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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 10, 2020 at 6:49am

Scientists reveal roles of microbes on methylmercury production and degradation in rice paddy soils

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is recently confirmed as a potential bioaccumulator plant of methylmercury (MeHg). Methylation of inorganic Hg influences the MeHg content in paddy soil, which directly affects the MeHg levels in rice seeds.

Studies on the mechanism of Hg methylation in rice paddies are significant to lower MeHg accumulation in rice and to reduce human health risks through contaminated rice consumption. MeHg cycling is mostly controlled by microbes but their importance in MeHg production and degradation in paddy soils remains unclear.

Scientists now revealed the roles of microbes in MeHg cycling in rice paddy soils. They employed a series of incubation experiments and stable isotope tracer techniques to investigate the relative importance of different microbial groups of MeHg production and degradation across a Hg contamination gradient.

The results showed that sulfate-reduction was the main driver of MeHg formation and concentration at non-contaminated sites. However, methanogenesis exhibited a complex and important role in controlling MeHg cycling at Hg mining sites.

The researchers further proposed that methanogenesis directly affected MeHg degradation via oxidative demethylation and indirectly affected MeHg production by out-competing other microbial guilds.

As a result, management of methanogenesis at Hg mining sites may shed new light on the potential for mitigation of MeHg production and reducing the risk of human exposure to MeHg.

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.0c00268

https://researchnews.cc/news/3468/Scientists-reveal-roles-of-microb...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 10, 2020 at 6:49am

New type of antivenom to reduce 100,000 fatalities each year from venomous snake bites being developed

One of the most neglected tropical problems, snakebites can be life-threatening when venom toxins are injected and enter the bloodstream attacking the blood circulatory system or nervous system. In particular, in poor and remote tropical regions where immediate access to specialised medical care is limited, venomous snake bites cause between 81,000 and 138,000 deaths and 400,000 disabilities in surviving victims each year, according to WHO estimates. Surviving snakebite victims often suffer from scars and disfigurement, and can be ostracised and discriminated against due to engrained cultural prejudice, adding to human and emotional burden.

Currently, the only known treatment is antivenom; an approach implemented in 1896 by Albert Calmette based on antibodies collected from horses and sheep that have become immune to the toxins in the venom. Although this treatment has saved many lives, it is weakly effective as snake venoms and their toxins vary significantly across all subspecies and only 10 to 15 per cent of the antibodies in the sera bind to the venom. To effect cure, multiple vials of antivenom are often needed but each additional vial induces higher levels of adverse side effects and increased treatment costs.

A new project will use the innovative ADDomer© platform to design an antivenom virus-like particle (VLP) therapy of unparalleled clinical effectiveness. Importantly, unlike antivenom which must be refrigerated, this new therapy is being developed so it can be stored at room temperature. Rapid treatment can significantly improve a victim’s chances of survival, this new advance would allow medication to be stored at local sites across the remote farming communities of sub-Saharan Africa where the disease is most prevalent.

Applying cutting-edge analysis techniques the team will sequence the complex genetic make-up of venom from the most prevalent and poisonous Sub-Saharan snakes; the saw-scaled viper, the green mamba and related species.

Using protein engineering the team will develop their unique type of snakebite treatment that can bind and neutralise the pathogenic function of all toxins of these snakes irrespective of species or geography, and without adverse effect risk that can be implemented with cost-effective technologies and requiring less manufacturing logistics. 

 http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2020/november/anti-venom.html

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 9, 2020 at 8:26am

Salamanders provide a model for spinal-cord regeneration  
“Salamanders are unique because they are one of the only tetrapods able to regrow spinal cords with full functionality.  After an injury, these amphibians are able to “magically” regrow their spinal cords and regain locomotion.A team of scientists is looking into exactly how the process works.  The scientists plan to combine methods from genomics, neuroscience, computer modeling and biorobotics to decipher the neural mechanisms underpinning spinal-cord regeneration.https://actu.epfl.ch/news/salamanders-provide-a-model-for-spinal-co...

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Salamanders provide a model for spinal-cord regeneration  

“Salamanders are unique because they are one of the only tetrapods able to regrow spinal cords with full functionality.  After an injury, these amphibians are able to “magically” regrow their spinal cords and regain locomotion.

