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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 6, 2021 at 11:54am

Personalized Deep Brain Stimulation Therapy (DBS)

Health physicians have successfully treated a patient with severe depression by tapping into the specific brain circuit involved in depressive brain patterns and resetting them using the equivalent of a pacemaker for the brain.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 6, 2021 at 11:01am

PLOS Pathogens to offer authors seamless data deposition to Dryad

The Public Library of Science (PLOS) today announced that PLOS Pathogens is introducing a new technology solution that makes depositing data simpler and more accessible for our authors. As part of a one-year trial beginning October 5, 2021, PLOS Pathogens authors now have the option to upload their data files directly to Dryad Digital Repository (https://datadryad.org/stash/) during manuscript submission or revision—without even leaving our submission system. PLOS Pathogens is among the first journals in our field to offer this new service. Thanks to a grant from the Wellcome Trust (https://plos.io/3oAOeiu), datasets that are part of the trial will be hosted in perpetuity at no cost to authors.

Researchers rely on access to scientific data to enhance their understanding of published research, for purposes of verification, replication and reanalysis, to guide future investigations, and to inform systematic reviews or meta-analyses. Depositing data in a repository (as opposed to offering it upon request or publishing as Supporting Information) further prevents data loss, improves discoverability, and removes barriers to replication and reuse. This new integrated solution means that it takes just minutes to upload a dataset and receive a unique, citable Dryad DOI. If a manuscript is accepted for publication, the associated dataset will undergo Dryad’s screening and curatorial process and become public on the site, with links to and from the published research article.

Data repositories like Dryad offer important advantages, including data preservation and tracking, facilitating reproducibility, demonstrating rigor, and attracting citations. This integration offers a simple, intuitive interface that makes depositing data with Dryad a part of our authors' normal submission workflow. The process is no more challenging than uploading data as Supporting Information, but much more effective as a vehicle for sharing. The year-long trial will show whether a more streamlined process inspires authors to take advantage of the benefits of a data repository.

https://datadryad.org/stash/

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/930457

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 6, 2021 at 10:39am

Age and aging have critical effects on the gut microbiome

Researchers have found that aging produces significant changes in the microbiome of the human small intestine distinct from those caused by medications or illness burden. The findings were published in the journal Cell Reports.

By teasing out the microbial changes that occur in the small bowel with age, medication use and diseases, researchers hope to identify unique components of the microbial community to target for therapeutics and interventions that could promote healthy aging.

Research exploring the gut microbiome, and its impact on health, has relied predominantly on fecal samples, which do not represent the entire gut. So  in their present study, investigators analyzed samples from the small intestine for examination of the microbiome and its relationship with aging.

This study is the first of its kind to examine the microbial composition of the small intestine of subjects 18 years of age to 80. Scientists now know that certain microbial populations are influenced more by medications, while others are more affected by certain diseases. Now researchers have identified specific microbes that appear to be only influenced by the chronological age of the person.

The 21st century has been referred to as the "era of the gut microbiome" as scientists turn considerable attention to the role trillions of gut bacteria, fungi and viruses may play in human health and disease. The microbiome is the name given to the genes that live in these cells. Studies have suggested that disturbances in the constellations of the microbial universe may lead to critical illnesses, including gastroenterological diseases, diabetes, obesity, and some neurological disorders.

While researchers know that microbial diversity in stool decreases with age, investigators now identified bacteria in the small bowel they refer to as "disruptors" that increase and could be troublesome.
Coliforms are normal residents of the intestine. They found that when these rod-shaped microbes become too abundant in the small bowel–as they do as we get older–they exert a negative influence on the rest of the microbial population. They are like weeds in a garden.

Investigators also found that as people age, the bacteria in the small intestine change from microbes that prefer oxygen to those that can survive with less oxygen, something they hope to understand as the research continues.

Gabriela Leite, Mark Pimentel, Gillian M. Barlow, Christine Chang, Ava Hosseini, Jiajing Wang, Gonzalo Parodi, Rashin Sedighi, Ali Rezaie, Ruchi Mathur. Age and the aging process significantly alter the small bowel microbiome. Cell Reports, 2021; 36 (13): 109765 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109765

https://researchnews.cc/news/9274/Age-and-aging-have-critical-effec...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 6, 2021 at 9:57am

New study uncovers brain circuits that control fear responses

Researchers  have discovered a brain mechanism that enables mice to override their instincts based on previous experience.

