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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 14, 2020 at 8:58am

Controlling COVID 19 in flats ....

To prevent droplet spread in a locked down residential building:

• keep at least 1.5 metres away from others

• allow only essential personnel in the building

• residents should keep to their own apartment

• people servicing the building can wear gloves and masks, but it’s important they be trained in their proper use

• infected/symptomatic residents should wear a mask (and be aware of how to handle these correctly so as not to increase the risk of infection)

• avoid shared spaces, for example shared laundries; limit numbers in lifts/stairwells at any given time

• if movement is required, adopt staggered, rostered times to move through the building

• if the structure allows it, utilise separate entry and exit points and one-way pathways through the building

• practise good respiratory etiquette (such as coughing into your elbow). This can reduce the number of people each infected person passes the virus to.

To reduce spread via contaminated objects:

• everyone who lives in or is visiting the building should frequently wash or sanitise their hands. Sanitiser should be available at entry and exit points and shared areas

• avoid touching your face and your food unless your hands have been freshly cleaned

• regular cleaning of shared spaces is important, including lift buttons, handrails, and door handles

• rubbish bins should be kept in separate areas to other supplies to avoid cross-contamination.

Additional measures to reduce airborne spread include:

• plumbing and ventilation systems should be maintained to ensure they’re operating effectively, particularly as buildings age

• HEPA filters in air conditioners may help to filter out the virus.

https://theconversation.com/we-could-have-more-coronavirus-outbreak...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 14, 2020 at 8:52am

 Coronavirus: Llamas provide key to immune therapy

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-53369103

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 14, 2020 at 8:40am

 Why Some Birds Are Likely To Hit Buildings

Birds that eat insects, are on migrations or that usually live in the woods are most likely to fly into buildings that feature a lot of glass.

Billion birds die from flying into buildings each year. Suspicions have been that birds may perceive the open areas behind glass as safe passageways. Or they may mistake the reflected foliage for the real thing.

Most migratory species travel at night, when lights near buildings can distract or disorient them. insect-eating birds might be attracted to buildings because their insect prey is attracted to the lights. woodland species get fooled by the reflections of trees and shrubs in the windows.

journal Conservation Biology. [Jared A. Elmore, et al. Correlates of bird collisions with buildings across three North Ame...]

By understanding which birds are more likely to collide with buildings, researchers can perhaps determine the best way to modify buildings, or their lighting, to help prevent such accidents. And by knowing risks along with migration timing and behavior, building managers can better anticipate when birds are at their greatest danger—and modify lighting strategies accordingly.

 https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/why-some-birds-a...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 14, 2020 at 7:23am

Crop plants are taking up microplastics

Scientists  recently found that microplastics are indeed contaminating edible plants, including vegetables we eat.

Microplastics (MPs), i.e., tiny plastic particles less than 5 millimeters in length, can now be found throughout the ocean and other aquatic ecosystems, and even in our seafood and salt. As MPs have become ubiquitous, scientists have become concerned about the transfer of MPs from the environment to the food chain and the potential impact of MPs on human health.

Most MPs are emitted to the terrestrial environment and accumulate in large amounts in soil. In addition, secondary particles are formed by the degradation of plastics. Wastewater, an important source of water for agricultural irrigation, also contains small-sized MPs.

Despite the prevalence of MPs throughout the environment, the matter of MP uptake by crop plants has not received much attention.

For decades, scientists believed that plastic particles were simply too large to pass through the physical barriers of intact plant tissue. But this new study disproves this assumption.

Cracks at the emerging sites of new lateral roots of lettuce and wheat crops can take in MPs from the surrounding soil and water. Those MPs can then be transferred from the roots up to the edible parts of the crop.

The MPs identified in this study were spherical plastic particles up to 2 micrometers in size with a small degree of mechanical flexibility. These features allowed the MPs to squeeze into the small apoplastic space of plant root cells.

"Another mechanism is that at the lateral root emergence sites there are small cracks, and then the particles go through those cracks and enter the xylem vessels. Thus it is even possible that particles larger than the ones we studied might also be taken up by plants.

Li, L et al. Effective uptake of submicrometre plastics by crop plants via a crack-entry mode. Nat Sustain (2020). doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-0567-9

https://phys.org/news/2020-07-crop-microplastics.html?utm_source=nw...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 14, 2020 at 7:18am

Using math formulas to predict earthquakes

https://phys.org/news/2020-07-math-formulas-earthquakes.html?utm_so...

