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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 19, 2022 at 11:57am

Scientists discover a new kind of cell death linked to copper

Copper is an essential element of life from bacteria and fungi to plants and animals. In humans, it binds to enzymes to help blood clot, hormones mature, and cells process energy. But too much copper kills cells—and now scientists have figured out how.

Copper is a double-edged sword: too little and cells can't survive. But too much, and cells die.

Researchers have uncovered a new form of cell death that is induced by copper.

found that copper binds to specialized proteins, causing them to form harmful clumps, and also interferes with the function of other essential proteins. Cells go into a state of toxic stress and ultimately die.

By shedding light on key components of this process, the research also identified which cells are particularly vulnerable to copper-induced death. The findings could help researchers better understand diseases in which copper is dysregulated, and could even inform the development of new cancer treatments. 

 Peter Tsvetkov et al, Copper induces cell death by targeting lipoylated TCA cycle proteins, Science (2022). DOI: 10.1126/science.abf0529

https://phys.org/news/2022-03-scientists-kind-cell-death-linked.htm...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 19, 2022 at 11:51am

Researchers discover new form of ice

 Researchers have discovered a new form of ice, redefining the properties of water at high pressures.

Solid water, or ice, is like many other materials in that it can form different solid materials based on variable temperature and pressure conditions, like carbon forming diamond or graphite. However, water is exceptional in this aspect as there are at least 20 solid forms of ice known to us.

A team of scientists  pioneered a new method for measuring the properties of water under high pressure. The water sample was first squeezed between the tips of two opposite-facing diamonds—freezing into several jumbled ice crystals. The ice was then subjected to a laser-heating technique that temporarily melted it before it quickly re-formed into a powder-like collection of tiny crystals.

By incrementally raising the pressure, and periodically blasting it with the laser beam, the team observed the water ice make the transition from a known cubic phase, Ice-VII, to the newly discovered intermediate, and tetragonal, phase, Ice-VIIt, before settling into another known phase, Ice-X.

the transition to Ice-X, when water stiffens aggressively, occurs at much lower pressures than previously thought.

While it's unlikely we'll find this new phase of ice anywhere on the surface of Earth, it is likely a common ingredient within the mantle of Earth as well as in large moons and water-rich planets outside of our solar system.

Zachary M. Grande et al, Pressure-driven symmetry transitions in dense H2O ice, Physical Review B (2022). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.105.104109

https://phys.org/news/2022-03-ice.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 18, 2022 at 10:02am

Once the cells had settled in, the researchers induced several models of acute inflammation, including stroke and chemically induced meningoencephalitis.

They found that the skull contributed significantly more neutrophils to the brain in the event of stroke and meningitis than the tibia. But that raised a new question – how were the neutrophils being delivered?

Unexpectedly scientists discovered tiny channels that connected the marrow directly with the outer lining of the brain!

Using organ-bath microscopy – which uses a chamber full of solution to maintain the integrity of the isolated tissue while it is being examined – the team imaged the inner surface of a mouse's skull. There, they found microscopic vascular channels directly connecting the skull marrow with the dura, the protective membrane that encases the brain.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-018-0213-2

Part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 18, 2022 at 10:00am

There Are 'Secret' Tunnels Connecting Your Skull And The Brain

Did you know you have tiny tunnels in your head? That's OK, no one else did either until recently! But that's exactly what a team of medical researchers confirmed in mice and humans in 2018 – tiny channels that connect skull bone marrow to the lining of the brain.

The research shows they may provide a direct route for immune cells to rush from the marrow into the brain in the event of damage.

Previously, scientists had thought immune cells were transported via the bloodstream from other parts of the body to deal with brain inflammation following a stroke, injury, or brain disorder.

This discovery suggests these cells have had a shortcut all along.

The tiny tunnels were uncovered when a team of researchers set out to learn whether immune cells delivered to the brain following a stroke or meningitis originated from the skull, or the larger of the two bones in the shin – the tibia.

The specific immune cells they followed were neutrophils, the "first responders" of the immune squad. When something goes awry, these are among the first cells the body sends to the site to help mitigate whatever is causing the inflammation.

The team developed a technique to tag cells with fluorescent membrane dyes that act as cell trackers. They treated these cells with the dyes, and injected them into bone marrow sites in mice. Red-tagged cells were injected into the skull, and green-tagged cells into the tibia.

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 18, 2022 at 9:57am

5 Signs of a Dark Empath - The Most Dangerous Personality Type

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 18, 2022 at 9:48am

Moving forward, the researchers aim to identify the specific compounds in the neem bark that are responsible for the antiviral effects. That could help guide the development of neem-based antiviral therapies and determining the dosage requirements for treating coronavirus infections.

“The antiviral properties of neem bark extract offer a new premise for restricting viral spread, replication and fusion. Our studies can guide new antiviral therapeutic efforts to combat the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and hold promise for treating the future emergence of new coronavirus strains,” the authors wrote.

The article can be found at: Sarkar et al. (2022) Azadirachta indica A. Juss bark extract and it....

Part 3

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 18, 2022 at 9:48am

Computer modeling done by the researchers revealed that the neem bark extract can target a wide range of viral proteins. Certain components can bind to various regions on the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, which is responsible for enabling viral entry into human cells. The binding of neem compounds stabilizes the spike protein and effectively acts as a block on key regions that typically bind with the host cell. That prevents the spike proteins from fusing with the host cell.

