Comment

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 5, 2021 at 7:45am

One in every 5 adults had Covid by mid-Dec, says ICMR survey

More than one-fifth of the country’s adult population had at some point been infected by Covid-19 by mid-December, the third serological survey conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research shows.

More than one-fifth of the country’s adult population had at some point been infected by Covid-19 by mid-December, the third serological survey conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research shows.

The separate data released on seroprevalence among those aged 10-18 was found to be 25.3%. The data released reflect the prevalence of antibodies, read as evidence that the person has had Covid-19.

Among healthcare workers, seroprevalence was 25.7%, with 26.6% among doctors and nurses.

The government emphasised that a large proportion of the population is still vulnerable and there is no scope to lower the guard as herd immunity could not be assumed and added that following Covid-appropriate behaviour is needed.

https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/one-in-ev...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 5, 2021 at 7:01am

Drugging the undruggable, improbable new targets for lung cancer therapy

The growth of solid tumors is frequently driven by mutations in key proto-oncogenes. For non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLC), somatic mutations in the KRAS (Kirsten RAt Sarcoma virus) gene turn it into an oncogene that renders tumors resistant to common chemotherapies like erlotinib (Tarceva) or gefitinib (Iressa). 

Previously, KRAS was considered to be "undruggable" because the surface of the tiny protein had no deep pockets for drug interaction with potential small molecule inhibitors. Since many NSCLCs rely on a constitutively activated mutant KRAS, researchers have continued to explore KRAS and its downstream signaling pathways as possible targets. That research has finally begun to pay off. Complementary approaches to NSCLC lung cancer that collectively embrace immune self-defenses within the context of the larger KRAS ecosystem have now come fully into view.

Together, they flesh out a therapeutic microcosm of tumor biology that can be copied and modified to serve as a blueprint for treating many cancer types, each sustained by their own unique oncogenic drivers. In an article in Cell Reports Medicine researchers outline four ways to combat KRAS-dependent NSCLC: immune checkpoint inhibitors, KRAS neoantigen targeting, direct KRAS inhibitors and KRAS signaling inhibitors.

 Ravi Salgia et al. The improbable targeted therapy: KRAS as an emerging target in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), Cell Reports Medicine (2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2020.100186

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-02-drugging-undruggable-improba...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 4, 2021 at 11:35am

New software allows scientists to 'walk inside' fossil and mummy samples

New software will allow scientists to see data in 3-D and create life-like models of objects like fossils and mummies, making it possible to "zoom in" on smaller details without damaging the original.

The revolutionary software involved, called Drishti, is simple, but powerful.

Applications of the latest version, Drishti Paint, have been explained in a new paper published in Royal Society Open Science.

You can even 'walk around' inside the object to see what's there. 

After researchers scan the sample, they then have a set of 3-D data which can be digitally dissected effectively using this new tool. This is the first known tool that can perform this kind of 3-D segmentation directly on a volume of data.

According to the team, the software could prove especially useful when it comes to scientific communication and education.

It has already been used to create an identical model from a mummy sample, so the mummy can be studied closely without damaging the original sample.

It had been used to scan data of a fish fossil as a case study, but this new  procedure can be used in biological, medical and industrial research.

Drishti was first developed by NCI in 2004 and has been under continuous development since then

Importantly, the software is free and available online for anyone to use.

Yuzhi Hu et al. Three-dimensional segmentation of computed tomography data using Drishti Paint : new tools and developments, Royal Society Open Science (2020). DOI: 10.1098/rsos.201033

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-software-scientists-fossil-mummy-samp...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 4, 2021 at 9:27am

How Arctic Frogs Survive Being Frozen Alive

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 4, 2021 at 9:12am

There Is One Way Humans Could 'Safely' Enter a Black Hole, Physicists Say

However, there is a rather complicated catch: A human can do this only if the respective black hole is supermassive and isolated, and if the person entering the black hole does not expect to report the findings to anyone in the entire Universe.

https://theconversation.com/could-a-human-enter-a-black-hole-to-stu...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 4, 2021 at 8:38am

Nanotech plastic packaging could leach silver into some types of foods and beverages

Antimicrobial packaging is being developed to extend the shelf life and safety of foods and beverages. However, there is concern about the transfer of potentially harmful materials, such as silver nanoparticles, from these types of containers to consumables. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces illustrate that silver embedded in an antimicrobial plastic can leave the material and form nanoparticles in foods and beverages, particularly in sweet and sugary ones.

Some polymers containing nanoparticles or nanocomposites can slow the growth of microorganisms responsible for food and beverage spoilage and foodborne illness. Although these polymers are not currently approved for use in packaging , researchers are investigating various types of nanoparticle-embedded polymers that could be incorporated into containers in the future.

Tianxi Yang et al. Food and Beverage Ingredients Induce the Formation of Silver Nanoparticles in Products Stored within Nanotechnology-Enabled Packaging, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (2021). DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c17867

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-nanotech-plastic-packaging-leach-silv...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 4, 2021 at 8:36am

Cutting lock with pressure water

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 4, 2021 at 8:26am

Scientists uncover potential antiviral treatment for COVID-19

Researchers from the University of Nottingham have discovered a novel antiviral property of a drug that could have major implications in how future epidemics / pandemics—including COVID-19—are managed.

The study, published in Viruses, shows that thapsigargin is a promising broad spectrum antiviral, highly effective against COVID-19 virus (SARS-CoV-2), a common cold coronavirus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and the influenza A virus.

Given that acute respiratory virus infections caused by different viruses are clinically indistinguishable on presentation, an effective broad-spectrum that can target different virus types at the same time could significantly improve clinical management. An antiviral of this type could potentially be made available for community use to control active infection and its spread.

The key features based on cell and animal studies, which make thapsigargin a promising antiviral are that it is:

• effective against viral infection when used before or during active infection
• able to prevent a virus from making new copies of itself in cells for at least 48 hours after a single 30-minute exposure.
• stable in acidic pH, as found in the stomach, and therefore can be taken orally, so could be administered without the need for injections or hospital admission.
• not sensitive to virus resistance.
• at least several hundred-fold more effective than current antiviral options.
• just as effective in blocking combined infection with coronavirus and influenza A virus as in single-virus infection.
• safe as an antiviral (a derivative of thapsigargin has been tested in prostate cancer).

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-02-scientists-uncover-potential...

**

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 3, 2021 at 12:50pm

Why Do These Deadly Insects Look Like Flowers?

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 3, 2021 at 11:54am

Economic growth has 'devastating cost to nature', review finds

Humanity's unbridled growth in recent decades has come at a "devastating cost to nature" according a wide-ranging international review on the vital economic role played by our living planet.

--

Why keeping one mature street tree is far better for humans and nat...

Thanks to Victorian street planners, many British streets were designed to be full of big trees and, with 84% of the population living in urban areas, most people are more likely to encounter trees in the streets than they are in forests.

--

Scientists advocate breaking laws—of geography and ecology

Recent global calamities—the pandemic, wildfires, floods—are spurring interdisciplinary scientists to nudge aside the fashionable First Law of Geography that dictates "everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things."

--

Scientists develop method to detect fake news

Social media is increasingly used to spread fake news. The same problem can be found on the capital market—criminals spread fake news about companies in order to manipulate share prices. Researchers at the Universities of Göttingen and Frankfurt and the Jožef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana have developed an approach that can recognize such fake news, even when the news content is repeatedly adapted. The results of the study were published in the Journal of the Association for Information Systems.

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 767
• 768
• 769
• 770
• 771
• …
• 1170
• Next ›
• Page