Comment

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 30, 2021 at 8:50am

By changing their shape, some bacteria can grow more resilient to antibiotics

New research demonstrates how certain types of bacteria can adapt to long-term exposure to antibiotics by changing their shape. The work was published in the journal Nature Physics.

Adaptation is a fundamental biological process driving organisms to change their traits and behaviour to better fit their environment. While antibiotics have long helped people prevent and cure bacterial infections, many species of bacteria have increasingly been able to adapt to resist antibiotic treatments.

When exposed to less than lethal doses of the antibiotic chloramphenicol over multiple generations, the researchers found that the bacteria dramatically changed their shape by becoming wider and more curved.

These shape changes enable bacteria to overcome the stress of antibiotics and resume fast growth. 

The researchers came to this conclusion by developing a theoretical model to show how these physical changes allow the bacteria to attain a higher curvature and lower surface-to-volume ratio, which would allow fewer antibiotic particles to pass through their cellular surfaces as they grow.

This insight is of great consequence to human health and will likely stimulate numerous further molecular studies into the role of cell shape on bacterial growth and antibiotic resistance.

Shiladitya Banerjee et al. Mechanical feedback promotes bacterial adaptation to antibiotics, Nature Physics (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41567-020-01079-x

https://phys.org/news/2021-01-bacteria-resilient-antibiotics.html?u...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 30, 2021 at 8:42am

'Organs-on-a-chip' system sheds light on how bacteria in the human digestive tract may influence neurological diseases

In many ways, our brain and our digestive tract are deeply connected. Feeling nervous may lead to physical pain in the stomach, while hunger signals from the gut make us feel irritable. Recent studies have even suggested that the bacteria living in our gut can influence some neurological diseases.

Modeling these complex interactions in animals such as mice is difficult to do, because their physiology is very different from humans'. To help researchers better understand the gut-brain axis, MIT researchers have developed an "organs-on-a-chip" system that replicates interactions between the brain, liver, and colon.

Using that system, the researchers were able to model the influence that microbes living in the gut have on both healthy brain tissue and tissue samples derived from patients with Parkinson's disease. They found that short-chain fatty acids, which are produced by microbes in the gut and are transported to the brain, can have very different effects on healthy and diseased brain cells.

"While short-chain fatty acids are largely beneficial to human health, it 's observed that under certain conditions they can further exacerbate certain brain pathologies, such as protein misfolding and neuronal death, related to Parkinson's disease.

The brain has many interactions with the digestive tract, which can occur via the enteric nervous system or through the circulation of immune cells, nutrients, and hormones between organs.

"Human hysiomimetic model integrating microphysiological systems of the gut, liver and brain for studies of neurodegenerative diseases" Science Advances (2021). advances.sciencemag.org/lookup … .1126/sciadv.abd1707

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-01-organs-on-a-chip-bacteria-hu...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 30, 2021 at 8:37am

A potentially safer, more effective gene therapy vector for blood disorders

Researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have developed a gene therapy vector for blood disorders like sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia that is potentially safer and more effective than those currently used in gene therapy trials for those conditions. The vector, an engineered vehicle for delivering functional copies of the hemoglobin gene to correct a genetic abnormality, leads to the production of more hemoglobin with a lower dose, minimizing the risk of toxic side effects.

Breda L, Ghiaccio V, Tanaka N, Jarocha D, Ikawa Y, Abdulmalik O, Dong A, Casu C, Raabe TD, Shan X, Danet-Desnoyers GA, Doto AM, Everett J, Bushman FD, Radaelli E, Assenmacher CA, Tarrant JC, Hoepp N, Guzikowski V, Smith-Whitley K, Kwiatkowski JL, and Rivella S. "Lentiviral vector ALS20 yields high hemoglobin levels with low genomic integrations for treatment of beta-globinopathies," Molecular Therapy, online January 29, 2021. DOI: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2020.12.036

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-01-potentially-safer-effective-...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 30, 2021 at 8:35am

Threads that sense how and when you move? New technology makes it possible

Engineers at Tufts University have created and demonstrated flexible thread-based sensors that can measure movement of the neck, providing data on the direction, angle of rotation and degree of displacement of the head. The discovery raises the potential for thin, inconspicuous tatoo-like patches that could, according to the Tufts team, measure athletic performance, monitor worker or driver fatigue, assist with physical therapy, enhance virtual reality games and systems, and improve computer generated imagery in cinematography. The technology, described today in Scientific Reports, adds to a growing number of thread-based sensors developed by Tufts engineers that can be woven into textiles, measuring gases and chemicals in the environment or metabolites in sweat.

Scientific Reports (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-81284-7

https://techxplore.com/news/2021-01-threads-technology.html?utm_sou...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 30, 2021 at 8:28am

'Weak' and 'strong' cells bonding boosts body's diabetes fight

Scientists have broadened our understanding of how 'weak' cells bond with their more mature cellular counterparts to boost the body's production of insulin, improving our knowledge of the processes leading to type 2 diabetes—a significant global health problem.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus occurs when β-cells cannot release enough insulin—a tightly controlled process requiring hundreds of such cells clustered together to co-ordinate their response to signals from food, such as sugar, fat and gut hormones.

Now an international research team have discovered that immature β-cells (PDX1LOW/MAFALOW) are able to overcome their relative deficiencies by partnering with 'stronger' counterparts to drive insulin release.  The researchers reveal that subtle differences in the levels of PDX1 and MAFA proteins (found only in β-cells) , and more broadly, differences in β-cell maturity, contribute to how clusters of insulin-producing cells, known as islets, function. 

