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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 1, 2021 at 9:45am

Pfizer vaccine results published in peer-reviewed journal

The full results of a clinical trial for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine were published in the New England Journal of Medicine  re cently

The full trial included almost 44,000 volunteers, several thousand more than the number seen in prior analyses. Around half received the vaccine and the rest a placebo.

The paper confirmed that a two-dose regimen of BNT162b2 was 95 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 infection.

The vaccine worked similarly across "age, sex, race, ethnicity, baseline body-mass index, and the presence of coexisting conditions," the paper said.

Among 10 cases of severe COVID-19 after the first dose, nine occurred in placebo recipients and one in a person who received the vaccine.

The editorial that accompanied the study did flag certain "minor issues."

"The number of severe cases of COVID-19 (one in the vaccine group and nine in the placebo group) is too small to draw any conclusions about whether the rare cases that occur in vaccinated persons are actually more severe," it said.

Other questions include whether unexpected safety issues may arise when the number of people vaccinated grows to millions and possibly billions of people.

Also unknown is whether more side effects will emerge with longer follow-up, how long the vaccine remains effective, whether it will limit transmission, and how it will work in children, pregnant women, and immunocompromised patients.

 Fernando P. Polack et al. Safety and Efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine, New England Journal of Medicine (2020). DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2034577

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-12-pfizer-vaccine-results-publi...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 1, 2021 at 9:41am

Published data from Moderna COVID-19 vaccine trial show 94.1 percent efficacy

A peer-reviewed paper published in The New England Journal of Medicine provides data from the much-anticipated COVE study, which evaluated mRNA-1273, a vaccine candidate against COVID-19 manufactured by Moderna, Inc. Results from the primary analysis of the study, which will continue for two years, provide evidence that the vaccine can prevent symptomatic infection. Among the more than 30,000 participants randomized to receive the vaccine or a placebo, 11 of those in the vaccine group developed symptomatic COVID-19 compared to 185 participants who received the placebo, demonstrating 94.1 percent efficacy in preventing symptomatic COVID-19. Cases of severe COVID-19 occurred only in participants who received the placebo.

The study enrolled 30,420 adult participants at 99 U.S. sites, including over 600 participants enrolled at the Brigham. Eligible participants were 18 years old or older with no known history of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and whose locations or circumstances put them at appreciable risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and/or high risk of severe COVID-19. The race and ethnicity proportions of the trial were generally representative of U.S. demographics (79 percent white; 10 percent Black or African American; 20 percent Hispanic or Latino participants).

Participants received their first injection between July 27 and Oct. 23, 2020, followed by a second injection 28 days later. Each injection, given intramuscularly, had a volume of 0.5 mL, containing 100 μg of mRNA-1273 or saline placebo.

In the placebo group, 185 participants developed symptomatic COVID-19 illness; in the vaccine group, 11 participants did. In secondary analyses, the vaccine's efficacy was similar across groups of key interest, including those who already had antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 at the time of enrollment (indicating previous infection with COVID-19) and among those who were 65 years of age or older. Thirty participants had severe COVID-19—all in the placebo group.

Starting from randomization, cases of COVID-19 and severe COVID-19 were continuously monitored throughout the trial by the Data Safety Monitoring Board, empaneled by the NIAID. Participants were closely monitored for adverse events in the weeks following their injection. Investigators have collected and will continue to collect data on any serious adverse events or adverse events that require medical attention through two years post-injection.

Overall, reactions to the vaccine were mild—about half of recipients experienced fatigue, muscle aches, joint pain and headaches, more so after the second dose. In most cases, these effects started about 15 hours after the vaccine and resolved after two days without sequelae. A similar number of adverse events were reported in the placebo and vaccine groups.

Lindsey R. Baden et al, Efficacy and Safety of the mRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine, New England Journal of Medicine (2020). DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2035389

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-12-published-moderna-covid-vacc...

Pfizer vaccine results published in peer-reviewed journal

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 31, 2020 at 10:46am

The Biggest Science News of 2020

Neanderthal DNA surprises in modern humans, the first blood test for Alzheimer’s, a discovery of new human salivary glands, and, oh yeah, a pandemic

https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/the-biggest-science-news...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 31, 2020 at 9:43am

AI-controlled vertical farms promise revolution in food production

With the world population hurtling towards 8 billion, we face a food problem. Human population increases geometrically, while food production increases only arithmetically. That means the more civilization grows and thrives, the more likely it will be unable to keep up with demands for food.

While advances in food technology have helped to cope with the situation to some extent, there remains great concern for the future of food production as the Earth's population soars on a planet with shrinking farming real estate. National Geographic recently predicted that by 2050, there will be more than two billion additional mouths to feed while the Earth's irrigable land remains essentially the same.

An agricultural-technical startup thinks it might just have an answer. 

To do so,they have constructed climate-controlled vertical farms that are very promising.