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https://phys.org/news/2020-07-fluorine.html?utm_source=nwletter&...

**How much fluorine is too much fluorine?

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** The new tattoo: Drawing electronics on skin

https://techxplore.com/news/2020-07-tattoo-electronics-skin.html?ut...

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Earth-shaking science in the freezer: Next generation vibration sensors at cryogenic temperatures

https://phys.org/news/2020-07-earth-shaking-science-freezer-vibrati...

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https://phys.org/news/2020-07-chemicals-faster-reactions.html?utm_s...

Spinning chemicals for faster reactions

**scientists have devised a new way of making reactions up to 70 times faster by using state-of-the-art equipment to spin chemicals around.

They found that efficient mixing within a chemical reaction could be achieved by spinning chemicals and catalysts around in a small tube, causing the reactions to happen much quicker.

The new findings could have a profound influence on the way that chemicals are made in a wide variety of industries, from drug development to agriculture and fragrances.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 14, 2020 at 7:11am

Scientists have discovered a new physical paradox

Scientists have discovered a new physical paradox: Researchers have discovered and theoretically explained a new physical effect: amplitude of mechanical vibrations can grow without external influence.

A new physical phenomenon of 'ballistic resonance," where mechanical oscillations can be excited only due to internal thermal resources of the system has been demonstrated: that heat spreads at abnormally high speeds at nano and micro levels in ultrapure crystalline materials. This phenomenon is called ballistic heat conductivity.

The discovered phenomenon describes that the process of heat equilibration leads to mechanical vibrations with an amplitude that grows with time. The effect is called ballistic resonance.

The scientific group offered their explanation on how to eliminate the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-Tsingou paradox.

Vitaly A. Kuzkin et al, Ballistic resonance and thermalization in the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-Tsingou chain at finite temperature, Physical Review E (2020). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.101.042209

https://phys.org/news/2020-07-scientists-physical-paradox.html?utm_...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 14, 2020 at 6:59am

Human sperm stem cells grown in lab, an early step toward infertility treatment

https://phys.org/news/2020-07-human-sperm-stem-cells-grown.html?utm...

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https://phys.org/news/2020-07-materials-extra-thin-chips.html?utm_s...

New materials for extra thin computer chips

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https://phys.org/news/2020-07-micro-lab-chip-blood-minutes.html?utm...

A micro-lab on a chip detects blood type within minutes

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 14, 2020 at 6:57am

Turning off 'junk DNA' may free stem cells to become neurons

For every cell in the body there comes a time when it must decide what it wants to do for the rest of its life. In an article published in the journal PNAS, NIH researchers report for the first time that ancient viral genes that were once considered "junk DNA" may play a role in this process. The article describes a series of preclinical experiments that showed how some human endogenous retrovirus (HERV-K) genes inscribed into chromosomes 12 and 19 may help control the differentiation, or maturation, of human stem cells into the trillions of neurons that are wired into our nervous systems.

Over the course of evolution, the human genome has absorbed thousands of human endogenous retrovirus genes. As a result, nearly eight percent of the DNA that lines our chromosomes includes remnants of these genes. Although once thought to be inactive, or "junk", recent studies have shown that these genes may be involved in human embryonic development, the growth of some tumors, and nerve damage during multiple sclerosis.

Previously, researchers showed that amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) may be linked to activation of the HERV-K gene. In this study, the team showed that deactivation of the gene may free stem cells to become neurons.

The researchers performed most of their experiments on blood cells, drawn from healthy volunteers at the NIH's Clinical Center, that they genetically transformed into induced pluripotent stem cells, which can then turn into any cell type in the body. Surprisingly, they found that the surfaces of the stem cells were lined with high levels of HERV-K, subtype HML-2, an envelope protein, that viruses often use to latch onto and infect cells. These proteins progressively disappeared as the cells were served two rounds of "cocktails." One round nudged the cells into an intermediate, neural stem cell state followed by a second round that pushed the cells into finally becoming neurons. The researchers sped up this process by turning off HERV-K, HML-2 genes in the stem cells or by treating the cells with antibodies against the HML-2 protein. In contrast, they delayed neural differentiation by artificially overloading the cells with the HML-2 genes. Finally, the team discovered that interactions on the stem cell surfaces between HML-2 and another immune cell protein called CD98HC may restrain differentiation by triggering internal chemical reactions that are known to control cell growth and tumors. In the future, the team plans to explore how HERV-K genes may shape the wiring of a nervous system.

