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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 13, 2023 at 10:54am

Scientists discover receptor that blocks COVID-19 infection

scientists have discovered a protein in the lung that blocks SARS-CoV-2 infection and forms a natural protective barrier in the human body.

This protein, the leucine-rich repeat-containing protein 15 (LRRC15), is an inbuilt receptor that binds the SARS-CoV-2 virus without passing on the infection.

The research opens up an entirely new area of immunology research around LRRC15 and offers a promising pathway to develop new drugs to prevent viral infection from coronaviruses like COVID-19 or deal with fibrosis in the lungs.
 This new receptor acts by binding to the virus and sequestering it which reduces infection.

The COVID-19 virus infects humans by using a spike protein to attach to a specific receptor in our cells. It primarily uses a protein called the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor to enter human cells. Lung cells have high levels of ACE2 receptors, which is why the COVID-19 virus often causes severe problems in this organ of infected people.

Like ACE2, LRRC15 is a receptor for coronavirus, meaning the virus can bind to it. But unlike ACE2, LRRC15 does not support infection. It can, however, stick to the virus and immobilize it. In the process, it prevents other vulnerable cells from becoming infected.

Scientists think it acts a bit like Velcro, molecular Velcro, in that it sticks to the spike of the virus and then pulls it away from the target cell types.

LRRC15 is present in many locations such as lungs, skin, tongue, fibroblasts, placenta and lymph nodes. But the researchers found human lungs light up with LRRC15 after infection.

Scientists  can now use this new receptor to design broad acting drugs that can block viral infection or even suppress lung fibrosis. 
The study has been published in the journal PLOS Biology. 

https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pb...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 11, 2023 at 11:28am

Tracing the origin of life—a new abiotic pathway for the formation of peptide chains from amino acids

A team of scientists has discovered a new abiotic pathway for the formation of peptide chains from amino acids—a key chemical step in the origin of life. The current study provides strong evidence that this crucial step for the emergence of life can indeed occur even in the very inhospitable conditions of space.

The origin of life is one of the great questions of mankind. One of the prerequisites for the emergence of life is the abiotic—not by living beings caused chemical—production and polymerization of amino acids, the building blocks of life.

Two scenarios are being discussed for the emergence of life on Earth: On the one hand, the first-time creation of such amino acid chains on Earth, and on the other hand, the influx from space. For the latter, such amino acid chains would have to be generated in the very unfavorable and inhospitable conditions in space.

A team of researchers now made a significant discovery in the field of abiotic peptide chain formation from amino acids for the smallest occurring amino acid, glycine, a molecule that has been observed several times extraterrestrially in recent years.

A study published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry A, which also made the cover of the journal, shows that small clusters of glycine molecules exhibit polymerization upon energy input. A reaction occurs within a cluster consisting of two glycine molecules. The two amino acids become a dipeptide and a water molecule. The reaction of a dipeptide to a tripeptide within a cluster was also demonstrated by the researchers.

This new  study sheds light on the less likely unimolecular scenario for the formation of such amino acid chains in the extreme conditions of space. Researchers  were able to show that peptide chain growth occurs through unimolecular reactions in excited cluster ions, without the need for contact with an additional partner such as dust or ice.

The recent paper provides evidence that the first step toward the origin of life can occur in the highly unlikely conditions of space.

Denis Comte et al, Glycine Peptide Chain Formation in the Gas Phase via Unimolecular Reactions, The Journal of Physical Chemistry A (2023). DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.2c08248

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 11, 2023 at 11:19am

Scientists develop test that can identify respiratory viruses within five minutes

Scientists have developed a world-first diagnostic test, powered by artificial intelligence, that can identify known respiratory viruses within five minutes from just one nasal or throat swab. The new diagnostic test could replace current methods that are limited to testing for only one infection—such as a lateral flow test for COVID-19—or otherwise are either lab-based and time-consuming or fast and less accurate.

The new virus detection and identification methodology is described in a paper published in ACS Nano. The paper demonstrates how machine learning can significantly improve the efficiency, accuracy and time taken to not only identify different types of viruses, but also differentiate between strains.

The ground-breaking testing technology combines molecular labeling, computer vision and machine learning to create a universal diagnostic imaging platform that looks directly at a patient sample and can identify which pathogen is present in a matter of seconds—much like facial recognition software, but for germs.

