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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 27, 2021 at 10:19am

Forensic scientists unlocking unique chemical signatures in tires

Skid marks left by cars are often analyzed for their impression patterns, but they often don't provide enough information to identify a specific vehicle. Forensic scientists may have just unlocked a new way to collect evidence from those skid marks.

The team recently published a study in the journal Applied Spectroscopy that details how they are classifying the chemical profile of tires to link vehicles back to potential crime scenes.

Tire evidence is often overlooked in forensics. In cases of hit and runs or accidents involving multiple cars the chemical signature of the tires have the potential to be integral information to the investigation."

The team used laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) on each sample. The technique focuses a laser onto the tire sample, which creates a microscopic plasma that emits light according to the chemical elements present. The spectroscopy comes in because it analyzes this light and matches it to the corresponding chemicals. It's the same technique that instruments aboard the Mars rovers (Curiosity and Perseverance) use to determine what kinds of elements are found within the rocks of Mars.

Every tire is expected to have its own chemical signature, and as such, a unique, corresponding skid mark. One current challenge is identifying how elements on the road like oil, rainwater, and other cars interfere and change that signature. 

https://www.ucf.edu/news/ucf-forensic-scientists-unlocking-unique-c...

https://phys.org/news/2021-04-forensic-scientists-unique-chemical-s...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 27, 2021 at 10:01am

Warp drives: Physicists give chances of faster-than-light space tra...

The closest star to Earth is Proxima Centauri. It is about 4.25 light-years away, or about 25 trillion miles (40 trillion km). The fastest ever spacecraft, the now- in-space Parker Solar Probe will reach a top speed of 450,000 mph. It would take just 20 seconds to go from Los Angeles to New York City at that speed, but it would take the solar probe about 6,633 years to reach Earth's nearest neighboring solar system.

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New study shows microbes trap massive amounts of carbon

Violent continental collisions and volcanic eruptions are not things normally associated with comfortable conditions for life. However, a new study, involving University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Associate Professor of Microbiology Karen Lloyd, unveils a large microbial ecosystem living deep within the earth that is fueled by chemicals produced during these tectonic cataclysms.

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Forensic scientists unlocking unique chemical signatures in tires

Skid marks left by cars are often analyzed for their impression patterns, but they often don't provide enough information to identify a specific vehicle. UCF Chemistry Associate Professor Matthieu Baudelet and his forensics team at the National Center for Forensic Science, which was established at UCF in 1997, may have just unlocked a new way to collect evidence from those skid marks.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 27, 2021 at 9:59am

Nanobodies inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection, including emergent variants

Researchers have identified neutralizing nanobodies that block the SARS-CoV-2 virus from entering cells in preclinical models.

The discovery paves the way for further investigations into nanobody-based treatments for COVID-19.

Using alpaca 'nanobodies' to block COVID-19 infection

Antibodies are key infection-fighting proteins in our immune system. An important aspect of antibodies is that they bind tightly and specifically to another protein.

Antibody-based therapies, or biologics, harness this property of antibodies, enabling them to bind to a protein involved in disease.

Nanobodies are unique antibodies—tiny immune proteins—produced naturally by alpacas in response to infection.

As part of the research, a group of alpacas in regional Victoria were immunized with a synthetic, non-infectious part of the SARS-CoV-2 'spike' protein to enable them to generate nanobodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

The synthetic spike protein is not infectious and does not cause the alpacas to develop disease—but it allows the alpacas to develop nanobodies.

Researchers can then extract the gene sequences encoding the nanobodies and use this to produce millions of types of nanobodies in the laboratory, and then select the ones that best bind to the spike protein. 

the leading nanobodies that block virus entry were then combined into a 'nanobody cocktail."

"By combining the two leading nanobodies into this nanobody cocktail, we were able to test its effectiveness at blocking SARS-CoV-2 from entering cells and reducing viral loads in preclinical models.

 Phillip Pymm et al. Nanobody cocktails potently neutralize SARS-CoV-2 D614G N501Y variant and protect mice, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2021). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2101918118

https://phys.org/news/2021-04-nanobodies-inhibit-sars-cov-infection...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 27, 2021 at 8:59am

Hot spring microbes

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 27, 2021 at 8:37am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 27, 2021 at 6:22am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 26, 2021 at 8:45am

part 2 

The team demonstrated the modulator's ability to stimulate the mu-opioid receptor by isolating the purified receptor and measuring how it responds to enkephalins. "If you add the positive allosteric modulator, you need a lot less enkephalin to get the response."

