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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 17, 2022 at 8:45am

Babies born to mothers with preeclampsia found to be at increased risk of stroke and heart disease later in life

Preeclampsia is a condition involving blood pressure elevation and heightened levels of proteins in urine that can damage kidneys and sometimes other organs of pregnant women. Preeclampsia tends to occur later in pregnancy, though it can sometimes happen earlier. Preeclampsia has been found to stymie fetal growth if not properly treated by causing problems in the arteries that carry blood in the placenta. 

A team of researchers  has found evidence that suggests babies born to mothers with preeclampsia have an increased risk of a stroke and/or heart disease later in life. They also found that it can also lead to other health problems for the baby later in life.

The work involved obtaining and analyzing the medical records of 8.5 million babies born in the 1970s and 1980s and tracking instances of ischemic heart disease (IHD) or stroke in those babies for 40 years after they were born. They found that babies born to mothers experiencing preeclampsia were 33% more likely to develop IHD in later life than babies born to mothers without the condition. They also found a 34% increased risk of stroke. The researchers also found a small increase in risk for stroke in siblings of babies born to mothers with preeclampsia. The researchers suggest the large sample size ensures accuracy of the results and also allowed them to evaluate the role of preterm babies in increased risk of heart disease later on in life. They note also that theirs is the first study to find a link between babies born to mothers with preeclampsia and an increased risk of heart disease and/or stroke later on in life. The researchers note that the risk associations for preeclampsia were more notable in mothers who developed the condition later in their pregnancies than for those who developed it early.

Fen Yang et al, Association of Maternal Preeclampsia With Offspring Risks of Ischemic Heart Disease and Stroke in Nordic Countries, JAMA Network Open (2022). DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.42064

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 16, 2022 at 10:56am

How Secrets of the Arctic decoded

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 16, 2022 at 8:26am

Almost All 'Natural' Skincare Products Contain Allergens, Scientists Warn

Nearly 90 percent of the 1,651 personal skin care products studied – including lotions, soaps, and moisturizers – contained at least one of the top 100 most common allergens known to cause contact dermatitis.

Contact dermatitis is more than a fleeting irritation. It's a red, itchy rash that, at its worst, can blister, caused by exposure to substances that either irritate or inflame the skin. The latter is an allergic reaction that occurs once the skin becomes sensitized to an otherwise harmless substance.

According to some estimates, rates of contact dermatitis are on the rise worldwide, up almost three-fold in three decades since 1996.

The researchers say that this uptick in contact dermatitis, a rapidly growing skincare and beauty industry worth billions, and a lack of regulation on its marketing motivated the study.

Contact dermatitis is preventable, so long as you can navigate and interpret the long list of ingredients found in skincare products and know which ones might aggravate the skin. Easier said than done.

A typical skincare or cosmetic product may contain anywhere from 15 to 50 ingredients. Research suggests people could be applying over 500 different chemicals to their skin each day, depending on their skincare routine.

In other words, the more products you use, the more you expose your skin to potential allergens.

Many of the allergens identified in the study were fragrances – think lavender and other botanical extracts – which have become a leading cause of contact dermatitis.

On average, skincare products contained between four and five known allergens. In total, 73 different allergens were listed 7,487 times across the 1,651 products studied.

That's only based on product information available online, but it still gives you a sense of the scale of the problem.

In 2017, another US study found few moisturizers were free from allergens, and even 'fragrance-free' products sometimes contained fragrances, which can irritate the skin.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamadermatology/article-abstract/2...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 16, 2022 at 7:56am

Paracetamol: The Most Common Pain Relief Drug in The World Induces Risky Behavior, Study Shows

Acetaminophen, also known as paracetamol and sold widely under the brand names Tylenol and Panadol, also increases risk-taking, according to a study from 2020 that measured changes in people's behavior when under the influence of the common over-the-counter medication.

Acetaminophen seems to make people feel less negative emotion when they consider risky activities – they just don't feel as scared. This reduced risk perceptions and increased risk-taking could have important effects on society.

