-tailed shearwater making up 96% of the casualties.
These events are happening more frequently, and while seabirds have some ability to bounce back from them, their resilience is being exhausted, say the scientists.
Before, these events happened once in a generation. Now, they're happening faster and faster, and they won't slow down. They come on top of everything else seabirds have to deal with, from pollution to persecution, and they can't cope with it.

Jennifer L. Lavers et al, Estimating the total mortality of seabirds following a marine heat wave, Conservation Biology (2026). DOI: 10.1111/cobi.70273

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Thursday

HEPA air purifiers may boost brain power in adults over 40
One month of in-home HEPA air purifier use led to a 12% improvement in mental flexibility and executive function among adults aged 40 and older, compared to a sham purifier. The cognitive benefit was similar to that seen with increased exercise. The findings suggest HEPA purifiers may help mitigate cognitive impacts of air pollution, particularly for those living near major roadways.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-48063-8

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Thursday

How does imagination really work in the brain? New explanation upends what we knew
Imagination operates by modulating and suppressing ongoing spontaneous neural activity in the brain, rather than generating new activity. Visual imagery emerges when feedback signals selectively dampen competing neural patterns, allowing specific mental images to stabilize amid background activity. This mechanism explains why imagined images are typically weaker and more distinct from real perception.

https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2027-53139-001.html

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Thursday

Engineered soil bacterial protein kills colorectal cancer cells by targeting their mitochondria
An engineered protein derived from soil bacteria, combined with a fatty acid to form the NheA-O complex, selectively induces ferroptosis in colorectal cancer cells by targeting and disrupting mitochondrial energy production. This approach bypasses typical tumor cell survival mechanisms, leading to efficient cancer cell death in cell culture models and suggesting a potential new therapeutic strategy.

Naeem Ullah et al, Bacterial protein-oleate complexes induce ferroptosis-like cell death in colorectal cancer cells by disrupting cell membranes and inhibiting the β-catenin-GPX4 axis, Cell Death Discovery (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41420-026-03097-9

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Thursday

How cells turn mechanical forces into biochemical signals

Cells constantly probe their environments, searching for physical cues that guide their behavior. And yet a cell's response to its environment is always biochemical, mediated by the chemistry of its internal protein machinery. So how does a cell convert mechanical information into a molecular process?

 Researchers have been investigating this riddle for more than a decade. A few years ago, for example, they discovered that when physical forces change the shape of a cell's internal architecture, called the cytoskeleton, it generates chemical signals that instruct the cell how to behave. But the steps between the physical force and the chemical response remained unclear.

Now, thanks to technological advances they developed researchers have shown for the first time that when a motor protein called myosin compresses actin filaments within the cytoskeleton, it squishes the filaments into coils. This deformation is detected by protein sensors associated with cell adhesion, which congregate at specific sites on the cell interior.

Forces generated by myosin are critically important for cells to receive mechanical signals. 

The cytoskeleton helps the cell transmit, receive, and process physical and biochemical information—a dynamic responsiveness that allows cells to interact with the world around them.

A key building material of the cytoskeleton is the actin filament, which powers cellular movement thanks to motor proteins like myosin, which tug, twist, and compress actin.

Tugging on actin filaments with myosin actually helped the actin to bind better to a protein sensor, called alpha-catenin, which builds physical connections between cells. 

If you get rid of myosin, cells can't stick together efficiently or transmit forces or information between them. Everything just falls apart.

Researchers found that compression was the key. This squeezing caused the filaments to turn into spirals—and it was this shape in particular that set off the alpha-catenin sensors, and it was happening in a localized way.

Even if the entire network of myosin is generating tension—or tugging on the filaments—little segments of the network will actually be generating compression based on the random operation of the motors and how they happen to be positioned and firing asynchronously. That's interesting, because it means these subpopulations could have a sort of signaling function."

They also investigated how these coils might form using computer simulations. She ran simulations testing the three forces at play—tension, torsion, and compression—at various magnitudes and in different directions.

No matter the level of force or direction of action, they found the same result: Compression was the key.

Myosin dysfunction is connected to a number of diseases and that myosin inhibitors are in clinical trials for different conditions, including cancers such as glioblastoma.

Myosin forces remodel F-actin for mechanosensitive protein recognition, Nature (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-10398-7

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