Comment

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 19, 2024 at 9:36am

The hidden health risks of styrene and ethylbenzene exposure

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a critical public health issue, with its prevalence expected to rise sharply worldwide. Recent evidence points to environmental pollution, specifically exposure to hazardous chemicals like styrene and ethylbenzene, as a contributing factor for the disease.

Found in plastics, synthetic rubbers, and resins, these pollutants are pervasive in the environment and pose significant health threats. Addressing these challenges requires a deeper understanding of how environmental and genetic factors combine to influence T2DM risk.

A new study,  published  in Eco-Environment & Health, followed 2,219 adults from the Wuhan-Zhuhaicohort over six years to investigate the effects of styrene and ethylbenzene exposure on T2DM development. Using urinary biomarkers and genetic risk scores, the study assessed the combined impact of environmental exposure and genetic predisposition.

The findings demonstrate that exposure to styrene and ethylbenzene significantly elevates the risk of T2DM. The research highlights that individuals with high exposure levels had a substantially increased risk, which was further intensified by genetic susceptibility. Participants with both high exposure and high genetic risk faced the greatest likelihood of developing T2DM, illustrating a potent additive interaction.

This suggests that the joint impact of environmental pollutants and genetic factors on T2DM is more severe than their individual contributions, underscoring the need to control environmental exposures, particularly for those with genetic vulnerabilities.

Linling Yu et al, Styrene and ethylbenzene exposure and type 2 diabetes mellitus: A longitudinal gene-environment interaction study, Eco-Environment & Health (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.eehl.2024.07.001

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 19, 2024 at 9:33am

What is the microbiome?

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 19, 2024 at 9:28am

Bacterial infections could be trigger for type 1 diabetes, new research suggests

For the first time, scientists have found that proteins from bacteria can trigger the immune system to attack insulin-producing cells, leading to the development of type 1 diabetes.

The new research showed that killer T-cells—a type of white blood cell that's involved in tackling bacterial infections—can cause type 1 diabetes when activated by bacteria. The researchers showed that proteins from bacterial species known to infect humans could generate killer T-cells that could kill insulin-producing cells.

This research expands on their previous studies, which demonstrated that killer T-cells play a major role in initiating type 1 diabetes by killing insulin producing cells. 

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that usually affects children and young adults, where the cells that produce insulin are attacked by the patient's own immune system. This leads to a lack of insulin, meaning that people living with type 1 diabetes need to inject insulin multiple times a day to control their blood sugar levels.

There is currently no cure for type 1 diabetes and patients require life-long treatment. People living with type 1 diabetes may also develop medical complications later in life, so there is an urgent need to understand the underlying causes of the condition to help us find better treatments.

In laboratory experiments, the researchers introduced bacterial proteins into cell lines from healthy donors and monitored the reaction of killer T-cells from these donors. They found that strong interaction with the bacterial proteins triggered killer T-cells to attack cells that make insulin.

The research, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, provides the first evidence of how proteins from bacterial germs can trigger the type of killer T-cells seen in patients with type 1 diabetes. The team hopes that knowing more about this process, will allow new ways to diagnose, prevent, or even halt the development of type 1 diabetes.

 Garry Dolton et al, HLA A*24:02–restricted T cell receptors cross-recognize bacterial and preproinsulin peptides in type 1 diabetes, Journal of Clinical Investigation (2024). DOI: 10.1172/JCI164535

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 19, 2024 at 9:04am

It sounds straightforward, but patients must be sedated for the procedure, which means they lose a day of work. Endoscopy is also expensive, and there's a shortage of doctors who can do it.

We're only catching 7% of cancers through endoscopy.

Doctors are turning to  artificial intelligence to identify additional characteristics that can improve their ability to identify those most likely to have Barrett's and esophageal cancer.

Researchers are developing an AI tool that scours the electronic medical records of  patients to find those who should be screened for Barrett's. The tool considers more than 7,500 distinct data points, including past medical procedures, lab test results, prescriptions and more. (Among the surprises: A patient's triglycerides and electrolytes had predictive value.)

This is probably something a human would not be able to do efficiently.

In tests, the overall accuracy of the tools was 84%. While those are substantial improvements, the team would like to bump that up to 90% .

Source: LA times

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Part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 19, 2024 at 9:00am

How AI can help researchers make esophageal cancer less deadly

Approximately 600 times a day, the esophagus ferries whatever is in your mouth down to your stomach. It's usually a one-way route, but sometimes acid escapes the stomach and travels back up. That can damage the cells lining the esophagus, prompting them to grow back with genetic mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes culminate in cancer.

Esophageal cancer can be cured if it's discovered and treated before it burrows in deep or spreads to other organs. But that's rarely the case.

To improve on that situation, doctors say they don't necessarily need better medicines. What they need are better ways to find the cancer while it's still in its earliest, highly treatable stages.

And to do that, they need a breakthrough in screening for the disease.

Screening someone for esophageal cancer is not a trivial procedure.

The standard method involves inserting an endoscope—a flexible tube with a camera on one end—into a patient's throat and threading it down to the stomach. The camera allows doctors to inspect the esophagus up close and check for abnormal cells that could become cancerous.

