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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 10, 2020 at 5:51am

Lung cancer in non-smokers likely to respond differently to treatment

Lung cancer in non-smokers is a diverse and distinct disease from that in smokers, and is likely to respond differently to targeted treatments, a major new study shows.

Scientists studied a population in Taiwan with high rates of lung cancer among non-smokers—and found a range of genetic changes which varied depending on a patient's age or sex.

Many non-smokers with lung cancer had signs of DNA damage from environmental carcinogens, with young women in particular having particular genetic changes which are known to drive cancer to evolve aggressively.

The study could lead to new treatments for non-smokers with lung cancer tailored to the newly identified genetic changes.

The researchers conducted a detailed analysis of genetic changes, gene activation, protein activity and cellular 'switches' in lung cancer to develop the most comprehensive overview of the biology of disease in non-smokers to date.

Looking at the genetics and the related proteins produced by cancer cells in the tumour samples, scientists found that some early-stage lung tumours in non-smokers were biologically similar to more advanced disease in smokers.

Tumours in women often had a particular fault in the well-known lung cancer gene EGFR, whereas in men the most common faults were in the KRAS and APC genes. These differences could affect the response to targeted drugs in men and women.

Picking out people with 'late-like' early-stage lung tumours could help guide treatment decisions, and patients could be monitored more closely for signs of their disease progressing.

The study found a pattern of genetic changes involving the APOBEC gene family in three-quarters of tumours of female patients under the age of 60, and in all women without faults in the EGFR gene.

APOBEC proteins play an important role in the function of the immune system—but they can be hijacked by cancers, speeding up evolution and the emergence of drug resistance, a key area of study in the ICR's new Centre for Cancer Drug Discovery.

Patients without EGFR faults tend to do better on immunotherapy, and so testing for APOBEC could help pick out women more likely to respond to this form of treatment.

The team also picked out groups of patients—particularly among older women—whose cancers had mutation patterns linked to cancer-causing substances in their environment such as pollutants.

Finally, the team identified 65 proteins that were overactive in lung tumours that matched with existing candidate drugs. They found that one protein that cuts away at the surrounding tissue, called MMP11, was linked to poorer survival—and could be explored as a marker for early detection.

This new study offers a deep dive into the biology of lung cancer in people who have never smoked. It reveals new ways of telling apart patients with different tumour characteristics that could be exploited with tailored treatment strategies.

Cell (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.06.012

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-07-lung-cancer-non-smokers-diff...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 10, 2020 at 5:43am

The human brain: not just large but finely shaped

Large brains have long differentiated humans and primates from other mammals and there is a clear evidence that brain mass increased through time.

 a new study by the University of New England, in collaboration with Italian and American institutes, has shown that the evolution of higher cognitive capacity is not only due to having a larger brain but also due to the brain having the "right" shape.

While brain size has long been the preferred measured trait for anthropological investigations, the brain is not uniform in shape and displays considerable structural variation.

The researchers were particularly interested in how humans evolved to have the distinct large, globular shaped brains we have today.

To answer the question they conducted a novel large-scale evolutionary analysis using a large samples of 3-D digital reconstructions of primate brains.

The team used 3-D shape analysis to measure the morphological variation between the different primate groups and a novel phylogenetic strategy to reconstruct the main morphological changes occurred through the primate lineage.

Their findings reveal that the brains of great apes such as chimpanzees and humans as well as papionin monkeys—baboons and macaques—are characterized by fast evolution and larger brain size. These characteristics sets them apart from smaller lemurs and New World monkeys which evolve more slowly.

The brains of papionins and great apes also have different structures.

"Humans and, to a minor extent, the great apes display a massive reorganization of the brain areas devoted to complex thinking, articulated language, social behaviour and problem solving such as the frontal lobe and the prefrontal cortex.

The teams' heat maps clearly show the great bulging prefrontal cortex of the human brain, whereas the brains of baboons are characterized by changes in the temporal and occipital regions.

G. Sansalone et al. Variation in the strength of allometry drives rates of evolution in primate brain shape, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2020). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.0807

https://phys.org/news/2020-07-human-brain-large-finely.html?utm_sou...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 10, 2020 at 5:37am

5G networks have few health impacts, study finds

Fifth generation or 5G wireless technology, which began being deployed worldwide in 2019, provides faster connectivity and more bandwidth, meaning higher download speeds. But because 5G technology is so new, little is known about the potential health effects from its radiofrequency radiation, which is higher than the current industry standard 4G. The Oregon State study begins to change that.

Based on their study, the researchers don't think 5G radiation is that harmful.

Researchers conducted the research using embryonic zebrafish, a model organism often used to discover interactions between environmental stressors and biological systems. Zebrafish and humans have similar developmental processes and are similar on a genomic level, meaning zebrafish research can easily be applied to humans.

