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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 10, 2014 at 6:43am

Researchers have found that inflammation of the nervous system is higher in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) than in healthy people.

The study, published in The Journal of Nuclear Medicine, suggests that using positron emission tomography (PET) scans to detect brain inflammation could be an objective diagnostic test for CFS.
''Toward a clearer diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome''
http://www.riken.jp/en/pr/press/2014/20140404_1/

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 10, 2014 at 6:41am

Scientists in Taiwan has uncovered how a viral DNA polymerase breaks the golden Watson-Crick rule.
Replication of DNA occurs in all living organisms and forms the basis of biological inheritance. DNA is formed and replicated through the pairing of the four nucleotides, adenine (A), thymine (T), cytosine (C) and guanine (G) in a specific pattern: A pairs with T and C pairs with G. This is known as the Watson-Crick base-pairing rule. The synthesis of new strands of DNA is facilitated by enzymes called DNA polymerases.

Scientists have long been fascinated by the fidelity of the DNA polymerase reaction — the way in which the pairing rule is invariably followed. However, in recent years scientists have discovered polymerases that do not follow the Watson-Crick rule, and have sought explanations for how these enzymes function.

Recently published in the chemistry periodical Journal of American Chemistry, Tsai’s research investigated a DNA polymerase from the African swine fever virus named Pol X. Pol X is unusual because it can get G to pair with itself, on top of following the Watson-Crick rule.
In conventional DNA polymerization, the enzyme firsts binds to the DNA, and only subsequently the free nucleotides. This allows the DNA sequence to determine which nucleotide binds, restricting the binding to nucleotides complementary to the DNA template. The team found, however, that Pol X is able to bind nucleotides in the absence of DNA.

“Kinetic studies suggested that Pol X does not follow the established mechanistic paradigm that DNA polymerases bind DNA before binding to a nucleotide,” Tsai explained.

The results demonstrate the first solution structural view of DNA polymerase catalysis and a novel mechanism for non-Watson-Crick incorporation by a low-fidelity DNA polymerase.
''How a Low-Fidelity DNA Polymerase Chooses Non-Watson–Crick from Watson–Crick Incorporation''
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja4102375

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 10, 2014 at 6:38am

An interdisciplinary research team of researchers has designed ultra-fast electrical circuits using quantum tunneling.
Quantum Tunneling Speeds Up Circuits
- http://www.nus.edu.sg/

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 10, 2014 at 6:07am

Hand Soap Ingredient Can Up Body Bacteria Burden
Residues of the antimicrobial agent triclosan can paradoxically boost bacterial growth in our bodies, by giving microbes a comfortable biofilm in which to rest.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/triclosan-biofilm...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 10, 2014 at 6:03am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 9, 2014 at 7:05am

A speedy particle from beyond the solar system is the new record holder for the highest-energy neutrino ever detected, researchers from the IceCube experiment announced April 7 at a meeting of the American Physical Society.

Buried under an Antarctic glacier, IceCube consists of thousands of detectors looking for flashes of light triggered when neutrinos, particles that barely interact with anything as they cruise the cosmos, collide with the ice. Incorporating a year’s worth of new data, researchers announced that IceCube detected nine additional high-energy neutrinos for a total of 37.

One of the nine neutrinos struck the ice with a record 2 million billion electron volts of energy. Continuing the tradition of naming neutrinos after Muppets, the scientists named it Big Bird.
https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/science-ticker/meet-big-bird-highe...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 9, 2014 at 7:03am

A study found that up to half of 2 year olds were picky eaters. Food choosiness isn’t just a way for a kid to drive a parent mad. Pickiness actually makes sense: When kids are bombarded with new and unusual foods, sticking with safe, familiar choices is a good way to avoid eating something dangerous.
''Prevalence of picky eaters among infants and toddlers and their caregivers’ decisions about offering a new food''
http://www.journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/yjada/article/S0...
Taste preferences start in the womb. Fetuses slurp up amniotic fluid, seasoned with whatever mom just ate. (You’re welcome for the seasoned amniotic fluid imagery.) These flavors, such as carrots or garlic, tap into the fetus’s taste system, which begins to form in the first trimester. The more exposure to a certain taste, the more a baby is to eventually like it. Babies whose mothers drank a lot of carrot juice while pregnant and breastfeeding preferred carrot-flavored cereal, for instance.
Familiarity breeds yum, in this case. And I was amazed when I saw just what familiarity means to young kids. Some recent work suggests that to get kids used to a certain flavor, that food should be offered and tasted anywhere from six to 14 times. That’s a whole lot of tasting. And lots of parents don’t have that kind of patience. Most parents reported giving their kids a new food three to five times before giving up. Only 6 to 9 percent of parents kept offering a new food six to 10 times.

This kind of intense exposure can transform a reviled food into a familiar one, making the kid more likely to eat it. One study had parents give their child a tiny taste of one of six raw vegetables (carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, celery, green peppers or red peppers) every day for 14 days. After this intense tasting exposure, kids were more likely to eat the veggie, the researchers found.

''If your kid hates broccoli, try, try again
Repeated exposure to foods may be the antidote to picky eating''
https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/growth-curve/if-your-kid-hates-bro...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 9, 2014 at 5:59am

Stress alters children's genomes

Poverty and unstable family environments shorten chromosome-protecting telomeres in nine-year-olds.
Growing up in a stressful social environment leaves lasting marks on young chromosomes, a study of African American boys has revealed. Telomeres, repetitive DNA sequences that protect the ends of chromosomes from fraying over time, are shorter in children from poor and unstable homes than in children from more nurturing families.
http://www.nature.com/news/stress-alters-children-s-genomes-1.14997

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 9, 2014 at 5:57am

Link between pesticides and Parkinson disease:
Aldehyde dehydrogenase variation enhances effect of pesticides associated with Parkinson disease

http://www.neurology.org/content/82/5/419.abstract
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/parkinsons-disease-and-pe...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 9, 2014 at 5:52am

After more than six decades, estimates of global species richness have failed to converge, remain highly uncertain, and in many cases, are logically inconsistent. Convergence in these estimates could be accelerated by adaptive learning methods where the estimation of uncertainty is prioritised and used to guide future research.
http://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/abstract/S0169-5347%28...

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