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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 4, 2023 at 12:47pm

Coffee can pollute too!

Caffeine is an emerging global pollutant. It enters our waterways through the wastewater system, and impacts water quality and marine life. And while coffee grounds are often used as a soil amendment, caffeine is a killer for emerging seedlings.

But there are things consumers can do to reduce the pollution; some are listed  below. And scientists are looking at innovative strategies for removing the contamination.

Five ways to clean up your caffeine habit

1. Stop drinking caffeinated beverages

Since at least 90% of adults drink coffee, tea or energy drinks regularly, I imagine some of you are laughing (or crying) right now. So consider reducing your consumption, and move on to No. 2.

2. Reuse and recycle

Some businesses, artists and engineers are finding creative ways to reuse and recycle grounds. For example, companies in the United Kingdom are collecting coffee pulp and spent grounds to use in textiles, ink, aromatics, and biofuels. Coffee shops and manufacturers could partner with such companies to reuse their coffee waste.

3. Don't dump spent grounds or leftover drink down the sink

Compost or dispose of grounds in the trash rather than send caffeine down the drain and into the wastewater system.

4. Reduce plastic pollution, too

The plastic and disposable cups that often go with caffeine habits is a different but related type of pollution we can reduce. Remember to bring your own cup to the café, or use one of the many low-waste techniques of brewing at home.

5. Support government funding to update sewage facilities

"Investing in outdated treatment plants is how we can actually solve it," Subuyuj said. "In the U.S., outdated water treatment plants, especially in bigger cities, is the main source of caffeine entering waterways. That would also reduce other contaminants to the environment, like heavy metals and microplastics."

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 4, 2023 at 12:43pm

Genetic analysis can reduce adverse drug reactions by 30%

Patients can experience 30% fewer serious adverse reactions if their drugs are tailored to their genes, reports a study published in The Lancet. A European collaboration research suggests that a genetic analysis prior to drug therapy could significantly reduce suffering and health care costs.

A significant proportion of patients experience adverse reactions to their medication. Since we each carry a unique set of genes, we react differently to the same drugs. For example, some people break them down faster, meaning that they require a higher dose to obtain the desired effect.

To overcome this problem, researchers have developed the principle for a "DNA pass" that has been clinically validated in the recently published study.

It's basically a credit card-sized card with a magnetic strip containing all the important genetic data on a particular patient. When a patient's card is scanned, doctors and pharmacists can work out the optimal dose of a drug for that particular individual.

The study included almost 7,000 patients from seven European countries between March 2017 and June 2020 all of whom were genotyped with respect to variations in twelve specific genes of significance to drug metabolism, transport and side-effects. All participants then received their drugs either conventionally or with a genotype-based modification.

Twelve weeks after their drug regimen began, the patients were contacted by a specialist nurse about any adverse reactions, such as diarrhea, pain or loss of taste. The study concluded that such adverse reactions to drugs can be greatly reduced by analyzing the genes that code for enzymes that metabolize them.

The patients who'd received genotype-driven treatment had, on average, 30% fewer adverse reactions than the controls in the study.

Jesse J Swen et al, A 12-gene pharmacogenetic panel to prevent adverse drug reactions: an open-label, multicentre, controlled, cluster-randomised crossover implementation study, The Lancet (2023). DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(22)01841-4

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 4, 2023 at 12:21pm

Here is another reason to stop wars and voilence : Life in a violent country can be years shorter and much less predictable, even for those not involved in conflict

How long people live is less predictable and life expectancy for young people can be as much as 14 years shorter in violent countries compared to peaceful countries, according to a new study today from an international team. It reveals a direct link between the uncertainty of living in a violent setting, even for those not directly involved in the violence, and a "double burden" of shorter and less predictable lives.

According to the research, violent deaths are responsible for a high proportion of the differences in lifetime uncertainty between violent and peaceful countries. But, the study says, "The impact of violence on mortality goes beyond cutting lives short. When lives are routinely lost to violence, those left behind face uncertainty as to who will be next."

What the researchers found most striking is that lifetime uncertainty has a greater association with violence than life expectancy. Lifetime uncertainty, therefore, should not be overlooked when analyzing changes in mortality patterns.

Using mortality data from 162 countries, and the Internal Peace Index between 2008–2017, the study shows the most violent countries are also those with the highest lifetime uncertainty. It also says, in the most violent societies, lifetime uncertainty is even experienced by those not directly involved in violence. The report states, "Poverty-insecurity-violence cycles magnify pre-existing structural patterns of disadvantage for women and fundamental imbalances in gender relations at young ages."

Whilst men are the major direct victims of violence, women are more likely to experience non-fatal consequences in violent contexts. These indirect effects of violence should not be ignored as they fuel gender inequalities, and can trigger other forms of vulnerability and causes of death.

According to the report, lower life expectancy is usually associated with greater lifetime uncertainty. In addition, living in a violent society creates vulnerability and uncertainty—and that, in turn, can lead to more violent behavior.

