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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 11, 2025 at 9:22am

Vaccines work: Data show real-world evidence of stable protection against HPV-related cervical cancer

Among the more than 100 types of human papillomavirus (HPV), at least 14 are considered as "high-risk" types which can cause (cervical) cancer. After breast cancer, cervical cancer is the most common cancer  among women aged 15–44 years.

Before HPV vaccination among teenage girls started in Denmark, high-risk HPV was found in all cervical cancers. HPV types 16/18 accounted for around three quarters (74%) of cervical cancers. These two types are covered in the 4-valent HPV vaccine offered to girls since 2008 as well as the 9-valent vaccine, which has been in use in Denmark since November 2017.
One third (26%) of cervical cancers prior to the HPV immunization campaign were caused by high-risk types that are not covered by the 2- and 4-valent vaccine.

In their research article published in Eurosurveillance, a team led by Mette Hartmann Nonboe examined the HPV status of cervical samples over time among women (22–30 years) at the screening age for cervical cancer who were vaccinated as girls.

They tested up to three consecutive cervical cell samples per participant provided by the contributing pathology departments in Denmark for HPV.

In total, 17,252 women with at least one cervical cell sample were registered between 1 February 2017 and 29 February 2024. During the seven years of the randomized "Trial23" study (cervical cancer screening starts at age 23 in Denmark), 84% of women in the study had at least one cell sample taken. The authors compared HPV prevalence, persistence and incidence among vaccinated and unvaccinated women.
Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 11, 2025 at 8:54am

Genomic study reveals deep roots of human survival and adaptation in Himalayas

A new genomic study reveals how human populations adapted, survived, and diversified in the Himalayas, one of the most extreme and challenging environments on Earth.

Researchers analyzed whole-genome sequences from diverse Himalayan ethnic groups, many of which had never been genetically studied before at this level.

Published in Current Biology, the study shows that population structure in the Himalayas began over 10,000 years ago, thousands of years before archaeological evidence of permanent settlement at high altitudes. This early divergence challenges long-standing assumptions about when and how diverse groups first began accessing the extreme elevations of the Himalayas.

 This study offers an unprecedented window into the genetic legacy of Himalayan populations and their extraordinary adaptations to high-altitude life. It reveals how migration, isolation, and natural selection came together to shape human survival in one of the world's most challenging environments.

The study identifies novel genetic variants linked to adaptation in hypoxia, metabolism, immunity, and physical activity. It also confirms that the Denisovan EPAS1-derived gene, known to be crucial for surviving low-oxygen conditions, is widespread across all high-altitude Himalayan groups.

The gene variants originate from the extinct archaic human species known as Denisovan. Strikingly, other variants were also found in some lowland populations, including those previously reported in Southeast Asian groups known for their exceptional breath-hold diving abilities, pointing to unexpected evolutionary links.

Whole-genome sequences provide insights into the formation and adaptation of human populations in the Himalayas, Current Biology (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2025.06.048. www.cell.com/current-biology/f … 0960-9822(25)00808-5

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 10, 2025 at 11:06am

Using advanced techniques to manipulate the activity of specific brain cells, the researchers discovered a new spinothalamic pathway in mice. In this circuit, pain signals are sent from the spinal cord into a different part of the thalamus, which has connections to the amygdala, the brain's emotional processing center. This particular group of neurons in the thalamus can be identified by their expression of CGRP (calcitonin gene-related peptide), a neuropeptide.
When the researchers "turned off" (genetically silenced) these CGRP neurons, the mice still reacted to mild pain stimuli, such as heat or pressure, indicating their sensory processing was intact. However, they didn't seem to associate lasting negative feelings with these situations, failing to show any learned fear or avoidance behaviors in future trials. On the other hand, when these same neurons were "turned on" (optogenetically activated), the mice showed clear signs of distress and learned to avoid that area, even when no pain stimuli had been used.

Pain processing is not just about nerves detecting pain; it's about the brain deciding how much that pain matters.
Understanding the biology behind these two distinct processes will help us find treatments for the kinds of pain that don't respond to traditional drugs.
Many chronic pain conditions—such as fibromyalgia and migraine—involve long, intense, unpleasant experiences of pain, often without a clear physical source or injury. Some patients also report extreme sensitivity to ordinary stimuli like light, sound, or touch, which others would not perceive as painful.
Overactivation of the CGRP spinothalamic pathway may contribute to these conditions by making the brain misinterpret or overreact to sensory inputs. In fact, transcriptomic analysis of the CGRP neurons showed that they express many of the genes associated with migraine and other pain disorders.
Notably, several CGRP blockers are already being used to treat migraines. This study may help explain why these medications work and could inspire new nonaddictive treatments for affective pain disorders.

 Sukjae J. Kang et al, Thalamic CGRP neurons define a spinothalamic pathway for affective pain, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2025). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2505889122

Part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 10, 2025 at 11:03am

From injury to agony: Scientists discover brain pathway that turns pain into suffering

Pain isn't just a physical sensation—it also carries emotional weight. That distress, anguish, and anxiety can turn a fleeting injury into long-term suffering.