Preliminary research demonstrated that this test could identify the COVID-19 virus in patient samples and further work determined that the test could be used to diagnose multiple respiratory infections.

In the study, the researchers began by labeling viruses with single-stranded DNA in over 200 clinical samples from John Radcliffe Hospital. Images of labeled samples were captured using a commercial fluorescence microscope and processed by custom machine-learning software that is trained to recognize specific viruses by analyzing their fluorescence labels, which show up differently for every virus because their surface size, shape and chemistry vary.

The results show the technology is able to rapidly identify different types and strains of respiratory viruses, including flu and COVID-19, within five minutes and with >97% accuracy.

 Nicolas Shiaelis et al, Virus Detection and Identification in Minutes Using Single-Particle Imaging and Deep Learning, ACS Nano (2022). DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.2c10159

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 11, 2023 at 9:55am

Cockatoos know to bring along multiple tools when they fish for cashews

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 10, 2023 at 10:21am

New land creation on waterfronts is increasing

Humans are artificially expanding cities' coastlines by extending industrial ports and creating luxury residential waterfronts. Developers have added over 2,350 square kilometers of land (900 square miles, or about 40 Manhattans) to coastlines in major cities since 2000, according to a new study.

The study reports the first global assessment of coastal land reclamation, which is the process of building new land or filling in coastal water bodies, including wetlands, to expand a coastline. The researchers used satellite imagery to analyze land changes in 135 cities with populations of at least 1 million, 106 of which have done some coastline expansion.

The study was published in the journal Earth's Future.

It's quite important to capture this. There are more and more people, and our footprint is going up. Inevitably, there are ecologic consequences.

The researchers found that  industrialization and a need for urban space have driven much coastal land reclamation, while a smaller proportion of expansion projects are for "prestige," such as the palm tree-shaped islands of Dubai.

About 70% of coastal land expansion has been carried out in low-lying regions that are likely to be exposed to extreme sea level rise by the end of the century. Both environmental impacts and projected coastal inundation suggest these developed coastlines are not sustainable, but cities will likely continue to build them, the researchers say.

Ecological impacts: 

New land is typically created by piling sediments in the ocean, building cement sea walls and structures to contain sediments or cement, or by filling in wetlands and other shallow water bodies near the coast. These methods require vast volumes of sediment and disturb ecosystems irreversibly, as other research has established.

The ecological impacts of reclamation are immense. Reclamation is a massive civil engineering project that fundamentally alters the characteristics of the space that it targets. Coastal wetlands are particularly hard-hit. In the Yellow Sea, for example, more than half of tidal flats were lost mainly due to reclamation.

The creation of land will make sense where it's needed, but you have to do it in a responsible way … and think about whether it is really needed. Those are value judgments.

Other environmental impacts include adding sources of point-source pollution, changing the patterns of sediment movement and altering the biosphere, all of which can impact ocean-based economies such as fishing and tourism. And unequal access to newly created shoreline can exacerbate class divides.

Reclamation also impacts distant ecosystems where fill materials such as sand and gravel are quarried. With a global shortage of sand,  construction companies are quarrying sand and clay from the seabed, which destroys benthic ecosystems.

Dhritiraj Sengupta et al, Mapping 21st Century Global Coastal Land Reclamation, Earth's Future (2023). DOI: 10.1029/2022EF002927

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 10, 2023 at 9:39am

Calorie restriction slows pace of aging in healthy adults

In a first of its kind randomized controlled trial an international team of researchers shows that caloric restriction can slow the pace of aging in healthy adults. The CALERIE intervention slowed pace of aging measured from participants' blood DNA methylation using the algorithm DunedinPACE (Pace of Aging, Computed from the Epigenome). The intervention effect on DunedinPACE represented a 2-3 percent slowing in the pace of aging, which in other studies translates to a 10-15 percent reduction in mortality risk, an effect similar to a smoking cessation intervention. The results are published online in the journal Nature Aging.

The CALERIE Phase-2 randomized controlled trial is the first ever investigation of the effects of long-term calorie restriction in healthy, non-obese humans. The trial randomized 220 healthy men and women at three sites in the U. S. to a 25 percent calorie-restriction or normal diet for two years. CALERIE is an acronym for 'Comprehensive Assessment of Long-Term Effects of Reducing Intake of Energy'.