The findings add to a growing body of research suggesting that acetaminophen's effects on pain reduction also extend to various psychological processes, lowering people's receptivity to hurt feelings, experiencing reduced empathy, and even blunting cognitive functions.

The drug's apparent effects on risk-taking behavior could also be interpreted via other kinds of psychological processes, such as reduced anxiety

In a similar way, the research suggests people's affective ability to perceive and evaluate risks can be impaired when they take acetaminophen. While the effects might be slight, they're definitely worth noting, given acetaminophen is the most common drug ingredient , found in over 600 different kinds of over-the-counter and prescription medicines.

https://academic.oup.com/scan/article/15/7/725/5897711?login=false

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 15, 2022 at 12:01pm

X Chromosome Silenced in Some Cancers in Males

A study finds that XIST, the gene that shuts down one X chromosome in people who have two, is linked to cancer in males. 

Humans only need one active X chromosome, which means that people with two must shut one down to avoid doubling up on its protein products. The gene tasked with inactivating one X, called XIST, codes for a long noncoding RNA that coats and epigenetically silences the extra X chromosome early in the development of people with two X chromosomes. XIST has previously been linked to cancer in females, as well as to testicular cancer. Now, in a study published November 9 in Cell Systems, researchers have found XIST activity in cancers in various somatic tissues of males, too. 

Irregular XIST activity has been linked to testicular cancers, which arise from male germ cells. But in the new study, the researchers found high levels of XIST RNA in male somatic cells sampled from cancerous tissues. While the study doesn’t show a causal link been XIST expression and male cancers, it finds that XIST shuts down X chromosome gene expression in adult male somatic cells, which are thought to need the proteins encoded on the X chromosome. This silencing likely has deleterious effects, the researchers say. 

We’ve known about the testicular cancers having XIST, and we’ve probably suspected that there’s XIST in some other [cancers], but to actually do such a detailed study across all types of cancers and find out the details is really important.

https://www.cell.com/cell-systems/fulltext/S2405-4712(22)00403-3

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 15, 2022 at 11:34am

Treated wastewater can be more dependable and less toxic than commo...

Recycled wastewater is not only as safe to drink as conventional potable water, it may even be less toxic than many sources of water we already drink daily, Stanford University engineers have discovered.

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Global carbon emissions at record levels with no signs of shrinking...

Global carbon dioxide emissions from all human activities remain at record highs in 2022, and fossil fuel emissions have risen above pre-pandemic levels, according to a new analysis by an international body of scientists.

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Safety in space: Synthetic hibernation could provide protection fro...

It is still a glimpse into the future: Astronauts could be put into artificial hibernation and in this state be better protected from cosmic radiation. At present, there are already promising approaches to follow up such considerations.

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Climate change creates complications for concrete

Pennsylvania drivers know the effects that weather can have on paved roads—potholes, cracks and other pavement woes are a common occurrence. Climate change is accelerating the process, with devastating consequences for infrastructure.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 15, 2022 at 11:03am

Oldest evidence of the controlled use of fire to cook food

The remains of a huge carp fish (2 meters/6.5 feet long), analyzed by researchers recently mark the earliest signs of cooking by prehistoric human to 780,000 years ago, predating the available data by some 600,000 years.

A close analysis of the remains of a carp-like fish found at the Gesher Benot Ya'aqov (GBY) archaeological site in Israel shows that the fish were cooked roughly 780,000 years ago. Cooking is defined as the ability to process food by controlling the temperature at which it is heated and includes a wide range of methods.

Until now, the earliest evidence of cooking dates to approximately 170,000 years ago. The question of when early man began using fire to cook food has been the subject of much scientific discussion for over a century. These findings shed new light on the matter and was published in Nature Ecology and Evolution.

Irit Zohar, Evidence for the cooking of fish 780,000 years ago at Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel, Nature Ecology & Evolution (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41559-022-01910-z. www.nature.com/articles/s41559-022-01910-z

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 14, 2022 at 10:05am

Making melanoma immortal: Scientists discover key genetic step in cancer's race to live forever

Scientists  have discovered the missing puzzle piece in the mystery of how melanoma tumors control their mortality.

