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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 17, 2022 at 12:47pm

One coronavirus infection wards off another

Data from Qatar suggest that natural immunity induced by infection with SARS-CoV-2 provides a strong shield against reinfection by a pre-Omicron variant for 16 months or longer. This protection against catching the virus dwindles over time, but immunity triggered by previous infection also thwarts the developme... — and this safeguard shows no signs of waning. Scientists also warn that the study’s results do not mean that infected people can skip vaccination. A separate study by many of the same authors found that people who had both natural immunity and vaccine immunity were substantially more protected against the virus than people who had only one of the two.

Reference: medRxiv preprint (not peer reviewed) & The New England Journal of Medicine paper

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 17, 2022 at 12:22pm

Two different white blood cell types play opposing roles in affecting heartbeat irregularities after heart attack

Patients with heart disease are at risk of experiencing a potentially lethal "electrical storm" involving recurrent episodes of a type of irregular heartbeat called ventricular tachycardia (VT).

Electric shock therapy is used to treat VT following a heart attack, but unfortunately, options to prevent VT recurrence are limited.

New research led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital reveals that two different white blood cell types influence VT in the heart, suggesting that treatments that influence these cells may help reduce patients' risk of sudden cardiac death.

The work, which is published in Nature Cardiovascular Research, is based on the knowledge that cardiac conditions (such as heart attacks) that increase the risk of VT and other heartbeat irregularities lead to massive changes in the white blood cell populations surrounding the heart.

To study the mechanisms involved, MGH scientists developed a new research model. "It was believed that mice don't get VT after a heart attack, but we discovered a surprisingly simple trick to induce it—feeding mice food with low potassium levels," says senior author Matthias Nahrendorf, MD, Ph.D., an investigator in MGH's Center for Systems Biology, Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School, and the Richard Moerschner Endowed MGH Research Institute Chair in Men's Health

"This is a major step forward because now we can study how different white blood cell subclasses influence heart rhythms. It is also clinically relevant because every fifth patient who experiences a heart attack has low blood potassium levels, and these patients are known to be particularly likely to develop heartbeat irregularities, or arrhythmia."

The team's experiments demonstrated that among the different white blood cell types, neutrophils promote VT while macrophages protect against it. "Inflammatory neutrophils give rise to arrhythmia by compromising the electrical function of heart muscle cells called cardiomyocytes," explains Nahrendorf.

"Macrophages, which take up debris, are protective, and deleting them gave rise to electrical storm in mice with low potassium levels who experienced a heart attack. Indeed, these mice were more likely to die from arrhythmia."

The findings indicate that additional research into the roles of white blood cells in arrhythmia could lead to new targeted therapies for irregular heart rhythms.

https://researchnews.cc/news/14300/Two-different-white-blood-cell-t...

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 17, 2022 at 11:38am

Smart thermostats inadvertently strain electric power grids

Smart thermostats – those inconspicuous wall devices that help homeowners govern electricity usage and save energy – may be falling into a dumb trap.

Set by default to turn on before dawn, the smart thermostats unintentionally work in concert with other thermostats throughout neighborhoods and regions to prompting inadvertent, widespread energy-demand spikes on the grid.

The smart thermostats are saving homeowners money, but they are also initiating peak demand throughout the network at a bad time of day, according to  engineers in a forthcoming paper in Applied Energy (September 2022.)

https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2022/07/smart-thermostats-inadvert...

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S030626192200...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 16, 2022 at 11:47am

Whole blood exchange could offer disease-modifying therapy for Alzheimer's disease, study finds

A novel, disease-modifying therapy for Alzheimer's disease may involve the whole exchange of blood, which effectively decreased the formation of amyloid plaque in the brains of mice, according to a new study.

A research team performed a series of whole blood exchange treatments to partially replace blood from mice exhibiting Alzheimer's disease-causing amyloid precursor proteins with complete blood from healthy mice of the same genetic background. The results of the study were published today in Molecular Psychiatry.

