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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 31, 2020 at 6:11am

Mothers pass on allergies to offspring, preclinical study shows

Mothers can pass allergies to offspring while they are developing in the womb, researchers  reported this week .

The research on mice shows that the key antibody responsible for triggering allergic reactions, immunoglobulin E (IgE), can cross the placenta and enter the fetus. When inside the fetus, the antibody binds to fetal mast cells, a type of immune cell that releases chemicals that trigger allergic reactions, from runny noses to asthma. After birth, newborn mice develop allergic reactions to the same type of allergen as their mothers at the time of first exposure—unlike adult mice, which require two exposures. Studies in the laboratory also showed that maternal IgE can bind to human fetal mast cells, indicating they might cross the placenta in humans in a similar way.

Rasha Msallam et al. Fetal mast cells mediate postnatal allergic responses dependent on maternal IgE, Science (2020). DOI: 10.1126/science.aba0864

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-10-mothers-allergies-offspring-...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 31, 2020 at 6:05am

Researchers develop a new way to create a spectrum of natural-looking hair colours

We been warned of the risks of dyeing hair at home and in salons. Products used can cause allergies and skin irritation—an estimated 1% of people have an allergy to dye. Furthermore, repeated use of some dyes has been linked to cancer.

But there soon may be a solution for the growing list of salons and hair colour enthusiasts searching for natural alternatives to dyes and cosmetics.

Researchers have developed a new way to create a spectrum of natural-looking hair colours, ranging from blond to black, by using enzymes to catalyze synthetic melanin.

Melanin is an enigmatic and ubiquitous material often found in the form of brown or black pigment. 

In the new process,  researchers dye hair by combining mushroom enzymes with an amino acid, causing a process that mimics reactions that naturally occur in the body. Preliminary studies revealed potential for the coloured layer to persist through several washes.

The research  identifies four key advantages to using synthetic melanin instead of traditional dyes:

• Synthetic melanin avoids the use of ammonia as a base layer.
• The precursors to treating hair with melanin are less toxic.
• The process uses safer, more scalable chemicals.
• There is vast potential in future cosmetic translations of synthetic melanin.

Claudia Battistella et al. Bioinspired Chemoenzymatic Route to Artificial Melanin for Hair Pigmentation, Chemistry of Materials (2020). pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.chemmater.0c02790

https://phys.org/news/2020-10-spectrum-natural-looking-hair.html?ut...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 31, 2020 at 5:57am

To survive asteroid impact, algae adopted Mixotrophy

Modern relatives of the ancient algae also have chloroplasts, which enable them to use sunlight to make food from carbon dioxide and water. This ability to survive both by feeding on other organisms and through photosynthesis is called mixotrophy. Examples of the few land plants with this ability include Venus flytraps and sundews.

Mixotrophy was both the means of initial survival and then an advantage after the post-asteroid darkness lifted because of the abundant small pretty cells, likely survivor cyanobacteria. Tiny, seemingly harmless ocean plants survived the darkness of the asteroid strike that killed the dinosaurs by learning a ghoulish behaviour—eating other living creatures.

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Vast amounts of debris, soot, and aerosols shot into the atmosphere when an asteroid slammed into Earth 66 million years ago, plunging the planet into darkness, cooling the climate, and acidifying the oceans. Along with the dinosaurs on the land and giant reptiles in the ocean, the dominant species of marine algae were instantly wiped out—except for one rare type.

Researchers found that once the post-asteroid darkness cleared, these mixotrophic algae expanded from coastal shelf areas into the open ocean where they became a dominant life form for the next million years, helping to quickly rebuild the food chain. It also helped that larger creatures who would normally feed on these algae were initially absent in the post-extinction oceans.

Only much later did the algae evolve, losing the ability to eat other creatures and re-establishing themselves to become one of the dominant species of algae in today's ocean.

"Algal plankton turn to hunting to survive and recover from end-Cretaceous impact darkness" Science Advances (2020). advances.sciencemag.org/lookup … .1126/sciadv.abc9123

https://phys.org/news/2020-10-survive-asteroid-impact-algae.html?ut...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 31, 2020 at 5:48am

Explaining dark matter without hypothetical undiscovered particles and without changing physical laws

https://sciencex.com/news/2020-10-dark-hypothetical-undiscovered-pa...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 30, 2020 at 10:24am

A Triple Threat Against Cancer
A three-in-one approach combining immune checkpoint inhibition, tumor microenvironment targeting and chemotherapy drugs could help tackle difficult-to-treat tumors.

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Tube-dwelling anemone toxins have pharmacological potential, mappin...

Researchers based in Brazil and the United States have completed the first-ever mapping exercise to profile the toxins produced by tube-dwelling anemones, or cerianthids, a family of marine animals belonging to the same phylum (Cnidaria) as sea anemones, jellyfish and corals. The analysis revealed that the toxins that can act on the nervous system, cardiovascular system, and cell walls, among other functions, paving the way to the discovery of novel medications.

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Scientists explain the paradox of quantum forces in nanodevices

Researchers from the Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU) have proposed a new approach to describe the interaction of metals with electromagnetic fluctuations (i.e., with random bursts of electric and magnetic fields). The obtained results have applications in both fundamental physics, and for creating nanodevices for various purposes. The article was published in the European Physical Journal C.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 30, 2020 at 10:13am

How malaria parasites hide from the human immune system

The parasite may turn genes on or off to allow the spleen to clean up infected blood cells

Malaria parasites survive tough times by not being too clingy.

