Comment

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 20, 2021 at 9:23am

First steerable catheter developed for brain surgery

A team of engineers and physicians has developed a steerable catheter that for the first time will give neurosurgeons the ability to steer the device in any direction they want while navigating the brain's arteries and blood vessels. The device was inspired by nature, specifically insect legs and flagella—tail-like structures that allow microscopic organisms such as bacteria to swim.

The steerable catheter was successfully tested in pigs .

Tilvawala Gopesh et al, Soft robotic steerable microcatheter for the endovascular treatment of cerebral disorders, Science Robotics (2021). DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.abf0601https://techxplore.com/news/2021-08...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 18, 2021 at 11:30am

 Preserve a Strawberry Forever?

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 18, 2021 at 10:33am

Cities are making mammals bigger

A new study shows urbanization is causing many mammal species to grow bigger, possibly because of readily available food in places packed with people.

The finding runs counter to many scientists' hypothesis that cities would trigger mammals to get smaller over time. Buildings and roads trap and re-emit a greater degree of heat than green landscapes, causing cities to have higher temperatures than their surroundings, a phenomenon known as the urban heat island effect.. Animals in warmer climates tend to be smaller than the same species in colder environments, a classic biological principle called Bergmann's Rule.

But  researchers discovered an unexpected pattern when they analyzed nearly 140,500 measurements of body length and mass from more than 100 North American mammal species collected over 80 years: City-dwelling mammals are both longer and heftier than their rural counterparts.

In theory, animals in cities should be getting smaller because of these heat island effects, but the researchers didn't find evidence for this happening in mammals. This paper is a good argument for why we can't assume Bergmann's Rule or climate alone is important in determining the size of animals.

Maggie M. Hantak et al, Mammalian body size is determined by interactions between climate, urbanization, and ecological traits, Communications Biology (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s42003-021-02505-3

https://phys.org/news/2021-08-cities-mammals-bigger.html?utm_source...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 18, 2021 at 10:20am

The secret of the Stradivari violin confirmed

New research  has confirmed that renowned violin maker Antonio Stradivari and others treated their instruments with chemicals that produced their unique sound, and several of these chemicals have been identified for the first time.

Joseph Nagyvary, professor emeritus of biochemistry at Texas A&M, who first proposed the theory that chemicals used in making the violins—not so much the skill of making the instrument itself—was the reason Stradivari and others, such as Guarneri del Gesu, made instruments whose sound has not been equaled in over 200 years. An international team led by Hwan-Ching Tai, professor of chemistry at National Taiwan University, has had their findings published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition.

About 40 years ago at Texas A&M, Nagyvary was the first to prove a theory that he had spent years researching: that a primary reason for the pristine sound, beyond the fine craftsmanship, was the chemicals Stradivari and others used to treat their instruments due to a worm infestation at the time.

Their  research over many years has been based on the assumption that the wood of the great masters underwent an aggressive chemical treatment, and this had a direct role in creating the great sound of the Stradivari and the Guarneri.

These findings were verified in a review by the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific organization.

The current findings of the research team show that borax, zinc, copper and alum—along with lime water—were used to treat the wood used in the instruments.

The presence of these chemicals all points to collaboration between the violin makers and the local drugstore and druggist at the time. Both Stradivari and Guarneri would have wanted to treat their violins to prevent worms from eating away the wood because worm infestations were very widespread at that time."

He said that each violin maker probably used his own home-grown methods when treating the wood.

"This new study reveals that Stradivari and Guarneri had their own individual proprietary method of wood processing, to which they could have attributed a considerable significance," he said. "They could have come to realize that the special salts they used for impregnation of the wood also imparted to it some beneficial mechanical strength and acoustical advantages. These methods were kept secret. There were no patents in those times. How the wood was manipulated with chemicals was impossible to guess by the visual inspection of the finished product.

He said that the varnish recipes were not secret because the varnish itself is not a critical determinant of tone quality. In contrast, the process of how the fresh spruce planks were treated and processed with a variety of water-based chemical treatments is critical for the sound of the finished violin.

Such knowledge was needed to gain a "competitive advantage" over other instrument makers.

 Cheng‐Kuan Su et al, Materials Engineering of Violin Soundboards by Stradivari and Guarneri, Angewandte Chemie International Edition (2021). DOI: 10.1002/anie.202105252

https://phys.org/news/2021-08-secret-stradivari-violin.html?utm_sou...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 18, 2021 at 10:11am

Three in four say climate 'tipping points' close

Some 73 percent of people now believe that Earth's climate is approaching abrupt and irreversible "tipping points" due to human activity, according to a global opinion poll released on17th August, 2021.

Scientists are increasingly concerned that some feedback loops in nature—such as irreversible melting of icesheets or permafrost—may be close to being triggered as mankind's mind-boggling carbon emissions show no signs of slowing, despite a pandemic.

The IPCC report warned that Earth is on course to be 1.5C hotter than pre-industrial times around 2030—a full decade earlier than it projected just three years ago.

Tuesday's survey, conducted by the Global Commons Alliance and Ipsos MORI, found four out of five respondents wanted to do more to protect the planet.

The world is not sleepwalking towards catastrophe. People know we are taking colossal risks, they want to do more and they want their governments to do more, polls say.

Tuesday's survey showed that people in developing nations were more likely to be willing to protect nature and the climate than those in richer countries.

