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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 7, 2023 at 10:24am

New study concludes finding cure for malaria may be even more challenging than thought

Researchers who have studied malaria for decades, hoping to find a cure, long thought they'd identified a type of blood that seemed to defend against the disease. But a new study published in Cell Host & Microbe concludes that even some people with the protective blood type became infected. The question now is, how? "This might mean that the specific gene mutation related to this blood type doesn't completely stop malaria, or the malaria bug might have found another way to get into the blood cells," said Peter Zimmerman, a pathology professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and the study's senior author. "It's a big deal because it might change how we try to get rid of this type of malaria parasite." "This malaria parasite, called Plasmodium vivax—or P. vivax—used to be common in Northeast Ohio," said Christopher King, a study co-investigator and pathology professor. "And it was transmitted within the United States—Florida and Texas—this summer for the first time in 20 years.

"We have known," King said, "that the United States is at risk of re-introduction of malaria with climate changes and increasing immigration and traveling from malaria-endemic areas."
Study collaborators include researchers from France (Célia Dechavanne and Benoit Gamain, from the National Institute of Blood Transfusion, INSERM/Paris Diderot University); and Madagascar (Arsène Ratsimbasoa, from the University of Fianarantsoa).
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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 7, 2023 at 10:03am

Research shows mouse and primate brains mature at same pace

A new study  has revealed that short-lived mice and longer-living primates develop brain synapses on the exact same timeline, challenging assumptions about disease and aging. What does this mean for humans—and yesterday's research?

Mice typically live two years and monkeys live 25 years, but the brains of both appear to develop their synapses at the same time. This finding, the result of a recent study  has puzzled neuroscientists.

Until now, brain development was understood as happening faster in mice than in other, longer-living mammals such as primates and humans. Those studying the brain of a 2-month-old mouse, for example, assumed the brain was already finished developing because it had a shorter overall lifespan in which to develop. In contrast, the brain of a 2-month-old primate was still considered going through developmental changes. Accordingly, the 2-month-old mouse brain was not considered a good comparison model to that of a 2-month-old primate. That assumption appears to be completely wrong, which the authors think will call into question many results using young mouse brain data as the basis for research into various human conditions, including autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

Gregg Wildenberg et al, Isochronic development of cortical synapses in primates and mice, Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43088-3

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 6, 2023 at 2:29pm

Is Dementia contagious?

Could Blood Transfusions and Tissue Transplants Spread Certain Dementias?

Scattered evidence suggests that aberrant proteins act as “seeds” to transmit neurodegenerative disease, but the jury is still out

In the last several years, scientists have begun investigating whether neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinsons can be contagious. One misfolded protein, scientists hypothesize, might somehow ensnare other proteins and cause them to misfold, leading to plaque build-up in the brain. If a malfunctioning protein somehow finds its way into another individual, could it launch a similar accumulation of proteins?

What they've found: In 2015 researchers reported a curious buildup of the protein plaque associated with some dementias in young to middle-age adults who had received childhood injections of human growth hormone extracted from the pituitary glands of cadavers. And in 2018 doctors recorded unusual cases of cerebral amyloid angiopathy, a condition marked by amyloid buildup in cerebral blood vessels; because these young adults had brain surgery in childhood, the researchers suspect that contaminated surgical tools transferred the “seeds” of plaque accumulation to the patients’ brains.

Why this matters: Learning how prionlike diseases “spread” might launch treatments that interrupt their replication and accumulation. Early studies in mice have shown that amyloid antibodies can clear plaque build up, which aligns with recent trials of new Alzheimer’s treatments that show how removing brain amyloid can slow cognitive decline. If protein misfolding is contagious, we may have a new way to interrupt the devastation it causes.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/could-blood-transfusions...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 6, 2023 at 2:24pm

Earliest mosquito was a bloodsucking male
The discovery of the earliest known fossil mosquitoes, preserved in Lebanese amber, had a sting in the tail: the insects were bloodsucking males. Today, only female mosquitoes eat blood, with males living on nectar and plant juices. The 125-million-year-old fossils have mouthparts that look perfect for piercing skin, as well as mate-grabbing appendages that confirm their sex. The finding could turn current thinking — that blood-sucking evolved after plant-eating — on its head. “We think now that, originally, the mosquito could be bloodsucking,” says palaeontologist and study co-author Dany Azar. “With the appearance of the flowering plant, this function could be just forgotten later on.”

