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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on June 6, 2015 at 7:32am

There's a lesser-known biometric,that might be a bit harder to counterfeit: brainwaves. "In the biometric textbook table of contents, often the brain biometrics were listed as ‘Esoteric Biometrics.
Each person has slightly different so-called "brainprints." Different enough that computers were able to uniquely identify the study volunteers by their brainwaves 94 percent of the time. That effect held up when the subjects were retested six months later. The results are in the journal Neurocomputing. [Blair C. Armstrong et al, Brainprint: Assessing the uniqueness, collectability, and permanence of a novel method for ERP biometrics]
Brainprint: Assessing the uniqueness, collectability, and permanence of a novel method for ERP biometrics
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925231215004725

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on June 6, 2015 at 7:25am

Delirium is a type of sudden-onset brain dysfunction characterised by cognitive problems such as inattention and fluctuation in symptoms.
Reasons for development of delirium in the ICU patients include medications such as benzodiazepine and other sedatives. These are commonly given to patients to help them stay calm and sleep but can paradoxically cause disorientation and confusion in some patients.
the goal should be reduction or elimination of such medications, especially in more vulnerable patients such as the elderly and dementia patients, and to establish better night-time routines in hospitals such that patients are allowed to sleep with minimal interruptions. However, there are other causes of delirium, which might be more difficult to reduce. Illnesses such as severe pneumonia can cause secondary inflammation in the brain. It has also been suggested that changes in blood flow to the brain can result in delirium. The current study indicated that long-term risk of cognitive decline is increased by 20-30% in the patients who experience delirium in the ICU.
Development of delirium approximately doubles the risk of death in critically ill patients in hospital intensive care units, according to the results of a new study in the British Medical Journal (BMJ). The systematic review and meta-analysis study was carried out by a team of researchers based in Brazil and the United States, led by Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers.
Outcome of delirium in critically ill patients: systematic review and meta-analysis
http://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h2538

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on June 6, 2015 at 7:19am

In a new study from researchers in the University of Tel Aviv, a strategy is described for using phages to deliver a nuclease that targets antibiotic resistance genes in bacteria. Phages, which are viruses that infect bacteria, are the natural enemies of bacteria. This strategy renders these resistant bacteria susceptible to antibiotics and also prevents transfer of resistance from one strain to another. The study was led by Prof Udi Qimron and is published in the journal PNAS.

The spread of antibiotic resistance among pathogens is a worldwide public health crisis, prompting the World Health Organisation, at its annual assembly in Geneva last week, to approve an ambitious plan to slow it down. The research described in the PNAS paper is a promising step in the right direction. According to the study’s authors, applying their phage-based system to hospital surfaces and to the hands of medical personnel could help us to fight back against untreatable, often lethal bacterial infections. Prof Qimron explained: "Since there are only a few pathogens in hospitals that cause most of the antibiotic-resistance infections, we wish to specifically design appropriate sensitization treatments for each one of them. We will have to choose suitable combinations of DNA-delivering phages that would deliver the DNA into pathogens, and the suitable combination of 'killing' phages that could select the re-sensitized pathogens."

In this system, phages were programmed to deliver a programmable DNA nuclease, which is called clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)–CRISPR-associated (Cas), into the genome of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This shot to the heart of the resistant bacteria resulted in reversal of the antibiotic resistance, rendering them sensitive to antibiotics, while protecting the bacteria that were already sensitive to antibiotics.

In essence this system is therefore selective for antibiotic-sensitive bacteria, thus applying the opposite selective pressure to antibiotics themselves. Prof Qimron explained: "Antibiotic-resistant pathogens constitute an increasing threat because antibiotics are designed to select resistant pathogens over sensitive ones. The injected DNA does two things: It eliminates the genes that cause resistance to antibiotics, and it confers protection against lethal phages. We managed to devise a way to restore antibiotic sensitivity to drug-resistant bacteria, and also prevent the transfer of genes that create that resistance among bacteria.” The CRISPR-Cas system also destroyed the lytic phages themselves. Prof Qimron said: "We believe that this strategy, in addition to disinfection, could significantly render infections once again treatable by antibiotics."
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/05/14/1500107112

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on June 6, 2015 at 7:18am

When nose acts like brain...

