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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 14, 2014 at 7:20am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 12, 2014 at 6:11am

Air sampling vital to detect bioterrorism
Air and surface sampling could be vital to detecting biological terrorism and preventing potential loss of lives, according to an experiment.

"This experiment confirmed that a biological attack could be detected earlier using air sampling which means public health would have more time to respond," said Alexander Garza, an associate professor of epidemiology at Saint Louis University's college for public health and social justice in the US.

The researchers reviewed data from a series of experiments simulating a bioterrorism attack against the Pentagon.

In 2005 and 2009, the Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA), in order to simulate a deliberate attack, staged the release of a harmless bacteria that is biological similar to Bacillus anthracis — the bacteria that causes the disease anthrax.

They then evaluated the local response procedures to such an attack.

In conjunction with this exercise, the department of homeland security ran its own experiments to test the efficacy of an air and surface sampling system known as BioWatch in detecting these biological agents in the environment.

In the experiments, multiple quantity of benign material were released that included a small portion of the anthrax simulant.

The team collected samples of the air through several portable sampling units and had them analysed at specialized laboratories.

"We were able to detect the biological organisms released several kilometres from where the agent was originally released," Garza said.

"All of the modelling that had been done to date showed that air samplers should be able to detect these types of attack, what was missing was empirical evidence showing that these systems would work in real world conditions. We now have that evidence," Garza said.

Air sampling has been readily accepted for similar uses such as measuring for particulate matter, however, using it to detect bacteria in biological terrorism was a new concept instituted after the 9/11 attacks.

This type of sampling is now part of a sophisticated system used by the department of homeland security and the department of defence in the US.

The study appeared in the journal Biosecurity and Bioterrorism.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 12, 2014 at 6:08am

A new plant discovered in the Philippines has a bizarre ability — it can gobble up the poisonous metal nickel without suffering any damage. Scientists from the University of the Philippines, Los Banos found that the plant could accumulate up to 18,000ppm (parts per million) of the metal in its leaves, says Professor Edwino Fernando, lead author of the report published in the open access journal PhytoKeys. Such an amount is a hundred to a thousand times higher than in most other plants.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 12, 2014 at 5:46am

World's No. 1 pesticide brings honeybees to their knees, say scientists

A new study from Harvard implicates two neonicotinoid pesticides, imidacloprid and clothianidin, in the ongoing plague of honeybee Colony Collapse Disorder. Imidacloprid is the most widely used pesticide in the world, and both are approved by the EPA.
This week's report strongly indicates that two neonicotinoid insecticides that are widely used on crops can decimate honeybee colonies' winter survival rates, whether or not mites or parasites are present.

The two chemicals, imidacloprid and clothianidin, both block insects' central nervous systems, killing them by paralysis. Imidacloprid is the world's most widely-used insecticide, and has been registered for use in the US since the 1994; clothianidin was registered in 2003 by the US Environmental Protection Agency, which found that it had passed honeybee-specific toxicity tests.

These scientists studied the health of 18 bee colonies in central Massachusetts over a six-month period spanning the winter of 2012-2013. Six of the colonies were fed sugar spiked with sub-lethal doses of imidacloprid, six had theirs laced with clothianidin, and six less-unfortunate control colonies ate clean sugar, starting in October.

All of the colonies went about their apian routines in good form throughout the fall. But by late January, six of the 12 poisoned colonies experienced collapses with CCD-like symptoms, like en-masse disappearance and the presence of un-hatched young. Of the six control hives, only one failed to survive the winter, seemingly due to an infestation by Nosema Ceranae parasites.

"The honey bee clusters in the six surviving neonicotinoid treated colonies were very small, and were either without queen bees or had no brood," reports the study, suggesting the poisons harm the animals' abilities to raise and train new young. In contrast, the five surviving control hives replenished their populations quickly, as the winter gave way to spring.

According to the report, these results "reinforce the conclusion that sublethal exposure to neonicotinoids is likely the main culprit for the occurrence of CCD
The study comes amid a busy spring season for honey bee research. Last month a team of Kenyan biologists found that African honey bees seem be impervious to the pests, Varroa and Nosema, which plague honey bee populations in Europe, Asia, and the United States.