To measure biological aging in CALERIE Trial participants, the researchers analyzed blood samples collected from trial participants at pre-intervention baseline and after 12- and 24-months of follow-up. Humans live a long time, so it isn't practical to follow them until we see differences in aging-related disease or survival. Instead, we rely on biomarkers developed to measure the pace and progress of biological aging over the duration of the study. The team analyzed methylation marks on DNA extracted from white blood cells. DNA methylation marks are chemical tags on the DNA sequence that regulate the expression of genes and are known to change with aging.

In the primary analysis teh researchers focused on three measurements of the DNA methylation data, sometimes known as "epigenetic clocks". The first two, the PhenoAge and GrimAge clocks, estimate biological age, or the chronological age at which a person's biology would appear "normal". These measures can be thought of as "odometers" that provide a static measure of how much aging a person has experienced. The third measure studied by the researchers was DunedinPACE, which estimates the pace of aging, or the rate of biological deterioration over time. DunedinPACE can be thought of as a "speedometer".

The study found evidence that calorie restriction slowed the pace of aging in humans. But calorie restriction is probably not for everyone. These findings are important because they provide evidence from a randomised trial that slowing human aging may be possible. They also give us a sense of the kinds of effects researchers might look for in trials of interventions that could appeal to more people, like intermittent fasting or time-restricted eating.

A follow-up of trial participants is now ongoing to determine if the intervention had long-term effects on healthy aging.

Daniel Belsky, Effect of long-term caloric restriction on DNA methylation measures of biological aging in healthy adults from the CALERIE trial, Nature Aging (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s43587-022-00357-y. www.nature.com/articles/s43587-022-00357-y

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 9, 2023 at 10:26am

The everyday chemicals that make us fatter

“There are at least 50 chemicals, probably many more, that literally make us fatter,” says environmental-health scientist Leonardo Trasande. He is among those researching ‘obesogens’ — chemicals, such as fungicides and flame retardants, that seem to ma.... The term was coined by cell biologist Bruce Blumberg, who discovered in 2006 that tributyltin chloride promoted fat formation in mice. His advice? “Do not eat packaged processed food. It’s full of obesogens. Buy fresh ingredients and make a meal.”

https://academic.oup.com/mend/article/20/9/2141/2738473

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Global supply chains are devouring what's left of Earth's unspoiled...

While farming continues to drive deforestation around the world, 60% of the destruction of Earth's large, intact forests is caused by other forces. In particular, our research shows that more than one-third of this destruction can be blamed on the production of commodities for export, particularly timber, minerals and oil and gas.

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Urgent environmental action needed to limit the spread of superbugs...

To reduce superbugs, world must cut down pollution and change how we behave, according to a new report by the UN.

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Light pollution has cut humanity's ancient connection with the star...

Humans are naturally afraid of the dark. We sometimes imagine monsters under the bed and walk faster down unlit streets at night. To conquer our fears, we may leave a night light on to scare away the monsters and a light over the porch to deter break-ins.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 9, 2023 at 10:23am

How India is battling deadly rain storms

Grassroots action such as the flood early-warning system along the Meenachil River run by Eby Emmanuel is doing something India’s country-wide forecasts can’t: collating local knowledge to warn people of deadly rainstorms. The South Asian summer monsoon is a notoriously complex weather phenomenon. “Climate change is making [extreme rainfall] more erratic and the weather forecasting models are unable to account for that increase in chaos,” says climate scientist Roxy Koll. And forecasting models created in the United States and Europe do not account for how much South Asia’s farming practices and population can change the weather.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00341-5?utm_source=Natur...

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COVID drug might drive viral mutations

Molnupiravir, a drug widely used to treat COVID-19, might be spurring the evolution of new SARS-CoV-2 variants. The drug works by peppering the coronavirus’s genome with mutations, which add up to make SARS-CoV-2 worse at replicating. But scientists have raised the possibility that, in rare cases, molnupiravir treatment might not entirely eliminate SARS-CoV-2, allowing some individuals who have taken the drug to continue to transmit the virus. Now, a preprint study (which is not yet peer reviewed) of more than 13 million SARS-CoV-2 sequences has uncovered sequences that bear molnupiravir’s fingerprints. Quantitative bioscientist Rustem Ismagilov says the study underscores the need to quickly assess the risk of continued use of the drug. “If we are playing Russian roulette, we’d better know our odds.”

