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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 20, 2025 at 1:38pm

World’s first bladder transplant
A 41-year-old man has become the first person to receive a bladder transplant. Surgeons in the United States transplanted the bladder, together with a kidney, earlier this month, in an operation that lasted eight hours.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/18/health/bladder-transplant-human....

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 20, 2025 at 1:03pm

Physicists determine how to cut onions with fewer tears

A team of physicists, biologists and engineers  has discovered some of the factors that lead to more or less spray when cutting onions and found a couple of ways to reduce the amount of eye irritation. The group has published a paper describing their study on the arXiv preprint server.

Prior research has shown that eye irritation when cutting onions is caused by the release of syn-propanethial-S-oxide into the air along with other juices in the onion. For this new study, the team in New York wanted to know what factors led to more or less of the juices being spewed into the air during slicing.

To find out, the research team outfitted a special guillotine that could be fitted with different types of blades. They also coated onion chunks with paint to allow for better viewing of the cutting process. They used the guillotine to cut samples, each of which was recorded. Trials varied knife size, sharpness and cutting speed. They even used an electron microscope to accurately measure the knives before use.

The videos revealed that the differences in the amount of spray released, and thus the amount of eye irritation, were due to the sharpness of the knife and the speed at which it cut the onion. The sharper the knife, and slower the cut, the less spray. This was because duller knives tended to push down on the onion, forcing its layers to bend inward—as the cut ensued, the layers sprang back, forcing juice out into the air.

They also noted that as the juice droplets were flung into the air, they tended to fragment into smaller drops, which allowed them to persist longer. Faster cutting also resulted in more juice generation, and thus more mist to irritate the eyes.

They conclude that onion cutters use the sharpest knife they can find and cut their onions slowly.

Zixuan Wu et al, Droplet Outbursts from Onion Cutting, arXiv (2025). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2505.06016

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 20, 2025 at 12:58pm

Positive proof-of-concept experiments may lead to the world's first treatment for celiac disease

An investigational treatment for celiac disease effectively controls the condition—at least in an animal model—in a first-of-its-kind therapeutic for a condition that affects approximately 70 million people worldwide.

Currently, there is no treatment for celiac disease, which is caused by dietary exposure to gluten, a protein in wheat, barley and rye. The grains can produce severe intestinal symptoms, leading to inflammation and bloating.

A series of innovative experiments has produced "a cell soothing" technique that targets regulatory T cells, the immune system components commonly known as T_regs.

The cell-based technique borrows from a form of cancer therapy and underlies a unique discovery that may eventually lead to a new treatment strategy, data in the study suggests.

In an animal model, Porret and his global team of researchers have tested the equivalent of CAR T cell therapy against celiac disease. The team acknowledged that the "Treg contribution to the natural history of celiac disease is still controversial," but the researchers also demonstrated that at least in their animal model of human celiac disease, the treatment worked.

CAR T cell therapy is a type of cancer immunotherapy in which a patient's T cells are genetically modified in the laboratory to recognize and kill cancer cells. The cells are then infused back into the patient to provide a round-the-clock form of cancer treatment. In the case of celiac disease, the T cells are modified to affect the activity of T cells that become hyperactive in the presence of gluten.

To make this work, the researchers had to know every aspect of the immune response against gluten. "Celiac disease, a gluten-sensitive enteropathy, demonstrates a strong human leukocyte antigen association, with more than 90% of patients carrying the HLA-DQ2.5 allotype, the researchers wrote, describing the human leukocyte antigen profile of most patients with celiac disease.

As a novel treatment against the condition, the team engineered effector T cells and regulatory T cells and successfully tested them in their animal model. Scientists infused these cells together into mice and evaluated the regulatory T cells' ability to quiet the effector T cells response to gluten. They observed that oral exposure to gluten caused the effector cells to flock to the intestines when they were infused without the engineered T_regs.

However, the engineered regulatory T cells prevented this gut migration and suppressed the effector T cells' proliferation in response to gluten. Although this is a first step, the promising early results indicate that cell therapy approaches could one day lead to a long-sought treatment for this debilitating intestinal disorder.

 Raphaël Porret et al, T cell receptor precision editing of regulatory T cells for celiac disease, Science Translational Medicine (2025). DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adr8941

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 20, 2025 at 12:51pm

Better than stitches: Researchers develop biocompatible patch for soft organ injuries

Researchers developed an injectable sealant for rapid hemostasis and tissue adhesion in soft, elastic organs.

