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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 5, 2025 at 12:29pm

Fetal brain harm linked to pregnancy infection

A specific bacterial infection during pregnancy that can cause severe harm to the unborn brain has been identified for the first time, in a finding that could have huge implications for prenatal health.

Previous studies have disagreed on whether fetal exposure to Ureaplasma parvum has a detrimental effect on brain development, so newborn health specialists of Medical Research set out to determine the answer, once and for all.

Ureaplasma parvum Serovars 3 and 6 are among the most common types that are isolated in pregnancies complicated by infection/inflammation, so they tested them individually in a pre-clinical model and the results were clear.

They showed that long-term exposure to a specific subtype of Ureaplasma (parvum 6) resulted in loss of cells that are responsible for the production of myelin (the fatty sheath that insulates nerve cells in the brain).

This resulted in less myelin production and a disruption to the architecture of myelin in the brain. This sort of disruption to myelin production can have a devastating and lifelong impact on neurodevelopment, cognition and motor function.

By contrast, they also showed that exposure to another subtype of Ureaplasma (parvum 3) had little effect on neurodevelopment.

Many of the babies affected by this infection in utero are at a much higher risk of preterm birth and the chronic intensive care and inflammation associated with being born too early, the researchers say.

Dima Abdu et al, Intra-amniotic infection with Ureaplasma parvum causes serovar-dependent white matter damage in preterm fetal sheep, Brain Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcaf182

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 5, 2025 at 11:22am

Why we slip on ice: Physicists challenge centuries-old assumptions

For over a hundred years, schoolchildren around the world have learned that ice melts when pressure and friction are applied. When you step out onto an icy pavement in winter, you can slip up because of the pressure exerted by your body weight through the sole of your (still warm) shoe. But it turns out that this explanation misses the mark.

New research  reveals that it's not pressure or friction that causes ice to become slippery, but rather the interaction between molecular dipoles in the ice and those on the contacting surface, such as a shoe sole.

The work is published in the journal Physical Review Letters. This insight overturns a paradigm established nearly two centuries ago by the brother of Lord Kelvin, James Thompson, who proposed that pressure and friction contribute to ice melting alongside temperature.

It turns out that neither pressure nor friction plays a particularly significant part in forming the thin liquid layer on ice.

Instead,computer stimulations by researchers reveal that molecular dipoles are the key drivers behind the formation of this slippery layer, which so often causes us to lose our footing in winter. But what exactly is a dipole? A molecular dipole arises when a molecule has regions of partial positive and partial negative charge, giving the molecule an overall polarity that points in a specific direction.

Achraf Atila et al, Cold Self-Lubrication of Sliding Ice, Physical Review Letters (2025). DOI: 10.1103/1plj-7p4z

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 5, 2025 at 10:49am

Cooling pollen sunscreen can block UV rays without harming corals

Materials scientists have invented the world's first pollen-based sunscreen derived from Camellia flowers.

In experiments, the pollen-based sunscreen absorbed and blocked harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays as effectively as commercially available sunscreens, which commonly use minerals like titanium dioxide (TiO2) and zinc oxide (ZnO).
In laboratory tests on corals, commercial sunscreen induced coral bleaching in just two days, leading to coral death by day six. Each year, an estimated 6,000 to 14,000 tons of commercial sunscreen make their way into the ocean, as people wash it off in the sea or it flows in from wastewater.

In contrast, the pollen-based sunscreen did not affect the corals, which remained healthy even up to 60 days.

In other tests, the pollen-based sunscreen also demonstrated its ability to reduce surface skin temperature, thereby helping to keep the skin cool in the presence of simulated sunlight.

Nature's Guard: UV Filter from Pollen, Advanced Functional Materials (2025). DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202516936. advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.c … .1002/adfm.202516936

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 4, 2025 at 12:20pm

How aging drives neurodegenerative diseases

A research team has identified a direct molecular link between aging and neurodegeneration by investigating how age-related changes in cell signaling contribute to toxic protein aggregation.