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.26.23284998v2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 9, 2023 at 9:42am

Air pollution linked with blood pressure in London teens

In a new analysis involving adolescents living in London, exposure to higher levels of the pollutant nitrogen dioxide was associated with lower systolic blood pressure, while exposure to higher levels of particulate matter (PM_2.5) was associated with higher systolic blood pressure. Scientists presented these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on February 8, finding that these associations are stronger for girls than for boys.

Exposure to air pollutants is linked to greater risk of cardio-respiratory disease, hospital visits, and death. Adolescents' rapidly growing bodies may be particularly susceptible to long-lasting effects of exposure to air pollutants, including effects on BP. However, most prior studies on air pollution and blood pressure have focused on adults.

For this analysis, they used data on 3,284 adolescents in DASH to examine associations between blood pressure and exposure to pollution in the form of nitrogen dioxide and PM2.5; exposures were estimated based on annual mean levels of pollutants where each participant lived. The researchers found that greater estimated exposure to nitrogen dioxide was associated with lower systolic blood pressure, and greater estimated exposure to PM2.5 was associated with higher systolic blood pressure. These associations were stronger in girls than in boys. No evidence of a relationship between nitrogen dioxide/PM2.5 and diastolic blood pressure was observed. For example, a 1μg/m3 increase in nitrogen dioxide was associated with a 0.30 mmHg (95% CI 0.18 to 0.40) decrease in systolic blood pressure for girls and 0.19 mmHg (95% CI 0.07 to 0.31) decrease in systolic blood pressure for boys. Meanwhile, a 1μg/m3 increase in PM2.5 was associated with a 1.34 mmHg (95% CI 0.85 to 1.82) increase in systolic blood pressure for girls and 0.57 mmHg (95% CI 0.04 to 1.03) increase in systolic blood pressure for boys. The associations between pollutants and blood pressure were consistent regardless of ethnicity, body size, or socioeconomic status. Eighty percent of the adolescents studied were from ethnic minority groups, and the residential estimates suggest that these adolescents were exposed to higher levels of the pollutants than their white peers.

The researchers call for further studies to help confirm and clarify these findings, particularly among young people from different socioeconomic backgrounds.

 Associations between air pollutants and blood pressure in an ethnically diverse cohort of adolescents in London, England, PLoS ONE (2023). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0279719

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 9, 2023 at 9:33am

Could we use Space dust as Earth's Sun-shield? Researchers are exploring this idea

On a cold winter day, the warmth of the sun is welcome. Yet as humanity emits more and more greenhouse gases, the Earth's atmosphere traps more and more of the sun's energy and steadily increases the Earth's temperature. One strategy for reversing this trend is to intercept a fraction of sunlight before it reaches our planet. For decades, scientists have considered using screens, objects or dust particles to block just enough of the sun's radiation—between 1 or 2%—to mitigate the effects of global warming.

A new study  explored the potential of using dust to shield sunlight. They analyzed different properties of dust particles, quantities of dust and the orbits that would be best suited for shading Earth. The authors found that launching dust from Earth to a way station at the "Lagrange Point" between Earth and the sun (L1) would be most effective but would require astronomical cost and effort. An alternative is to use moondust. The authors argue that launching lunar dust from the moon instead could be a cheap and effective way to shade the Earth.

The team of astronomers applied a technique used to study planet formation around distant stars, their usual research focus. Planet formation is a messy process that kicks up lots of astronomical dust that can form rings around the host star. These rings intercept light from the central star and re-radiate it in a way that we can detect it on Earth. One way to discover stars that are forming new planets is to look for these dusty rings.

That was the seed of the idea; if we took a small amount of material and put it on a special orbit between the Earth and the sun and broke it up, we could block out a lot of sunlight with a little amount of mass. It is amazing to contemplate how moon dust—which took over four billion years to generate—might help slow the rise in Earth's temperature, a problem that took us less than 300 years to produce.

The authors, however,  stress that this study only explores the potential impact of this strategy, rather than evaluate whether these scenarios are logistically feasible.

Dust as a solar shield, PLOS Climate (2023). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pclm.0000133 , journals.plos.org/climate/arti … journal.pclm.0000133

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