The study shows that differences in β-cell maturity, defined using PDX1 and MAFA levels, are needed across the islet for proper insulin release. Unexpectedly, increases in the proportion of mature β-cells, is associated with islet failure. It seems that, rather like society, the islet needs cells with all ages to be properly functional.

Redressing the balance between immature and mature β-cells restores islet function under conditions of metabolic stress—an excess of sugar and fat in the diet—providing evidence that both 'weak' and 'strong' β-cells could contribute to proper islet function and insulin release.

"This is the first glimpse that immature cells might contribute to the regulation of insulin release across the islet. The study indicates a promising line of investigation that could be leveraged to make islets more resilient during type 2 diabetes or when generating new islets in a 'dish' for the purpose of transplantation."

'PDX1LOW MAFALOW β-cells contribute to islet function and insulin release' Daniela Nasteska, Nicholas H. F. Fine, Fiona B. Ashford, Federica Cuozzo, Katrina Viloria, Gabrielle Smith, Aisha Dahir, Peter W. J. Dawson, Yu-Chiang Lai, Aimée Bastidas-Ponce, Mostafa Bakhti, Guy A. Rutter, Remi Fiancette, Rita Nano, Lorenzo Piemonti, Heiko Lickert, Qiao Zhou, Ildem Akerman and David J. Hodson is published in Nature Communications. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-20632-z

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-01-weak-strong-cells-bonding-bo...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 30, 2021 at 7:55am

Specific bacteria in the gut prompt mother mice to neglect their pups

As scientists learn more about the microorganisms that colonize the body—collectively called the microbiota—one area of intense interest is the effect that these microbes can have on the brain. A new study led by Salk Institute scientists has identified a strain of E. coli bacteria that, when living in the guts of female mice, causes them to neglect their offspring.

The findings show  a direct link between a particular microbe and maternal behavior. Although the research was done in mice, it adds to the growing body of science demonstrating that microbes in the gut are important for brain health and can affect development and behaviour.

 this is the first demonstration that the intestinal microbiota is important for promoting healthy maternal behavior and bonding between mom and offspring in an animal model.

 It is  difficult to study how individual strains of bacteria exert their influence on human behaviour, a connection often called the microbiota-gut-brain axis.

This study study provides an unprecedented understanding of how the intestinal microbiota can disrupt maternal behavior and how this can negatively impact development of an offspring.

Microbiota control of maternal behavior regulates early postnatal growth of offspring, Science Advances (2021). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abe6563 , advances.sciencemag.org/content/7/5/eabe6563

https://phys.org/news/2021-01-specific-bacteria-gut-prompt-mother.h...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 30, 2021 at 7:49am

Researchers develop smartphone-based COVID-19 test that delivers results in about 10 minutes

Researchers at the University of Arizona are developing a COVID-19 testing method that uses a smartphone microscope to analyze saliva samples and deliver results in about 10 minutes.

The research team aims to combine the speed of existing nasal swab antigen tests with the high accuracy of nasal swab PCR, or polymerase chain reaction, tests. The researchers are adapting an inexpensive method that they originally created to detect norovirus—the microbe famous for spreading on cruise ships—using a smartphone microscope.

Nature Protocols (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41596-020-00460-7

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-01-smartphone-based-covid-resul...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 29, 2021 at 10:23am

Drugs used to treat HIV and flu can have detrimental impact on crops

The increased global use of antiviral and antiretroviral medication could have a detrimental impact on crops and potentially heighten resistance to their effects, new research has suggested.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 29, 2021 at 10:17am

Turning food waste back into food

There's a better end for used food than taking up space in landfills and contributing to global warming.

Scientists have discovered fermented food waste can boost bacteria that increase crop growth, making plants more resistant to pathogens and reducing carbon emissions from farming.

Since the plants in this experiment were grown in a greenhouse, the benefits of the waste products were preserved within a closed watering system. The plant roots received a fresh dose of the treatment each time they were watered.

Deborah Pagliaccia et al, Two Food Waste By-Products Selectively Stimulate Beneficial Resident Citrus Host-Associated Microbes in a Zero-Runoff Indoor Plant Production System, Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems (2020). DOI: 10.3389/fsufs.2020.593568

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 29, 2021 at 10:13am

First evidence that water can be created on the lunar surface by Earth's magnetosphere

Before the Apollo era, the moon was thought to be dry as a desert due to the extreme temperatures and harshness of the space environment. Many studies have since discovered lunar water: ice in shadowed polar craters, water bound in volcanic rocks, and unexpected rusty iron deposits in the lunar soil. Despite these findings, there is still no true confirmation of the extent or origin of lunar surface water.

The prevailing theory is that positively charged hydrogen ions propelled by the solar wind bombard the lunar surface and spontaneously react to make water (as hydroxyl (OH^-) and molecular (H₂O)). However, a new multinational study published in Astrophysical Journal Letters proposes that solar wind may not be the only source of water-forming ions. The researchers show that particles from Earth can seed the moon with water, as well, implying that other planets could also contribute water to their satellites.

Earth wind as a possible source of lunar surface hydration. arxiv.org/abs/1903.04095

https://phys.org/news/2021-01-evidence-lunar-surface-earth-magnetos...

--

Though the solar wind is a likely source for lunar surface water, computer models predict that up to half of it should evaporate and disappear at high-latitude regions during the approximately three days of the full moon when it passes within Earth's magnetosphere.

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 456
• 457
• 458
• 459
• 460
• …
• 855
• Next ›
• Page