These upright farms take up only 2 acres yet produce 720 acres worth of fruit and vegetables. Lighting, temperature and watering are controlled by AI-controlled robots. Sunlight is emulated by LED panels, so food is grown in optimal conditions 24/7. And water is recycled and evaporated water recaptured so there is virtually no waste.

The operation is so efficient it uses 99 percent less land and 95 percent less water than normal farming operations.

It is so efficient that these rows of hanging plants produce 400 times more food per acre than a traditional farm.

AI monitors growth patterns and constantly adjusts environmental factors such as temperature, water and light patterns to ensure ever-more efficient and economical output.

https://www.plenty.ag/about-us/

https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-ai-controlled-vertical-farms-re...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 31, 2020 at 8:55am

Torpor: a neat survival trick once thought rare in animals is actually widespread

Life is hard for small animals in the wild, but they have many solutions to the challenges of their environment. One of the most fascinating of these strategies is torpor. Not, to be confused with sleep or Sunday afternoon lethargy, torpor is a complex response to the costs of living.

To enter torpor, an animal decreases its metabolism, reducing its energy requirements. A torpid animal will often be curled in a tight ball in its nest and look like it's sleeping.

Once thought to occur only in birds and mammals in the Northern Hemisphere where winters are more pronounced, we now know torpor is widespread in small Australian mammals, and has also been observed in many small Australian bird species.

Birds and mammals are endotherms and can maintain a high and constant body temperature independent of the environmental temperature, thanks to their high metabolic rate. This allows them to be active across a wide range of environments.

The downside? This high metabolic rate requires a lot of food to fuel it. By reducing the metabolism in a very controlled manner and entering torpor, an animal can live on less energy.

With a lower metabolic rate, the animal's body temperature decreases—sometimes by as much as 30°C. How low it goes can depend on the extent of the metabolic reduction and the temperature of animal's immediate environment. The reduced body temperature further lowers the metabolic rate.

Torpor is an extremely effective survival strategy for small endotherms. Many pregnant and lactating bats and marsupials, and even the echidna, synchronise torpor with reproduction to cope with the energetic costs of mating, pregnancy or lactation.

There are two main types of torpor: daily torpor and hibernation.

Animals that use daily torpor can do so for approximately 3-6 hours a day as needed.

Daily torpor is common in, but not exclusive to, endotherms living in arid areas, such as the fat-tailed dunnart. This species is a carnivorous marsupial and has a diet of insects and other invertebrates, which may be in short supply in winter.

Weighing approximately 12 grams as adults, the fat-tailed dunnart may need to eat its body weight in food each day. When finding enough food is difficult, it uses torpor; foraging in the early part of the night then entering torpor in the early morning. Fat-tailed dunnarts reduce their metabolic rate, and subsequently their body temperature, from 35 °C to approximately 15°C, or the temperature of their underground nest.

Animals that hibernate lower their metabolic rate further and have longer torpor bouts than those that use daily torpor. An example of an Australian hibernator is the eastern pygmy possum, a 40g marsupial found in south eastern Australia that hibernates regularly, decreasing its body temperature from approximately 35 °C to as low as 5°C.

When active, this species can survive for less than half a day on 1g of fat, but when hibernating, it can survive for two weeks.

https://theconversation.com/torpor-a-neat-survival-trick-once-thoug...

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 31, 2020 at 8:49am

Organic meats found to have approximately the same greenhouse impact as regular meats

Researchers have found that the meat production process for organic meats produces approximately the same amounts of greenhouse gases as does the conventional meat production process.

As the planet continues to warm, researchers continue working to better understand the sources of greenhouse emissions. In this new effort, the researchers looked at greenhouse emissions related to food production.

In looking at food production, the researchers placed food products into three main categories: conventional meat production, organic meat production and plant-based food production. They also took into account the emissions produced during different stages of the production process—emissions produced while growing and processing feed and fertilizer, for example, and methane released by animals and from their manure.

The data revealed little difference in greenhouse gas emissions from conventional meat production and that grown organically. They found that emission reductions by organically grown animals (in which fertilizer is not used to produce feed) were often offset by increases in methane released due to slower growth rates and the need to raise more animals, as organically fed animals tend to produce less meat. More specifically, they found very little difference in emissions between conventionally produced beef and beef grown organically. They also found that organically grown chickens produced slightly more emissions than those grown conventionally, and that organic pork produced fewer emissions than conventional pork.

The researchers suggest the need for meat axes that reflect the environmental cost of their production. 

Maximilian Pieper et al. Calculation of external climate costs for food highlights inadequate pricing of animal products, Nature Communications (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19474-6

https://phys.org/news/2020-12-meats-approximately-greenhouse-impact...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 30, 2020 at 11:39am

How T-cells Tip COVID-19 From Mild To Severe

According to scientists from Japan, the difference between mild and severe cases of COVID-19 may lie in the extreme activation of T-cells as they react to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. 

