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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 28, 2021 at 7:37am

Snapshots from high in the sky allow new insight into ecosystems around the world

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 28, 2021 at 7:28am

Mountain spring water isn't as clean as you think it is

 Mountain spring water is often touted as the cleanest water you can drink. But a new study revealed this isn't the case.

Using data collected over 40 years, researchers detailed how water quality in high-elevation streams has been negatively affected by a combination of historical events and modern changes, namely sediment from rural roads and agricultural runoff.

Unpaved roads are just one of several factors contributing to sediment runoff.

When streams carry a lot of sediment, it makes it more difficult for animals to see food in the water, and it affects fish growth and disease resistance. Sediment also continues to flow downstream and into public water supplies, where it costs cities and towns more to filter.

The landscape you see now isn't what it was like in 1900. For generations, people farmed the valleys  and left the hillsides forested, for hunting and gathering. But the new settlers cut the forests and even tried to farm the hills, causing erosion and sediment to move into the streams. Today, stream beds continue to show evidence of sediment deposited more than a century ago, even as new sediment pushes through the waters.

Many years later, a new kind of development in the region created a different kind of land disturbance. For generations, residents considered the steep mountain slopes undevelopable. But the 1980s and '90s brought a desire for mountain getaway homes with views.

By building homes on mountain ridges, he said, it created more land disturbance through carving out unpaved roads and cutting into hillsides, sometimes creating landslides.

"Roadside ditches and unpaved roads produce a lot of sediment, and their sediment production increases as roads get steeper and as gravel roads get more use. in areas with both mountain and valley development, the researchers found sediment concentrations four to six times higher.

Farming also takes its toll. The studies researchers analyzed found many streams in the area to have high nutrient concentrations—particularly nitrate. When a stream flowing through a pasture loses its buffer of trees, it loses a natural protection against nutrient runoff.

Streams without shade also have higher water temperatures.

The paper was published earlier this month in the journal Bioscience.

C Rhett Jackson et al, Distinctive Connectivities of Near-Stream and Watershed-Wide Land Uses Differentially Degrade Rural Aquatic Ecosystems, BioScience (2021). DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biab098

https://researchnews.cc/news/10775/Mountain-spring-water-isn-t-as-c...

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 28, 2021 at 7:21am

The telescope is on a 30-day long journey to cover the 15,00,000 kilometers distance between Earth and its intended orbit. It will reach the location by the end of January.

Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/science/story/where-is-james-webb-telesco...

Part 4

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 28, 2021 at 7:20am

Animation: The James Webb Space Telescope's Orbit

Part 3

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 28, 2021 at 7:19am

This location lets the telescope stay in line with the Earth as it moves around the Sun allowing its large sunshield to protect the telescope from the light and heat of the Sun and Earth (and Moon). The position is named in honour of Italian-French mathematician Josephy-Louis Lagrange.

There are five special points where a small satellite can orbit in a constant portion with two big masses. At these five positions part of the Earth-Sun system, three (L1, L2 and L3) lie along the line connecting the two large masses. Meanwhile, L4 and L5 form the apex.

According to Nasa, the L1 point of the Earth-Sun system affords an uninterrupted view of the sun and is currently home to the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Satellite SOHO. The L2, where the James Webb Space Telescope is going, is ideal for astronomy because a spacecraft is close enough to readily communicate with Earth, can keep Sun, Earth and Moon behind the spacecraft for solar power and (with appropriate shielding) provides a clear view of deep space.

It is to be noted that L1 and L2 points are unstable and satellites functioning from this location need to go through regular course corrections. Meanwhile, L3 remains behind the Sun and is unlikely to be used.

WHY WAS THIS PARTICULAR LOCATION SELECTED FOR THE TELESCOPE?

The location was chosen since James Webb will be observing the universe in infrared vision which can sometimes be fe... and since it is looking for the faintest signals, it needs to be safeguarded from any bright, hot sources, the biggest being our Sun.

The telescope itself will be operating at about -225 degrees Celsius and the temperature difference between the front and back of the spacecraft will be huge. To protect the telescope, the location needs to be such that light and heat from the Sun, Moon and Earth needs to come from just one direction. The second lagrange point is the optimum location from where Sun, Moon and Earth are in the one-line direction.

Part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 28, 2021 at 7:17am

Explained: Where is James Webb Telescope going and why do we need to send it so far away

Unlike the Hubble space telescope, the James Webb telescope will not orbit the Earth, it is headed to a location known as the second Lagrange point.