Formulated with methacryloyl-modified human recombinant tropoelastin (MeTro) and Laponite silicate nanoplatelets (SNs), the engineered hydrogel demonstrated substantial improvements in tissue adhesion strength and hemostatic efficacy in preclinical models involving lung and arterial injuries.

Injuries to soft tissues such as lungs, heart, and blood vessels complicate surgical closure due to their constant motion and elasticity. Sutures, wires, and staples are mechanically fixed, risking blood loss when applied to tissues that expand and contract with each breath or heartbeat. Existing hemostatic agents, including fibrin-based sealants, aim to stem blood flow but may trigger intense coagulation responses in patients with clotting disorders.
In the study, "Rapid closure and hemostasis of ruptured soft tissues using a modified human tropoelastin-based sealant in preclinical models," published in Science Translational Medicine, researchers conducted preclinical testing of an engineered hydrogel combining MeTro and Laponite SNs to assess tissue adhesion and hemostatic efficacy in soft tissues.

Preclinical testing involved arterial injury models in rat and lung injury in pig subjects to assess the sealant's performance in soft, elastic organs. Researchers measured adhesion strength, clotting time, and tissue response to evaluate the effectiveness of the MeTro/SN formulation under dynamic physiological conditions.

Prepolymer solutions of MeTro and varying concentrations of SNs were prepared and cross-linked using visible light. Rat and pig subjects underwent injury procedures to assess the sealant's efficacy.

Testing involved ex vivo adhesion strength measurements on pig skin, lung, and heart tissues, with burst pressure evaluated on punctured collagen sheets. Hemostatic performance was assessed through clotting time analysis using fresh human blood treated with MeTro/SN hydrogels and commercial hemostatic agents.

Integration of SNs reduced clotting time without inducing inflammatory responses, supporting the hydrogel's potential for rapid intervention in hemorrhagic wounds. Biocompatibility analysis demonstrated minimal immune response and tissue damage after implantation, suggesting a low-risk profile for clinical translation.

Mahsa Ghovvati et al, Rapid closure and hemostasis of ruptured soft tissues using a modified human tropoelastin-based sealant in preclinical models, Science Translational Medicine (2025). DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adr6458

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 17, 2025 at 9:10am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 17, 2025 at 8:43am

Heart break can kill people

We're all aware of the psychological pain of a broken heart – countless books, songs, and movies have been written and made on the topic – but there's also scientific evidence that a broken heart can be fatal too.

The technical term is takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TC), a weakening of the heart brought on by physical or emotional stress. A new study from researchers looked at data on 199,890 patients in the US between 2016 and 2020.

Incidence of TC rose slightly over the study period for both males and females, but overall incidence was generally higher for females. Fatalities and complications caused by the condition were relatively high. This fits in with previous research suggesting this 'broken heart syndrome' is becoming more common

Although the condition was more common in women, deaths were more than twice as likely in men, with 11.2 percent of males dying compared with 5.5 percent of females. The overall death rate was 6.5 percent.

The researchers have put forward a hypothesis for the gap between men and women. TC is believed to be brought on by a surge of stress hormones, triggered by either physical or emotional stress – so a physical stress might be surgery or an infection, whereas emotional stress could be a divorce or the death of a loved one.

Physical stress TC is more common in men, which may explain the higher numbers of deaths brought on by the condition. The researchers also think differences in hormone balances between the sexes could play a role. Complications resulting from TC included congestive heart failure (35.9 percent of patients), atrial fibrillation (20.7 percent), cardiogenic shock (6.6 percent), stroke (5.3 percent) and cardiac arrest (3.4 percent).

https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.124.037219

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 17, 2025 at 8:37am

Researchers have coaxed stem cells to grow into amniotic sacs filled with fluid

The model sacs, which grew to roughly the same size as a four-week-old sac surrounding a developing embryo, could be used to study the protective structure.

The amnion is a thin, transparent film that forms a fluid-filled sac that shields and cushions an embryo, potentially supporting its development. But researchers can’t easily access and study the tissue at early stages of pregnancy. Stem-cell models are a way to investigate early embryo development, but researchers first need to recreate in the laboratory what grows in the womb. The latest study, published in Cell today, is the most advanced model of the amniotic sac so far.

https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(25)00458-1?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0092867425004581%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 17, 2025 at 7:20am

How do middle-aged folks get dementia?

Dementia usually affects older people, so when it occurs in middle age, it can be hard to recognize. The most common form is frontotemporal dementia (FTD), which is often mistaken for depression, schizophrenia, or Parkinson's disease before the correct diagnosis is reached.

