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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 11, 2021 at 10:29am

Middle-age height loss linked to heightened death risk in northern European women

Height loss in middle age is linked to a heightened risk of early death, primarily from heart disease or stroke—at least in Northern European women—suggests research published in the online journal BMJ Open.

But regular physical activity may help to stave off mid-life shrinkage, as well as lowering cardiovascular disease risk, the findings indicate.

People tend to start losing height once they reach their 50s, a process that speeds up during their 70s. Height loss is usually caused by vertebral disc shrinkage, spinal compression fractures, and changes in posture.

While some degree of height loss is associated with natural aging, previous research suggests that it may also be associated with an increased risk of death from heart disease.

In the study, each cm of height loss was associated with 14% and 21% greater odds of death from any cause among the Swedish and Danish women, respectively, after adjusting for potentially influential factors.

Short stature and high leisure time physical activity (including participation in competitive sports) at study entry were associated with less height loss, independent of age.

Major height loss, defined as more than 2 cm, was associated with 74% and 80% greater odds of death, respectively, among two groups of women.

Other unmeasured factors may also have influenced the findings, they add. These include early life physical activity and exposure to tobacco (either through second-hand smoke or smoking themselves], peak bone mass, underlying health conditions and medical treatments.

Nevertheless, the findings prompt the researchers to conclude that mid-life height loss "is a risk marker for earlier mortality in northern European women."

Specifically, the risk of cardiovascular disease is increased in women who lose height, with death from stroke a major contributor to this association, they add.

 Loss of height predicts total and cardiovascular mortality: a cohort study of northern European women, BMJ Open (2021). DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-049122

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-08-middle-age-height-loss-linke...

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 10, 2021 at 11:16am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 10, 2021 at 9:13am

'It's not climate change, it's climate chaos', wars UN | UN Climate report 2021

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 10, 2021 at 9:11am

The new report also makes clear that the warming we've experienced to date has made changes to many of our planetary support systems that are irreversible on timescales of centuries to millennia.

The oceans will continue to warm and become more acidic. Mountain and polar glaciers will continue melting for decades or centuries.

"The consequences will continue to get worse for every bit of warming," said Prof Hawkins.

"And for many of these consequences, there's no going back."

One key aspect of the report is the expected rate of temperature rise and what it means for the safety of humanity.

This new report says that under all the emissions scenarios considered by the scientists, both targets will be broken this century unless huge cuts in carbon take place.

While this report is more clear and confident about the downsides to warming, the scientists are more hopeful that if we can cut global emissions in half by 2030 and reach net zero by the middle of this century, we can halt and possibly reverse the rise in temperatures.

https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/

Part 3

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 10, 2021 at 9:07am

IPCC report key points

• Global surface temperature was 1.09C higher in the decade between 2011-2020 than between 1850-1900.
• The past five years have been the hottest on record since 1850
• The recent rate of sea level rise has nearly tripled compared with 1901-1971
• Human influence is "very likely" (90%) the main driver of the global retreat of glaciers since the 1990s and the decrease in Arctic sea-ice
• It is "virtually certain" that hot extremes including heatwaves have become more frequent and more intense since the 1950s, while cold events have become less frequent and less severe

part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 10, 2021 at 9:07am

Climate change: IPCC report is 'code red for humanity'

Human activity is changing the climate in unprecedented and sometimes irreversible ways, a major UN scientific report has said.

The landmark study warns of increasingly extreme heatwaves, droughts and flooding, and a key temperature limit being broken in just over a decade.

The report "is a code red for humanity", says the UN chief.

But scientists say a catastrophe can be avoided if the world acts fast.

There is hope that deep cuts in emissions of greenhouse gases could stabilise rising temperatures.

The sober assessment of our planet's future has been delivered by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a group of scientists whose findings are endorsed by the world's governments.

Their report is the first major review of the science of climate change since 2013. Its release comes less than three months before a key climate summit in Glasgow known as COP26.

According to Prof Ed Hawkins, from the University of Reading, UK, and one of the report's authors, the scientists cannot be any clearer on this point.

"It is a statement of fact, we cannot be any more certain; it is unequivocal and indisputable that humans are warming the planet."

The authors say that since 1970, global surface temperatures have risen faster than in any other 50-year period over the past 2,000 years.

This warming is "already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe".

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 9, 2021 at 1:00pm

Researchers find possible culprit of inflammation that causes death...

As clinical evidence mounts that the leading cause of death in COVID-19 patients is the dangerous condition known as a cytokine storm, researchers have identified a protein in the blood that could be responsible. The team found that COVID-19 patients have significantly elevated levels of a protein called galectin-9 in their blood plasma. Perhaps more importantly, they also found a positive correlation between the levels of galectin-9 and pro-inflammatory cytokines released in the blood, which can lead to a cytokine storm. 

The findings suggest that galectin-9 levels in the body could be used as a biomarker to diagnose COVID-19 using a patient’s blood, potentially providing another non-invasive tool for COVID-19 testing. The levels could also be used to indicate the severity of the disease, though further study on that aspect is required.

The discovery of elevated galectin-9 levels in COVID-19 patients is important because of the positive correlation between the protein and a wide range of pro-inflammatory cytokines.

Cytokines as small cell-signalling proteins are involved in checks and balances in the immune system; they can turn on or turn off some cells to regulate the immune system. In the context of COVID, the problem is that there is a dysregulation of cytokine production—they are released very quickly in elevated levels. That’s what we call a ‘cytokine storm.

 galectin-9 is responsible for instructing immune cells to release the pro-inflammatory cytokines quickly in response to COVID-19 infection by binding to immune cells and forcing them to produce the cytokines. Further, as tissues are damaged as a result of inflammation, more galectin-9 is released from the cells—which activates more immune cells and releases more cytokines in a vicious cycle. The resulting cytokine storm damages tissue and organs, causes severe inflammation and can lead to death.

