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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 31, 2023 at 10:19am

The model could be used for a virtual patient trial, allowing researchers to generate dozens of patients and then predict which ones would have hyper- or hypokalemia based on different controls.

"A lot of our models are pieces of a bigger picture," said Anita Layton, professor of applied mathematics and Canada 150 Research Chair in mathematical biology and medicine. "This model is one new and exciting piece in helping us understand how our incredibly complex internal systems work."

The model is especially exciting because it allows scientists to test something called the muscle-kidney cross-talk signal hypothesis. Scientists have hypothesized that skeletal muscles, which are responsible for most of the potassium storage in the body, can directly signal to the kidneys that it's time to excrete excess when too much potassium is stored, and vice versa. When the math researchers tested the hypothesis in their model, it more accurately reflected existing biological data regarding potassium homeostasis, suggesting that muscle-kidney cross talk might be an essential piece in the puzzle of potassium regulation.

The study was published in PLOS Computational Biology.

More information: Melissa M. Stadt et al, A mathematical model of potassium homeostasis: Effect of feedforward and feedback controls, PLOS Computational Biology (2022). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010607

Part 2

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 31, 2023 at 10:18am

 Muscle-kidney cross talk might be an essential piece in the puzzle of potassium regulation.

Having levels of potassium that are too high or too low can be fatal. A new mathematical model sheds light on the often mysterious ways the body regulates this important electrolyte. Potassium, a common mineral abundant in food like bananas and leafy greens, is essential to normal cellular function. It helps the cardiac muscle work correctly and aids in the transmission of electrical signals within cells.

Using existing biological data, researchers built a mathematical model that simulates how an average person's body regulates potassium, both in times of potassium depletion and during potassium intake. Because so many foods contain abundant potassium, our bodies constantly store, deploy, and dispose of potassium to maintain healthy levels—a process known as maintaining potassium homeostasis. Understanding potassium homeostasis is essential in helping diagnose the source of the problem when something goes wrong—for example, when kidney disease or medication leads to dysregulation.
Too much potassium in the body, or hyperkalemia, can be just as dangerous as hypokalemia, or too little. Dysregulation of potassium can lead to dangerous and potentially fatal consequences.
Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 31, 2023 at 9:46am

A fairy-like robot flies by the power of wind and light

The development of stimuli-responsive polymers has brought about a wealth of material-related opportunities for next-generation small-scale, wirelessly controlled soft-bodied robots. For some time now, engineers have known how to use these materials to make small robots that can walk, swim and jump. 

Researchers are now trying how to make smart material fly. They have come up with a new design for their project called FAIRY—Flying Aero-robots based on Light Responsive Materials Assembly. They have developed a polymer-assembly robot that flies by wind and is controlled by light.

The artificial fairy developed by them has several biomimetic features. Because of its high porosity (0.95) and lightweight (1.2 mg) structure, it can easily float in the air directed by the wind. What is more, a stable separated vortex ring generation enables long-distance wind-assisted traveling. The fairy can be powered and controlled by a light source, such as a laser bean or LED.

This means that light can be used to change the shape of the tiny dandelion seed-like structure. The fairy can adapt manually to wind direction and force by changing its shape. A light beam can also be used to control the take-off and landing actions of the polymer assembly.

Jianfeng Yang et al, Dandelion‐Inspired, Wind‐Dispersed Polymer‐Assembly Controlled by Light, Advanced Science (2022). DOI: 10.1002/advs.202206752

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 30, 2023 at 10:00am

Study of 500,000 Medical Records Links Viruses to Alzheimer's Again And Again

A study of around 500,000 medical records has suggested that severe viral infections like encephalitis and pneumonia increase the risk of neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

Researchers found 22 connections between viral infections and neurodegenerative conditions in the study of around 450,000 people.

People treated for a type of inflammation of the brain called viral encephalitis were 31 times more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease. (For every 406 viral encephalitis cases, 24 went on to develop Alzheimer's disease – around 6 percent.)

Those who were hospitalized with pneumonia after catching the flu seemed to be more susceptible to Alzheimer's disease, dementia, Parkinson's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Intestinal infections and meningitis (both often caused by a virus), as well as the varicella-zoster virus, which causes shingles, were also implicated in the development of several neurodegenerative diseases.

