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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 7, 2024 at 12:10pm

Many women with epilepsy unaware of seizure meds' risks to pregnancy

Many women with epilepsy who are of childbearing age might not realize their anti-seizure drugs can raise the risk of birth defects or dampen the effectiveness of their birth control, a new study warns.

Likewise, some birth control methods can cause anti-seizure meds to be less effective, researchers reported this week in a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Epilepsy Society in Los Angeles.

Many neurologists do not learn about birth control in their training, even though they know that anti-seizure medications may have some risks in pregnancy. 

This study raises awareness for patients and encourages health care providers from neurology and reproductive health care to work together to ensure the best care for these patients.

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 7, 2024 at 11:55am

They found the ideal molecular zip code in a protein called brevican, which helps to form the jelly-like structure of the brain, and only appears there. For the street address, they used two proteins that are found in most brain cancers.

The scientists programmed the immune cells to attack only if they first detected brevican and then detected one or the other of the brain cancer proteins.

When the scientists put the immune cells into the bloodstream, they easily navigated to the mouse's brain and eliminated a growing tumor. Any immune cells that remain in the bloodstream stay dormant, sparing any tissues outside the brain that happen to have the same protein "address" from being attacked.

One hundred days later, the scientists introduced new tumor cells into the brain, and enough immune cells were left to find and kill them, a good indication that they may be able to prevent any remaining cancer cells from growing back.

"The brain-primed CAR-T cells were very, very effective at clearing glioblastoma in our mouse models, the most effective intervention we've seen yet in the lab", say the scientists.
In another experiment, the researchers used the brain GPS system to engineer cells that deliver anti-inflammatory molecules to the brain in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis. The engineered cells once again reached their target and made their delivery, and the inflammation faded.

The scientists hope this approach will soon be ready for patients with other debilitating nervous system diseases.

Milos S. Simic et al, Programming tissue-sensing T cells that deliver therapies to the brain, Science (2024). DOI: 10.1126/science.adl4237

Part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 7, 2024 at 11:53am

Molecular 'ZIP code' draws killer T cells to brain tumors

Scientists have developed a "molecular GPS" to guide immune cells into the brain and kill tumors without harming healthy tissue.

It is the first living cell therapy that can navigate through the body to a specific organ, addressing what has been a major limitation of CAR-T cancer therapies until now. The technology worked in mice and the researchers expect it to be tested in a clinical trial next year.

Working in mice, the scientists showed how the immune cells could eliminate a deadly brain tumor called glioblastoma—and prevent recurrences. They also used the cells to tamp down inflammation in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis.

Because of their location, brain cancers are among the hardest cancers to treat. Surgery and chemotherapy are risky, and drugs can't always get into the brain.

To get around these problems, the scientists developed a "molecular GPS" for immune cells that guided them with a "zip code" for the brain and a "street address" for the tumor.

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 7, 2024 at 11:20am

When police make 500 arrests using facial recognition tech, can we say "our privacy and freedom are being infringed upon"?

London's Metropolitan Police force said this week that it had used facial recognition technology to make more than 500 arrests in 2024 for offenses ranging from shoplifting to rape.

The force uses live facial recognition in specific areas of the UK capital, positioning a van equipped with cameras in a pre-agreed location.

The cameras capture live footage of passers-by and compare their faces against a pre-approved watchlist, generating an alert if a match is detected.

Civil liberties campaigners have criticized the use of such technology, and advocacy group Big Brother Watch has launched legal action to stop its expansion.

"The technology works by creating a 'faceprint' of everyone who passes in front of camera—processing biometric data as sensitive as a fingerprint, often without our knowledge or consent," the group says on its website.

"This dangerously authoritarian surveillance is a threat to our privacy and freedoms—it has no place on the streets of Britain," it adds.

The Met says it is a "forerunner" in using the technology, adding that it helps "make London safer" by helping detect "offenders who pose significant risks to our communities".

Of the 540 arrests, more then 50 were for serious offenses involving violence against women and girls, including offenses such as strangulation, stalking, domestic abuse and rape

( My questions : don't these crimes severely  infringe upon our freedom and privacy? Don't they put all the women in dangerous situations?).

More than 400 of those arrested have already been charged or cautioned.

"This technology is helping us protect our communities from harm", say the police. Can you argue against it?

This tech is a powerful tool that supports officers to identify and focus on people who present the highest risk that may otherwise have gone undetected. 

Responding to privacy fears, police said that the biometric data of any passer-by not on a watchlist is "immediately and permanently deleted".

Can you get an assurance better than that?

I am okay with this tech. Because I am not a criminal and don't do anything against the law, ever. Then why should I be afraid of it?

It is much better than 500 criminals roaming around the streets.

Police, keep it coming. I am all game for it.

Source: News agencies 

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 7, 2024 at 11:02am

AI infiltrates the rat world: New robot can interact socially with real lab rats

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 7, 2024 at 10:55am

Scientists make cooking oil biofuel as efficient as diesel

A new way to produce fuels made from leftover fat can create biofuel as effective as diesel and 1000-times more efficiently than current methods, a new study has suggested.

Published in Green Chemistry, researchers  used enzymes to break down fatty acids in cooking oil into alkenes, the building block of fuels like petrol and diesel.  The scientists hope that the new renewable fuel, which can be made using leftover food waste, can cut fossil fuel usage.