In the study, published July 9 in the journal PLOS ONE, the researchers exposed embryonic zebrafish for two days to 3.5 GHz radiofrequency radiation, the frequency typically used by 5G-enabled cell phones.

They found no significant impacts on mortality, how the embryos formed or the embryos' behavioral response to light. They did find a modest impact on a test that measures the embryos' response to a sudden sound that they will investigate further.

Future research will look at the 5G radiation effects on the same zebrafish used in the study at a gene level and as they develop from embryos to adults, Dasgupta said. The researchers also would like to study the impacts of higher frequencies and higher exposure levels on zebra fish to keep pace with the changing cell phone industry.

The future research will use the same standardized experimental set up used in this study. It involves a box made of copper. The zebra fish embryos are placed on plates, which are put inside the box. The radiation enters the box through an antennae and the copper keeps it inside the box.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-07-5g-networks-health-impacts.h...

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 10, 2020 at 5:32am

Brain benefits of exercise can be gained with a single protein

A little-studied liver protein may be responsible for the well-known benefits of exercise on the aging brain, according to a new study in mice by scientists.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-07-brain-benefits-gained-protei...

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https://phys.org/news/2020-07-extreme-rainfall-events-top-heavy-aqu...

Extreme rainfall events cause top-heavy aquatic food webs

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https://phys.org/news/2020-07-foot-long-skeleton-extinct-dolphin-pa...

15-foot-long skeleton of extinct dolphin suggests parallel evolution among whales

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https://phys.org/news/2020-07-safer-crispr-gene-off-target.html?utm...

Safer CRISPR gene editing with fewer off-target hits

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https://phys.org/news/2020-07-languages-significantly-interstellar-...

Languages will change significantly on interstellar flights

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https://techxplore.com/news/2020-07-team-ways-cool-super-white.html...

Cooling buildings without ACs: A research team of materials scientists has demonstrated ways to make super white paint that reflects as much as 98% of incoming heat from the sun. The advance shows practical pathways for designing paints that, if used on rooftops and other parts of a building, could significantly reduce cooling costs, beyond what standard white 'cool-roof' paints can achieve.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 10, 2020 at 5:30am

A 'regime shift' is happening in the Arctic Ocean, scientists say

Scientists at Stanford University have discovered a surprising shift in the Arctic Ocean. Exploding blooms of phytoplankton, the tiny algae at the base of a food web topped by whales and polar bears, have drastically altered the Arctic's ability to transform atmospheric carbon into living matter. Over the past decade, the surge has replaced sea ice loss as the biggest driver of changes in uptake of carbon dioxide by phytoplankton.

the growing influence of phytoplankton biomass may represent a "significant regime shift" for the Arctic, a region that is warming faster than anywhere else on Earth.

The study centers on net primary production (NPP), a measure of how quickly plants and algae convert sunlight and carbon dioxide into sugars that other creatures can eat. "The rates are really important in terms of how much food there is for the rest of the ecosystem. "It's also important because this is one of the main ways that CO² is pulled out of the atmosphere and into the ocean. The increase in NPP over the past decade is due almost exclusively to a recent increase in phytoplankton biomass.

These microscopic algae were once metabolizing more carbon across the Arctic simply because they were gaining more open water over longer growing seasons, thanks to climate-driven changes in ice cover. Now, they are growing more concentrated, like a thickening algae soup.

In a given volume of water, more phytoplankton were able to grow each year.

K.M. Lewis el al., "Changes in phytoplankton concentration now drive increased Arctic Ocean primary production," Science (2020). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi … 1126/science.aay8380

M. Babin el al., "Climate change tweaks Arctic marine ecosystems," Science (2020). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi … 1126/science.abd1231

https://phys.org/news/2020-07-regime-shift-arctic-ocean-scientists....

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 10, 2020 at 5:19am

A system for swarm robotics applications inspired by pheromone communication in insects

Nature is one of the most valuable sources of inspiration for researchers developing new robots and computational techniques.

A research team at the University of Manchester recently introduced a new technique for swarm robotics applications inspired by the use of pheromones among insect populations. Pheromones are chemical substances that animals and humans release into their surrounding environment, which can elicit a specific set of behaviors in other animals.

The release of pheromones can prompt mating behaviour, alert other animals of a dangerous situation, delineate a territory, or signal the presence of food. In their paper, published in SAGE's Adaptive Behavior journal, the researchers tried to artificially replicate how social insects, such as ants, use pheromones, with the aim of achieving more effective communication among teams of robots.

The main idea was to develop a bio-inspired communication system based on social animals' pheromone communication systems. Researchers wanted to emulate how ants release pheromones and the behaviors that follow. Past studies tried to create artificial pheromone systems using a variety of techniques, for instance, involving the use of alcohol, RFID tags and light as substitutes for the chemicals naturally released by animals. One of the most promising systems developed so far is COSΦ, a system that uses light to emulate pheromone release in humans and animals.