Hormone ‘Erases’ Male Smell for Female Mice

In a new study, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found that state-specific odor “blindness” exists in female mice. Their research shows that female mice cannot sense the odor of male mice when they are in diestrus, the period of sexual inactivity during the reproductive cycle.

The researchers discovered that during this period, receptors in the female mouse’s nose actually block the signals from male odor molecules from ever reaching the brain. This lack of sensation directly affects mouse behavior.

“The nose was making decisions and acting like an extension of the brain.”

These findings, which point to new avenues for studying senses and behavior, were published June 4, 2015, in the journal Cell.

The new study started with an observation well-known in the field: While female mice are attracted to male mice during estrus—when they are receptive to breeding—female mice are indifferent to, and even aggressive toward, male mice during diestrus.

Researchers have long suspected that this change in behavior is related to hormonal changes in the brain during the reproductive cycle. Hormones produced in the ovaries during estrus and diestrus are known to activate specific neurons in the female brain. Stowers and her team aimed to study those neurons further. Before they investigated the brain, however, the researchers first wanted to rule out any activity in the nose that might be affecting the odor cues.

The researchers investigated a subset of neurons in a special organ in the nose called the vomeronasal organ (VNO), which detects male odors.

Using a technique called calcium imaging, the researchers discovered that these neurons don’t always detect male odors. The neurons have a “gating” mechanism and fail to activate in the presence of a hormone called progesterone, which is produced in the ovaries during diestrus. They found that progesterone acts through receptors on the surface of these sensory neurons, stopping them from transmitting the male odor smell to the brain.

Without these neurons activating, the female mouse can’t perceive male odors that promote behavior. This means ­the choice to perform behavior is being regulated in the nose itself, without thought from the brain.

What made the findings even stranger was the fact that no progesterone receptors had ever been detected in VNO neurons before. This prompted the researchers to dig further to figure out what was going on.

First, the researchers wanted to see if progesterone was disabling VNO function altogether.

To test this, the researchers checked the VNO response to predator cues—in this case, the scent of cat urine, which mice instinctually avoid. The researchers found that the subset of VNO neurons that usually respond to cat urine continued to respond normally, even in the presence of progesterone.

This showed that the ability female mice to smell in general was indeed still active during periods of diestrus.

Next, the researchers took a closer look at the signaling process. They discovered that when progesterone is detected by VNO neurons, it changes a signaling molecule that would normally relay the odor to the brain. Because only male odor-specific VNO neurons are susceptible to this change, they are the only ones that switch off in the presence of progesterone.

The reason for this male odor “blindness” is still unclear. Stowers said there is no evidence for the notion that male odors distract females from finding food or shelter. After all, female mice can smell male mice during estrus, and they still survive.

http://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674%2815%2900555-3

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on June 6, 2015 at 6:37am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on June 6, 2015 at 6:13am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on June 4, 2015 at 7:30am

What is Sleep? Flame Challenge 2015 Entry by Eric Galicia from Eric Galicia on Vimeo.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on June 3, 2015 at 9:48am

Why Asian Students Excel At Maths And Science What explains the stellar performance of Asian students, even when they study in the US?
Students from five nations and territories in Asia have topped the latest global school rankings in science and math conducted by the OECD (Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development). The top five are Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan (the last two tied in fourth place). The surprise is Vietnam, which follows in 12th place .
Only two other Asian countries are included in the rankings this year—Thailand (47th) and Indonesia (69th).
The rankings are based on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) taken by 15-year-olds around the world every three years. OECD suggests a correlation between quality basic education and economic development—the better educated a country’s people are, the faster the country develops economically.

http://www.asianscientist.com/2015/06/features/asian-students-excel...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on June 3, 2015 at 9:13am

Bacteria may cause type 2 diabetes

Bacteria and viruses have an obvious role in causing infectious diseases, but microbes have also been identified as the surprising cause of other illnesses, including cervical cancer (Human papilloma virus) and stomach ulcers (H. pylori bacteria). A new study by University of Iowa microbiologists now suggests that bacteria may even be a cause of one of the most prevalent diseases of our time - Type 2 diabetes.