Therefore, countries with high levels of violence experience lower levels of life expectancy than more peaceful ones.

José Aburto, A global assessment of the impact of violence on lifetime uncertainty, Science Advances (2023). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.add9038. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.add9038

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 3, 2023 at 9:54am

Discovery of new ice may change our understanding of water

Researchers  have discovered a new type of ice that more closely resembles liquid water than any other known ices and that may rewrite our understanding of water and its many anomalies.

The newly discovered ice is amorphous—that is, its molecules are in a disorganized form, not neatly ordered as they are in ordinary, crystalline ice. Amorphous ice, although rare on Earth, is the main type of ice found in space. That is because in the colder environment of space, ice does not have enough thermal energy to form crystals.

For the study, published in the journal Science, the research team used a process called ball milling, vigorously shaking ordinary ice together with steel balls in a jar cooled to -200 degrees Centigrade.

They found that, rather than ending up with small bits of ordinary ice, the process yielded a novel amorphous form of ice that, unlike all other known ices, had the same density as liquid water and whose state resembled water in solid form. They named the new ice "medium-density amorphous ice" (MDA).

The team suggested that MDA (which looks like a fine white powder) may exist inside ice moons of the outer solar system, as tidal forces from gas giants such as Jupiter and Saturn may exert similar shear forces on ordinary ice as those created by ball milling. In addition, the team found that when MDA was warmed up and recrystallized, it released an extraordinary amount of heat, meaning it could trigger tectonic motions and "icequakes" in the kilometers-thick covering of ice on moons such as Ganymede.

 Alexander Rosu-Finsen et al, Medium-density amorphous ice, Science (2023). DOI: 10.1126/science.abq2105. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq2105

https://phys.org/news/2023-02-discovery-ice.html?utm_source=nwlette...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 3, 2023 at 9:48am

Network science is the study of physical, biological, social and other phenomena through the creation of network representations. These representations can sometimes offer very valuable insight, unveiling interesting patterns in data and relationships between connected entities.

  Network science and network visualizations are superb in summarizing and explaining complex systems in one image in a quick and objective way.

A network is essentially an object that consists of several nodes and links that connect these nodes. Network scientists  build these networks using data that relates to specific phenomena involving different interconnected parties or entities.

Two data scientists working at Central European University, Baoba Inc. and Revolut recently used network science to examine the FIFA World Cup 2022. The network representations they created, outlined in a paper published on Research Gate, allowed them to shed some new light on the fascinating interconnected world of soccer stars and clubs.

To build a network, researchers need a data source that shows relationships between the entities they are studying. In the example of soccer, this could be a team just as much as individual players. So, first things first—researchers needed data. This is where expert knowledge is required.

So the researchers collected the data necessary to build their FIFA World Cup 2022 Networks from transfermarkt.com, a soccer-related website owned by Axel Springer SE. This website contains a vast amount of information about soccer players and clubs, including players' team memberships and transfer histories, as well as both ongoing and past championship results.

So they came up with this: 

 Milan Janosov et al, FIFA World Cup 2022—The Network Edition, Unpublished (2023). DOI: 10.13140/rg.2.2.20650.29129

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 2, 2023 at 3:00pm

A Mysterious Whirlpool Appeared Over Hawaii, And It Could Be Because of SpaceX

A ghostly blue spiral spotted in the sky over Hawaii could be related to a SpaceX satellite launch.

The National Astronomical Observatory of Japan spotted the mysterious spiral through its Subaru Telescope on Janua..., just after SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a large military satellite for the US Space Force.

https://www.sciencealert.com/a-mysterious-whirlpool-appeared-over-h...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 2, 2023 at 1:47pm

Light-activated nanoscale drills can kill pathogenic fungi

That stubborn athlete's foot infection an estimated 70% of people get at some point in their life could become much easier to get rid of thanks to nanoscale drills activated by visible light.

Proven effective against antibiotic-resistant infectious bacteria and cancer cells, the molecular machines developed by researchers are just as good at combating infectious fungi, according to a new study published in Advanced Science.

The molecular machines developed by them are nanoscale compounds whose paddlelike chain of atoms moves in a single direction when exposed to visible light. This causes a drilling motion that allows the machines to bore into the surface of cells, killing them. This study is the first to show that, indeed, these molecules can also be effective against fungi.

In contrast to most antifungals, development of resistance to the visible-light activated nanoscale drills was not detected. Spinning at 2-3 million times per second, their rotors cause fungal cells to disintegrate by disrupting their metabolism.

By targeting the mitochondria,  these molecules disrupt the cell's metabolism, resulting in an overall energy imbalance that leads to an uncontrolled flow of water and ions such as calcium into the cell, eventually causing the cell to explode.

