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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 4 hours ago

Uranium-Eating Bacteria Leave Just 5% of The Radioactive Metal in Toxic Mine Water, Scientists Discover
The first evidence that bacteria can convert toxic uranium dissolved in water into a stable chemical compound.
One of the world's largest uranium mines, the Wismut GmbH Schlema-Alberoda operation in what was then Soviet East Germany, left behind a toxic legacy.

But within the contaminated water that has since flooded the mine, evolution may already be brewing up a solution.

The mine site was closed in 1990, with the reunification of Germany, and has since been subject to costly and time-consuming remediation efforts.

In its retirement, the underground mine became flooded with water, which has required continuous treatment.

You may already be aware that raw uranium is highly radioactive, and exposure to it – for instance, by drinking contaminated water – can cause serious damage to humans and other living things.

Yet, some organisms are actually making a living in the uranium-laden mine water; it's home to an entire ecosystem of microbes.

And, as scientists have recently discovered, those microbes can actually stabilize uranium under certain conditions.
The research was led by microbiologists and resource ecologists at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) in Germany and the University of Granada in Spain, who published their results in the journal Nature Communications.
When researchers incubated the bacteria with glycerol, they found that the bacteria converted uranium into a pentavalent state.

When uranium is pentavalent, it has an unusual oxidation state of +5, which changes how it bonds to other elements, making it easier to 'lock up' within stable minerals.
Uranium usually occurs with a valency of 4 or 6. Pentavalent uranium does exist, but it is rare or only transient. Until now, it had been seen in an unstable oxidation state.
In the presence of the bacteria, pentavalent uranium is then combined with iron and oxygen to form FeU(V)O4 – a compound that scientists were already aware of but have yet to give a 'common' name to.

What they didn't know was that it could form in nature, let alone that bacteria were involved.
In the experiments conducted, after 130 days, only around five percent of the uranium dissolved in the water remained in the samples.
The bacteria had not only incorporated the uranium into their cell walls, but an unusually high proportion of that uranium was pentavalent. This meant it more readily formed FeU(V)O4, especially when the water samples were dried and exposed to oxygen.
Perhaps these bacteria could be allies in our quest to clean up nuclear contamination across the world.
"Although derived from a single geochemical scenario, the processes identified here are broadly applicable to other contaminated waters," the authors conclude.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-72560-z

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 6 hours ago

When control is lost

In healthy individuals, the Candida-specific Th17 cells remain in a stable, regulated state. In the inflamed intestines of patients with Crohn's disease, this changes. These cells accumulate in the gut but carry molecular markers indicating that they were initially shaped in the oral mucosa. They are therefore not newly generated cells, but familiar ones in an unfamiliar environment.

However, this new environment alters their behaviour. They retain their original specificity and continue to recognize the same small selection of fungal proteins, but they acquire additional properties associated with a potentially tissue-damaging immune response. What changes is not the target of the immune response, but the way in which it is executed.
The findings open up a new perspective on chronic inflammation in Crohn's disease. Existing therapies often suppress large parts of the immune system. The new findings could enable a more targeted approach in the future.

Gabriela Rios Martini et al, Antigen-restricted Candida albicans Th17 cells link oral-gut immunity and adopt pathogenic features during intestinal inflammation, Immunity (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.immuni.2026.06.013

Part 2

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 6 hours ago

Immune response to otherwise harmless yeast becomes a problem in Crohn's disease
Candida-specific Th17 responses target a narrow set of vesicle-derived fungal proteins, likely shaped at the oral mucosa, with shared T cell clones detected in mouth and gut. In Crohn’s disease, these pre-existing Th17 cells accumulate in the intestine and adopt a pathogenic, tissue-damaging profile. This identifies Candida-reactive Th17 cells and their trafficking/IL‑23 dependence as potential therapeutic targets.

Almost everyone carries Candida albicans. The yeast colonizes human mucous membranes—for example, the oral mucosa and the intestine—usually silently, without causing any problems. The immune system learns early on how to deal with it. It develops specialized immune cells known as Th17 cells, which keep the fungus in check. What exactly these cells do in the healthy body, where they originate and why they can become harmful in Crohn's disease have now been systematically uncovered by a research team from the Excellence Cluster "Precision Medicine in Chronic Inflammation" (PMI) at Kiel University. The study was published today in the journal Immunity.
The immune system controls Candida albicans using a specific class of immune cells, the Th17 cells. They patrol human mucous membranes and release signaling molecules that control the fungus. Each of these Th17 cells responds to a specific target, known as an antigen.

