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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 28, 2014 at 9:45am

Algal virus found in humans, slows brain activity
It’s not such a stretch to think that humans can catch the Ebola virus from monkeys and the flu virus from pigs. After all, they are all mammals with fundamentally similar physiologies. But now researchers have discovered that even a virus found in the lowly algae can make mammals its home. The invader doesn’t make people or mice sick, but it does seem to slow specific brain activities.

The virus, called ATCV-1, showed up in human brain tissue several years ago, but at the time researchers could not be sure whether it had entered the tissue before or after the people died. Then, it showed up again in a survey of microbes and viruses in the throats of people with psychiatric disease. Pediatric infectious disease expert Robert Yolken from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, and his colleagues were trying to see if pathogens play a role in these conditions. At first, they didn't know what ATCV-1 was, but a database search revealed its identity as a virus that typically infects a species of green algae found in lakes and rivers.
http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2014/10/algal-virus-found-humans...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 28, 2014 at 7:06am

People with implants such as pacemakers, cochlear implants and spinal cord pain relief implants, can’t go near an MRI machine due to its magnetic force. Not only does it risk pulling their implants out, it also has 10 times the radio frequency of a microwave oven, and can cook tissue surrounding any devices containing an electrode in the body.

However, MRIs are an important part of diagnosing diseases such as cancer, so right now scientists are urgently trying to develop devices that will help doctors to better treat patients with implants. That’s where this human fish tank, named the phantom case, comes in.
Researchers at the University of Waikato in New Zealand have created a human-shaped fish tank that’s filled with jelly, and they’re sticking implants into it in order to create medical devices that can travel through MRI machines.
http://www.waikato.ac.nz/news-events/media/2014/10human-replicant-a...

“So many people are fitted with medical equipment such as spinal cord, deep brain and cochlear implants and pacemakers, but if you have one of these devices, you can’t go into an MRI machine because of the electromagnetic and magnetic risks,” said engineering professor Jonathan Scott from the University of Waikato in a press release. “Our goal is to find a non-magnetic material for the electrode that that won’t be affected by the [radio frequency] fields.”

Scott became involved in the project after hearing about recipients of spinal cord implants who couldn’t undergo potentially life-saving MRI scans.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 28, 2014 at 7:02am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 28, 2014 at 6:54am

Erratic rain patterns can change the taste of your tea
You may have noticed that sometimes your brew tastes ‘different’. According to a new study, this is because shifting rain patterns affect key compounds in tea that determine its flavour.
There are a number of major antioxidant compounds found in tea leaves that influence its taste and health properties. The concentration of secondary metabolites, which are the compounds in tea that determine its quality and health benefits, can be up to 50 percent lower following an extreme monsoon, as suggested in a study by researchers at Montana State University in the US.

The results, which are published in PLOS ONE, are based on a chemical analysis of samples of Camellia sinensis - a plant from which many popular teas, such as green tea, oolong, and black tea, are harvested. Each of these teas are processed differently to attain varying levels of oxygen, which give them their unique flavour.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-10/msu-nss102214.php

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 27, 2014 at 5:55am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 27, 2014 at 5:49am

Scientists have opened the blood-brain barrier for the first time
For the first time in humans, researchers have managed to penetrate the brain’s protector, meaning that doctors will be able to deliver drugs to previously inaccessible parts of the brain.
The blood-brain barrier is a network of cells that separates the brain from the rest of the body, preventing harmful toxins and chemicals in the blood stream from entering the brain tissue. This blocking mechanism makes it very difficult to deliver drugs to the brain for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders and cancer.

This protective barrier has been opened in animals but never in humans, until now. A medical start-up company CarThera in France, have opened and closed the barrier on demand with the help of an ultrasound brain implant and an injection of microbubbles.