Although aging is the biggest risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases, scientists still don't fully understand which age-associated molecular alterations drive their development.

Using the small nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans, a research team studied a signaling pathway that leads to pathological protein accumulation with age. Their new paper is published in Nature Aging.

The team focused on the aging-associated protein EPS8 and the signaling pathways it regulates. This protein is known to accumulate with age and to activate harmful stress responses that lead to a shorter lifespan in worms.

Researchers found that increased levels of EPS8, and the activation of its signaling pathways, drive pathological protein aggregation and neurodegeneration—typical features of age-associated neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). By reducing EPS8 activity, the group was then able to prevent the build-up of the toxic protein aggregates and preserve neuronal function in worm models of these two diseases.

Importantly, EPS8 and its signaling partners are evolutionarily conserved and also present in human cells. Similar to what they achieved in the worms, the team was able to prevent the accumulation of toxic protein aggregates in human cell models of Huntington's disease and ALS by reducing EPS8 levels.

Seda Koyuncu et al, The aging factor EPS8 induces disease-related protein aggregation through RAC signaling hyperactivation, Nature Aging (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s43587-025-00943-w

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 4, 2025 at 12:08pm

Shampoo-like gel could help chemo patients keep their hair

Cancer fighters know that losing their hair is often part of the battle, but researchers have developed a shampoo-like gel that has been tested in animal models and could protect hair from falling out during chemotherapy treatment.

Baldness from chemotherapy-induced alopecia causes personal, social and professional anxiety for everyone who experiences it. Currently, there are few solutions—the only ones that are approved are cold caps worn on the patient's head, which are expensive and have their own extensive side effects.

The gel is a hydrogel, which absorbs a lot of water and provides long-lasting delivery of drugs to the patient's scalp. The hydrogel is designed to be applied to the patient's scalp before the start of chemotherapy and left on their head as long as the chemotherapy drugs are in their system—or until they are ready to easily wash it off.

During chemotherapy treatment, chemotherapeutic drugs circulate throughout the body. When these drugs reach the blood vessels surrounding the hair follicles on the scalp, they kill or damage the follicles, which releases the hair from the shaft and causes it to fall out.
The gel, containing the drugs lidocaine and adrenalone, prevents most of the chemotherapy drugs from reaching the hair follicle by restricting the blood flow to the scalp. Dramatic reduction in drugs reaching the follicle will help protect the hair and prevent it from falling out.

To support practical use of this "shampoo," the gel is designed to be temperature responsive. For example, at body temperature, the gel is thicker and clings to the patient's hair and scalp surface. When the gel is exposed to slightly cooler temperatures, the gel becomes thinner and more like a liquid that can be easily washed away.

 Romila Manchanda et al, Hydrogel-based drug delivery system designed for chemotherapy-induced alopecia, Biomaterials Advances (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.bioadv.2025.214452

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 4, 2025 at 12:02pm

Pancreatic insulin disruption triggers bipolar disorder-like behaviors in mice, study shows

Bipolar disorder is a psychiatric disorder characterized by alternating episodes of depression (i.e., low mood and a loss of interest in everyday activities) and mania (i.e., a state in which arousal and energy levels are abnormally high). On average, an estimated 1–2% of people worldwide are diagnosed with bipolar disorder at some point during their lives.

Bipolar disorder can be highly debilitating, particularly if left untreated. Understanding the neural and physiological processes that contribute to its emergence could thus be very valuable, as it could inform the development of new prevention and treatment strategies.

In addition to experiencing periodic changes in mood, individuals diagnosed with this disorder often exhibit some metabolic symptoms, including changes in their blood sugar levels. While some previous studies reported an association between blood sugar control mechanisms and bipolar disorder, the biological link between the two has not yet been uncovered.

Researchers recently carried out a study aimed at further exploring the link between insulin secretion and bipolar disorder-like behaviors, particularly focusing on the expression of the gene RORβ. 

Their findings, published in Nature Neuroscience, show that an overexpression of this gene in a subtype of pancreatic cells disrupts the release of insulin, which in turn prompts a feedback loop with a region of the brain known as the hippocampus, producing alternative depression-like and mania-like behaviors in mice.

