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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 3, 2021 at 9:50am

A gecko-inspired robot's crash-landing correction

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 3, 2021 at 9:47am

Study explores the influence of the X-chromosome on brain anatomy

Past neuroscience research suggests that common differences in people's genetic profiles can explain a significant proportion of variations in people's brain anatomy. In more specific terms, they found that neuroanatomical variation is partly explained by genetic variation.

Scientists have hypothesized that the X-chromosome has a particularly crucial influence on the brain, as it is known to be associated with the expression of many genes. In addition, several types of intellectual disabilities have been found to be related with mutations of genes on the X chromosome.

All existing studies investigating the role of genetics on brain anatomy excluded the X-chromosome, which accounts for about 5% of our genomes. it would be important to address this gap because—beyond the basic need to complete the missing analysis—there were lot of existing hints that the X-chromosome might actually have a special capacity to explain variation in brain anatomy.

So  if a common genetic variation explains 30% of variation in total brain volume, then a chromosome which represents 10% of the genome would explain 3% of variation in total brain volume.

The X-chromosome consists of approximately 5% of the total genome. Taking this into consideration, researchers calculated the proportion of anatomical variation that could be explained by the X-chromosome. They found that given its known size and the percentage of the human genome it represents, the proportion they calculated differed significantly from the expected proportion.

The main take-aways from our studies are that the X-chromosome does indeed 'punch above its weight' in its capacity to explain differences in brain anatomy and that this phenomenon seems to be concentrated in particular brain systems important for complex thinking, decision making and action.

In terms of practical implications— this finding tells us that we really do need to put an end to exclusion of the X-chromosome from genetic analyses of the brain and related traits such as cognition and behavior.

The findings gathered by this team of researchers significantly enrich the current understanding of the X-chromosome's role in human neurodevelopment.

X-chromosome influences on neuroanatomical variation in humans. Nature Neuroscience(2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41593-021-00890-w

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-09-explores-x-chromosome-brain-...

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 2, 2021 at 12:23pm

Biologists Just Got Closer to The DNA Secrets That Stop Species From Interbreeding

We think of DNA as the vitally important molecules that carry genetic instructions for most living things, including ourselves. But not all DNA actually codes proteins; now, we're finding more and more functions involving the non-coding DNA scientists used to think of as 'junk'.

A new study suggests that satellite DNA – a type of non-coding DNA arranged in long, repetitive, apparently nonsensical strings of genetic material – may be the reason why different species can't successfully breed with each other.

It appears that satellite DNA plays an essential role in keeping all of a cell's individual chromosomes together in a single nucleus, through the work of cellular proteins.

According to biologists Madhav Jagannathan and Yukiko Yamashita who authored the new study, that important role is managed differently in each species, leading to genetic incompatibility. The clash of the different strategies between species may be what causes chromosomes to scatter outside of the nucleus, at least in part, preventing reproduction.

"We propose a unifying framework that explains how the widely observed satellite DNA divergence between closely related species can cause reproductive isolation," they write in their paper.

This "satellite DNA divergence" has been well established in previous research, leading to suspicions about its role in speciation. In the case of the chimpanzee genome and the human genome, for example, the protein-coding DNA is almost identical, while the 'junk' DNA is almost entirely different.

https://academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-article/doi/10.1093/molbev/msa...

https://www.sciencealert.com/junk-dna-could-be-why-different-specie...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 2, 2021 at 12:19pm

Scientific breakthrough in the battle against cancer: First 3D printing of glioblastoma cancer tumor

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 2, 2021 at 11:44am

Ultrasonic social distancing

Social distancing has been a critical component of the world's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The idea being that keeping physical apart from other people will reduce the risk of a person spreading the respiratory virus to someone else. It is just one component of our response, which also includes wearing face coverings, frequent hand sanitisation, and obtaining a vaccine against the virus.