And earlier this week Brazilian scientists identified two substances in honeybees' brains, that appear to vary as the insects move through space and time, guiding their age-related division of labor.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2014/0509/World-s-No.-1-pesticide-...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 12, 2014 at 5:42am

How to make children emotionally strong:
An easy way to better prepare kids to handle anxiety and keep anxiety-related disorders at bay may lie in the school-based test anxiety interventions, a research said.

Anxiety problems are among the most common emotional difficulties youths experience, and are often linked to exposure to disasters.

"Test anxiety interventions may be a practical strategy for conducting emotion-focused prevention and intervention efforts because of a natural fit within the ecology of the school setting," said Carl Weems of University of New Orleans, US.

Showing students how to cope with test anxiety might also help them to handle their built-up angst and fretfulness about other issues.

"Anxiety intervention programmes that focus on academic matters fit well into the demands of the school routine, and do not carry the same stigma among youth as general anxiety programmes do," Weems noted.

The research group was among the first to study the effects of Hurricane Katrina on community mental health and anxiety among youth.

However, school-based test anxiety interventions should not be considered a first line approach to treating severe anxiety disorders such as PTSD, but could be employed to teach students how to handle anxious emotions, Weems cautioned.

The study appeared in the journal Prevention Science.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 11, 2014 at 7:25am

The latest urban air quality database released by the World Health Organization (WHO) says that India ranks among the world's worst for its polluted air. Out of the 20 most polluted cities in the world, 13 are in India. The report reconfirms that most Indian cities are soon becoming death traps because of very high air pollution levels.

India appears among the group of countries with highest particulate matter (PM) levels. Also, its cities have the highest levels of PM10 and PM2.5 (particles with diameter of 10 microns and 2.5 microns) when compared to other cities. Delhi is among the most polluted cities in the world today.

Director general, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), Sunita Narain says: "This database confirms our worst fears about how hazardous air pollution is in our region. Last year, the Global Burden of Disease study pinned outdoor air pollution as the fifth largest killer in India after high blood pressure, indoor air pollution, tobacco smoking, and poor nutrition. About 620,000 early deaths occurred in India due to air pollution-related diseases in 2010."

Narain added that 18 million years of healthy lives are lost due to illness burden that enhances the economic cost of pollution. Half of these deaths have been caused by heart disease triggered by exposure to air pollution and the rest due to stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lower respiratory track infection and lung cancer.

Experts claim that Indian cities are witnessing a rapid increase in air pollution and untamed motorization. Cities need to curb pollution from all sources, but vehicles need special attention as they emit toxic fumes within our breathing zone. India needs urgent action to leapfrog vehicle technology and fuel quality, scale up public transport, reduce dependence on cars, and promote walking and cycling.

India is waiting for a decision on the emissions standards roadmap for vehicles and fuel quality from the Auto Fuel Policy Committee under the chairmanship of Saumitra Chaudhury, member, Planning Commission. This is expected to be announced soon, before the UPA II government is dissolved. The committee must respond effectively to the mounting evidences on worsening air quality and health damages associated with vehicular fumes.

CSE suggests that the entire country should leapfrog to Euro VI standards by 2020-21. All cities need to implement clean air action plan to curb pollution from all sources to meet clean air standards in a time bound manner. Also, government must inform people about the air quality on a daily basis and issue health alerts for especially children, elderly, and those suffering from respiratory and cardiac problems.
_WHO

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 11, 2014 at 6:21am

Birth of new brain cells might erase babies’ memories
New neurons may explain why adults can’t remember being infants
Infants’ memories may be wiped clean by the genesis of new brain cells, a study in rodents suggests. The findings offer an explanation for why people can’t recall memories from early childhood, a century-old mystery.
According tot eh researchers, new cells originated could be messing up brain circuits laid down by preexisting neurons. These cells reach out spindly fingers and link up with neighbors. Memories made using older links may be hard to call to mind when new links take over.