Ana L. Santos et al, Visible‐Light‐Activated Molecular Machines Kill Fungi by Necrosis Following Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Calcium Overload, Advanced Science (2023). DOI: 10.1002/advs.202205781

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 2, 2023 at 1:23pm

Using CRISPR to detect cancer biomarkers

Most cancer diagnostic techniques rely on uncomfortable and invasive procedures, such as biopsies, endoscopies or mammograms. Blood samples could be a less unpleasant option, though only a few forms of the disease can currently be diagnosed this way. But now, researchers reporting in ACS Sensors have developed an easy-to-use method that can detect small amounts of cancer-related molecules in exosomes in plasma and effectively distinguish between malignant and benign samples.

Exosomes are small vesicles that pinch off from a host cell, carrying cargo, such as nucleic acids, lipids and proteins, inside. This means that they provide a window into the condition of the cell they originated from. Accordingly, the unique intracellular environment of cancerous cells will be reflected in their exosomes through biomarkers such as micro RNAs (miRNAs). These are very small nucleic acids, only a few nucleotides in length, that regulate protein expression in cells and can become dysregulated in tumors. Therefore, it's possible that a blood test could someday detect cancerous cells simply by targeting these exosomal miRNAs.

But quantifying miRNAs has been difficult because they are present at very low levels in exosomes, requiring laborious processes that can introduce contamination and report unreliable results. So, some researchers have analyzed RNA and proteins in vesicles with the gene-editing tool CRISPR. Butother scientists wanted to develop a way to detect the small numbers of cancer-related exosomal miRNAs using a different CRISPR system with a unique RNase activity that was sensitive, reliable and effective. To create the detection method, the team designed a CRISPR/Cas13a system to cut apart a fluorophore and quencher-labeled reporter molecule, then packed it into a liposome—essentially a manufactured version of an exosome. When the two types of compartments fused together, the CRISPR cargo would then interact with the exosomal genetic material. If the target miRNA sequence was present, the Cas13a protein became activated and cut apart the reporter molecule, producing a fluorescent signal. In these experiments, the team targeted miRNA-21, which is involved in the development of several diseases, including breast cancer. The method successfully detected this miRNA within a mixture of similar sequences with high sensitivity. In other experiments, the researchers tested the method on a group of exosomes from healthy human cells and groups derived from breast cancer cells. The system consistently differentiated the cancer-related exosomes from those derived from healthy cells, showing it could be useful as a cancer diagnostic. The researchers say that this method has the potential to make cancer diagnosis and monitoring quicker and easier by analyzing blood samples.

Highly effective detection of exosomal miRNAs in plasma using liposome-mediated transfection CRISPR/Cas13a, ACS Sensors (2023). pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acssensors.2c01683

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 2, 2023 at 1:15pm

Study examines how reflecting on your values before opening your mouth makes for happier relationships

Ever found yourself angry at a situation and in desperate need to tell the world about it by ranting to anyone who'll listen? Maybe it's time to pause; inhale and reflect on what values you hold dear.

A new interdisciplinary study, conducted by philosophers,  linguists and  psychologists  has found that a process of reflecting on life values before a debate can enhance people's willingness to listen to others and engage with them in a civil dialogue.

The analysis revealed that the process of reflecting on values first helped to inspire individuals' "intellectual humility" (their awareness of their own fallibility and openness to others' views): 60.6% of participants who reflected on their values first showed more humility compared to the average person who was not given this task. In a seemingly ever-distant world where opinions appear increasingly polarized, the researchers suggest their results show grounds for optimism. If people were to stop and reflect on the values which are important to them, debates in the online and offline world could be far more harmonious, they think.

Using Self-Affirmation to Increase Intellectual Humility in Debate, Royal Society Open Science (2023). DOI: 10.1098/rsos.220958. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.220958

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 2, 2023 at 12:58pm

Physicists observe rare resonance in molecules for the first time

If s/he hits just the right pitch, a singer can shatter a wine glass. The reason is resonance. While the glass may vibrate slightly in response to most acoustic tones, a pitch that resonates with the material's own natural frequency can send its vibrations into overdrive, causing the glass to shatter.

Resonance also occurs at the much smaller scale of atoms and molecules. When particles chemically react, it's partly due to specific conditions that resonate with particles in a way that drives them to chemically link. But atoms and molecules are constantly in motion, inhabiting a blur of vibrating and rotating states. Picking out the exact resonating state that ultimately triggers molecules to react has been nearly impossible. MIT physicists may have cracked part of this mystery with a new study appearing in the journal Nature. The team reports that they have for the first time observed a resonance in colliding ultracold molecules. They found that a cloud of super-cooled sodium-lithium (NaLi) molecules disappeared 100 times faster than normal when exposed to a very specific magnetic field. The molecules' rapid disappearance is a sign that the magnetic field tuned the particles into a resonance, driving them to react more quickly than they normally would. The findings shed light on the mysterious forces that drive molecules to chemically react. They also suggest that scientists could one day harness particles' natural resonances to steer and control certain chemical reactions.

Juliana Park, A Feshbach resonance in collisions between triplet ground-state molecules, Nature (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05635-8. www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05635-8

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