The impact of viral infections on the brain persisted for up to 15 years in some cases. And there were no instances where exposure to viruses was protective.

Around 80 percent of the viruses implicated in brain diseases were considered 'neurotrophic', which means they could cross the blood-brain barrier.

"Strikingly, vaccines are currently available for some of these viruses, including influenza, shingles (varicella-zoster), and pneumonia," the researchers write.

"Although vaccines do not prevent all cases of illness, they are known to dramatically reduce hospitalization rates. This evidence suggests that vaccination may mitigate some risk of developing neurodegenerative disease.

https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(22)01147-3?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0896627322011473%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 29, 2023 at 3:11pm

Robot clears foreign body from stomach

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 28, 2023 at 11:06am

Harvesting energy from moving trains

Researchers  want to harness the energy created by moving trains and transform that energy into usable electricity. And they are conducting various experiments to do the same. 

After several years of design review,  researchers created a new kind of tie that replaces the conventional wooden variety and is equipped to generate power. Their high-tech tie, placed underneath the rail, is topped with a heavy metal bar mounted on a spring. As the wheels of the train pass over the rail, the train’s weight pushes down on that bar, triggering a series of gears. Those gears rotate a generator, creating electricity, which can then be stored in a battery.

As trains passed over the rail, researchers got a clearer picture of how much power it might produce and how that power might be put into use. For every wheel of the train that goes by, they are harvesting 15 to 20 watts of power.

 A long train with maybe 200 railcars, that’s 800 wheels, makes 1.6 kilowatts. Once that energy is stored,  they are able to use it to make the tracks more intelligent by embedding sensors in them.

Deploying their energy harvesting system could mean greater expansion of the vital sensor systems that keep railways safe.

Yu Pan et al, A half-wave electromagnetic energy-harvesting tie towards safe and intelligent rail transportation, Applied Energy (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2022.118844

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 28, 2023 at 8:59am

One of the causes of aggressive liver cancer discovered: A 'molecular staple' that helps repair broken DNA

Error-correcting mechanisms are very important for cells, because with all the cellular activity constantly going on, malfunctions arise all the time. But when it comes to killing cancer cells, it is in the cells' best interest to induce errors. Radiotherapy and chemotherapy can cause cellular defects by breaking the DNA of the cells. However, some tumor cells have an exceptionally efficient DNA repair machinery that allows them to evade cancer treatment. Researchers have now revealed the workings of one of these extraordinary repair systems: a molecular staple that has been shown in action for the first time using a new nanotechnology technique.

A few years ago, scientists discovered that about half of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (the most common type of liver cancer) produce an RNA molecule called NIHCOLE, which is found mainly in the most aggressive tumors and is associated with a poor prognosis.

NIHCOLE is not a protein synthesized by a gene, but an RNA molecule. It is part of what biologists dubbed junk DNA two decades ago when the human genome was being sequenced. At the time, they mistakenly believed that this DNA was useless.

Cancer researchers concluded that NIHCOLE is very effective at helping repair broken DNA, which is why radiotherapy is less effective in tumors where it is present. By eliminating NIHCOLE, cancer cells treated with radiotherapy die more easily. However, the molecular mechanism by which NIHCOLE facilitates the repair of DNA breaks was not known. The paper just published in Cell Reports explains this: NIHCOLE forms a bridge that binds the broken DNA fragments together. It interacts simultaneously with proteins that recognize the two ends of a fragmented DNA, as if stapling them together. Only a small piece of NIHCOLE is required for it to act as a molecular staple.

Understanding this mechanism may help in the development of strategies to combat liver cancers with the worst prognosis. 

Sara De Bragança et al, APLF and long non-coding RNA NIHCOLE promote stable DNA synapsis in non-homologous end joining, Cell Reports (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111917

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 27, 2023 at 11:49am

Liquid-metal robots can melt and re-form

Researchers have created a material that can move, soften and re-harden under the influence of magnetic fields. To demonstrate the material’s promise, researchers showed how it could be manipulated to pass through barriers, extract an object from an artificial stomach, and move a tiny light bulb into place and then melt into the solder required to make it work.

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How much greenhouse gas do tropical soils emit?