“Maybe forgetting is not a bad thing,” the researchers say. “Maybe it’s good to clear away some memories and forget some things that are not so important.”

The hippocampus might be something like a computer cluttered with files, says neuroscientist Richard Morris of the University of Edinburgh. “Every so often we all sit down and do a little tidy-up,” he says. “Maybe that’s what neurogenesis is all about. It’s the hippocampus’s very own spring cleaning system.”
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/birth-new-brain-cells-might-era...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 10, 2014 at 6:23am

Weight gain during pregnancy may protect babies from chemicals

Gaining more weight during pregnancy can substantially reduce a baby’s exposure to pesticides that have accumulated in a mother’s body, according to new research.
Pregnant women who don’t gain enough weight lose fat when the fetus grows. This releases fat-soluble chemicals such as DDT into the bloodstream, which reaches the fetus.

“This study suggests that sufficient weight gain during pregnancy may help to dilute certain chemicals that store in fat, reducing exposure to the fetus,” said Jonathan Chevrier, an epidemiologist at McGill University in Montreal who did not participate in the research.

Exposure to persistent organic pollutants, or POPs, in the womb has been linked to developmental disorders and learning delays, reduced immune system function and changes in hormones.
For every pound of pregnancy weight gain, the researchers saw a 0.75 percent decrease in DDE in the cord blood and a 1.4 percent decrease in beta-HCH. For the average woman who gained about 31 pounds during pregnancy, that’s about a 22 percent decrease in DDE and a 42 percent decrease in beta-HCH.

http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2014/may/weight-gai...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 9, 2014 at 9:42am

First life with 'alien' DNA

An engineered bacterium is able to copy DNA that contains unnatural genetic letters.

Scientists reported on Wednesday that they had taken a significant step toward altering the fundamental alphabet of life — creating an organism with an expanded artificial genetic code in its DNA.

The accomplishment might eventually lead to organisms that can make medicines or industrial products that cells with only the natural genetic code cannot.

The scientists behind the work at the Scripps Research Institute have already formed a company to try to use the technique to develop new antibiotics, vaccines and other products, though a lot more work needs to be done before this is practical.

The work also gives some support to the concept that life can exist elsewhere in the universe using genetics different from those on Earth. "This is the first time that you have had a living cell manage an alien genetic alphabet," said Steven A Benner, a researcher in the field at the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution in Gainesville, Florida, who was not involved in the new work. But the research, published online by the journal Nature, is bound to raise safety concerns and questions about whether humans are playing God.

The new paper could intensify calls for greater regulation of the budding field known as synthetic biology, which involves the creation of biological systems intended for specific purposes.

"The arrival of this unprecedented 'alien' life form could in time have far-reaching ethical, legal and regulatory implications," Jim Thomas of the ETC Group, a Canadian advocacy organization, said in an email.

"While synthetic biologists invent new ways to monkey with the fundamentals of life, governments haven't even been able to cobble together the basics of oversight, assessment or regulation for this surging field."

Despite the great diversity of life on Earth, all species, from simple bacteria to human beings, use the same genetic code. It consists of four chemical units in DNA, sometimes called nucleotides or bases, that are usually represented by the letters A, C, G and T. The sequence of these chemical units determines what proteins the cell makes. Those proteins in turn do most of the work in cells and are required for the structure, function and regulation of the body's tissues and organs. The Scripps researchers chemically created two new nucleotides, which they called X and Y. They inserted an X-Y pair into the common bacterium E coli. The bacteria were able to reproduce normally, though a bit slowly, replicating the X and Y along with the natural nucleotides. In effect, the bacteria have a genetic code of six letters rather than four, perhaps allowing them to make novel proteins that could function in a completely different way from those created naturally.

"If you have a language that has a certain letters, you want to add letters so you can write more words and tell more stories," said Floyd E Romesberg, a chemist at Scripps who led the work.

http://www.nature.com/news/first-life-with-alien-dna-1.15179

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 9, 2014 at 9:40am

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