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982223014483...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 6, 2023 at 2:04pm

Scientist Rebellion is composed of thousands of climate researchers, academics, and concerned citizens who are urging people to get involved in the effort to limit global overheating. As part of the COP 28 proceedings, Scientist Rebellion is urging people to sign an open letter pleading for governments to heed the climate science and take meaningful action while there is still time.

https://scientistrebellion.org/

https://cleantechnica.com/2023/12/05/1000-scientists-plead-for-publ...

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The first ever 1,000-qubit quantum chip

IBM has unveiled the first quantum computer with 1,121 superconducting qubits (qubits are the quantum equivalent of digital bits in a classical computer). Quantum computers could outperform classical computers in certain areas by exploiting phenomena such as entanglement and superposition. However, these quantum states are notoriously fickle and prone to error, so simply having more qubits does not necessarily make a system better. IBM says it will now focus on more error-resistant systems, rather than larger ones.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03854-1?utm_source=Live+...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 6, 2023 at 1:59pm

Replacing bone saws with smart lasers

Even back in 1957, when Gordon Gould coined the term "laser" (short for "Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation"), he was already imagining the possibilities for its use in medicine. Surgeons would be able to make precise incisions without even touching the patient.

Before that could happen, however, there were—and still are—many hurdles to overcome. Manually controlled light sources have been superseded by mechanical and computer-controlled systems to reduce injuries caused by clumsy handling. Switching from continuous beams to pulsed lasers, which turn themselves rapidly on and off, has reduced the heat they produce. Technical advances allowed lasers to enter the world of ophthalmology in the early 1990s. Since then, the technology has moved on in other areas of medicine, too, but only in relatively few applications has it replaced the scalpel and the bone saw.

Safety concerns are the most important hurdle: how can we prevent injury to the surrounding tissue? How closely can the cutting depth be controlled so that deeper layers of tissue are not accidentally damaged?

Researchers  have just made an important contribution to the safe and precise use of lasers with their recent publication in the journal Lasers in Surgery and Medicine. They  developed a system that combines three functions: it cuts bone, controls the cutting depth and differentiates between different tissues.

These three functions are carried out by three lasers that are aligned to focus on the same spot. The first laser serves as a tissue sensor in that it scans the surroundings of the site where the bone is to be cut.

Pulses are sent with this laser to the surface at regular intervals, so to speak, vaporizing a tiny bit of tissue each time. The composition of this vaporized tissue is measured with a spectrometer. Each type of tissue has its own individual spectrum—its own signature. An algorithm processes this data and creates a kind of map that shows where the bones are located and where the soft tissue is.

Not until all of this has been completed does the second laser, which cuts bone, activate, and then only in places where bones rather than soft tissue are shown on the map that has just been generated. At the same time, the third laser—an optical system—measures the depth of the cut and checks that the cutting laser is not penetrating more deeply than planned. During the cutting phase, the tissue sensor also constantly monitors whether the correct tissue is being cut.

The special thing about this system is that it controls itself—without human interference.

The researchers have so far been testing their system on femur bones and tissue from pigs acquired from a local butcher. They were able to prove that their system works accurately down to fractions of a millimeter. The speed of the combined laser also approaches that of a conventional surgical procedure.

The research team is currently working on making the system smaller.

Arsham Hamidi et al, Multimodal feedback systems for smart laser osteotomy: Depth control and tissue differentiation, Lasers in Surgery and Medicine (2023). DOI: 10.1002/lsm.23732 Arsham Hamidi et al,

Towards miniaturized OCT-guided laser osteotomy: integration of fiber-coupled Er:YAG laser with OCT, Optics Continuum (2023). DOI: 10.1364/OPTCON.497483

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 6, 2023 at 1:21pm

Harvesting water from air with solar power

More than 2.2 billion people currently live in water-stressed countries, and the United Nations estimates that 3.5 million die every year from water-related diseases. Because the areas most in need of improved drinking water are also located in some of the sunniest places in the world, there is strong interest in harnessing sunlight to help obtain clean water.

Researchers  developed a promising new solar-powered atmospheric water harvesting technology that could help provide enough drinking water for people to survive in those difficult, dryland areas.

Historically, researchers have faced challenges when injecting salt into hydrogels as the higher salt content reduced the swelling capacity of the hydrogel due to the salting-out effect. This led to salt leakage and the water absorption capacity decreased.