Now, researchers  have found some clues about how FTD develops that could lead to new diagnostics and get more patients into clinical trials. The findings appear in Nature Aging.

The team measured more than 4,000 proteins found in spinal tap fluid from 116 FTD patients and compared them to those from 39 of their healthy relatives. All 116 patients had inherited forms of FTD, enabling researchers to study the disease in living people with a confirmed diagnosis, something that isn't possible in non-inherited FTD cases, which can only be confirmed after death.

The composition of the proteins that changed in FTD suggests that these patients have problems with RNA regulation—required for the proper expression of genes in the brain—along with defects that affect connections in their brains. These proteins, researchers think, could be the first specific markers for FTD that emerge as the disease develops in middle age.

Using some of the proteins the researchers have identified, we can now direct patients to the right resources, get them into the right therapeutic trials, and, ultimately, we can now provide them with precision treatments.

Nature Aging (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s43587-025-00878-2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 15, 2025 at 9:58am

Patchy geographical coverage of dog vaccinations is a key barrier for rabies elimination

Dog vaccination programs are a highly effective way to control and, ultimately, eliminate rabies; however, new research has shown just how detrimental geographical gaps in vaccine coverage can be for virus control.

The new research examined two decades of dog vaccination data from the Serengeti district, from 2002 to 2022. The study is published in PLOS Biology.

Through analysis of detailed local data, researchers were able to show where vaccination programs had been effective, and, importantly, why some dog-mediated rabies outbreaks had occurred.

Researchers found that when district-wide dog vaccination was both routine and comprehensive in its geographical coverage, rabies outbreaks in humans were few or none. However, rabies cases in humans did begin to occur when some areas, such as clusters of villages, remained unvaccinated for more than two years.

The study findings show that sustained control of rabies  will require scaled-up dog vaccination efforts, focused on uniform coverage across a wide area, as frequent dog movements mean that neighboring unvaccinated areas are a persistent source of rabies cases in vaccinated areas.

Rabies circulates so widely that even if you protect some villages for a period, it's likely that disease will return, spreading from domestic dogs in nearby villages that are unvaccinated. That means dog vaccination needs to be a concerted and coordinated effort, say the researchers.

Despite effective post-exposure human vaccines being available, dog-mediated rabies is still responsible for tens of thousands of human deaths every year. These are predominantly in Africa and Asia, where rural communities are most at-risk of both bites from infected dogs and being unable to secure post-bite vaccination on time. Of those who die of the disease, the WHO estimate four in ten are children.

Elaine A. Ferguson et al, Improved effectiveness of vaccination campaigns against rabies by reducing spatial heterogeneity in coverage, PLOS Biology (2025). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002872

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 15, 2025 at 9:51am

Uncovering compounds that tame the heat of chili peppers: Study challenges reliability of Scoville scale

When biting into a chili pepper, you expect a fiery sensation on your tongue. This spiciness is detected because of capsaicinoid compounds. But for some peppers, despite high levels of capsaicinoids, the heat is mysteriously dull.

Now, researchers reporting in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry have identified three compounds that lessen peppers' pungency. These results challenge the reliability of the century-old Scoville scale, which traditionally bases its rating on two capsaicinoids.

Capsaicinoids are a group of compounds that produce the strong spicy sensation or pungency that comes with consuming chili peppers. The combined amount of capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin in a pepper is used to calculate its heat intensity rating on the Scoville scale, ranging from zero Scoville Heat Units (SHU) for bell peppers to millions of SHU for the hottest peppers.

However, some of these fruits have less heat than would be expected from their Scoville rating, which suggests that something else in the pepper influences that spicy sensation. So, researchers wanted to investigate multiple chili pepper varieties for potential spiciness suppressors.

In their experiments, the researchers identified five compounds that could be modulating pepper spiciness.

Another set of panelists assessed whether these compounds, alone or in combination, changed the pungency of capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin. Three of the five compounds (capsianoside I, roseoside and gingerglycolipid A) reduced the heat intensity, though they didn't have an additive effect when combined. In addition, none of the spiciness suppressors had a noticeable flavor in water.

These advancements could enable the customization of desirable spicy flavor profiles or lead to the creation of a household ingredient designed to tone down excessive heat in dishes—the anti-spice. Also, they hold significant medical potential in the design of (non-opioid) analgesic agents for pain management.

Identification of Chili Pepper Compounds That Suppress Pungency Perception, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (2025). DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.5c01448

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