Nitrogen changes form as it cycles between air, soil, and life. Soils, for example, emit nitrogen either as inert dinitrogen (N2), which dominates our atmosphere, or as nitric oxide (NO) or nitrous oxide (N2O), the greenhouse gases that warm it.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 27, 2023 at 11:41am

E. coli: Lab discovers evidence of multicellularity in single cell organism

Researchers have uncovered something new in one of the most studied organisms on Earth, and their discoveries could impact the treatment and prevention of devastating bacterial diseases.

Escherichia coli, or E. coli, gets a bad rap, and for good reason. This diverse group of bacteria that live in our intestines are mostly harmless and play an important role in sustaining a healthy digestive system. But some E. coli are among the most virulent disease-causing micro-organisms.

Pathogenic E. coli takes a deadly, costly toll on humanity, costing billions of dollars to treat and killing millions of people worldwide each year. It's responsible for diarrheal diseases, peritonitis, colitis, respiratory illness and pneumonia, and other illnesses, and is the main cause in 80% of urinary tract infections, which are the most common bacterial infection.

Consequently, researchers have been keen to learn everything they can about E. coli for the past century or so. They have probed it from every angle, synthesized it, scrutinized it to the extent that, many people believe, there isn't much else to learn.

But some researchers have taken a closer look at E. coli and their research is yielding novel insights, and raising new questions, about this prevalent unicellular organism. For one thing, it appears that E. coli may not always be unicellular. The research team explained it all in their study, "Evidence of a possible multicellular life cycle in Escherichia coli," published in the journal iScience.

In nature, bacteria live in communities called biofilms, which are clusters of microbes encased in a self-made, self-sustaining slime matrix, and attached to many kinds of wet surfaces. They're everywhere around us and inside of us. Common, everyday examples of biofilms include dental plaque and pond scum. They can grow on plant and animal tissue, like the inside of our digestive tract, and cause serious infections. On top of that, the bacteria living inside a biofilm's protective matrix are less likely to be affected by antibiotics. Biofilms are clinically important, particularly in relation to infection.

Approximately 80% of all bacterial infections have a biofilm component. "And almost any bacteria that's ever been studied can make them."

Researchers now 

discovered something new—a multicellular self-assembly process in E. coli. Researchers observed unattached, single-celled organisms combining into four-cell rosettes, a natural multicellular formation thought to be uncommon in bacteria.

Rosettes are rather significant in higher organisms, like mammals, because they initiate developmental processes like embryogenesis.

They observed E. coli rosettes grow into constant-width chains, which continue growing for 10 generations before attaching to a surface and creating a biofilm. They saw and recorded the bacterial processes that had never been seen or recorded before.

Devina Puri et al, Evidence of a possible multicellular life cycle in Escherichia coli, iScience (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105795

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 27, 2023 at 11:18am

New spray fights infections and antibiotic resistance

Antibiotic resistance as one of the top ten threats to global health. There is therefore a great need for new solutions to tackle resistant bacteria and reduce the use of antibiotics. A group of researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden are now presenting a new spray that can kill even antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and that can be used for wound care and directly on implants and other medical devices.

This innovation  can have a dual impact in the fight against antibiotic resistance. The material has been shown to be effective against many different types of bacteria, including those that are resistant to antibiotics, such as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), while also having the potential to prevent infections and thus reduce the need for antibiotics.

The material consists of small hydrogel particles equipped with a type of peptide that effectively kills and binds bacteria. Attaching the peptides to the particles provides a protective environment and increases the stability of the peptides. This allows them to work together with body fluids such as blood, which otherwise inactivates the peptides, making them difficult to use in health care. In previous studies, the researchers showed how the peptides can be used for  wound care materials such as wound dressings.

They have now published two new studies in which the bactericidal material is used in the form of a wound spray and as a coating on medical devices that are introduced into our bodies. This new step in the research means that the innovation can be used in more ways and be of even greater benefit in health care.

Edvin Blomstrand et al, Cross-linked lyotropic liquid crystal particles functionalized with antimicrobial peptides, International Journal of Pharmaceutics (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2022.122215

Annija Stepulane et al, Multifunctional Surface Modification of PDMS for Antibacterial Contact Killing and Drug-Delivery of Polar, Nonpolar, and Amphiphilic Drugs, ACS Applied Bio Materials (2022). DOI: 10.1021/acsabm.2c00705

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