The researchers synthesized a super hygroscopic gel using plant derivatives and hygroscopic salts that was capable of absorbing and retaining an unparalleled amount of water. One kilogram of dry gel could adsorb 1.18 kilograms of water in arid atmospheric environments and up to 6.4 kilograms in humid atmospheric environments. This hygroscopic gel was simple and inexpensive to prepare and would consequently be suitable for large-scale preparation.

In addition, the team adopted a prototype with desorption and condensation chambers, configured in parallel. They employed a turbofan in the condensation chamber to increase the recovery of desorbed water to more than 90%.

In an outdoor prototype demonstration, the team found it released adsorbed water even in the morning or afternoon when the sun is weak. The system could also achieve simultaneous adsorption and desorption during the daytime.

The team is trying to work to achieve simultaneous adsorption and desorption using renewable energy  to maximize daily water yield per unit mass of adsorbent to further optimize the system's performance for practical applications in water generation.

Chengjie Xiang et al, Daytime air-water harvesting based on super hygroscopic porous gels with simultaneous adsorption-desorption, Applied Physics Reviews (2023). DOI: 10.1063/5.0160682

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 6, 2023 at 1:16pm

Eye scans can provide crucial insights into kidney health, study finds

3D eye scans can reveal vital clues about kidney health that could help to track the progression of disease, research suggests. The advance could revolutionize the monitoring of kidney disease, which often progresses without symptoms in the early stages.

Experts say the technology has the potential to support early diagnosis as current screening tests cannot detect the condition until half of the kidney function has been lost. Researchers used highly magnified images to detect changes to the retina—the layer of tissue at the back of the eye that senses light and sends signals to the brain. They found that the images offer a quick, non-invasive way to monitor kidney health.

The eye is the only part of the body where it is possible to view a key process called microvascular circulation—and this flow of blood through the body's tiniest vessels is often affected in kidney disease.

 investigated whether 3D images of the retina, taken using a technology called optical coherence tomography (OCT), could be used to identify and accurately predict the progression of kidney disease.

OCT scanners—used in most high street opticians—use  light waves to create a cross-sectional picture of the retina, displaying each individual layer, within a few minutes.

The team looked at OCT images from 204 patients at different stages of kidney disease, including transplant patients  alongside 86 healthy volunteers. They found that patients with chronic kidney disease had thinner retinas compared with healthy volunteers. The study also showed that thinning of the retina progressed as kidney function declined.

These changes were reversed when kidney function was restored following a successful transplant. Patients with the most severe form of the disease, who received a kidney transplant, experienced rapid thickening of their retinas after surgery.

This knowledge can be utilized in the future to identify the kidney ailments fast.

 Neeraj Dhaun et al, Choroidal & retinal thinning in chronic kidney disease are modifiable with treatment & independently associate with eGFR decline, Nature Communications (2023). www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-43125-1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 5, 2023 at 7:05am

Cracked Piece of Metal Heals Itself in Experiment 

Scientists observed a metal healing itself, something never seen before. If this process can be fully understood and controlled, we could be at the start of a whole new era of engineering.

In a study published in July, a research team  was testing the resilience of the metal, using a specialized transmission electron microscope technique to pull the ends of the metal 200 times every second. They then observed the self-healing at ultra-small scales in a 40-nanometer-thick piece of platinum suspended in a vacuum. Cracks caused by the kind of strain described above are known as fatigue damage: repeated stress and motion that causes microscopic breaks, eventually causing machines or structures to break. Amazingly, after about 40 minutes of observation, the crack in the platinum started to fuse back together and mend itself before starting again in a different direction.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06223-0

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 5, 2023 at 7:01am

Researchers extracted and sequenced DNA from inside the clay of an ancient brick found in modern-day Iraq. They found genetic material from 34 taxonomic groups, including cabbage, heather, birch and cultivated grasses, in sun-dried bricks used to construct a palace in Mesopotamia (now part of Iraq) nearly 3,000 years ago.

Why this is so cool: Although scientists have previously extracted ancient DNA, or aDNA, from bones and lake sediments, they hadn't used existing techniques on clay bricks because the brick-baking process usually destroys biological material. The team also accurately dated this particular brick to within several decades (883–859 B.C.E.), thanks to an inscription on its side: “The property of the palace of Ashurnasirpal, king of Assyria.” The brick also listed the king in genealogical order, so the researchers could cross-check that against a list of known rulers from the time.

What the experts say: Archaeobotanists currently examine evidence of ancient plant life by using chemical processes or imaging microscopes; extracting aDNA “could potentially be a valuable addition,” say, an archaeobotanist.

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