The study, published today in Neuron, identifies a new brain circuit in the ventral lateral geniculate nucleus (vLGN), an inhibitory structure in the brain. The neuroscientists found that when activity in this brain region was suppressed, animals were more likely to seek safety and escape from perceived danger, whereas activation of vLGN neurons completely abolished escape responses to imminent threats.

While it is normal to experience fear or anxiety in certain situations, we can adjust our fear responses depending on our knowledge or circumstances. For example, being woken up by loud blasts and bright lights nearby might evoke a fear reaction. But if you have experienced fireworks before, your knowledge will likely prevent such reactions and allow you to watch without fear. On the other hand, if you happen to be in a war zone, your fear reaction might be strongly increased.

While many brain regions have previously been shown to be involved in processing perceived danger and mediating fear reactions, the mechanisms of how these reactions are controlled are still unclear. Such control is crucial since its impairment can lead to anxiety disorders such as phobias or post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD), in which the circuits in the brain associated with fear and anxiety are thought to become overactive, leading to pathologically increased fear responses.

The new study took advantage of an established experimental paradigm in which mice escape to a shelter in response to an overhead expanding dark shadow. This looming stimulus simulates a predator moving towards the animal from above.

The researchers found that the vLGN could control escape behavior depending on the animal's knowledge gained through previous experience, and on its assessment of risk in its current environment. When mice were not expecting a threat and felt safe, the activity of a subset of inhibitory neurons in the vLGN was high, which in turn could inhibit threat reactions. In contrast, when mice expected danger, activity in these neurons was low, which made the animals more likely to escape and seek safety.

vLGN specifically inhibits neurons in the superior colliculus that respond to visual threats and thereby specifically blocks the pathway in the brain that mediates reactions to such threats—something the animal sees that could pose a danger like an approaching predator.

Flexible inhibitory control of visually-evoked defensive behaviour by the ventral lateral geniculate nucleus, Neuron (2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2021.09.003

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-10-uncovers-brain-circuits-resp...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 6, 2021 at 9:06am

Within the environment of the nucleus, it would make sense that genes regulated by the same type of information would be concentrated in close proximity so that they might share resources, potentially lowering the energetic cost of regulation. Several previous experiments have shown a level of organization in the nucleus where genes occupy discrete domains. However, many of these studies use biochemical methods to define domains, rather than actually observing the physical position of the active genes within the nucleus.

In the Current Biology study, the researchers demonstrated that they could accurately identify the physical position of the active genes using a microscopy imaging procedure and fruit flies, a model organism commonly used in genetic and molecular research. The researchers examined how a fertilized fruit fly egg develops into a fully formed organism, a process that requires the activity of sets of genes, which become progressively activated during embryonic development.

Focusing on the earliest set of genes appearing in 90-minute-old fruit fly embryos, the researchers observed how a protein called Zelda regulates the genes' transcription by recruiting the enzyme RNA Polymerase II (Pol-II). Using high resolution microscopy and antibody staining, they visualized Pol-II at sites of nascent transcription on chromosomes.

By observing the positions of many genes using this method, they asked the question: Are genes found in clusters? The answer was no.

The researchers performed a series of follow-up experiments to test the notion of functional clustering, such as looking for gene expression changes when genes were found in close proximity, or signs of resources being shared among the genes visualized. Once again, they did not find evidence of clustering.

In contrast to the idea that genes are spatially clustered and share transcriptional resources—what one might call a "collectivist" model—the authors conclude that the data support an "individualist" model of gene control at early genome activation in fruit flies.

Spatial organization of transcribing loci during early genome activation in Drosophila, Current Biology (2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.09.027

https://phys.org/news/2021-10-genes-individualists-collectivists-ea...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 6, 2021 at 9:05am

Genes are individualists, not collectivists, during early fruit fly development

Active genes do not form clusters and share resources during early development in the fruit fly, according to a new study by researchers published in the journal Current Biology.

The study changes the way we think about how the molecular machinery functions in basic cellular mechanisms during the development of organisms.

The nucleus is the portion of the cell containing the vast majority of genetic information—including the complex jumble of long cables of DNA that make up the genome—in order to determine the behavior of that organism. Genes stored in the sequence of DNA encode not just the protein sequence required to express the trait associated with that gene, but also the information for when that protein sequence should be manufactured.