The yeast Candida albicans possesses thousands of such potential target structures. One would expect that Th17 cells recognize many of them, resulting in a broad, diverse immune response against a wide range of fungal proteins. Yet the opposite is the case: the Th17 response is directed against a surprisingly small selection of fungal proteins, derived primarily from extracellular vesicles. These are tiny particles that Candida actively releases into its surroundings, essentially serving as signals to the environment.

That these vesicles exert such a strong influence on the Th17 response was previously unknown.
The entire Candida-specific Th17 repertoire concentrates on a handful of proteins from extracellular vesicles .This focused response is likely connected to the vesicles themselves. "The mucosal barrier probably acts as a filter: under healthy conditions, it may be primarily the vesicles that can pass through, meaning that probably only these proteins are available to the immune system.
Until now, it was unclear where exactly these Candida albicans-specific Th17 cells originate. The new findings suggest that the oral mucosa plays an important role in this process. A particularly high number of Th17 cells can be detected there. This is biologically plausible: The oral mucosa is a key site of contact between Candida and the human body. The immune system likely encounters the fungus there frequently, which may contribute to the development and activation of corresponding immune responses.
Researchers were able to demonstrate exactly this: Identical immune cell clones appear in both the oral mucosa and the intestine. And the most important driver of this overlap appears to be Candida albicans. This suggests that the mouth and gut are immunologically more closely connected than previously assumed.

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 6 hours ago

Patients who suffer heart attack have more micro and nanoplastic in their blood

People who suffered a serious heart attack had higher levels of micro- and nanoplastics in their blood compared with patients diagnosed with chronic ischemic heart disease and those with normal blood vessels supplying the heart, according to a study published in the European Heart Journal this week.
Patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction showed higher prevalence and diversity of micro- and nanoplastics in coronary and peripheral blood than patients with chronic coronary disease or normal coronaries, with polyethylene predominating. Microplastic presence correlated with smoking, long-term PM2.5 exposure, and elevated inflammatory markers, indicating an association between plastic exposure, systemic inflammation, and acute cardiovascular events without establishing causality.
The study also revealed that people who smoke and people exposed to higher levels of air pollution had higher levels of micro- and nanoplastics in their blood.

The researchers say the study adds to growing evidence that environmental pollution may affect cardiovascular health.
Among those who had heart attacks, micro- and nanoplastics were detected in 84% of patients, compared with 40% of patients with chronic ischemic heart disease and 32% of patients with normal coronary arteries. Heart attack patients had a greater variety of plastic types in their blood. The most common type of plastic was polyethylene, which is commonly used in packaging and consumer products.

Patients exposed to higher long-term levels of air pollution (PM2.5/particles measuring 2.5 μm or less in diameter) were more likely to have microplastics in their blood, and smokers were six times more likely to have microplastics in their blood. All patients who smoked and were exposed to higher air pollution levels had plastics in their blood, compared with only 12.5% of patients who did not smoke and were not exposed to higher levels of air pollution.
The findings suggest that smoking might make it easier for micro- and nanoplastics to enter the bloodstream via the lungs. Air pollution may act in a similar way.
The emerging clinical evidence now suggests a potential link between NMPs and cardiovascular disease. In patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy, NMPs were detected within atherosclerotic plaques, and their presence was associated with an increased risk of myocardial infarction, stroke and all-cause mortality.

Micro- and nano-plastics in the coronary circulation and air pollution exposure in ischaemic heart disease presentation, European Heart Journal (2026). DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehag447

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 6 hours ago

Why some people are more prone to negative emotions than others

Why are some people particularly prone to anxiety, worry or stress, while others remain more composed? An international study shows that the amygdala—previously considered central to these processes—apparently does not explain differences in people's susceptibility to anxiety, worry and stress. Instead, the researchers identified brain networks involved in body awareness, movement and visual processing as more significant predictors of individual susceptibility to stress. The findings have now been published in Nature Communications.

Neuroticism and related negative emotionality were not reliably explained by amygdala activity in emotional fMRI tasks. Limited predictability of individual stress susceptibility instead arose from large-scale networks involved in interoception, motor control, and visual processing, indicating that distributed brain systems, rather than single regions, underlie vulnerability to stress.

People differ significantly in how often and how intensely they experience negative emotions. Psychologists summarize these differences under the term "neuroticism." They include, among other things, anxiety, depressive moods and increased susceptibility to stress. Pronounced negative emotionality is considered a major risk factor for various mental illnesses and has therefore been the focus of neurobiological research for many years. Until now, the amygdala was considered the most important brain region underlying these personality traits. However, the scientific evidence was contradictory.