The findings were presented last week at the Focused Ultrasound symposium in the US by Michael Canney, a neuroscientist at CarThera. The study involved the treatment of glioblastoma - the most aggressive form of brain cancer - in four patients. Patients with glioblastoma usually need surgery to remove the tumour, after which they are given chemotherapy drugs to destroy any remaining cancerous cells. The blood-brain barrier becomes leaky when a tumour is present, so a small amount of the drugs are able to enter the brain.
To penetrate the barrier, the surgeons first inserted a tiny ultrasound brain implant into the patients’ skulls. They then injected microbubbles to counter the ultrasound imaging. When the ultrasound’s pulses collided with the bubbles, it caused them to vibrate, pushing apart the cells of the blood-brain barrier. To confirm the observations, an MRI scan showed that the microbubbles were effectively crossing the blood-brain barrier.
The team estimate that the novel approach keeps the barrier open for up to six hours, allowing enough time to deliver high dosages of the drugs.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 25, 2014 at 11:02am

Cancer cells can ‘infect’ normal neighbours

Tiny RNAs shed by tumours can transform healthy cells into cancerous ones.
When a cancer cell throws out its trash, it can turn healthy neighbours into fellow tumour cells, researchers have found.

Many cells, including cancerous ones, shed thousands of tiny membrane-bound vesicles called exosomes that contain proteins, DNA and RNA. The process is thought to be a waste-management system, but it may also facilitate cell-to-cell communication: some of these vesicles can then merge with other cells and dump their payload inside.

In a study published online on 23 October in Cancer Cell1, researchers show that when human breast-cancer exosomes can cause tumours when mixed with normal cells then injected into mice. The results could pave the way to finding markers to monitor the progression of cancer, and possibly even point to targets for therapies.
http://www.nature.com/news/cancer-cells-can-infect-normal-neighbour...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 25, 2014 at 10:48am

Ten Species That Are Evolving Due to the Changing Climate
From tropical corals to tawny owls, some species are already being pushed to evolve—but adaptation doesn’t guarantee survival.

Table Corals, Thyme, Pink Salmon , Tawny Owls, Pitcher plant mosquitoes, Banded snails, Sockeye Salmon, Red squirrels, Fruit flies, and Great Tits.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/ten-species-are-evolvi...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 25, 2014 at 10:43am

The marvels of Science!
'Dead' hearts transplanted into living patients in world first

In a breakthrough, a team of doctors, including an Indian-origin surgeon, today said they have successfully performed the world's first heart transplant in Australia using a "dead heart", a major development that could save many lives.

The procedure, using hearts that had stopped beating, has been described as a "paradigm shift" that will herald a major increase in the pool of hearts available for transplantation.

It is predicted the breakthrough will save the lives of 30 per cent more heart transplant patients.

Until now, transplant units have relied solely on still- beating donor hearts from brain-dead patients.

But the team at the lung transplant unit of St Vincent's Hospital here announced they had transplanted three heart failure patients using donor hearts that had stopped beating for 20 minutes.

It was possible thanks to a new technology. The incredible development of the preservation solution with this technology of being able to preserve the heart, resuscitate it and to assess the function of the heart has made this possible.

Hearts are the only organ that is not used after the heart has stopped beating - known as donation after circulatory death.

Beating hearts are normally taken from brain-dead people, kept on ice for around four hours and then transplanted to patients.

The novel technique used in Sydney involved taking a heart that had stopped beating and reviving it in a machine known as a "heart-in-a-box".

The heart is kept warm, the heartbeat is restored and a nourishing fluid helps reduce damage to the heart muscle.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 24, 2014 at 9:43am

U.S. Suspends Risky Disease Research
The government will cease funding "gain-of-function" studies that make viruses more dangerous
The US government surprised many researchers on October 17 when it announced that it will temporarily stop funding new research that makes certain viruses more deadly or transmissible. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy is also asking researchers who conduct such ‘gain-of-function’ experiments on influenza, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) to stop their work until a risk assessment is completed — leaving many unsure of how to proceed.
But, some microbiologists call the plan “a knee-jerk reaction”. “There is really no evidence that these experiments are in fact such high risk,” he says. “A lot of them are being done by very respectable labs, with lots of precautions in place.”
http://www.nature.com/news/us-suspends-risky-disease-research-1.16192
http://www.nature.com/news/controversial-h5n1-influenza-work-likely...

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