The tube also serves as a conduit for tools that can collect tissue samples, which can be sent to a pathology lab for diagnostic analysis. If a doctor sees a growth that looks like early-stage cancer, it can be removed on the spot.

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 19, 2024 at 8:55am

Iron given through the vein found to correct anemia in pregnant women faster than iron taken orally

A sizable proportion of pregnant women in proceed to give birth while still anemic despite taking iron tablets for prevention during pregnancy. Some reasons for this are that some women do not tolerate the tablets because of side effects like diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting, or they forget to take the tablets.

Available iron preparations given through drip in some countries like iron dextran have been associated with high risk of severe side effects, while iron sucrose needs repeat dosing. There is a need for an effective and safer alternative to overcome these problems.

Anemia (low blood level) is a common cause of ill-health or death in mothers and their babies, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia where more than four out of 10 pregnant women have the condition.

Researchers found that a medicine called ferric carboxymaltose given in drip through the vein works faster and better than an iron tablet taken by mouth for the treatment of anemia—and it is as safe as the tablet. The findings were published in Lancet Global Health in a paper titled "Intravenous versus oral iron for anemia among pregnant Nigerian women (IVON): an open label randomised controlled trial."

 Intravenous versus oral iron for anaemia among pregnant Nigerian women (IVON): an open label randomised controlled trial, The Lancet Global Health (2024). DOI: 10.1016/S2214-109X(24)00239-0. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan … (24)00239-0/fulltext

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 19, 2024 at 8:50am

Discarding the placenta after birth leads to loss of valuable information, pathologists say

In an article published September 18 in Trends in Molecular Medicine, physician-scientists argue that with most placentas discarded after birth, placental pathology is underutilized clinically, should be a routine part of obstetric and neonatal care, and also deserves more research attention.

Placentas should not be considered a waste tissue, they say, because they can teach us a lot about not just what went wrong in a pregnancy, but also inform about subsequent pregnancies for the health of the pregnant person and baby.

The placenta is critical for the exchange of nutrients and waste products between the developing offspring and the pregnant person. If the placenta becomes diseased, it can impact the parent and offspring, both during pregnancy and later in life.

At its most severe, placental pathology can cause stillbirths, and this is the medical scenario in which placentas are most often examined clinically. However, different types of placental pathology are also associated with small birth size and neurological issues in infants, and with hypertension (preeclampsia) and other cardiovascular issues in the parent.

Placental pathology can potentially identify not just the cause of an adverse outcome in the baby, but also insight into why something happened in the mom, and what that means for their health in the future.

Incorporating placental pathology into clinical care and research, Trends in Molecular Medicine (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.molmed.2024.08.002

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 19, 2024 at 8:38am

Highly-sensitive beaks could help albatrosses and penguins find their food

Researchers have discovered that seabirds, including penguins and albatrosses, have highly-sensitive regions in their beaks that could be used to help them find food. This is the first time this ability has been identified in seabirds.

An international team of researchers, led by the University of Cambridge, studied over 350 species of modern birds and found that seabirds have a high density of sensory receptors and nerves at the tip of their beaks, which has been previously identified in specialized tactile foragers such as ducks.

The researchers say this touch-sensitive region could have come from a common ancestor, and further work is needed to determine whether it serves a specific function in modern birds. Further study of their beaks and food-gathering behavior could help conserve some of these birds, many of which are at threat of extinction. The results are reported in the journal Biology Letters.

Tactile bill-tip organs in seabirds suggests conservation of a deep avian symplesiomorphy, Biology Letters (2024). DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0259. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi … .1098/rsbl.2024.0259

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 19, 2024 at 8:30am

The study confirmed that the bubble helps lizards stay underwater for longer periods, providing them with a refuge from predators.

So by jumping in the water, they can escape a lot of their predators, and they remain very still underwater. They're pretty well camouflaged underwater as well, and they just stay underwater until that danger passes. We know that they can stay underwater at least about 20 minutes, but probably longer.

Novel rebreathing adaptation extends dive time in a semi-aquatic lizard, Biology Letters (2024). DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0371. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi … .1098/rsbl.2024.0371

Part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 19, 2024 at 8:25am

"Scuba-diving'' lizards use bubble to breathe underwater and avoid predators

Presenting the world's smallest (and scrappiest) scuba diver: A species of semi-aquatic lizard produces a special bubble over its nostrils to breathe underwater and avoid predators, according to new research.

Water anoles is a type of semi-aquatic lizard found in the tropical forests of southern Costa Rica.

They can stay underwater for a really long time. We also know that they're pulling oxygen from this bubble of air.

“Scuba diving” lizard can stay underwater for 16 to 20 minutes

Lizard skin is hydrophobic. Typically, that allows air to stick very tightly to the skin and permits this bubble to form. But when you cover the skin with an emollient, air no longer sticks to the skin surface, so the bubbles can't form.

This is really significant because this is the first experiment that truly shows the adaptive significance of bubbles. Rebreathing bubbles allows lizards to stay underwater longer.

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