The team designed a system based on COSΦ, which also employs a model describing how pheromones spread across space and over time. This model draws inspiration from how a liquid or fluid flows in nature.

To have a realistic model of the pheromone system, they had to model all the parameters of real pheromones, such as evaporation and diffusion, and consider the environmental impacts such as effects of wind. The model now proposed is a reliable and realistic model that can imitate pheromone communication among insects.

The researchers evaluated their artificial pheromone system in a series of experiments in which a swarm of small mobile robots moved around and adapted to different environmental factors. Their results were highly promising, as their system enabled effective communication and prompted the desired group behaviors among members of the swarm.

They are currently expanding our system in three directions: (1) developing alternative communication systems for use in real-world scenarios, e.g. using light or sound for transferring small data packets within a swarm, (2) expanding the system with additional layers of pheromones, e.g. different colors and bandwidths, and (3) investigating an evolutionary swarm system where individuals improve their interactions with the pheromone over time

Seongin Na et al. Bio-inspired artificial pheromone system for swarm robotics applications, Adaptive Behavior (2020). DOI: 10.1177/1059712320918936

https://techxplore.com/news/2020-07-swarm-robotics-applications-phe...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 9, 2020 at 11:46am

Science Captures Some Close Encounters Between Great White Sharks and Beachgoers With Drones

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 9, 2020 at 9:55am

https://theconversation.com/from-floating-guts-to-sticky-blood-here...

From floating guts to ‘sticky’ blood – here’s how to do surgery in space

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How parasitic worms could lead to new treatments for asthma

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https://www.sciencealert.com/hiv-patient-has-become-the-first-in-re...

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HIV Patient Reportedly Becomes 'First in Remission' Without a Transplant

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https://www.sciencealert.com/we-finally-know-what-that-gel-like-sub...

Glistening 'Gel-Like' Substance on Far Side of The Moon Finally Identified:

According to analysis of the images, and comparison with Apollo samples here on Earth, it's exactly what you'd expect to find on the Moon: rock.

More specifically, it's rock that was melted together - likely in the heat of a meteorite impact - to form a dark green, glossy, glassy mass.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 9, 2020 at 7:29am

COVID-19 brain complications found across the globe: Cases of brain complications linked to COVID-19 are occurring across the globe, a new review has shown. The research found that strokes, delirium and other neurological complications are reported from most countries where there have been large outbreaks of the disease.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200708150550.htm

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 9, 2020 at 6:56am

How good gut bacteria help reduce the risk for heart disease

Scientists have discovered that one of the good bacteria found in the human gut has a benefit that has remained unrecognized until now: The potential to reduce the risk for heart disease.

The bacteria's activity in the intestines reduces production of a chemical that has been linked to the development of clogged arteries. After it's manufactured in the gut, the chemical enters the bloodstream and travels to the liver, where it is converted into its most harmful form.

Researchers have traced the bacteria's behaviour to a family of proteins that they suspect could explain other ways that good gut organisms can contribute to human health. In essence, these microbes compete with bad bacteria for access to the same nutrients in the gut—and if the good bacteria win, they may prevent health problems that can result from how the body metabolizes food.

Much more work is ahead, but the scientists see potential for this microbe, Eubacterium limosum, to be used for therapeutic purposes in the future. Previous research has already shown the bacterium is "good" because it calms inflammation in the gut.

Over the last decade, it has become apparent that bacteria in the human gut influence our health in many ways. The organism studied now affects health by preventing a problematic compound from becoming a worse one.

The chemical linked to the clogged arteries that characterize atherosclerosis is called trimethylamine, or TMA. It is produced during metabolism when some intestinal microbes—generally the bacteria considered unhelpful to humans—interact with certain nutrients from food. Among those nutrients is L-carnitine, a chemical compound found in meat and fish that is also used as a nutritional supplement to improve recovery after exercise.

The researchers  discovered that E. limosum interacts with L-carnitine in a different way in the gut, and that interaction eliminates L-carnitine's role in production of TMA (other nutrients also participate in TMA production in the gut).

The researchers attribute the bacteria's beneficial behaviour to a protein called MtcB, an enzyme that cuts specific molecules off of compounds to help bacteria generate energy and survive. The process is called demethylation, and involves the removal of one methyle group—a carbon atom surrounded by three hydrogen atoms—to change a compound's structure or function.

The bacterium does this for its own benefit, but it has the downstream effect of reducing the toxicity of TMA.

Duncan J. Kountz et al, MtcB, a member of the MttB superfamily from the human gut acetogen Eubacterium limosum, is a cobalamin-dependent carnitine demethylase, Journal of Biological Chemistry (2020). DOI: 10.1074/jbc.RA120.012934

https://phys.org/news/2020-07-good-gut-bacteria-heart-disease.html?...

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