Travelling at 1.39 kilometers per second in the vacuum of space, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is headed to a destination that humans will never see it again — 15,00,000 kilometers away from Earth. A day after it soared into skies following a nerve-wracking launch, the telescope has covered nearly 23 per cent of its journey to the location known as the second Lagrange point.

The telescope on Sunday released its gimbaled antenna assembly, which includes its high-data-rate dish antenna. The antenna will be used to send at least 28.6 gigabytes of science data down from the observatory, twice a day.

The world’s largest and most complex space science observatory will now begin six months of commissioning in space. At the end of commissioning, Webb will deliver its first images. Webb will study infrared light from celestial objects with much greater clarity than ever before.

Unlike the Hubble space telescope, the James Webb telescope will not orbit the Earth, it is headed to a location known as the second Lagrange point from where it will observe the universe, so far back into time that it will see the origin of the universe following the big bang itself.

According to Nasa, Lagrange points are positions in space where objects sent tend to stay put. At Lagrange points, the gravitational pull of two large masses precisely equals the centripetal force required for a small object to move with them. These points in space can be used by spacecraft to reduce the fuel consumption needed to remain in position.

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 28, 2021 at 7:13am

Early in the pandemic, researchers observed high levels of inflammatory cytokines—molecules which adjust or alter the immune system response—in COVID patients with poor outcomes. However, this so called 'cytokine storm' was also present in hospitalized patients with a milder version of the disease. We set out to fine tune our knowledge of which factors in the blood correlate with severe disease with more insight and accuracy.

These  findings provide a scientific foundation for the development of blood tests that could provide doctors with vital information on which treatments will be most effective for a patient.

Julie C. Wilson et al, Integrated miRNA/cytokine/chemokine profiling reveals severity-associated step changes and principal correlates of fatality in COVID-19, iScience (2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.103672

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-12-blood-factors-linked-severe-...

Part 2 

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 28, 2021 at 7:12am

Researchers pinpoint blood factors linked to severe COVID

Scientists have identified unique "indicators" in the blood of patients with severe and fatal COVID, paving the way for simple diagnostic tests to help doctors identify who will go on to become critically ill.

The scientists analyzed blood samples from hospitalized COVID patients. They detected markers in the blood associated with patients becoming so ill they needed treatment in intensive care.

The findings may lead to new ways for triaging and assessing the risk of COVID patients, relieving the pressure from hospitals during infection spikes.

Since the start of the pandemic, researchers have been working to understand how and why COVID affects individuals differently. Even patients hospitalized with the disease have diverse treatment needs, with some milder cases simply requiring extra oxygen while others need invasive ventilation in intensive care.

This new study identified factors in the blood that are uniquely correlated with severe and fatal outcomes for hospitalized COVID patients. These findings support the observation that COVID is a disease that develops in stages and have the potential to provide doctors with vital information, allowing them to tailor treatments according to severity of disease and identify high-risk patients early.

The research, published in the journal iScience, involved testing blood samples from over 160 patients admitted to hospital during the first and second wave of the pandemic and was carried out in collaboration with York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester University and four NHS Trusts in Greater Manchester.

The researchers measured levels of cytokines and chemokines—the proteins in the blood that drive the overwhelming immune response observed in patients with COVID—as well as tiny RNAs, called microRNAs—which reflect the state of diseased tissues and are already known to be good indicators of severity and stage in several other diseases. They identified a set of cytokines, chemokines, and microRNAs linked to fatal outcomes from COVID.

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 27, 2021 at 7:22am

James Webb Telescope

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 27, 2021 at 7:20am

Oral and gut microbes can inactivate an antidiabetic drug

Acarbose is a commonly prescribed antidiabetic drug that helps control blood sugar levels by inhibiting human enzymes that break down complex carbohydrates. Now, new research  demonstrates that some bacteria in the mouth and gut can inactivate acarbose and potentially affect the clinical performance of the drug and its impact on bacterial members of the human microbiome. The paper appeared online and in the December 2, 2021 issue of the journal Nature.

Acarbose was originally isolated from bacteria that live in soil. These bacteria secrete acarbose to hinder the growth of other types of bacteria in their environment, giving themselves a competitive advantage. Both the natural bacterial version and the drug acarbose inhibit a-glucosidases, enzymes expressed by humans and bacteria to break down complex sugars into a form that can be metabolized for energy.

But acarbose-producing bacteria also express an antidote to it—an enzyme called acarbose kinase that modifies acarbose, rendering it inactive. 

This mechanism may accidentally affect the response of diabetic patients to this drug as well as shape its impact on the microbiome.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04091-0?proof=t+target%3D

https://researchnews.cc/news/10757/Oral-and-gut-microbes-can-inacti...

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