The next step is to develop treatments that block or inhibit the protein

https://journals.asm.org/doi/full/10.1128/mBio.00384-21

https://www.ualberta.ca/folio/2021/08/researchers-find-possible-cul...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 9, 2021 at 11:20am

Old vaccine for tuberculosis may help protect older people against COVID-19

A team of researchers from the CMR-National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis and the ICMR-National Institute of Epidemiology, both in India, has found evidence suggesting that an old vaccine used to reduce the threat of tuberculosis may give older people some protection against COVID-19. In their paper published in the journal Science Advances, the group describes their study of the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine as a possible preventive measure for older people. Valerie Koeken with Radboud University Medical Center has published a Focus piece in the same journal issue explaining why inflammation is more of a concern with older people and outlining the work by the team in India.

As Koeken notes, as people grow older, they tend to develop low-grade, chronic inflammation, which makes them more susceptible to many types of diseases—it can also increase symptoms from diseases such as COVID-19, which explains in part why older people are much more likely to die from such infections. In this new effort, the researchers took a new look at an old vaccine to find out if it might prove useful for unvaccinated older people.

The study involved vaccinating 82 volunteers between the ages of 60 and 80 with the BCG vaccine and then studying blood samples taken a month later. In analyzing the samples, the researchers found decreases in several cytokines that have been associated with promoting inflammation: IL-6, type 1 interferons, interleukin-2 (IL-2) and TNF-alpha GM-CSF. The levels of the same cytokines were also found to be lower than those for a control group of unvaccinated volunteers. The researchers found that the BCG-vaccinated volunteers also had lower levels of some chemokines, such as matrix metalloproteinases and phase proteins, both of which have also been associated with promoting inflammation.

The researchers note that many of the cytokines that were reduced in the BCG volunteers have been identified as drivers of more severe COVID-19, which they also note suggests that the BCG vaccine might prove useful as a stop-gap measure for older people awaiting vaccination—if it could reduce inflammation in infected patients, it might save lives.

Nathella Pavan Kumar et al, Effect of BCG vaccination on proinflammatory responses in elderly individuals, Science Advances (2021). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abg7181

https://researchnews.cc/news/8238/Old-vaccine-for-tuberculosis-may-...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 9, 2021 at 11:06am

 Scientists find the missing link in our body's blood pressure control

Researchers have determined the location of natural blood-pressure barometers inside our bodies that have eluded scientists for more than 60 years.

These cellular sensors detect subtle changes in blood pressure and adjust hormone levels to keep it in check. Scientists have long suspected that these barometers, or "baroreceptors," existed in specialized kidney cells called renin cells, but no one has been able to locate the baroreceptors until now.

The new findings finally reveal where the barometers are located, how they work and how they help prevent high blood pressure (hypertension) or low blood pressure (hypotension). The researchers hope the insights will lead to new treatments for high blood pressure.

the renin cells are sensors and responders.

Using a combination of innovative lab models, they determined that the baroreceptor was a "mechanotransducer" inside renin cells. This mechanotransducer detects pressure changes outside the cell, then transmits these mechanical signals to the cell nucleus, like how the cochlea in our ear turns sound vibrations into nerve impulses our brain can understand.

The researchers have unlocked exactly how the baroreceptors work. They found that applying pressure to renin cells in lab dishes triggered changes within the cells and decreased activity of the renin gene, Ren1. The scientists also compared differences in gene activity in kidneys exposed to lower pressure and those exposed to higher pressure.

Ultimately, when the baroreceptors detect too much pressure outside the renin cell, production of renin is restricted, while blood pressure that is too low prompts the production of more renin. This marvelous mechanism is vital to the body's ability to maintain the correct blood pressure. And now, after more than 60 years, we finally understand how and why.

Hirofumi Watanabe et al, Renin Cell Baroreceptor, a Nuclear Mechanotransducer Central for Homeostasis, Circulation Research (2021). DOI: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.120.318711

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-08-years-scientists-link-body-b...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 9, 2021 at 11:00am

Lake Huron sinkhole surprise: The rise of oxygen on early Earth linked to changing planetary rotation rate

The rise of oxygen levels early in Earth's history paved the way for the spectacular diversity of animal life. But for decades, scientists have struggled to explain the factors that controlled this gradual and stepwise process, which unfolded over nearly 2 billion years.

Now an international research team is proposing that increasing day length on the early Earth—the spinning of the young planet gradually slowed over time, making the days longer—may have boosted the amount of oxygen released by photosynthetic cyanobacteria, thereby shaping the timing of Earth's oxygenation.

Their conclusion was inspired by a study of present-day microbial communities growing under extreme conditions at the bottom of a submerged Lake Huron sinkhole, 80 feet below the water's surface. The water in the Middle Island Sinkhole is rich in sulfur and low in oxygen, and the brightly colored bacteria that thrive there are considered good analogs for the single-celled organisms that formed mat-like colonies billions of years ago, carpeting both land and seafloor surfaces.

The researchers show that longer day length increases the amount of oxygen released by photosynthetic microbial mats. That finding, in turn, points to a previously unconsidered link between Earth's oxygenation history and its rotation rate. While the Earth now spins on its axis once every 24 hours, day length was possibly as brief as 6 hours during the planet's infancy.

Possible link between Earth's rotation rate and oxygenation, Nature Geoscience (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41561-021-00784-3 , www.nature.com/articles/s41561-021-00784-3

https://phys.org/news/2021-08-lake-huron-sinkhole-oxygen-early.html...

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