In a paper published in Science last week, they described how they discovered the perfect combination of genetic alterations that tumors use to promote explosive growth and prevent their own demise, a development that could change the way oncologists understand and treat melanoma.

Telomeres, protective caps at the of the end of the chromosome, are required to prevent DNA from degrading. In healthy cells, telomeres become shorter with each cycle of replication until they become so short that the cell can no longer divide. Disruptions in maintenance of the length of the telomeres can lead to severe disease. Short telomere syndromes lead to premature aging and death, but extra-long telomeres are associated with cancer.

For years, scientists have observed strikingly long telomeres in melanoma tumors, especially in comparison with other cancer types.

There's some special link between melanoma and telomere maintenance. For a melanocyte to transform into cancer, one of the biggest hurdles is to immortalize itself. Once it can do that, it's well on its way to cancer.

The telomerase protein is responsible for elongating telomeres, protecting them from damage and preventing cell death. Telomerase is inactive in most cells, but many types of cancers use mutations in the telomerase gene, TERT, that activate this protein and allow cells to continue growing. Melanoma is particularly well-known for doing just this.

About 75% of melanoma tumors contain mutations in the TERT gene that stimulate protein production and increase telomerase activity. Yet, when scientists mutated TERT in melanocytes, they weren't able to produce the same long telomeres seen in their patient's tumors. It turned out that TERT promoter mutations were just half of the story.

 To find the missing link between melanoma, TERT promoter mutations and long telomeres, scientists combed through cancer mutation databases. They had previously discovered a region in a telomere binding protein called TPP1, which was often mutated in melanoma tumors. They now found that the mutations in TPP1 were strikingly similar to those of TERT; they were located in the newly annotated promoter region of TPP1 and stimulated production of the protein. This was exciting to researchers because TPP1 has long been known to stimulate telomerase activity.

So they  added mutated TERT and TPP1 back to cells, the two proteins synergized to create the distinctively long telomeres seen in melanoma tumors. TPP1 was the missing factor scientists had been searching for, and it was hiding in plain sight all along.

This discovery has changed the way scientists understand the onset of melanoma, but it also has the potential to improve treatment. By identifying a telomere maintenance system that is unique to cancer, scientists have a new target for treatments.

Pattra Chun-On et al, TPP1 promoter mutations cooperate with TERT promoter mutations to lengthen telomeres in melanoma, Science (2022). DOI: 10.1126/science.abq0607. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq0607

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 13, 2022 at 11:35am

Protected from a form of cell death, women are more resilient to kidney disease

In the battle of the sexes, women beat men in their ability to recover from kidney injury. Scientists now know why.

Females, it turns out, have an advantage at the molecular level that protects them from a form of cell death that occurs in injured kidneys. This protection could be exploited as a potential therapeutic.

 It is a form of cell death called ferroptosis, which 's only recently discovered. This form of cell death is dependent on iron and oxidative stress. It has been identified as a key player in kidney diseases.

Using genetic and single-cell RNA transcriptomic analysis in mice, the researchers found that being female confers striking protection against ferroptosis through a particular pathway called nuclear factor erythroid 2–related factor 2, or NRF2.

In females, NRF2 is highly active, keeping cell death in check. In males, however, the sex hormone testosterone reduces the activity of NRF2, thus promoting ferroptosis and undermining cell resiliency in kidney injury.

Further experiments showed that chemically activating NRF2 protected male kidney cells from ferroptosis, demonstrating that NRF2 could be a potential therapeutic target to prevent failed renal repair after acute kidney injury.

Tomokazu Souma, Sex differences in resilience to ferroptosis underlie sexual dimorphism in kidney injury and repair, Cell Reports (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111610. www.cell.com/cell-reports/full … 2211-1247(22)01479-6

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 13, 2022 at 10:47am

First ever clinical trial of lab-grown red blood cell transfusion

Researchers are taking part in the world’s first clinical trial of red blood cells that have been grown in a laboratory for transfusion into another person.

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