Additional electrophysiology and mouse experiments confirmed that the opioid receptor was more strongly activated by the body's pain-relieving molecules leading to pain relief. In contrast the modulator showed much reduced side effects of depression of breathing, constipation and addiction liability.

Ram Kandasamy et al, Positive allosteric modulation of the mu-opioid receptor produces analgesia with reduced side effects, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2021). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2000017118

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-04-body-natural-pain-killers.ht...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 26, 2021 at 8:45am

Body's natural pain killers can be enhanced

Fentanyl, oxycodone, morphine—these substances are familiar to many as a source of both pain relief and the cause of a painful epidemic of addiction and death.

Scientists have attempted for years to balance the potent pain-relieving properties of opioids with their numerous negative side effects—with mostly mixed results. Now scientists seek to side-step these problems by harnessing the body's own ability to block pain.

All opioid drugs—from poppy-derived opium to heroin—work on receptors that are naturally present in the brain and elsewhere in the body. One such receptor, the mu-opioid receptor, binds to natural pain-killers in the body called endogenous endorphins and enkephalins. Drugs acting on the mu-opioid receptor can cause addiction as well as unwanted side effects like drowsiness, problems with breathing, constipation and nausea.

Normally, when you are in pain, you are releasing endogenous opioids, but they're just not strong enough or long lasting enough. Researchers had long hypothesized that substances called positive allosteric modulators could be used to enhance the body's own endorphins and enkephalins. In a new paper published in PNAS, they demonstrate that a positive allosteric modulator known as BMS-986122 can boost enkephalins' ability to activate the mu-opioid receptor.

What's more, unlike opioid drugs, positive allosteric modulators only work in the presence of endorphins or enkephalins, meaning they would only kick in when needed for pain relief. They do not bind to the receptor in the way that opioids do instead binding in a different location that enhances its ability to respond to the body's pain-relieving compounds.

When you need enkephalins, you release them in a pulsatile fashion in specific regions of the body, then they are metabolized quickly. In contrast, a drug like morphine floods the body and brain and sticks around for several hours.

Contd. part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 26, 2021 at 8:20am

'Undruggable' cancer protein becomes druggable, thanks to shrub

A chemist  has found a way to synthesize a compound to fight a previously "undruggable" cancer protein with benefits across a myriad of cancer types.

Inspired by a rare compound found in a shrub native to North America, a scientist  studied the compound and discovered a cost-effective and efficient way to synthesize it in the lab. The compound—curcusone D—has the potential to help combat a protein found in many cancers, including some forms of breast, brain, colorectal, prostate, lung and liver cancers, among others. The protein, dubbed BRAT1, had previously been deemed "undruggable" for its chemical properties. In collaboration with Alexander Adibekian's group at the Scripps Research Institute, they linked curcusone D to BRAT1 and validated curcusone D as the first BRAT1 inhibitor.

Curcusones are compounds that come from a shrub named Jatropha curcas, also called the purging nut. Native to the Americas, it has spread to other continents, including Africa and Asia. The plant has long been used for medicinal properties—including the treatment of cancer—as well as being a proposed inexpensive source of biodiesel.

Researchers tested the compounds on breast cancer cells and found curcusone D to be extremely effective at shutting down cancer cells. The protein they were targeting, BRAT1, regulates DNA damage response and DNA repair in cancer cells. Cancer cells grow very fast and make a lot of DNA. If scientists can damage cancer cells' DNA and keep them from repairing it, they can stop cancer cells from growing.

This compound can not only kill these cancer cells, it can stop their migration.

 Chengsen Cui et al, Total Synthesis and Target Identification of the Curcusone Diterpenes, Journal of the American Chemical Society (2021). DOI: 10.1021/jacs.1c00557

https://phys.org/news/2021-04-undruggable-cancer-protein-druggable-...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 24, 2021 at 10:19am

IceCube Neutrino Observatory Detects New High-Energy Particle

In December 2016, a high-energy particle hurtled to Earth from outer space at close to the speed of light. Deep inside the ice sheet of the South Pole, it smashed into an electron, producing a shower of secondary particles. The interaction was captured by a massive telescope buried in the Antarctic glacier, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. To enable this discovery, a multinational team of scientists used millions of hours on multiple supercomputers, including SDSC's _Comet_.

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