A team of scientists is looking into exactly how the process works.   The scientists plan to combine methods from genomics, neuroscience, computer modeling and biorobotics to decipher the neural mechanisms underpinning spinal-cord regeneration.

https://actu.epfl.ch/news/salamanders-provide-a-model-for-spinal-co...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 9, 2020 at 8:26am

Salamanders provide a model for spinal-cord regeneration  
“Salamanders are unique because they are one of the only tetrapods able to regrow spinal cords with full functionality.  After an injury, these amphibians are able to “magically” regrow their spinal cords and regain locomotion.A team of scientists is looking into exactly how the process works.  The scientists plan to combine methods from genomics, neuroscience, computer modeling and biorobotics to decipher the neural mechanisms underpinning spinal-cord regeneration.https://actu.epfl.ch/news/salamanders-provide-a-model-for-spinal-co...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 8, 2020 at 7:49am

A Modem With a Tiny Mirror Cabinet Could Help Connect The Quantum Internet

Quantum physics promises huge advances not just in quantum computing but also in a quantum internet – a next-generation framework for transferring data from one place to another. Scientists have now invented technology suitable for a quantum modem that could act as a network gateway.

https://journals.aps.org/prx/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevX.10.041025

https://www.sciencealert.com/physicists-invent-a-modem-that-could-h...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 8, 2020 at 7:09am

Heavy Metal Pollution Is Weakening Scallop Shells And Threatening T...

Shellfish such as scallops, mussels and oysters – bivalve molluscs – readily take up tiny specs of metals into their tissues and shells. In sufficient concentrations this can harm their growth and survival chances, and even threaten the health of any human who eats their contaminated meat. Such shellfish provide one-quarter of the world’s seafood, so the impact of pollution from the “heavy metals” such as lead, zinc and copper, is hugely important.

https://theconversation.com/metal-pollution-is-leaving-scallops-hel...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 7, 2020 at 9:09am

First Case Study of Its Kind Documents Girl With Mirror Movement And Rare Disorder

If you sit down at a piano, hitting different notes with each hand would be the first step to mastering the instrument. But what if both hands are intent on doing the same thing? That's the experience of people with a rare condition known as mirror movement, and doctors have now documented a unique case.

Several years ago, researchers in India identified a case of this extremely rare condition in a 13-year-old girl who also has a diagnosis of the chromosomal disorder Turner syndrome.  

Finding the two conditions together is a first for the medical community, raising questions of how – or even whether – the two might potentially be connected.

Most tiny humans take a while to become dextrous, but by age 10 the communication between the two halves of our brain allows us to pinch, poke, wave and wiggle the fingers on each hand independently of one another.

For about one in every million children, this development is incomplete, meaning one hand's actions are echoed simultaneously by the other. Make a victory sign with your left hand, and your right will be forced to approximate a similar shape.

The fundamental cause of such copy-cat movement is still largely a matter of speculation, though there's reason to suspect key nerves in the brain are 'cross-talking' as a result of the formation of false synapses between neurons.

In about a third of all cases mutations in a couple of genes appear to be responsible, impairing development of the nervous system in such a way that instructions from either side of the brain are accidentally transmitted to both sides of the body.

individuals who also have cerebral palsy will display degrees of mirror movements. Parkinson's disease is another condition that can come with this form of so-called synkinesia, especially if it affects more one side of the brain than the other.

Having breaks or an absence of connection between the hemispheres – a bridge of neurons called the corpus callosum – can also coincide with the behaviour. It's in many of these cases that a genetic link has been uncovered.

Kallmann syndrome is a condition caused by lack of certain hormones, giving rise to characteristics such as a lack of smell and delayed puberty. And, sometimes, mirror movements.

Turner syndrome is also a condition that impacts on a body's ability to coordinate hormonal responses.

Before this case, nobody had recorded a person who had the chromosomal abnormality and would experience mirror movements as well.

https://casereports.bmj.com/content/13/11/e238482

https://www.sciencealert.com/adolescent-girl-diagnosed-with-mirror-...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 7, 2020 at 8:59am

Scientists Just Successfully Regenerated Mouse Optic Nerve Cells in The Lab

Scientists have found a new way to regenerate damaged optic nerve cells taken from mice and grown in a dish. This exciting development could lead to potential eye disease treatments in the future.

Damage to full-grown nerve cells causes irreversible and life-altering consequences, because once nerve fibres mature, they lose their ability to regenerate after injury or disease. The new experiments show how activating part of a nerve cell's regenerative machinery, a protein known as protrudin, could stimulate nerves in the eye to regrow after injury. 

With more research, the achievement is a step towards future treatments for glaucoma, a group of eye diseases which cause vision loss by damaging the optic nerve (that links the eye to the brain).

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19436-y

https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-succeed-in-regenerating-opt...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 7, 2020 at 8:34am

The COVID-19 Clinical Neuroscience Study (COVID-CNS)

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 7, 2020 at 8:29am

A month delay to cancer care might raise death risk: study

Delaying cancer treatment by just a month can put patients at a sharply greater risk of dying, according to research published Wednesday, the latest to sound the alarm over the coronavirus pandemic's impact on other health conditions. Treatment delays happen in normal times, but the spread of Covid-19 has caused unprecedented disruption to healthcare services. In a new study published in the BMJ medical journal, researchers in the UK and Canada found that delays in treatment -- whether for surgery, radiotherapy, or other treatments such as chemotherapy -- for seven types of cancers had a significant impact on patient mortality. There has never been a systematic attempt to look at all the evidence on what delays in different types of treatment mean for cancer patient outcomes.

https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4087

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