Researchers  have now identified a brain circuit that gives physical pain its emotional tone, revealing a new potential target for treating chronic and affective pain conditions such as fibromyalgia, migraine, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study identifies a group of neurons in a central brain area called the thalamus that appears to mediate the emotional (affective) side of pain in mice. This new pathway challenges the textbook understanding of how pain is processed in the brain and body.

For decades, the prevailing view was that the brain processes sensory and emotional aspects of pain through separate pathways. This study provides strong evidence that a branch of the sensory pain pathway directly mediates the affective experience of pain.

The physical sensation of pain is what allows you to immediately detect it, assess its intensity, and identify its source. The affective part of pain is what makes it so unpleasant. This emotional discomfort motivates you to take action and helps you learn to associate negative feelings with the situation so you can avoid it in the future.

This is a critical distinction. Most people start to perceive pain at the same stimulus intensities, meaning we all process the sensory side of pain fairly similarly. In comparison, our ability to tolerate pain varies greatly. How much we suffer or feel threatened by pain is determined by our affective processing, and if it becomes too sensitive or lasts too long, it can result in a pain disorder. This makes it important to understand which parts of the brain control these different dimensions of pain.
Sensory pain was thought to be mediated by the spinothalamic tract, a pathway that sends pain signals from the spinal cord to the thalamus, which then relays them to sensory processing areas across the brain.

Affective pain had generally been thought to be mediated by a second pathway called the spinoparabrachial tract, which sends pain information from the spinal cord into the brainstem.
Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 10, 2025 at 10:04am

Scientists use AI to create protein that kills E. coli

In the last year, there has been a surge in proteins developed by AI that will eventually be used in the treatment of everything from snakebites to cancer. What would normally take decades for a scientist to create—a custom-made protein for a particular disease—can now be done in seconds.

For the first time,  scientists have used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to generate a ready-to-use biological protein, in this case, one that can kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria like E. coli.

This study, published in Nature Communications, provides a new way to combat the growing crisis caused by antibiotic-resistant superbugs.

These proteins are now being developed as pharmaceuticals, vaccines, nanomaterials and tiny sensors, with many other applications yet to be tested.

Inhibiting heme piracy by pathogenic Escherichia coli using de novo-1 designed proteins, Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-60612-9 On BioRxiv. DOI: 10.1101/2024.12.05.626953

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 10, 2025 at 9:42am

Scientists identify 4,200 plastic chemicals of concern and highlight safer approaches

Countries are currently negotiating a global treaty to end plastic pollution and make plastics safer and more sustainable. Plastic chemicals are a core issue because all plastics, from food packaging to car tires, contain hundreds of chemicals that can leach into foodstuffs, homes, and the environment.

Many of these are known to harm the health of humans and the environment. However, a comprehensive overview of these chemicals is currently missing, which limits society's ability to protect people and the planet from hazardous plastic chemicals.

A new study published in Nature provides a comprehensive and systematically compiled overview of all chemicals that can be present in plastics, their properties, uses, and hazards.

It encompasses both chemicals intentionally added during production and contaminants detected in plastics. Importantly, the study provides a scientific approach for identifying chemicals of concern. This allows scientists and manufacturers to develop safer plastics and policymakers to promote a non-toxic circular economy.

The new study shows that there are more plastic chemicals than previously known, with 16,325 chemicals included in the PlastChem database that accompanies the work. Importantly, the scientists discovered at least 4,200 plastic chemicals are of concern because of the hazards they pose to health and the environment. These chemicals of concern can be present in each major plastic type, including in food packaging, and all tested plastics can release hazardous chemicals.

Plastics should not contain harmful chemicals to begin with. Yet, the scientific evidence shows that they are intentionally used or unintentionally present in all types of plastics. This underpins the urgent need to make plastics safer, say the authors of this paper.

The new study outlines three major pathways towards safer and more sustainable plastics: safer chemicals, transparency, and chemically simpler plastics.

Laura Monclús, Mapping the chemical complexity of plastics, Nature (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09184-8. www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09184-8

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 9, 2025 at 10:56am

Vampire bats’ mutual grooming helps spread innovative rabies vaccine

A gel that bats lick off one another’s fur could help prevent rabies outbreaks in cattle, a growing problem in Latin America

Bat vaccine can be spread lickety-split

An oral vaccine could curb rabies infections among vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) in Central and South America. The vaccine is applied to the bats’ fur in a thick gel. The bats can then spread the vaccine among themselves through mutual grooming — licking one another’s fur to keep clean. In a small test, researchers applied the gel to 24 bats in a colony of 117. After seven days, they found that the vaccine had been spread among 88% of the colony. Vaccinating the bats against rabies could stop them from spreading the virus to farm animals without resorting to harmful measures such as poisons.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.03.657068v2

https://www.science.org/content/article/vampire-bats-mutual-groomin...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 9, 2025 at 7:14am

More than a decade later, chimpanzees in another group at the same sanctuary also began sticking blades of grass in their ears. They did not copy this behavior from the earlier group, since they had no contact with them. But in the new group, the grass-in-orifice trend did not stop there. While five of the eight chimpanzees in the new group stuck grass in their ears, six of the eight also let a blade of grass dangle from their behinds.