This article provides a proof-of-concept for the utilization of technologies commonly used in medical practice, such as plasmapheresis or blood dialysis, to 'clean' blood from Alzheimer's patients, reducing the buildup of toxic substances in the brain. This approach has the advantage that the disease can be treated in the circulation instead of in the brain.

Previous studies  have shown that the misfolding, aggregation, and buildup of amyloid beta proteins in the brain plays a central role in Alzheimer's disease. Therefore, preventing and removing misfolded protein aggregates is considered a promising treatment for the disease.

However, the treatment of Alzheimer's disease has long been complicated, due to the difficulty in delivering therapeutic agents across the blood-brain barrier. In this latest research, scientists have  discovered that manipulating circulating components in Alzheimer's disease could be the key to solving this issue.

After multiple blood transfusions, the researchers found that the development of cerebral amyloid plaques in a transgenic mice model of Alzheimer's disease was reduced by 40% to 80%. This reduction also resulted in improved spatial memory performance in aged mice with the amyloid pathology, and lowered the rates of plaque growth over time.

While the exact mechanism by which this blood exchange reduces amyloid pathology and improves memory is currently unknown, there are multiple possibilities. One possible explanation is that lowering amyloid beta proteins in the bloodstream may help facilitate the redistribution of the peptide from the brain to the periphery. Another theory is that blood exchange somehow prevents amyloid beta influx, or inhibits the re-uptake of cleared amyloid beta, among other potential explanations.

However, regardless of the mechanisms of action associated with the blood exchange treatment, the study shows that a target for Alzheimer's disease therapy may lie in the periphery.

 Preventive and therapeutic reduction of amyloid deposition and behavioral impairments in a mice model of Alzheimer's disease by whole blood exchange, Molecular Psychiatry (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41380-022-01679-4

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 16, 2022 at 11:25am

Bacteria-based biohybrid microrobots on a mission to one day battle cancer

A team of scientists in the Physical Intelligence Department at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems have combined robotics with biology by equipping E. coli bacteria with artificial components to construct biohybrid microrobots. First, as can be seen in Figure 1, the team attached several nanoliposomes to each bacterium. On their outer circle, these spherical-shaped carriers enclose a material (ICG, green particles) that melts when illuminated by near infrared light. Further towards the middle, inside the aqueous core, the liposomes encapsulate water soluble chemotherapeutic drug molecules (DOX).

The second component the researchers attached to the bacterium is magnetic nano particles. When exposed to a magnetic field, the iron oxide particles serve as an on-top booster to this already highly motile microorganism. In this way, it is easier to control the swimming of bacteria—an improved design toward an in vivo application. Meanwhile, the rope binding the liposomes and magnetic particles to the bacterium is a very stable and hard to break streptavidin and biotin complex, which was developed a few years prior and reported in a Nature article, and comes in useful when constructing biohybrid microrobots.

E. coli bacteria are fast and versatile swimmers that can navigate through material ranging from liquids to highly viscous tissues. But that is not all, they also have highly advanced sensing capabilities. Bacteria are drawn to chemical gradients such as low oxygen levels or high acidity—both prevalent near tumor tissue. Treating cancer by injecting bacteria in proximity is known as bacteria mediated tumor therapy. The microorganisms flow to where the tumor is located, grow there and in this way activate the immune system of patients. Bacteria mediated tumor therapy has been a therapeutic approach for more than a century.

For the past few decades, scientists have looked for ways to increase the superpowers of this microorganism even further. They equipped bacteria with extra components to help fight the battle. However, adding artificial components is no easy task. Complex chemical reactions are at play, and the density rate of particles loaded onto the bacteria matters to avoid dilution. The team in Stuttgart has now raised the bar quite high. They managed to equip 86 out of 100 bacteria with both liposomes and magnetic particles.

The scientists showed how they succeeded in externally steering such a high-density solution through different courses.

Once the microrobots are accumulated at the desired point (the tumor spheroid), a near infrared laser generates rays with temperatures of up to 55 degrees Celsius, triggering a melting process of the liposome and a release of the enclosed drugs. A low pH level or acidic environment also causes the nanoliposomes to break open—hence the drugs are released near a tumor automatically.