Using bioinformatics, researchers from Japan have uncovered T-cell abnormalities that may influence the development of mild or severe COVID-19. Their findings were published in Frontiers in Immunology. Why some patients remain only mildly ill—or even asymptomatic—while others quickly deteriorate is perhaps the pandemic’s most enduring mystery. While current evidence suggests that the severity of infection is associated with an overactive immune system, T-cells may also play a role. After all, the number of T-cells has been found to be significantly reduced in the blood of COVID-19 patients. Various types of T-cells exist within our bodies. As suggested by their name, helper T-cells eliminate disease-causing microorganisms by activating cytotoxic T-cells and B-cells. In turn, cytotoxic T-cells attack infected cells, while B-cells produce antibodies. Meanwhile, regulatory T-cells act as cellular brakes that modulate the overall T-cell response. Diving deeper into the role of T-cells in SARS-CoV-2 infection, researchers from Japan’s Kumamoto University analyzed the genetic data of T-cells derived from the lung tissue of COVID-19 patients. Using bioinformatics, the team identified a major difference between mild and severe COVID-19 cases, namely the degree of T-cell activation. In mild cases, activated helper T-cells express transcription factors that result in their transformation into regulatory T-cells. Acting as cellular brakes, the regulatory T-cells slow down helper T-cell activation and suppress the other T-cells if needed. In contrast, the researchers found that the transcription factors were not expressed in severe COVID-19 cases. Without the regulatory T-cells, the overall T-cell response effectively went haywire—resulting in an overactive immune response.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2020.589380/full

The article can be found at: Kalfaoglu et al. (2020) T-Cell Hyperactivation and Paralysis in Severe COVID-19 Infection Revealed by Single-Cell Analysis.

https://www.asianscientist.com/2020/12/in-the-lab/t-cell-abnormalit...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 30, 2020 at 10:49am

Fermilab and partners achieve sustained, high-fidelity quantum teleportation

 A viable quantum internet—a network in which information stored in qubits is shared over long distances through entanglement—would transform the fields of data storage, precision sensing and computing, ushering in a new era of communication.

This month, scientists at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory—a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory affiliated with the University of Chicago—along with partners at five institutions took a significant step in the direction of realizing a quantum internet.

In a paper published in PRX Quantum, the team presents for the first time a demonstration of a sustained, long-distance teleportation of qubits made of photons (particles of light) with fidelity greater than 90%.

The qubits were teleported over a fiber-optic network 27 miles (44 kilometers) long using state-of-the-art single-photon detectors, as well as off-the-shelf equipment.

Quantum teleportation is a “disembodied” transfer of quantum states from one location to another. The quantum teleportation of a qubit is achieved using quantum entanglement, in which two or more particles are inextricably linked to each other. If an entangled pair of particles is shared between two separate locations, no matter the distance between them, the encoded information is teleported.

https://news.uchicago.edu/story/chicago-quantum-exchange-ibm-q-netw...

https://researchnews.cc/news/4353/Fermilab-and-partners-achieve-sus...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 30, 2020 at 10:40am

Condition causes loss of vertigo perception and imbalance in TBI patients

A condition that causes loss of vertigo perception and imbalance has been diagnosed in traumatic brain injury patients for the first time.

In a clinical study led by researchers at Imperial College London and clinicians at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, out of 37 patients with acute traumatic brain injury (TBI), fifteen were diagnosed with a newly characterized neurological diagnosis called vestibular agnosia—a condition in the brain which results in loss of vertigo perception and imbalance.

The team also found that these patients have worse balance problems than TBI patients without vestibular agnosia and are unlikely to experience dizziness—one of the main criteria to assess balance problems in TBI patients. As a result doctors are seven times more likely to miss cases of balance dysfunction in TBI patients with vestibular agnosia than in those without.

Elena Calzolari et al. Vestibular agnosia in traumatic brain injury and its link to imbalance, Brain (2020). DOI: 10.1093/brain/awaa386

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-12-condition-loss-vertigo-perce...

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 30, 2020 at 10:37am

Scientists turn toxic pesticide into treatment against antibiotic-r...

N-Aryl-C-nitroazoles are an important class of heterocyclic compounds. They are used as pesticides and fungicides. However, these substances could be toxic to humans and cause mutations. As they are not frequently used, there is little data about them in the medicinal chemistry literature. However, it has been suggested recently that the groups of compounds that are traditionally avoided can help to fight pathogenic bacteria.

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The puzzle of nonhost resistance: why do pathogens harm some plants...

People have puzzled for years why pathogen Phytophthora infestens causes the devastating late blight disease, source of the Irish Potato famine, on potatoes, but has no effect at all on plants like apple or cucumber. How are apple trees and cucumber plants able to completely shake off this devastating pathogen? Agricultural scientists have wondered for years: if this resistance is so complete and persists over so many generations, is there some way we could transfer it to susceptible plants like wheat and thereby stop disease?

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