During Africa’s dry season, when mosquitoes are scarce, malaria parasites have a hard time spreading to new hosts. So the parasites hide out in the human body by keeping the cells they infect from clinging to blood vessels, researchers report October 26 in Nature Medicine. This way, infected cells get removed from circulation and parasite levels in the body remain low, making people less sick and allowing the parasite to persist undetected. 

Doctors have long observed that symptoms of malaria, a deadly mosquito-borne infection, tend to wane during the dry season, which runs from January to May. But the reason has been unclear.

Keeping a low profile during dry months is a successful strategy for the parasite.

C. M. Andrade et al. Increased circulation time of Plasmodium falciparum underlies persistent asymptomatic infection in the dry season. Nature Medicine. Published online October 26, 2020. doi: 10.1038/s41591-020-1084-0.      

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/malaria-parasite-mosquitoes-gen...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 30, 2020 at 8:44am

New system uses floor vibrations to detect building occupants

Many buildings, manufacturing sites, shopping malls and other public spaces are equipped with occupant detection systems. These systems generally rely on cameras or occupants’ mobile phones. Such technologies infringe on privacy and may not function in emergencies such as fires. Scientists at ENAC’s Applied Computing and Mechanics Laboratory (IMAC) have developed an alternative approach. By installing sensors in a building’s floor slabs, we can measure the vibrations created by footsteps. That lets us calculate the number of people in the building as well as where they are located and their trajectory. The signals the sensors record can vary considerably depending on the person’s anatomy, walking speed, shoe type, health and mood.

This method uses advanced algorithms – or more specifically, support vector machines – to classify the signals recorded by the sensors. Some interpretation strategies were inspired by the convolutional neural networks often employed in pixel-based image recognition, and can identify the footstep characteristics of specific occupants.

https://techxplore.com/news/2020-10-floor-vibrations-occupants.html...'%20mobile%20phones.

https://researchnews.cc/news/3304/New-system-uses-floor-vibrations-...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 30, 2020 at 8:09am

CRISPR turns normal body fat into a type that burns energy

Metabolic conditions linked to obesity could be treated by removing fat from a person, turning it into energy-burning “beige fat” using CRISPR gene editing and then implanting the altered fat back into the body, animal studies suggest.

It would be a personalised therapy for metabolic disease

 https://www.newscientist.com/article/2257655-crispr-turns-normal-bo...

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The spooky and dangerous side of black licorice

Black licorice may look and taste like an innocent treat, but this candy has a dark side. On Sept. 23, 2020, it was reported that black licorice was the culprit in the death of a 54-year-old man in Massachusetts. How could this be? Overdosing on licorice sounds more like a twisted tale than a plausible fact.

The unfortunate man who recently succumbed to excessive black licorice consumption is not alone. There are a smattering of similar case reports in medical journals, in which patients experience hypertension crisis, muscle breakdown or even death. Adverse reactions are most frequently seen in people over the age of 40 who are eating far more black licorice than the average person. In addition, they are usually consuming the product for prolonged periods of time. In the most recent case, the Massachusetts man had been eating a bag and a half of black licorice every day for three weeks.

Glycyrrhizin (also called glycyrrhizic acid) is the chemical in black licorice that gives the candy its signature flavor, but it also leads to its toxic effects.

https://theconversation.com/the-spooky-and-dangerous-side-of-black-...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 30, 2020 at 7:42am

UN report says up to 850,000 animal viruses could be caught by humans, unless we protect nature

Human damage to biodiversity is leading us into a pandemic era. The virus that causes COVID-19, for example, is linked to similar viruses in bats, which may have been passed to humans via pangolins or another species.

Environmental destruction such as land clearing, deforestation, climate change, intense agriculture and the wildlife trade is putting humans into closer contact with wildlife. Animals carry microbes that can be transferred to people during these encounters.

A major report released today says up to 850,000 undiscovered viruses which could be transferred to humans are thought to exist in mammal and avian hosts.

The report, by The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), says to avoid future pandemics, humans must urgently transform our relationship with the environment.

https://theconversation.com/un-report-says-up-to-850-000-animal-vir...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 30, 2020 at 6:48am

**Identifying biomolecule fragments in ionising radiation

When living cells are bombarded with fast, heavy ions, their interactions with water molecules can produce randomly scattered 'secondary' electrons with a wide range of energies. These electrons can then go on to trigger potentially damaging reactions in nearby biological molecules, producing electrically charged fragments. So far, however, researchers have yet to determine the precise energies at which secondary electrons produce certain fragments. In a new study published in EPJ D, researchers in Japan led by Hidetsugu Tsuchida at Kyoto University define for the first time the precise exact ranges in which positively and negatively charged fragments can be produced.

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**Study shows comets impacted start of life on earth

The Big Bang may have started the universe, but it's likely that littler bangs played a key role in life on Earth, say Albion College Physics Professor Nicolle Zellner and Chemistry Professor Vanessa McCaffrey. They (along with former student Jayden Butler, '17) share their fascinating findings on the interspace dispersal of glycolaldehyde (GLA) in an article recently published by the journal Astrobiology.

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