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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 30, 2014 at 9:09am

Using a naturally occurring protein, scientists have designed a drug nanocarrier that can deliver high doses of cancer drugs to tumors.
Harnessing Nature’s Design To Reduce Chemo Side-Effects
Using a naturally-occurring protein, researchers have designed a nanocarrier that can deliver a high concentration of drugs specifically to tumors. These results, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could help reduce the side effect of chemotherapy drugs.

In recent years, nanotechnology has been applied to develop drug nanocarriers that can precisely target and kill tumor cells, reducing damages to normal tissue. An ideal nanocarrier for drug delivery should be able to carry high doses of therapeutic drugs, target at tumor cells specifically and have favorable physicochemical properties and biocompatibility.

However, integrating all these characteristics into a single carrier has been complicated. So far, no targeted nanoparticle system has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, reflecting in part the complexity of designing particles that meet all of the criteria required for accurate drug delivery.

Professor Yan Xiyun and her colleagues at the Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences have recently discovered a nanocarrier ideal for efficient anti-tumor drug delivery. They used a naturally-occurring protein, H-ferritin, to form a nanocage that does not require any surface functionalization or property modulation. The new nanocarrier specifically delivers high doses of the therapeutic drug doxorubicin to tumor cells and completely inhibits tumor growth with only a single dose treatment, while exhibiting excellent safety profiles and biocompatibility.

The idea of employing naturally existed materials for targeted drug delivery, instead of focusing on complex particle engineering is a shift in the design concept of drug carriers. The authors hope that it will lead to new directions and methodologies in developing new safe and biocompatible nanomaterials in vivo.
http://www.pnas.org/content/111/41/14900

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 30, 2014 at 8:41am

Bio-mimicry!

Cephalopods, which include octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish, are among nature’s most skillful camouflage artists, able to change both the color and texture of their skin within seconds to blend into their surroundings — a capability that engineers have long struggled to duplicate in synthetic materials. (Learn more: http://mitsha.re/1o3Ensl)

Now, a team of researchers has come closer than ever to achieving that goal, creating a flexible material that can change its color or fluorescence and its texture at the same time, on demand, under remote control.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 29, 2014 at 9:52am

And more good news:

ISRO chairman K. Radhakrishnan on 20th Oct., 2014, backed Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s proposal to use the euphoria created by the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) to ignite young minds and encourage students to take to science.

The Government of Kerala will team up with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to promote science education and research among students. ISRO chairman K. Radhakrishnan on Monday backed Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s proposal to use the euphoria created by the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) to ignite young minds and encourage students to take to science.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 29, 2014 at 9:10am

The science of human decomposition:
http://www.vox.com/2014/10/28/7078151/body-farm-texas-freeman-ranch...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 29, 2014 at 9:05am

Some good news: relieved to hear this. As long as religion doesn't clash with science and hinder its progress, scientists will have open minds about considering co-existing with religion.

Pope Francis declares evolution and Big Bang theory are right and God isn't 'a magician with a magic wand'

The theories of evolution and the Big Bang are real and God is not “a magician with a magic wand”, Pope Francis has declared.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-francis-declare...

Speaking at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the Pope made comments which experts said put an end to the “pseudo theories” of creationism and intelligent design that some argue were encouraged by his predecessor, Benedict XVI.

Francis explained that both scientific theories were not incompatible with the existence of a creator – arguing instead that they “require it”.

“When we read about Creation in Genesis, we run the risk of imagining God was a magician, with a magic wand able to do everything. But that is not so,” Francis said.

He added: “He created human beings and let them develop according to the internal laws that he gave to each one so they would reach their fulfilment.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 28, 2014 at 9:47am

Ecologist Mark Browne knew he’d found something big when, after months of tediously examining sediment along shorelines around the world, he noticed something no one had predicted: fibers. Everywhere. They were tiny and synthetic and he was finding them in the greatest concentration near sewage outflows. In other words, they were coming from us.

In fact, 85% of the human-made material found on the shoreline were microfibers, and matched the types of material, such as nylon and acrylic, used in clothing.

It is not news that microplastic – which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration defines as plastic fragments 5mm or smaller – is ubiquitous in all five major ocean gyres. And numerous studies have shown that small organisms readily ingest microplastics, introducing toxic pollutants to the food chain.

But Browne’s 2011 paper announcing his findings marked a milestone, according to Abigail Barrows, an independent marine research scientist based in Stonington, Maine, who has helped to check for plastic in more than 150 one-liter water samples collected around the world. “He’s fantastic – very well respected” among marine science researchers, says Barrows. “He is a pioneer in microplastics research.”
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es201811s

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

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