Because the virus is no longer able to latch onto the host cells, it cannot access the host’s genetic machinery needed for its replication. The viral replication typically correlates with disease progression and severity, even allowing the virus to spread to other cells and organs in the body. Accordingly, cutting off this access point can prevent SARS-CoV-2 from severely damaging the body.

In the lab, the researchers introduced the bark extracts to samples of human lung cells infected with SARS-CoV-2. They found that the extracts inhibited viral infection and replication in the cells, primarily by reducing the expression of genes that code for the viral envelope. The envelope is an important outer layer that protects the virus’ genetic material and helps the virus move through the cell membrane to enter the cell.

By blocking entry and reducing viral replication, the extract also relieved other complications that COVID-19 causes, including inflammation in the brain and hepatitis in mice models.

Overall, the neem compounds showed potential as antiviral agents both for protecting against infection and mitigating disease severity after infection. Moreover, the researchers highlighted that the multi-targeted nature of its effects—particularly its capacity to bind to several spike regions—may make the extract effective against new variants that carry mutations in their spike protein.

part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 18, 2022 at 9:47am

Neem Tree Bark Extract May Help Fight COVID-19

Extract from the bark of the Neem tree may help reduce the spread of coronavirus, an India-US research team reported.

xtract from the bark of a neem tree has shown antiviral effects against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, according to a recently published study in Virology. The India-US research team hopes that the findings can support the development of new medications to lower the risk of serious illness and curb the spread of coronavirus infections.

The neem tree (Azadirachta indica) is a big-leaf mahogany indigenous to India. The tree’s various components have been reported to have various medicinal properties against certain virus, bacteria and parasites. The extracts derived from the bark in particular have beneficial effects against malaria, stomach and intestinal ulcers, and skin disorders, laboratory studies have shown.

Given the bark extract’s history in addressing diseases, researchers from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata and the University of Colorado in the US investigated whether neem extracts would similarly help suppress COVID-19 infections. The team combined different methods to comprehensively examine the extract’s effects against coronaviruses.

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 18, 2022 at 9:35am

Sniffer ants can smell cancer better than dogs

Scientists have trained a colony of ants to sniff out cancerous cells with surprising accuracy.

Ants are able to detect cancer cells by sniffing out their unique odour, a new study has shown.

Individual ants only need a few training sessions to learn the scent of cancer... which researchers said make them more “feasible, fast and less laborious” than using other animals.

While this is the first study of its kind, researchers said it shows the potential of ants to act as a cancer bio-detector.

When cancerous cells grow they produce specific compounds, which can be detected using high-tech equipment or picked up by animals with especially sensitive noses. Dogs can smell cancer, as has been shown in recent research – one study found our canine companions could sniff out lung cancer with nearly 97 per cent accuracy.

However, training dogs is a lengthy and costly process. So, researchers at universities in France decided to investigate using different animals to detect cancer’s odour. Insects, being easily reared and inexpensive, seemed like a good choice. Their olfactory system is often crucial to their survival, leading them towards edible plants and willing mates.

• Ants can rapidly be conditioned to associate the odor of cancer cells with a reward
• •
  Ants discriminate between cancerous and healthy cells and between two cancerous lines
• •
  Discrimination relies on volatile organic compounds that are specific of cell lines

https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(22)00229-2?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS2589004222002292%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 17, 2022 at 7:20am

Getting bacteria and yeast to talk to each other, thanks to a 'nanotranslator'

Cells communicate with one another in the language of chemistry, but those from different kingdoms, such as bacteria and yeast, speak dialects virtually unintelligible to the other. By learning how microbes "talk," researchers hope to one day manipulate their behavior to protect against disease, for example. Efforts like this are in their infancy, but in a new study in ACS' Nano Letters, researchers describe the first system that enables two unrelated organisms to communicate.

In nature, many cells send and receive chemical signals. This strategy allows bacteria to regulate their behavior, fungi to mate and human cells to notify each other of threats. This type of chemical communication has inspired researchers to devise their own means to join these conversations so they can give cells instructions. While some studies have examined micro- or nano-scale particles that communicate with one type of cell, the use of particles to enable communication between two different types of cells has not been explored. Antoni Llopis-Lorente, Ramón Martínez-Máñez and colleagues wanted to create a nano-scale translating device so they could send a chemical signal between members of two different kingdoms of life—something that rarely happens in the natural world.

The team built the nanotranslator from silica nanoparticles loaded with two molecules: one that reacts with glucose, and another molecule called phleomycin. The signaling system they constructed had two steps, which they tested independently then put together. First, the researchers initiated a signal by exposing E. coli to lactose. The bacteria converted the lactose into glucose, which reacted with the nanotranslator. Next, this device released phleomycin, another messenger compound. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae detected the phleomycin and responded by fluorescing, something they had been genetically engineered to do. The researchers envision many possible applications for similar nanotranslator-based communication systems. For example, these devices could be used to tell cells to turn off certain processes and to switch on others, or to alter the activity of human immune cells to treat disease, the researchers say.

Beatriz de Luis et al, Nanoprogrammed Cross-Kingdom Communication Between Living Microorganisms Nano Letters (2022). DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c02435. doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c02435

https://phys.org/news/2022-03-bacteria-yeast-nanotranslator.html?ut...

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