Biofuels are a wide variety of energy sources made from renewable organic material that comes from plants or animals, like vegetable oil. Those that can directly replace petrol or diesel in conventional combustion engines have been touted as a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels, with fuels derived from food waste cutting greenhouse gases by up to 94%.

Typically, these fuels contain a lot of oxygen molecules which burn inefficiently. This low fuel efficiency has previously prevented widespread usage with the energy produced by burning fatty acid derived biofuels being 90% of that produced by diesel. To compensate and create diesel equivalents more raw materials are needed, pushing up costs to two times that of fossil fuels.

To create a more efficient fuel with more active alkene in, the researchers modified an enzyme called P450 decarboxylase to break down fatty acids found in food waste and extract the oxygen found within.
The enzyme typically requires water to work, meaning that it produces a low yield of alkene. To overcome this, the modified enzyme was placed in a liquid salt while a UV light was shone on it as it mixed with fatty acids to activate the reaction. This resulted in a yield of alkenes that was far greater than what is possible in water. The improved efficiency means that the production of the fuel requires less energy and lower amounts of raw materials, dramatically improving sustainability.

Moreover, as the enzyme is a biological catalyst, the process removes the need for conventional catalysts like platinum, which avoids any environmental damage caused by mining. The use of UV light also prevents the use of toxic chemicals like hydrogen peroxide to push the reaction forward.

Jake H. Nicholson et al, Enhancing the reactivity of a P450 decarboxylase with ionic liquids, Green Chemistry (2024). DOI: 10.1039/D4GC05292G

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 7, 2024 at 10:16am

In this new effort, researchers found 485 papers that involved the study of a species and its ability to survive changes to its environment. They then compared this data with estimates of future warming and determined what sort of changes might occur and in which areas. They then made estimates about the likely survivability of a given species based on where it lives and its ability to migrate or to adapt.

The researchers found that if global temperatures rise approximately 5.4°C by the end of this century (the worst-case scenario), it would likely lead to the extinction of approximately one-third of all species alive today. They note that some cases of chain-reaction extinctions could occur, in which a small animal goes extinct and then a larger animal that feeds on it consequently goes extinct. They also note that some species groups or types are at much higher risk than others, such as amphibians.

Mark C. Urban, Climate change extinctions, Science (2024). DOI: 10.1126/science.adp4461

Part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 7, 2024 at 10:14am

Meta-analysis of current global warming impacts suggests a third of all species could be extinct by 2100

Biologists found evidence that up to a third of all species alive today could go extinct by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions are not slowed or stopped. In his study published in the journal Science, they conducted an analysis of 485 studies carried out over the past 30 years on the ability of species to adapt to climate change.

Manmade greenhouse gas emissions are causing atmospheric and seawater warming, and these temperature increases will lead to unpredictable weather changes—besides growing warmer, it is expected that some places will grow wetter and others drier. It is also likely that the world will see more extreme weather, such as droughts, hurricanes and typhoons, in addition to thunderstorms or snow storms. Such changes will put pressure on species that are not able to control their environment the way humans do, putting many at risk.

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 7, 2024 at 9:20am

Quality of parent-child relationships predicts adulthood well-being

The link between early life experiences and mental health has been widely explored by psychology researchers. One key aspect of human early life experiences is the relationship that people develop with their parental figures, which is at the center of attachment theory and various other psychological models.

Past studies suggest that the quality of relationships between parents and their children plays a role in the subjective well-being of these children when they reach adulthood. While this finding is well-documented, many past studies were conducted on relatively small samples of participants residing in a single country.

The countries included in this study were selected carefully, to maximize religious and ethnic diversity in the sample. The objective was to include people living in all the broader geographical regions on Earth.

Now two researchers at Gallup, recently carried out a study aimed at exploring the link between parent-child relationships and an adult's self-reported well-being in a larger and more varied sample that spanned across 21 countries.

Their paper, published in Communications Psychology, suggests that the quality of parent-child relationships predicts the well-being of adults residing in all of the countries they studied.

The researchers  found a substantial effect of parent-child relationships on both flourishing and mental health. The effect was larger than any other variable they tested, including parental socio-economic status, current education level, current household income, gender, and financial security.

The relationship was positive in every country, and it reached conventional levels of significance in all but one. Even that exception seemed to be explained by the relatively young population in the survey. When the researchers re-weighted the data to make the ages similar across countries, they found a significant effect in every country.

Overall, the findings of this research study suggest that there is a universal link between parent-child relationships and lifelong well-being, which applies to all people, irrespective of where they were raised.

 Jonathan T. Rothwell et al, Parent-child relationship quality predicts higher subjective well-being in adulthood across a diverse group of countries, Communications Psychology (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s44271-024-00161-x.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 6, 2024 at 11:49am

Does CPR help both the conditions of cardiac arrest and heart attacks?

CPR is primarily used to treat cardiac arrest, not a heart attack; while chest compressions might be used in some situations during a heart attack, full CPR is typically not recommended unless the heart attack progresses to cardiac arrest, where the heart stops beating completely, meaning CPR is used to keep blood circulating until further medical intervention is available. 

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) plays an important role in the early treatment of a heart attack if the heart stops beating.

CPR is an emergency treatment. It helps keep blood moving throughout a person’s body when their heart stops beating, which healthcare professionals refer to as cardiac arrest. CPR helps extend the opportunity for successful resuscitation.

Not everyone who has a heart attack needs CPR. It is only necessary if a person goes into cardiac arrest.

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