For many years, the amygdala has been regarded as the central hub for negative emotions. However, the new wrok results show that this assumption cannot be confirmed by the functional MRI paradigms commonly used to date. This does not mean that the amygdala is unimportant for emotions. However, it does not seem to provide a reliable explanation for stable differences between people.
The results showed that while neuroticism as a whole could not be reliably predicted based on brain activity, individual susceptibility to stress could be predicted to a limited extent. Brain networks that process information about one's own body, control movements and integrate visual stimuli were particularly relevant. It was not the emotional centers that had previously been the focus of attention, but rather these large-scale networks that provided the most meaningful clues to individual susceptibility to stress.

The results suggest that the neural basis of emotional personality traits is more complex than previously thought. Rather than individual brain regions, large-scale networks that link perception, bodily sensations and action planning may play a decisive role.
Emotional personality traits apparently do not originate in individual brain regions, but rather through the interaction of distributed brain networks, the researchers concluded.

M. Sicorello et al, The functional neurobiology of dispositions towards negative emotions, Nature Communications (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-74565-0

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 7 hours ago

Typhoons mix up bacteria and biochemistry

After a typhoon surprised a research cruise, scientists took advantage of the unique sampling opportunity to reveal rapid changes in bacterioplankton communities and biogeochemical cycling.

Typhoons are becoming more frequent and more intense as a result of climate change, and scientists are working to understand the transient but impactful changes these storms have on ocean biogeochemistry.

A typhoon stirs the ocean's stratified water, redistributing nutrients and organisms and changing seawater temperature and salinity.

Previous research found that this mixing process can change the makeup and activity of bacterioplankton communities and stimulate primary productivity. Those two changes can temporarily alter the water column's food web and its role as a carbon sink or source.

The present research found that nutrient concentrations, primary production and bacterial activity all increased after the storm.

The researchers also documented a shift in community structure. Contrary to their expectations, overall bacterioplankton diversity did not change. But the composition of bacterial communities became more homogeneous between distantly spaced layers of the water column. Copiotrophic taxa that thrive in nutrient-rich conditions increased, while oligotrophic taxa that prefer low-nutrient conditions decreased.

These observations have given scientists novel insights into how typhoons enhance microbially mediated biogeochemical cycling in the ocean. As storms increase, this could affect whether the ocean acts as a local carbon source or sink.

Yi‐Hsuan Lo et al, Typhoon‐Induced Vertical Mixing Rapidly Reshapes Bacterioplankton Communities Across Ocean Depths, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans (2026). DOI: 10.1029/2025jc023738

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 8 hours ago

We may still be choosing our friends like it's the Stone Age

Choosing friends may involve more than clicking with others who share our interests or outlooks. According to new research, people may select friends based on traits that made them valuable survival partners in our evolutionary past.
The standard social psychology view of friendship is that we are strategic in selecting friends, choosing people who can help us achieve our goals. Examples include networking for a job, studying for an exam or finding a roommate.

But this new study, published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior, argues that friendship evolved as a long-term cooperative partnership critical for survival when humans were hunter-gatherers.

According to this view, we look for traits such as cooperativeness, competence, social status and physical attractiveness, even if those attributes are not directly useful for our current goals. "Friend choices are sometimes goal-relevant and sometimes guided by evolved 'social taste buds,'" the study authors commented in their paper.

In the first study, researchers reported that participants preferred friends who seemed cooperative, dominant, attractive and of higher social status. Among these traits, cooperativeness, physical attractiveness and dominance emerged as the strongest predictors of friendship interest.

Men were much more likely than women to offer their email address to a potential friend, despite rating their partners as similarly desirable overall.

The results from the second study revealed that the traits that make a face seem like a desirable friend did not consistently match what participants needed to achieve their everyday goals. This supports the evolutionary theory of friendship selection, although the findings do not rule out the possibility that current goals also play a role, as the researchers noted.

"The majority of variance in friend desirability judgments comes from preferences that are not goal-calibrated."

So while we may think we are choosing friends to help us with our modern lives, our ancient instincts may also be calling the shots behind the scenes.

Adar B. Eisenbruch et al, What do people want in a friend? Cues of ancestral cooperative partner value predict same-sex friend preferences, Evolution and Human Behavior (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2026.106919

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa yesterday

Bacteria from gum disease may cause inflammation, harden heart valves

Gum disease bacteria may spur calcium buildup in the heart's aortic valve, leading to a common and serious heart valve disease, according to preliminary, independent research presented at the American Heart Association's Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Scientific Sessions 2026, held in Boston, July 13–16, 2026.