Bacteria-based biohybrid microrobots with medical functionalities could one day battle cancer more effectively. It is a new therapeutic approach not too far away.

Mukrime Birgul Akolpoglu et al, Magnetically steerable bacterial microrobots moving in 3D biological matrices for stimuli-responsive cargo delivery, Science Advances (2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abo6163. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abo6163

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 15, 2022 at 11:28am

Watch this shape-shifting magnetic material catch a ball on command

Printable iron-laced substance is programmed by computer to make precise, rapid movements.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 15, 2022 at 11:24am

Watch starfish embryos become living crystals!

The raft of regularly spaced starfish may be the first crystal made from multicellular organisms.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 15, 2022 at 11:12am

It was found that  those with a greater number of obesity-related genes had higher body weight. Those in the top 25% for genetic risk of obesity were 11.2kg heavier at age 63 than those in the bottom 25% of genetic risk. People who were from the most disadvantaged homes in childhood were 7.4kg heavier on average than those from the most advantaged backgrounds by age 63.

While these are large differences in body weight, these results suggest that neither genetics nor social background are good predictors of whether or not a person will become obese. While weight differences increased substantially as participants got older, genetic risk only predicted 10% and social background 4% of these differences.

This shows us that there’s still much about body weight that we can’t explain with genetics or social disadvantage, suggesting other factors also have an important influence on our body weight.

It’s important to note the limitations of this work. Researchers focused on only one generation, and their experiences are very different from other generations.

A person’s genetic risk – and the most common genes linked with body weight. However, some rare genes may have a big effect on a person’s body weight.

https://theconversation.com/obesity-neither-genetics-nor-social-bac...

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Part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 15, 2022 at 11:08am

Obesity: neither genetics nor social background are very good predictors of your body weight – new research

There’s long been debate about whether genetics or the environment people are raised in is the biggest cause of obesity.

Obesity rates have tripled since the 1980s. This is far faster than our genetics could change, suggesting there’s an important environmental element to obesity.

But we also have studies which show that identical twins tend to be more similar in their body weight than non-identical twins, suggesting there’s a genetic element to weight.

Further complicating this debate is the fact that there’s evidence that the influence of genetics may change as people age. For example, when it comes to intelligence, genes seems to be more powerful predictors of intelligence in adults than in children.

A recent study has shown that this is also true of body weight. Researchers found that the amount of influence your environment or genetics may have on whether a person became obese changed throughout their lifetime.

This study showed that genetics had little link with obesity rates during childhood, but strengthened as people got older (from adolescence to age 69).

A similar pattern was also found when it came to a person’s body weight and social background. It was found that people from disadvantaged backgrounds had higher weight from adolescence onwards. However, there was almost no difference in infancy or childhood.

But, as people got older, we also noticed differences in their weight that couldn’t be explained with genetics or social background. This meant that neither of those factors were good predictors of any particular person’s body weight.

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 15, 2022 at 6:58am

Millions more at risk from dangerous summer temperatures if climate goals aren't met

Health-threatening heatwaves will become more intense due to climate change, putting millions more people at risk from dangerous summer temperatures, new research has revealed.

The analysis, released recently by researchers, identifies the areas and communities set to be hardest hit by extreme heat.

Communities most vulnerable to the dangerous health impacts of soaring temperatures are those with a high number of older people and children, those without green space to shelter from the heat, and those where the type of housing, such as high rise buildings and mobile homes, is most susceptible to overheating.

According to experts, hot weather can place particular strain on the heart and lungs, meaning that the majority of serious illness and deaths caused by heat are respiratory and cardiovascular. Older people, those with pre-existing health conditions and young children are especially at risk.

In all scenarios, the communities set to be most affected by global heating are those with below average carbon footprints—those less responsible for the climate crisis.

Global temperatures are already 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels. Under the Paris Agreement, governments have agreed to limit warming to 1.5°C to avoid catastrophic climate change.

According to estimates based on current climate pledges, the world is heading towards 2.4°C of warming, but these commitments are not being met.

https://policy.friendsoftheearth.uk/sites/default/files/documents/2...

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