"The nucleus is an elaborate switchboard—the connection point for the vast array of information about the state of the cell's environment, which will be processed and responded to by a defined set of expressed protein products. Within this framework, this study asked if there exists cooperation between these hundreds of logic gates making individual decisions about when to manufacture their respective proteins.

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 6, 2021 at 8:53am

Announcement of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics

Three scientists won the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for work that found order in seeming disorder, helping to explain and predict complex forces of nature, including expanding our understanding of climate change.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 5, 2021 at 10:03am

Our DNA is becoming the world's tiniest hard drive

Our genetic code is millions of times more efficient at storing data than existing solutions, which are costly and use immense amounts of energy and space. In fact, we could get rid of hard drives and store all the digital data on the planet within a couple hundred pounds of DNA.

Using DNA as a high-density data storage medium holds the potential to forge breakthroughs in biosensing and biorecording technology and next-generation digital storage, but researchers haven't been able to overcome inefficiencies that would allow the technology to scale.

Now, researchers at Northwestern University propose a new method for recording information to DNA that takes minutes, rather than hours or days, to complete. The team used a novel enzymatic system to synthesize DNA that records rapidly changing environmental signals directly into DNA sequences, a method the paper's senior author said could change the way scientists study and record neurons inside the brain.

The research, "Recording Temporal Signals with Minutes Resolution Using Enzymatic DNA Synthesis," was published Thursday (Sept. 30) in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Namita Bhan et al, Recording Temporal Signals with Minutes Resolution Using Enzymatic DNA Synthesis, Journal of the American Chemical Society (2021). DOI: 10.1021/jacs.1c07331

https://phys.org/news/2021-10-dna-world-tiniest-hard.html?utm_sourc...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 5, 2021 at 9:58am

The researchers combined infrared satellite imagery and readings from thousands of ground instruments to determine maximum daily heat and humidity readings in 13,115 cities, from 1983 to 2016. They defined extreme heat as 30 degrees Centigrade on the so-called "wet-bulb globe temperature" scale, a measurement that takes into account the multiplier effect of high humidity on human physiology. A wet-bulb reading of 30 is the rough equivalent of 106 degrees Fahrenheit on the so-called "real feel" heat index—the point at which even most healthy people find it hard to function outside for long, and the unhealthy might become very ill or even die.

To come up with a measure of person-days spent in such conditions, the researchers matched up the weather data with statistics on the cities' populations over the same time period.

The analysis revealed that the number of person-days in which city dwellers were exposed went from 40 billion per year in 1983 to 119 billion in 2016—a threefold increase. By 2016, 1.7 billion people were being subjected to such conditions on multiple days.

The most-affected cities tend to cluster in the low latitudes, but other areas are being affected, too. The worst-hit city in terms of person-days was Dhaka, the fast-growing capital of Bangladesh; it saw an increase of 575 million person-days of extreme heat over the study period. Its ballooning population alone—4 million in 1983, to 22 million today—caused 80 percent of the increased exposure. This does not mean that Dhaka did not see substantial warming—only that population growth was even more rapid. Other big cities showing similar population-heavy trends include Shanghai and Guangzhou, China; Yangon, Myanmar; Bangkok; Dubai; Hanoi; Khartoum; and various cities in Pakistan, India and the Arabian Peninsula.

https://phys.org/news/2021-10-exposure-deadly-urban-worldwide-tripl...

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 5, 2021 at 9:56am

Exposure to deadly urban heat worldwide has tripled in recent decades, says study

A new study of more than 13,000 cities worldwide has found that the number of person-days in which inhabitants are exposed to extreme combinations of heat and humidity has tripled since the 1980s. The authors say the trend, which now affects nearly a quarter of the world's population, is the combined result of both rising temperatures and booming urban population growth. The study was published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Over recent decades, hundreds of millions have moved from rural areas to cities, which now hold more than half the world's population. There, temperatures are generally higher than in the countryside, because of sparse vegetation and abundant concrete, asphalt and other impermeable surfaces that tend to trap and concentrate heat —the so-called urban heat island effect.

 This has broad effects. It increases morbidity and mortality. It impacts people's ability to work, and results in lower economic output. It exacerbates pre-existing health conditions.

 Global urban population exposure to extreme heat, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2021). doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2024792118

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