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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 6 hours ago

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 7 hours ago

Heart break can kill people

We're all aware of the psychological pain of a broken heart – countless books, songs, and movies have been written and made on the topic – but there's also scientific evidence that a broken heart can be fatal too.

The technical term is takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TC), a weakening of the heart brought on by physical or emotional stress. A new study from researchers looked at data on 199,890 patients in the US between 2016 and 2020.

Incidence of TC rose slightly over the study period for both males and females, but overall incidence was generally higher for females. Fatalities and complications caused by the condition were relatively high. This fits in with previous research suggesting this 'broken heart syndrome' is becoming more common

Although the condition was more common in women, deaths were more than twice as likely in men, with 11.2 percent of males dying compared with 5.5 percent of females. The overall death rate was 6.5 percent.

The researchers have put forward a hypothesis for the gap between men and women. TC is believed to be brought on by a surge of stress hormones, triggered by either physical or emotional stress – so a physical stress might be surgery or an infection, whereas emotional stress could be a divorce or the death of a loved one.

Physical stress TC is more common in men, which may explain the higher numbers of deaths brought on by the condition. The researchers also think differences in hormone balances between the sexes could play a role. Complications resulting from TC included congestive heart failure (35.9 percent of patients), atrial fibrillation (20.7 percent), cardiogenic shock (6.6 percent), stroke (5.3 percent) and cardiac arrest (3.4 percent).

https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.124.037219

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 7 hours ago

Researchers have coaxed stem cells to grow into amniotic sacs filled with fluid

The model sacs, which grew to roughly the same size as a four-week-old sac surrounding a developing embryo, could be used to study the protective structure.

The amnion is a thin, transparent film that forms a fluid-filled sac that shields and cushions an embryo, potentially supporting its development. But researchers can’t easily access and study the tissue at early stages of pregnancy. Stem-cell models are a way to investigate early embryo development, but researchers first need to recreate in the laboratory what grows in the womb. The latest study, published in Cell today, is the most advanced model of the amniotic sac so far.

https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(25)00458-1?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0092867425004581%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 8 hours ago

How do middle-aged folks get dementia?

Dementia usually affects older people, so when it occurs in middle age, it can be hard to recognize. The most common form is frontotemporal dementia (FTD), which is often mistaken for depression, schizophrenia, or Parkinson's disease before the correct diagnosis is reached.

Now, researchers  have found some clues about how FTD develops that could lead to new diagnostics and get more patients into clinical trials. The findings appear in Nature Aging.

The team measured more than 4,000 proteins found in spinal tap fluid from 116 FTD patients and compared them to those from 39 of their healthy relatives. All 116 patients had inherited forms of FTD, enabling researchers to study the disease in living people with a confirmed diagnosis, something that isn't possible in non-inherited FTD cases, which can only be confirmed after death.

The composition of the proteins that changed in FTD suggests that these patients have problems with RNA regulation—required for the proper expression of genes in the brain—along with defects that affect connections in their brains. These proteins, researchers think, could be the first specific markers for FTD that emerge as the disease develops in middle age.

Using some of the proteins the researchers have identified, we can now direct patients to the right resources, get them into the right therapeutic trials, and, ultimately, we can now provide them with precision treatments.

Nature Aging (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s43587-025-00878-2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Thursday

Patchy geographical coverage of dog vaccinations is a key barrier for rabies elimination

Dog vaccination programs are a highly effective way to control and, ultimately, eliminate rabies; however, new research has shown just how detrimental geographical gaps in vaccine coverage can be for virus control.

The new research examined two decades of dog vaccination data from the Serengeti district, from 2002 to 2022. The study is published in PLOS Biology.

Through analysis of detailed local data, researchers were able to show where vaccination programs had been effective, and, importantly, why some dog-mediated rabies outbreaks had occurred.

Researchers found that when district-wide dog vaccination was both routine and comprehensive in its geographical coverage, rabies outbreaks in humans were few or none. However, rabies cases in humans did begin to occur when some areas, such as clusters of villages, remained unvaccinated for more than two years.