Wang, T. et al., Regulation of stem cell function and neuronal differentiation by HERV-K via mTOR pathway, PNAS (2020). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2002427117

https://phys.org/news/2020-07-junk-dna-free-stem-cells.html?utm_sou...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 14, 2020 at 6:48am

Hidden in our genes: Discovering the fate of cell development

As cells develop, changes in how our genes interact determines their fate. Differences in these genetic interactions can make our cells robust to infection from viruses or make it possible for our immune cells to kill cancerous ones.

Understanding how these gene associations work across the development of human tissue and organs is important for the creation of medical treatments for complex diseases as broad as cancer, developmental disorders, or  heart disease.

A new technology called single-cell RNA-sequencing has made it possible to study the behavior of genes in human and mammal cells at an unprecedented resolution and promises to accelerate scientific and medical discoveries.

A  team of international collaborators from China, the US and the UK, University of Sydney scientists have developed an analytical approach for this single-cell sequencing, which is able to test for broad changes in gene behavior within human tissue. It has been called single-cell higher-order testing, or scHOT.

Published today in Nature Methods, the team has demonstrated the effectiveness of this method by identifying genes in mice whose variability change in cells during embryonic liver development.

 scHOT is a powerful new tool that will uncover hidden gene associations in our cells and facilitate the full exploitation of these cutting-edge single-cell technologies to make important biological discoveries.

This research will help to uncover hidden gene associations in our cells providing a new way to view and describe biological complexity.

Investigating higher-order interactions in single-cell data with scHOT, Nature Methods (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41592-020-0885-x

https://phys.org/news/2020-07-hidden-genes-fate-cell.html?utm_sourc...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 14, 2020 at 6:33am

Human lungs rejected for transplant recovered using novel technique

 A multidisciplinary team has demonstrated that injured human donor lungs declined for transplant can be recovered by cross-circulation between the human lung and a xenogeneic host (Connecting donated human lungs to pigs).

The new technique, described in a study published recently in Nature Medicine, has the potential to increase the supply of donor lungs available for transpalnt, saving the lives of people who would otherwise die while waiting on the transplant list.

Lungs are the least-used solid organ for transplant because only 20% of donor lungs are considered to be in sufficient condition for transplantation. If we could improve the 20% acceptance rate and increase it to 40% or 50% acceptance rate, we would essentially eliminate our waitlist and we would actually be able to open up transplantation to more people.

The team proved in earlier published research that a cross-circulation technique using an animal model can not only support but rehabilitate animal lungs for up to four days. The current research extends that success to human lungs considered too damaged for transplant, preserving them for 24 hours using the xenogeneic platform.

Lung disease is the third leading cause of death globally, and transplantation is the only definitive cure for patients who are in the end stage of the disease. The current standard of care for donor lungs is ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP), a mechanical support system that can preserve lungs for up to eight hours but has limited means to rehabilitate them. The study demonstrated that a lung that failed to improve on EVLP could be rehabilitated using the xenogeneic platform.

The xenogeneic platform offers scientists two immediate research pathways. First, it offers a new option for transplanting lungs previously considered too damaged for transplant. Secondly, the xenogeneic platform allows lungs to be preserved to test further therapeutic interventions as well as investigations in drug discovery, testing and delivery. Further, the cross-circulation platform may be used to recover other human organs and tissue, including livers, hearts and kidneys as well as limbs.

The cross-species cross-circulation allowed a human lung that failed after its six hours of standard perfusion to heal enough to meet transplant requirements and theoretically help a lung patient, though no transplant was done. 

For the current experiments, they connected pigs and human lungs with common problems found after donation: swelling from excess fluid, traumatic injury, damage from inhaled gastric fluids. All the organs had gone through six hours of perfusion before being declined for transplant. For the experiments, immune suppression drugs were infused into the pigs to prevent rejection of the human lung.

While connected to the pigs, the organs’ cells and function were monitored. After 24 hours, the lungs had improved and would likely continue to get better, according to the researchers. 

Xenogeneic cross-circulation for extracorporeal recovery of injured human lungs , Nature Medicine (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41591-020-0971-8

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-07-human-lungs-transplant-recov...

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