The results in mice point to a pancreas–hippocampus feedback mechanism by which metabolic and circadian factors cooperate to generate behavioral fluctuations, and which may play a role in bipolar disorder, wrote the authors.

Yao-Nan Liu et al, A pancreas–hippocampus feedback mechanism regulates circadian changes in depression-related behaviors, Nature Neuroscience (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41593-025-02040-y.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 4, 2025 at 11:57am

SeeMe detects hidden signs of consciousness in brain injury patients

SeeMe, a computer vision tool tested by Stony Brook University researchers, was able to detect low-amplitude, voluntary facial movements in comatose acute brain injury patients days before clinicians could identify overt responses.

There are ways to detect covert consciousness with EEG and fMRI, though these are not always available. Many acute brain injury patients appear unresponsive in early care, with signs that are so small, or so infrequent, that they are simply missed.

In the study, "Computer vision detects covert voluntary facial movements in unresponsive brain injury patients," published in Communications Medicine, investigators designed SeeMe to quantify tiny facial movements in response to auditory commands with the objective of identifying early, stimulus-evoked behavior.

A single-center prospective cohort included 37 comatose acute brain injury patients and 16 healthy volunteers, aged 18–85, enrolled at Stony Brook University Hospital. Patients had initial Glasgow Coma Scale scores ≤8 and no prior neurologically debilitating diagnoses.

SeeMe tagged facial pores at ~0.2 mm resolution and tracked movement vectors while subjects heard three commands: open your eyes, stick out your tongue, and show me a smile.

Results indicate earlier and broader detection with SeeMe. Eye-opening was detected on average 9.1 (± 5.5) days after injury by SeeMe versus 13.2 (± 11.4) days by clinical examination, yielding a 4.1-day lead.

SeeMe identified eye-opening in 30 of 36 patients (85.7%) compared with 25 of 36 (71.4%) by clinical exam. Among patients without an endotracheal tube obscuring the mouth, SeeMe detected mouth movements in 16 of 17 (94.1%).

In seven patients with analyzable mouth videos and clinical command following, SeeMe identified reproducible mouth responses 8.3 days earlier on average. Amplitude and frequency of SeeMe-positive responses correlated with discharge outcomes on the Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended, with significant Kruskal-Wallis results for both features.

A deep neural network classifier trained on SeeMe-positive trials identified command specificity with 81% accuracy for eye-opening and an overall accuracy of 65%. Additional observations were lower, with 37% for tongue movement and 47% for smile, indicating a strong specificity for eyes.

Authors conclude that acute brain injury patients can exhibit low-amplitude, stimulus-evoked facial movements before overt signs appear at bedside, suggesting that many covertly conscious patients may have motor behavior currently undetected by clinicians.

Earlier detection could inform family discussions, guide rehabilitation timing, and serve as a quantitative signal for future monitoring or interface-based communication strategies, while complementing standard examinations.

Xi Cheng et al, Computer vision detects covert voluntary facial movements in unresponsive brain injury patients, Communications Medicine (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s43856-025-01042-y

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 4, 2025 at 11:44am

Some sugar substitutes linked to faster cognitive decline

Some sugar substitutes may come with unexpected consequences for long-term brain health, according to a study published in Neurology. The study examined seven low- and no-calorie sweeteners and found that people who consumed the highest amounts experienced faster declines in thinking and memory skills compared to those who consumed the lowest amounts.

The link was even stronger in people with diabetes. While the study showed a link between the use of some artificial sweeteners and cognitive decline, it did not prove that they were a cause.

The artificial sweeteners examined in the study were aspartame, saccharin, acesulfame-K, erythritol, xylitol, sorbitol and tagatose. These are mainly found in ultra-processed foods like flavored water, soda, energy drinks, yogurt and low-calorie desserts. Some are also used as a standalone sweetener.