Porphyromonas gingivalis, a key periodontal pathogen, was enriched in calcified aortic valves and, in mice, accumulated in valves, increased calcification, and induced aortic stenosis–like changes. These effects were reduced by antibiotics and markedly attenuated when IL‑1β was deleted, implicating an IL‑1β–mediated inflammatory pathway linking periodontal disease to calcific aortic valve stenosis.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa yesterday

Scientists strike invisible gold in the deep sea—locked inside fool's gold

Pyrite, an iron sulfide ore, is often known as fool's gold because its shiny metallic luster and pale brass-yellow color can easily fool the untrained eye into mistaking it for real gold. This time, however, 360 kilometers (220 miles) south of Tokyo, scientists have uncovered invisible gold within pyrite structures found deep beneath the ocean at the Higashi-Aogashima Knoll Caldera hydrothermal field.
With the help of robotic submarines that dived more than 700 meters (2,300 feet) below sea level, researchers collected rock samples from volcanic vents and underwater mounds scattered across the floor of a deep-sea caldera. Peering inside these rocks using secondary-ion mass spectrometry through tiny drill holes, they discovered that the minerals at this site contain record-breaking concentrations of gold, reaching as high as 1.9 wt% (19,231 ppm).
Instead of being present as gold granules or nodules, as found in conventional gold mines, the metal was locked as a solid solution within the crystal lattice of seafloor pyrite. This discovery, published in Scientific Reports, could give geologists a new way to identify promising mining sites around the world.
What surprised the researchers most was how the gold existed. Instead of forming tiny nuggets trapped inside the mineral, the gold was woven directly into pyrite's crystal structure, atom by atom. They also found that this could only happen when elements such as arsenic, lead and copper were present. These elements cause structural distortions in the pyrite lattice, creating vacancies that allow gold atoms to fit within the crystal and become trapped.

This was reflected in the positive gold-arsenic correlation, in which gold concentrations increased alongside arsenic concentrations. This occurs because arsenic substitutes for sulfur in the pyrite structure, creating space for the larger gold ions to enter.
Not all pyrite, however, was equally rich in gold. The concentration depended on where it was found and under what conditions it formed.

Yuichi Morishita et al, SIMS discovers invisible gold in pyrite from the high-grade seafloor hydrothermal deposits in the Higashi-Aogashima knoll caldera, Izu-Ogasawara arc, Japan, Scientific Reports (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-58760-z

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa yesterday

The heart works as a one-way pump, moving blood into the organ with every beat. Heart valves help maintain this steady flow by opening to let blood pass through and closing to keep it from moving in the wrong direction. Each valve responds to pressure changes within the heart, causing its thin flaps to open at the right moment and then seal shut once blood has passed.

Valve disorders take two main forms. The first is regurgitation, in which the valve doesn't close completely, so blood leaks backward instead of flowing forward. This means less blood moves in the right direction and puts extra strain on the heart.

The second is stenosis, in which the valve opening narrows or stiffens, blocking blood flow and forcing the heart to pump harder to push blood through the tight opening. Depending on the severity of the condition, doctors decide whether it can be treated with medication, repair or replacement.

Aortic stenosis is one of the most common heart valve diseases, affecting millions of people worldwide. It is typically treated by replacing the aortic valve through either open-heart surgery (SAVR) or the less invasive TAVR.

While surgical bioprosthetic valves are designed to last 10 years or more, some can wear out much sooner, within five to seven years, with certain valve types showing a higher risk of early failure. There is still limited information comparing how well TAVR valves perform beyond five years, especially in low-risk patients.
In this study, the researchers sought to understand whether a less invasive procedure could provide results comparable to traditional surgery over time. They recruited 1,000 patients considered low-risk, meaning they were healthy enough to undergo open-heart surgery safely.

Participants were then randomly assigned to one of two groups: One received TAVR using the SAPIEN 3 valve, while the other underwent traditional open-heart surgical valve replacement. Over the seven years, patients had regular echocardiograms at set intervals: 30 days, one year, annually through year five, and again at year seven.
They found that only a small number of patients experienced significant valve deterioration, with similar rates between the two groups—7.3% for TAVR and 7.6% for surgery. Valve failure also occurred at similar rates, affecting 6.9% of TAVR patients and 7.5% of surgical patients, with 6% of TAVR patients and 5.5% of surgical patients needing a second valve procedure.

Overall, about 75% of patients in both groups were alive with a fully functioning replacement valve at the end of the study.

The results strengthen the case for TAVR, alongside conventional surgery, as a long-term alternative for low-risk patients. The researchers noted that these findings could help guide treatment choices based on each patient's needs and preferences. However, they suggested that if TAVR is chosen, patients should be monitored for early valve thrombosis so it can be identified and managed when needed.

Julien Ternacle et al, Seven-Year Valve Durability With Transcatheter or Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement, JAMA Cardiology (2026). DOI: 10.1001/jamacardio.2026.2299

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