The study findings show that sustained control of rabies  will require scaled-up dog vaccination efforts, focused on uniform coverage across a wide area, as frequent dog movements mean that neighboring unvaccinated areas are a persistent source of rabies cases in vaccinated areas.

Rabies circulates so widely that even if you protect some villages for a period, it's likely that disease will return, spreading from domestic dogs in nearby villages that are unvaccinated. That means dog vaccination needs to be a concerted and coordinated effort, say the researchers.

Despite effective post-exposure human vaccines being available, dog-mediated rabies is still responsible for tens of thousands of human deaths every year. These are predominantly in Africa and Asia, where rural communities are most at-risk of both bites from infected dogs and being unable to secure post-bite vaccination on time. Of those who die of the disease, the WHO estimate four in ten are children.

Elaine A. Ferguson et al, Improved effectiveness of vaccination campaigns against rabies by reducing spatial heterogeneity in coverage, PLOS Biology (2025). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002872

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Thursday

Uncovering compounds that tame the heat of chili peppers: Study challenges reliability of Scoville scale

When biting into a chili pepper, you expect a fiery sensation on your tongue. This spiciness is detected because of capsaicinoid compounds. But for some peppers, despite high levels of capsaicinoids, the heat is mysteriously dull.

Now, researchers reporting in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry have identified three compounds that lessen peppers' pungency. These results challenge the reliability of the century-old Scoville scale, which traditionally bases its rating on two capsaicinoids.

Capsaicinoids are a group of compounds that produce the strong spicy sensation or pungency that comes with consuming chili peppers. The combined amount of capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin in a pepper is used to calculate its heat intensity rating on the Scoville scale, ranging from zero Scoville Heat Units (SHU) for bell peppers to millions of SHU for the hottest peppers.

However, some of these fruits have less heat than would be expected from their Scoville rating, which suggests that something else in the pepper influences that spicy sensation. So, researchers wanted to investigate multiple chili pepper varieties for potential spiciness suppressors.

In their experiments, the researchers identified five compounds that could be modulating pepper spiciness.

Another set of panelists assessed whether these compounds, alone or in combination, changed the pungency of capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin. Three of the five compounds (capsianoside I, roseoside and gingerglycolipid A) reduced the heat intensity, though they didn't have an additive effect when combined. In addition, none of the spiciness suppressors had a noticeable flavor in water.

These advancements could enable the customization of desirable spicy flavor profiles or lead to the creation of a household ingredient designed to tone down excessive heat in dishes—the anti-spice. Also, they hold significant medical potential in the design of (non-opioid) analgesic agents for pain management.

Identification of Chili Pepper Compounds That Suppress Pungency Perception, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (2025). DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.5c01448

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Thursday

The researchers spent four months observing each community, as well as drawing on video evidence from the Great Ape Dictionary database, logbooks containing decades of observational data, and a survey of other scientists who had witnessed chimpanzees treating illness or injury.

Any plants chimpanzees were seen using for external care were identified; several turned out to have chemical properties which could improve wound healing and relevant traditional medicine uses.

During their direct observational periods, the scientists recorded 12 injuries in Sonso, all of which were likely caused by within-group conflicts. In Waibira, five chimpanzees were injured—one female by a snare, and four males in fights. The researchers also identified more cases of care in Sonso than in Waibira.

This likely stems from several factors, including possible differences in social hierarchy stability or greater observation opportunities in the more thoroughly habituated Sonso community.
The researchers documented 41 cases of care overall: seven cases of care for others—prosocial care—and 34 cases of self-care. These cases often included several different care behaviors, which might be treating different aspects of a wound, or might reflect a chimpanzee's personal preferences.

Chimpanzee wound care encompasses several techniques: direct wound licking, which removes debris and potentially applies antimicrobial compounds in saliva; finger licking followed by wound pressing; leaf-dabbing; and chewing plant materials and applying them directly to wounds.
All chimpanzees mentioned in our tables showed recovery from wounds, though, of course, we don't know what the outcome would have been had they not done anything about their injuries.

