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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 30, 2014 at 10:23am

New blood test could detect cancer early

British scientists claim they’ve developed a simple blood test that could detect cancer and prompt early, life-saving measures.

The tests are aimed at analyzing white blood cell which are “under stress” when there’s cancer or precancerous growth in the body, researchers wrote in the journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.

“We know that they are under stress when they are fighting cancer or other diseases, so I wondered whether anything measurable could be seen if we put them under further stress with UVA light,” according to lead researcher Diana Anderson, from the University of Bradford’s School of Life Sciences.

“We found that people with cancer have DNA which is more easily damaged by ultraviolet light than other people.”

The Lymphocyte Genome Sensitivity (LGS) tests looked at blood samples from 208 people — including healthy university staff and students and patients at the Bradford Royal Infirmary.

UVA light was shined on all blood samples, and DNA damage perfectly correlated to conditions of each subject, according to researchers.

The 58 subjects with the most damaged DNA samples turned out to be cancer patients, while 56 with precancerous conditions showed moderate DNA damage, researchers said.

The 94 cancer-free samples similarly showed minimal DNA damage after being exposed to UVA light, according to findings.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 30, 2014 at 10:11am

In Australia, money for science is cut, money for religious programs increased
http://doubtfulnews.com/2014/07/in-australia-money-for-science-is-c...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 30, 2014 at 10:04am

Observation of a quantum Cheshire Cat in a matter-wave interferometer experiment

Abstract:

From its very beginning, quantum theory has been revealing extraordinary and counter-intuitive phenomena, such as wave-particle duality, Schrödinger cats and quantum non-locality. Another paradoxical phenomenon found within the framework of quantum mechanics is the ‘quantum Cheshire Cat’: if a quantum system is subject to a certain pre- and postselection, it can behave as if a particle and its property are spatially separated. It has been suggested to employ weak measurements in order to explore the Cheshire Cat’s nature. Here  scientists report an experiment in which they send neutrons through a perfect ​silicon crystal interferometer and perform weak measurements to probe the location of the particle and its magnetic moment. The experimental results suggest that the system behaves as if the neutrons go through one beam path, while their magnetic moment travels along the other.

http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140729/ncomms5492/full/ncomms5492...

The phenomenon is named after the curious feline in Alice in Wonderland, who vanishes leaving only its grin.

Researchers took a beam of neutrons and separated them from their magnetic moment, like passengers and their baggage at airport security.

The same separation trick could in principle be performed with any property of any quantum object, say researchers from Vienna University of Technology.

Their technique could have a useful application in metrology - helping to filter out disturbances during high-precision measurements of quantum systems.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 29, 2014 at 5:22am

Depleted Uranium Could Turn Carbon Dioxide into Valuable Chemicals
New reactions could convert excessive CO2 into building blocks for materials like nylon
European scientists have synthesised uranium complexes that take them a step closer to producing commodity chemicals from carbon dioxide.
http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2014/07/uranium-carbon-dioxide-ox...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 27, 2014 at 10:54am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 26, 2014 at 6:15am

Swimmers have to be careful about not only the infections they get from bacteria and virus but also harm caused by brain eating amoeba  Naegleria fowleri that dwells in dwells in warm freshwater lakes and rivers and usually targets children and young adults. Once in the brain it causes a swelling called primary meningoencephalitis. The infection is almost universally fatal.

The amoeba has strategies to evade the immune system, and treatment options are meager partly because of how fast the infection progresses.

But research suggests that the infection can be stopped if it is caught soon enough. So what happens during an N. fowleri infection?

The microscopic amoebae, which can be suspended in water or nestled in soil, enter the body when water goes up the nose. After attaching to the mucous membranes in the nasal cavity, N. fowleri burrows into the olfactory nerve, the structure that enables our sense of smell and leads directly to the brain. It probably takes more than a drop of liquid to trigger a Naegleria infection; infections usually occur in people who have been engaging in water sports or other activities that may forcefully suffuse the nose with lots of water—diving, waterskiing, wakeboarding, and in one case a baptism dunking.

It turns out that "brain eating" is actually a pretty accurate description for what the amoeba does. After reaching the olfactory bulbs, N. fowleri feasts on the tissue there using suction-cup-like structures on its surface. This destruction leads to the first symptoms—loss of smell and taste—about five days after the infection sets in.

From there the organisms move to the rest of the brain, first gobbling up the protective covering that surrounds the central nervous system. When the body notices that something is wrong, it sends immune cells to combat the infection, causing the surrounding area to become inflamed. It is this inflammation, rather than the loss of brain tissue, that contributes most to the early symptoms of headache, nausea, vomiting and stiff neck. Neck stiffness in particular is attributable to the inflammation, as the swelling around the spinal cord makes it impossible to flex the muscles.

As N. fowleri consumes more tissue and penetrates deeper into the brain, the secondary symptoms set in. They include delirium, hallucinations, confusion and seizures. The frontal lobes of the brain, which are associated with planning and emotional control, tend to be affected most because of the path the olfactory nerve takes. But after that there’s kind of no rhyme or reason—all of the brain can be affected as the infection progresses.

Ultimately what causes death is not the loss of grey matter but the extreme pressure in the skull from the inflammation and swelling related to the body’s fight against the infection. Increasing pressure forces the brain down into where the brain stem meets the spinal cord, eventually severing the connection between the two. Most patients die from the resulting respiratory failure less than two weeks after symptoms begin.