Low- and no-calorie sweeteners are often seen as a healthy alternative to sugar, however the new findings suggest certain sweeteners may have negative effects on brain health over time.

The study included 12,772 adults from across Brazil. The average age was 52, and participants were followed for an average of eight years.

After adjusting for factors such as age, sex, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, researchers found people who consumed the highest amount of sweeteners showed faster declines in overall thinking and memory skills than those who consumed the lowest amount, with a decline that was 62% faster. This is the equivalent of about 1.6 years of aging. Those in the middle group had a decline that was 35% faster than the lowest group, equivalent to about 1.3 years of aging.

When researchers broke the results down by age, they found that people under the age of 60 who consumed the highest amounts of sweeteners showed faster declines in verbal fluency and overall cognition when compared to those who consumed the lowest amounts. They did not find links in people over 60. They also found that the link to faster cognitive decline was stronger in participants with diabetes than in those without diabetes.

When looking at individual sweeteners, consuming aspartame, saccharin, acesulfame-k, erythritol, sorbitol and xylitol was associated with a faster decline in overall cognition, particularly in memory.

They found no link between the consumption of tagatose and cognitive decline.

https://www.neurology.org/doi/10.1212/WNL.0000000000214023

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 4, 2025 at 9:22am

The cephalic furrow is especially interesting because it is a prominent embryonic invagination whose formation is controlled by genes, but that has no obvious function during development. The fold does not give rise to specific structures, and later in development, it simply unfolds, leaving no trace.
With their experiments, the researchers show that the absence of the cephalic furrow leads to an increase in the mechanical instability of embryonic tissues and that the primary sources of mechanical stress are cell divisions and tissue movements typical of gastrulation. They demonstrate that the formation of the cephalic furrow absorbs these compressive stresses. Without a cephalic furrow, these stresses build up, and outward forces caused by cell divisions in the single-layered blastula cause mechanical instability and tissue buckling.

This intriguing physical role gave the researchers the idea that the cephalic furrow may have evolved in response to the mechanical challenges of dipteran gastrulation, with mechanical instability acting as a potential selective pressure.
Flies either feature a cephalic furrow, or if they lack one, display widespread out-of-plane division, meaning the cells divide downward to reduce the surface area. Both mechanisms act as mechanical sinks to prevent tissue collision and distortion.
These findings uncover empirical evidence for how mechanical forces can influence the evolution of innovations in early development. The cephalic furrow may have evolved through genetic changes in response to the mechanical challenges of dipteran gastrulation. They show that mechanical forces are not just important for the development of the embryo but also for the evolution of its development.

Patterned invagination prevents mechanical instability during gastrulation, Nature (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09480-3

Bipasha Dey et al, Divergent evolutionary strategies pre-empt tissue collision in gastrulation. Nature (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09447-4

Part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 4, 2025 at 9:18am

Fruit fly research shows that mechanical forces drive evolutionary change

A tissue fold known as the cephalic furrow, an evolutionary novelty that forms between the head and the trunk of fly embryos, plays a mechanical role in stabilizing embryonic tissues during the development of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.

Researchers have integrated computer simulations with their experiments and showed that the timing and position of cephalic furrow formation are crucial for its function, preventing mechanical instabilities in the embryonic tissues.

The work appears in Nature.

The increased mechanical instability caused by embryonic tissue movements may have contributed to the origin and evolution of the cephalic furrow genetic program. This shows that mechanical forces can shape the evolution of new developmental features.

Mechanical forces shape tissues and organs during the development of an embryo through a process called morphogenesis. These forces cause tissues to push and pull on each other, providing essential information to cells and determining the shape of organs. Despite the importance of these forces, their role in the evolution of development is still not well understood.

Animal embryos undergo tissue flows and folding processes, involving mechanical forces, that transform a single-layered blastula (a hollow sphere of cells) into a complex multi-layered structure known as the gastrula. During early gastrulation, some flies of the order Diptera form a tissue fold at the head-trunk boundary called the cephalic furrow. This fold is a specific feature of a subgroup of Diptera and is therefore an evolutionary novelty of flies.

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