They also documented hygiene behaviours, including the cleaning of genitals with leaves after mating and wiping the anus with leaves after defecation—practices that may help prevent infections.
Of the seven instances of prosocial care, the researchers found four cases of wound treatment, two cases of snare removal assistance, and one case where a chimpanzee helped another with hygiene. Care wasn't preferentially given by, or provided to, one sex or age group. On four occasions, care was given to genetically unrelated individuals.

These behaviors add to the evidence from other sites that chimpanzees appear to recognize need or suffering in others and take deliberate action to alleviate it, even when there's no direct genetic advantage.

Elodie Freymann et al, Self-Directed and Prosocial Wound Care, Snare Removal, and Hygiene Behaviors Amongst the Budongo Chimpanzees, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (2025). DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2025.1540922

Part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Thursday

Chimpanzees use medicinal leaves to perform first aid, scientists discover

Scientists studying chimpanzees in Budongo Forest, Uganda, have observed that these primates don't just treat their own injuries, but care for others, too—information which could shed light on how our ancestors first began treating wounds and using medicines.

Although chimpanzees elsewhere have been observed helping other community members with medical problems, the persistent presence of this behaviour in Budongo could suggest that medical care among chimpanzees is much more widespread than we realized, and not confined to care for close relatives.

This  research helps illuminate the evolutionary roots of human medicine and health care systems. By documenting how chimpanzees identify and utilize medicinal plants and provide care to others, we gain insight into the cognitive and social foundations of human health care behaviours. 

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Wednesday

We Emit a Visible Light That Vanishes When We Die

A new study hints that plants and animals — including people — emit a tiny glow when alive, which disappears after death. This ‘ultraweak photon emission’ — equivalent to a few photons a second per square centimetre of skin tissue — might be a byproduct of energy-producing processes within cells.

An extraordinary experiment on mice and leaves from two different plant species has uncovered direct physical evidence of an eerie 'biophoton' phenomenon ceasing on death, suggesting all living things – including humans – could literally glow with health, until we don't.

To determine whether the process could be scaled from isolated tissues to entire living subjects, the researchers used electron-multiplying charge-coupled device and charge-coupled device cameras to compare the faintest of emissions from whole mice – first alive, then dead.

Four immobilized mice were individually placed in a dark box and imaged for an hour, before being euthanized and imaged for another hour. They were warmed to body temperature even after death, to keep heat from being a variable.

The researchers found they could capture individual photons in the visible band of light popping out of the mouse cells before and after death. The difference in the numbers of these photons was clear, with a significant drop in UPE in the measurement period after they were euthanized.

A process carried out on thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana) and dwarf umbrella tree (Heptapleurum arboricola) leaves revealed similarly bold results. Stressing the plants with physical injuries and chemical agents provided strong evidence that reactive oxygen species could in fact be behind the soft glow.

The results show that the injury parts in all leaves were significantly brighter than the uninjured parts of the leaves during all 16 hours of imaging.

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jpclett.4c03546

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Wednesday

5G safety confirmed: Study finds no genetic changes in exposed skin cells

The adoption of 5G wireless technology has raised concerns about the health effects of the associated electromagnetic exposure, but a new study published in PNAS Nexus claims 5G wireless is safe.

The frequencies involved can only penetrate a few millimeters into human skin, so  researchers studied the gene expression and methylation profiles of human skin cells exposed to 5G electromagnetic fields at different frequencies (27 GHz and 40.5 GHz), power flux densities (1 mW/cm2 and 10 mW/cm2) and exposure times (2h and 48h).

Gene expression and DNA methylation remained statistically unchanged after 5G exposure, even at 10 times the recommended exposure limits. According to the authors, the quantum energies are far too low to have photochemical or even ionizing effects on cells.

The authors controlled for temperature in their experiments; some previous studies that found effects of 5G failed to do so, and effects are likely to have been caused by heat alone.

 Jyoti Jyoti et al, 5G-exposed human skin cells do not respond with altered gene expression and methylation profiles, PNAS Nexus (2025). DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgaf127

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