New research in the International Journal of Sensor Networks discusses the potential of ultrasonic sensors to help people keep a safe distance from others when social distancing is deemed necessary in a pandemic situation.

Mohit Ghai and Ruchi Gupta of the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at ADGITM, IP University in Delhi, India, describe a small, portable sensor-alarm device based on an Arduino system. Arduino is an open-source hardware and software system that can be used to quickly build single-board microcontrollers and microcontroller kits with a variety of inexpensive applications. There is scope to add Wi-Fi capability and other networking functionality to a device too.

The team's Arduino device has an ultrasonic sensor that continuously probes the space around a person and is triggered when another person enters one's personal space within a pre-determined threshold distance set according to social distancing rules. The system is not dissimilar to the parking sensors with which many vehicles are fitted and so could give a timely indication to the user that they have moved too close to another person unwittingly or alert them when another person moves nearer to them in a shopping queue or other setting, for instance.

Given how often people misjudge distances between themselves and others especially in busy environments, a portable alarm system of this sort could be a boon to those hoping to ensure social distancing is maintained to help reduce the risk of spreading infection.

Mohit Ghai et al, Ultrasonic sensor based social distancing device, International Journal of Sensor Networks (2021). DOI: 10.1504/IJSNET.2021.117227

https://techxplore.com/news/2021-09-ultrasonic-social-distancing.ht...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 2, 2021 at 11:37am

Hidden bacterial hairs power nature's 'electric grid'

A hair-like protein hidden inside bacteria serves as a sort of on-off switch for nature's "electric grid," a global web of bacteria-generated nanowires that permeates all oxygen-less soil and deep ocean beds,  researchers report in the journal Nature.

The ground beneath our feet, the entire globe, is electrically wired. These previously hidden bacterial hairs are the molecular switch controlling the release of nanowires that make up nature's electrical grid.

Almost all living things breathe oxygen to get rid of excess electrons when converting nutrients into energy. Without access to oxygen, however, soil bacteria living deep under oceans or buried underground over billions of years have developed a way to respire by "breathing minerals," like snorkeling, through tiny protein filaments called nanowires.

Scientists had thought that the nanowires are made up of a protein called "pili" ("hair" in Latin) that many bacteria show on their surface. This work has reveal that this pili structure is made up of two proteins And instead of serving as nanowires themselves, pili remain hidden inside the bacteria and act like pistons, thrusting the nanowires into the environment. Previously nobody had suspected such a structure.

Just how these soil bacteria use nanowires to exhale electricity, however, has remained a mystery. Now that mystery has been solved.

Understanding how bacteria create nanowires will allow scientists to tailor bacteria to perform a host of functions—from combatting pathogenic infections or biohazard waste to creating living electrical circuits, the authors say. It will also assist scientists seeking to use bacteria to generate electricity, create biofuels, and even develop self-repairing electronics.

Structure of Geobacter pili reveals secretory rather than nanowire behaviour, Nature (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03857-w , www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03857-w

https://phys.org/news/2021-09-hidden-bacterial-hairs-power-nature.h...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 2, 2021 at 11:28am

Do genetics control who our friends are? It seems so with mice

Have you ever met someone you instantly liked, or at other times, someone who you knew immediately that you did not want to be friends with, although you did not know why?

Some people speculated that "unconscious" part of the brain enables us to process information spontaneously, when, for example, meeting someone for the first time, interviewing someone for a job, or faced with making a decision quickly under stress.

Now, a new study from the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) suggests that there may be a biological basis behind this instantaneous compatibility reaction. A team of researchers showed that variations of an enzyme found in a part of the brain that regulates mood and motivation seems to control which mice want to socially interact with other mice—with the genetically similar mice preferring each other.

These findings may indicate that similar factors could contribute to the social choices people make. Understanding what factors drive these social preferences may help us to better recognize what goes awry in diseases associated with social withdrawal, such as schizophrenia or autism, so that better therapies can be developed.