The researchers found no evidence that the chimpanzees were bothered by their ears or behinds and used the blades of grass, for example, for relieving an itch.
By carefully tracking which animals displayed the behavior over time, the researchers showed it was likely that the animals did not each invent the behavior on their own, but copied it from one another. When the researchers looked deeper into how the behavior started, they found something striking.

Both groups, where chimps put blades of grass in their ears, had the same caretakers. These caretakers reported that they sometimes put a blade of grass or a matchstick in their own ears to clean them. Caretakers in the other groups said they did not do this. The chimps in one group then figured out how to stick the blade of grass in another place as well.

In the wild, similar "useless" trends have not been seen in chimpanzees. So why do they do it in captivity?
In captivity, they have more free time than in the wild. They don't have to stay as alert or spend as much time searching for food, say the researchers.
The question of why humans are more culturally evolved than other animals is still being debated by scientists. Some scientists think the key lies in humans' unique ability to copy, including small, seemingly useless details. Other animals would not be able to do this and would have to constantly reinvent the wheel, which limits their cultural evolution.
But this study shows that chimpanzees are able to copy small, useless behaviours from each other.
And this behaviour could also serve a social purpose. By copying someone else's behavior, you show that you notice and maybe even like that individual. So, it might help strengthen social bonds and create a sense of belonging within the group, just like it does in humans.

 Edwin J.C. van Leeuwen et al, Chimpanzees socially learn non-instrumental behaviour from conspecifics, Behaviour (2025). DOI: 10.1163/1568539X-bja10313

Part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 9, 2025 at 7:09am

A pointless fashion trend or something else? Chimpanzees wear blades of grass in their ears and rears

A team of researchers from Utrecht University, Durham University, and other institutions have observed something remarkable at a chimpanzee sanctuary in Zambia. Several chimpanzees from one particular group were seen dangling blades of grass from their ear holes or their behinds, for no apparent reason. The behavior was not seen in other chimpanzee groups at the same sanctuary, despite similar living conditions.

This shows that like humans, other animals also copy seemingly pointless behaviors from one another. And that, in turn, may offer insights into the evolutionary roots of human culture.

People regularly do arbitrary things that seem to have no immediate use, like shaving a line into their eyebrow or putting a fashionable scarf on themselves or their dog. Most people do not come up with these things themselves, but copy them from others.

Other animals also adopt behaviours from one another. Often, though, this is useful behaviour, like chimpanzees learning from each other how to find food. But sometimes, animals develop habits that seem to serve no clear purpose. For instance, a fashion trend among orcas, who were seen wearing a dead salmon on their heads, drew quite a bit of media attention last year. Still, these kinds of "useless" trends in animals have rarely been studied in a systematic way.

In 2010, researchers discovered that a female chimpanzee at the Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage Trust sanctuary repeatedly stuck a blade of grass in her ear and left it there, for no apparent reason. Later, seven of her group members adopted the behaviour. And even after the female trendsetter died, the behaviour continued, and some chimps in the group still do it today. Researchers therefore interpreted this behaviour as a cultural tradition.

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 9, 2025 at 6:52am

 Image rotation in plasma observed

Light sometimes appears to be "dragged" by the motion of the medium through which it is traveling. This phenomenon, referred to as "light dragging," is typically imperceptible when light is traveling in most widely available materials, as the movement is significantly slower than the speed of light. So far, it has thus proved difficult to observe in experimental settings.

Physicists recently observed a specific type of light dragging known as image rotation in a plasma-based system.

Their observation, outlined in a paper published in Physical Review Letters, was made using magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves that propagate in a magnetized plasma, known as Alfvén waves.

Using recently demonstrated plasma rotation control capabilities in the Large Plasma Device at UCLA, the researhcers managed to show that they can indeed rotate the wave pattern left and right by some tens of degrees by controlling the plasma rotation.

To realize image rotation in plasma, the researchers leveraged the naturally slow velocity with which Alfvén waves travel. They specifically employed a system in which Alfvén waves are launched in a plasma whose rotation can be controlled using electrically charged electrodes brought in contact with the plasma.

Their efforts led to the observation of image rotation. In other words, they found that the Alfvén waves' transverse structure appeared to twist.

Interestingly, they also found that these effects surprisingly matched those predicted by theories explaining light dragging in isotropic systems, media far simpler than plasmas that exhibit the same properties irrespective of the directions they are observed from, demonstrating a broader validity of these results.

 Renaud Gueroult et al, Image Rotation in Plasmas, Physical Review Letters (2025). DOI: 10.1103/swrn-w3yf. On arXiv: arxiv.org/html/2505.18062v1

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