The research team led by Patrick Schlievert, PhD, professor and DEO of microbiology at the UI Carver College of Medicine, found that prolonged exposure to a toxin produced by Staphylococcus aureus (staph) bacteria causes rabbits to develop the hallmark symptoms of Type 2 diabetes, including insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, and systemic inflammation.

"We basically reproduced Type 2 diabetes in rabbits simply through chronic exposure to the staph superantigen," Schlievert says.

The UI findings suggest that therapies aimed at eliminating staph bacteria or neutralizing the superantigens might have potential for preventing or treating Type 2 diabetes.

Obesity is a known risk factors for developing Type 2 diabetes, but obesity also alters a person's microbiome - the ecosystem of bacteria that colonize our bodies and affect our health.

"What we are finding is that as people gain weight, they are increasingly likely to be colonized by staph bacteria - to have large numbers of these bacteria living on the surface of their skin," Schlievert says. "People who are colonized by staph bacteria are being chronically exposed to the superantigens the bacteria are producing."

Schlievert's research has previously shown that superantigens - toxins produced by all strains of staph bacteria - disrupt the immune system and are responsible for the deadly effects of various staph infections, such as toxic shock syndrome, sepsis, and endocarditis.

The team's latest study, published recently in the journal mBio, shows that superantigens interact with fat cells and the immune system to cause chronic systemic inflammation, and this inflammation leads to insulin resistance and other symptoms characteristic of Type 2 diabetes. In examining the levels of staph colonization on the skin of four patients with diabetes, Schlievert's team estimate that exposure to the bacterial superantigens for people who are heavily colonized by staph is proportional to the doses of superantigen that caused the rabbits to develop diabetes symptoms in the team's experiments.

"I think we have a way to intercede here and alter the course of diabetes," Schlievert says. "We are working on a vaccine against the superantigens and we believe that this type of vaccine could prevent the development of Type 2 diabetes."

The team also is investigating the use of a topical gel containing glycerol monolaurate, which kills staph bacteria on contact, as an approach to eliminate staph bacteria from human skin. They plan to test whether this approach will improve blood sugar levels in patients with pre diabetes.
http://mbio.asm.org/content/6/2/e02554-14.abstract

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on June 2, 2015 at 9:13am

Global Warming Spawns Hybrid Species

Animals have been interbreeding for millennia. Even modern humans are the product of genetic exchange with Neanderthals some 60,000 years ago.

But the rate at which species interbreed is accelerating because of climate change, researchers say. As habitats and animal ranges change and bleed into one another, species that never before would have encountered one another are now mating.

Warmer temperatures have allowed grizzly bears and polar bears to venture to habitats they don’t usually occupy and mate to form a hybrid: the pizzly or grolar bear.

Similar trends have been observed between golden-winged warblers and blue-winged warblers.

This issue is horrendously complex because of our ability to change the environment.
s rainbow trout meet and interbreed with dwindling cutthroat trout populations, the survival of cutthroat trout is at risk. Instead, a hybrid species is taking its place.

It’s a major cause of species extinction—lots of species are now disappearing because they are being genetically swamped by other, commoner ones. In some cases, hybridization can lead to reduced genetic diversity in animals. Rather than growing a new branch on the [genetic] tree, you have two branches growing together. In the case of cutthroat-rainbow trout hybrids, the hybrids are less genetically fit, with offspring of the hybrids struggling to survive, a study led by researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey found.

The rate at which humans are driving species to extinction is 1,000 times faster than the rate at which animals would go extinct naturally.
"ADAPTATION:
The grolar bear dilemma -- do warming-created hybrids hurt species? "
http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060019399

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