Ninety-five percent of respondents in Indonesia, and 94 percent in South Africa, said they would do more for the planet, compared with just 70 percent and 74 percent in Germany and the United States, respectively.

https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/global-commons-survey-attitu...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 18, 2021 at 10:07am

Majority of climate change news coverage now accurate: study

Two decades ago, print media frequently gave equal credence to both legitimate climate experts and outlier climate deniers. But researchers found in more recent years that the media around the globe actually got it right most of the time. However, facts now outweigh a debate.

Nine out of ten media stories accurately reported the science on human contributions to climate change. It's not portrayed as a two-sided debate anymore.

Lucy McAllister et al, Balance as bias, resolute on the retreat? Updates & analyses of newspaper coverage in the United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia and Canada over the past 15 years, Environmental Research Letters (2021). DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ac14eb

https://phys.org/news/2021-08-majority-climate-news-coverage-accura...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 18, 2021 at 10:03am

Wash your hands for 20 seconds: Physics shows why

Though hand-washing is proven effective in combating the spread of disease and infection, the physics behind it has rarely been studied. But in Physics of Fluids, researchers describe a simple model that captures the key mechanics of hand-washing.

By simulating hand-washing, they estimated the time scales on which particles, like viruses and bacteria, were removed from hands.

The mathematical model acts in two dimensions, with one wavy surface moving past another wavy surface, and a thin film of liquid between the two. Wavy surfaces represent hands because they are rough on small spatial scales.

Particles are trapped on the rough surfaces of the hand in potential wells. In other words, they are at the bottom of a valley, and in order for them to escape, the energy from the water flow must be high enough to get them up and out of the valley.

The strength of the flowing liquid depends on the speed of the moving hands. A stronger flow removes particles more easily.

Basically, the flow tells you about the forces on the particles. Then you can work out how the particles move and figure out if they get removed.

If you move your hands too gently, too slowly, relative to one another, the forces created by the flowing fluid are not big enough to overcome the force holding the particle down.

It takes about 20 seconds of vigorous movement to dislodge potential viruses and bacteria.

"Will we ever wash our hands of lubrication theory?" Physics of Fluids (2021). aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0060307

https://phys.org/news/2021-08-seconds-physics.html?utm_source=nwlet...

Physics shows why 20 seconds is right for hand-washing

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 18, 2021 at 9:58am

Quantum entanglement is explained in classic terms

In many quantum measurement experiments and thought experiments, measurement results appear that do not seem to have classic explanations. As example: In quantum particle spin experiments, entangled particles appear to interact instantly across distances; and in interferometer experiments, one measurement result appears to be split over two paths. Currently, these measurement phenomena are treated as unique to quantum mechanics and not understandable in classic physics. Recognizing calibration in theory explains and resolves all the differences that appear to occur between classic and quantum measurements.

https://sciencex.com/news/2021-08-quantum-entanglement-classic-term...

More information: M. Born (editor), The Born-Einstein Letters, page 158, Macmillan, London, 1971. "Spooky action at a distance" is a phrase Einstein applied.

J. C. Maxwell, A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, 3rd Edition (1891), Dover Publications, New York, 1954, page 1.

L. Euler, Elements of Algebra, Chapter I, Article I, #3. Third edition, Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Co., London England, 1822. Page 1: "Now, we cannot measure or determine one quantity, except by considering some other quantity of the same kind as known, and pointing out their mutual relation." www.google.com/books/edition/E … &printsec=frontcover

International Vocabulary of Metrology (VIM) 3rd edition, BIPM JCGM 200:2012, para. 2.39 calibration. www.bipm.org/en/publications/guides/vim.html

Measurement, Vol 182, September 2021 doi.org/10.1016/j.measurement.2021.109625

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 18, 2021 at 9:54am

Histamine could be a key player in depression, according to study in mice

Bodily inflammation dampens levels of a "feel-good molecule" and antidepressants' ability to boost them, according to new research in mice.

The findings, from researchers at Imperial College London and University of South Carolina, add to mounting evidence that inflammation, and the accompanying release of the molecule histamine, affects a key molecule responsible for mood in the brain—serotonin.

If replicated in humans, the findings—which identify histamine as a "new molecule of interest" in depression—could open new avenues for treating depression, which is the most common mental health problem worldwide.

Inflammation—a blanket term describing an immune response—triggers the release of histamine in the body. This increases blood flow to affected areas to flood them with immune cells. While these effects help the body fight infections, both long-term and acute inflammation is increasingly linked to depression.

Inflammation accompanies infections but can also be caused by stress, allergic responses and a host of chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.

Melinda Hersey et al, Inflammation-Induced Histamine Impairs the Capacity of Escitalopram to Increase Hippocampal Extracellular Serotonin, The Journal of Neuroscience (2021). DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2618-20.2021

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-08-histamine-key-player-depress...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 18, 2021 at 9:44am

To better understand how this finding translates to disease outcomes, the researchers engineered flies with fragile X-associated tremor ataxia syndrome, a neurodegenerative disorder. They found that increasing the levels of 5MP in the affected flies repressed neuronal toxicity and enhanced their lifespan.

"Taken together, these data suggest that modulation of 5MP levels could be a viable therapeutic target by which to selectively reduce RAN translation in repeat expansion disorders

Chingakham Ranjit Singh et al, Human oncoprotein 5MP suppresses general and repeat-associated non-AUG translation via eIF3 by a common mechanism, Cell Reports (2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109376

part 2

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-08-protein-neurodegenerative-di...

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 571
• 572
• 573
• 574
• 575
• …
• 1061
• Next ›
• Page