- SA

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

Carbs and gut microbes fuel colon cancer
Sugar-loving bacteria support the emergence of tumors in mice
http://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674%2814%2900736-3

Gut Microbial Metabolism Drives Transformation of Msh2-Deficient Colon Epithelial Cells
The etiology of colorectal cancer (CRC) has been linked to deficiencies in mismatch repair and adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) proteins, diet, inflammatory processes, and gut microbiota. However, the mechanism through which the microbiota synergizes with these etiologic factors to promote CRC is not clear. We report that altering the microbiota composition reduces CRC in APCMin/+MSH2−/− mice, and that a diet reduced in carbohydrates phenocopies this effect. Gut microbes did not induce CRC in these mice through an inflammatory response or the production of DNA mutagens but rather by providing carbohydrate-derived metabolites such as butyrate that fuel hyperproliferation of MSH2−/− colon epithelial cells. Further, we provide evidence that the mismatch repair pathway has a role in regulating β-catenin activity and modulating the differentiation of transit-amplifying cells in the colon. These data thereby provide an explanation for the interaction between microbiota, diet, and mismatch repair deficiency in CRC induction.

•Gut microbiota induce colon cancer in genetically sensitized MSH2-deficient mice
•Reduced dietary carbohydrates decreased polyp frequency in APCMin/+MSH2−/− mice
•The carbohydrate metabolite butyrate induces colon cancer in APCMin/+MSH2−/− mice
•MSH2 regulates β-catenin activity and/or transit-amplifying cell differentiation

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 25, 2014 at 10:09am

Not enough funding for basic science in India: Kalam (Scientist and former President of India)
He called for 'big' investment to promote researches in higher education
Former President A P J Abdul Kalam today said there is not enough funding for basic science in India and called for 'big' investment to promote researches in higher education.

"There is not enough funding for basic sciences in India. We have to invest in a big way and I am pushing that idea," Kalam told PTI on the sidelines of a lecture at the IIM-Shillong here.
- PTI

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 25, 2014 at 10:06am

Parts of the primordial soup in which life arose have been maintained in our cells today according to scientists at the University of East Anglia. Research published today in the Journal of Biological Chemistry reveals how cells in plants, yeast and very likely also in animals still perform ancient reactions thought to have been responsible for the origin of life -- some four billion years ago.
The new research shows how small pockets of a cell -- known as mitochondria -- continue to perform similar reactions in our bodies today. These reactions involve iron, sulfur and electro-chemistry and are still important for functions such as respiration in animals and photosynthesis in plants.
For example small pockets of a cell called mitochondria deal with electrochemistry and also with toxic sulfur metabolism. These are very ancient reactions thought to have been important for the origin of life.

The new research has shown that a toxic sulfur compound is being exported by a mitochondrial transport protein to other parts of the cell. We need sulfur for making iron-sulfur catalysts, again a very ancient chemical process.

The work shows that parts of the primordial soup in which life arose has been maintained in our cells today, and is in fact harnessed to maintain important biological reactions.
The research was carried out at UEA and JIC in collaboration with Dr Hendrik van Veen at the University of Cambridge.
Source: http://www.uea.ac.uk/mac/comm/media/press/2014/July/primordial-soup

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 23, 2014 at 7:24am

Cheap Nasal Spray May Save Snakebite Victims
A novel, nasal spray-based approach may help reduce the toll, according to researchers.
A team of researchers, led by Matthew Lewin, from the California Academy of Sciences, United States, and Stephen Samuel, from Trinity College Dublin in Ireland, says a simple nasal spray containing a substance called neostigmine can reduce snakebite fatalities.

“It would be one ingredient primarily directed against rapid onset paralysis—one of the causes of fast death following snakebite,” Lewin tells SciDev.Net. “It is inexpensive and available everywhere in the world.”

If combined with atropine, a substance that is absorbed through the nose, neostigmine would have few ill effects, according to Lewin.

The team tested the nasal spray on mice injected with fatal doses of venom from the Indian cobra. Mice treated with the spray outlived those that were not given it and, in many cases, survived, according to a study they published in the Journal of Tropical Medicine.
The nasally administrated drug is an alternative to antivenoms, Lewin says. He argues that, besides being expensive, antivenoms can vary in effectiveness depending on factors including the snake’s diet, the time of year and the geographic location.

Furthermore, a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences last month reports that it may be harder than originally thought to develop an antivenom that works against many snakebites.

“We discovered that the genetics of the animals can be very similar, yet their venoms very different,” the lead author, Nicholas Casewell, from Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom.
Using six related snakes—the Saharan horned viper, the puff adder and four species of saw-scaled vipers—Casewell and colleagues discovered that various genetic regulatory processes act at different stages of toxin production.

These processes result in major differences in toxin composition, and these different toxins cause different pathologies or levels of toxicity when they are injected, and they also undermine antivenom treatment.
There are about 500 species of dangerous, venomous snakes worldwide.
Antivenom is necessary, but not sufficient to manage this problem. Its limitations are fairly well known at this point and we need a better bridge to survival.

The nasal spray could be a cheap, fast and easy method to treat the paralysis caused by snakebites.
In 2013, to see if neostigmine could be absorbed through the human nose, Lewin tried the spray on himself, after being infused with a drug to induce awake paralysis in a manner similar to cobra venom. He made a completely recovery in a little over two hours, as described in Clinical Case Reports. Clinical trials of the spray are now planned in India.
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jtm/2014/131835/

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