The study was published on July 28 in Molecular Psychiatry, a Nature publication.

But, let us wait till these results are reproduced several times before coming to a conclusion.

 Abigail J. Smith et al, A genetic basis for friendship? Homophily for membrane-associated PDE11A-cAMP-CREB signaling in CA1 of hippocampus dictates mutual social preference in male and female mice, Molecular Psychiatry (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41380-021-01237-4

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-09-genetics-friends-mice.html?u...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 2, 2021 at 11:20am

Scientists  discover a rare, aggressive form of Alzheimer's that begins in the early 40s

A newly discovered gene mutation linked to early onset Alzheimer's disease has been discovered by an international team of scientists, who traced the DNA flaw through multiple members of a single family.

Alzheimer's has long been known as a mind-robbing disease that that wipes out memories and destroys one's sense of self. Most cases of arise sporadically, emerging after age of 65—transmuting one's golden years into a nightmare marked by an incurable brain disease.

Aside from Alzheimer's dementia that begins sporadically in old age, are insidious familial forms that begin years to decades earlier. Early onset refers Alzheimer's that begins before age 65.

Now, an international team of scientists—led by neurobiologists in Sweden—have identified an extraordinarily rare form of the disease that so far has been found only in one family. This form of Alzheimer's is aggressive, rapid and steals its victims' most productive years along their cognitive functions.

Researchers in Sweden have named this form of Alzheimer's—the Uppsala APP deletion—after the family that's endowed with this notorious DNA miscue. It invariably causes descent into dementia at a young age.

Affected individuals have an age at symptom onset  in their early forties, and suffer from a rapidly progressing disease course.

Researchers found that the mutation accelerates the formation of brain-damaging protein plaques, known as amyloid beta, or more simply as Aβ. The gooey plaques destroy neurons and, as a result, annihilate the executive functions of the brain itself. Neuroscientists basically define executive functions as working memory, mental flexibility and self control.

María Pagnon de la Vega et al, The Uppsala APP deletion causes early onset autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease by altering APP processing and increasing amyloid β fibril formation, Science Translational Medicine (2021). DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abc6184

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-09-scientists-sweden-rare-aggre...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 1, 2021 at 12:33pm

 Winners from the Wellcome Photography Prize 2021: 

Fighting Infections

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 1, 2021 at 10:57am

The team was particularly interested in the role of sugar molecules on the spike protein, which are called glycans. To see whether the number, type and position of glycans play a role in the membrane fusion stage of viral cell entry by mediating these intermediate spike formations, they performed thousands of simulations using an all-atom structure-based model. Such models allow prediction of the trajectory of atoms over time, taking into account steric forces—that is, how neighboring atoms affect the movement of others.

The simulations revealed that glycans form a "cage" that traps the "head" of the S2 subunit, causing it to pause in an intermediate form between when it detaches from the S1 subunit and when the viral and cell membranes are fused. When the glycans were not there, the S2 subunit spent much less time in this conformation.

The simulations also suggest that holding the S2 head in a particular position helps the S2 subunit recruit human host cells and fuse with their membranes, by allowing the extension of short proteins called fusion peptides from the virus. Indeed, glycosylation of S2 significantly increased the likelihood that a fusion peptide would extend to the host cell membrane, whereas when glycans were absent, there was only a marginal possibility that this would occur.

 simulations indicate that glycans can induce a pause during the spike protein transition. This provides a critical opportunity for the fusion peptides to capture the host cell.

In the absence of glycans, the viral particle would likely fail to enter the host. Our study reveals how sugars can control infectivity, and it provides a foundation for experimentally investigating factors that influence the dynamics of this pervasive and deadly pathogen.

Esteban Dodero-Rojas et al, Sterically confined rearrangements of SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein control cell invasion, eLife (2021). DOI: 10.7554/eLife.70362

https://phys.org/news/2021-08-sars-cov-dynamics-reveals-opportunity...

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