Comment

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 24, 2022 at 8:58am

Research:humans have given wild animals their diseases nearly 100 times

An international research team has found that humans might give viruses back to animals more often than previously understood.

In a study published March 22 in Ecology Letters ("Assessing the risk of human-to-wildlife pathogen transmission for conservation and public health"), the authors describe nearly one hundred different cases where diseases have undergone "spillback" from humans back into wild animals, much like how SARS-CoV-2 has been able to spread in mink farms, zoo lions and tigers, and wild white-tailed deer.

In their new study, Albery and colleagues found that almost half of the incidents identified occurred in captive settings like zoos, where veterinarians keep a close eye on animals' health and are more likely to notice when a virus makes the jump. Additionally, more than half of cases they found were human-to-primate transmission, an unsurprising result both because pathogens find it easier to jump between closely-related hosts, and because wild populations of endangered great apes are so carefully monitored.

Disease spillback has recently attracted substantial attention due to the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in wild white-tailed deer in the United States and Canada. Some data suggest that deer have given the virus back to humans in at least one case, and many scientists have expressed broader concerns that new animal reservoirs might give the virus extra chances to evolve new variants.

Assessing the risk of human-to-wildlife pathogen transmission for conservation and public health, Ecology Letters (2022).

https://phys.org/news/2022-03-humans-wild-animals-diseases.html?utm...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 23, 2022 at 8:20am

These countries have the most polluted air in the world, new report says

Not a single country met the World Health Organization's quality for air in 2021, a new study suggested. And consequently, millions are breathing polluted air that does not satisfy WHO health guidelines, according to the report that analyzed real-time air quality of 6,475 cities.

Bangladesh was the most polluted country, while New Delhi, India, is the world's most polluted capital. The countries with the worst air pollution were India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, all exceeding WHO guidelines by 10 times.

Air pollution is considered the largest environmental threat, leading to 7 million deaths per year and other respiratory problems such as asthma and lung cancer

The top 10 best air quality countries or regions

1. New Caledonia
2. U.S Virgin Islands
3. Puerto Rico
4. Cape Verde
5. Saba
6. Finland
7. Grenada
8. Bahamas
9. Australia
10. Estonia

The top 10 worst air quality countries or regions

1. Bangladesh
2. Chad
3. Pakistan
4. Tajikistan
5. India
6. Oman
7. Kyrgyzstan
8. Bahrain
9. Iraq
10. Nepal

Source: Various News Agencies

https://phys.org/news/2022-03-countries-polluted-air-world.html?utm...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 23, 2022 at 8:13am

New Lightweight Coating to Reduce Wood Flammability

https://phys.org/news/2022-03-wooden-materials-fire-resistant-eco-f...

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What are the Trojan Asteroids?

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 23, 2022 at 8:07am

Researchers store a quantum bit for a record-breaking 20 milliseconds

Computers, smartphones, GPS: quantum physics has enabled many technological advances. It is now opening up new fields of research in cryptography (the art of coding messages) with the aim of developing ultra-secure telecommunications networks. There is one obstacle, however: after a few hundred kilometers within an optical fiber, the photons that carry the qubits or "quantum bits" (the information) disappear. They therefore need "repeaters," a kind of "relay," which are partly based on a quantum memory. By managing to store a qubit in a crystal (a "memory") for 20 milliseconds, a research team  has set a world record and taken a major step towards the development of long-distance quantum telecommunications networks. This research can be found in the journal npj Quantum Information.

Antonio Ortu et al, Storage of photonic time-bin qubits for up to 20 ms in a rare-earth doped crystal, npj Quantum Information (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41534-022-00541-3

https://phys.org/news/2022-03-quantum-bit-fora-record-breaking-mill...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 22, 2022 at 12:24pm

You Don't Actually Know How Water Works

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 22, 2022 at 11:44am

Effectiveness of antibiotics significantly reduced when multiple bugs present

A study has found that much higher doses of antibiotics are needed to eliminate a bacterial infection of the airways when other microbes are present. It helps explain why respiratory infections often persist in people with lung diseases such as cystic fibrosis despite treatment.

According to this study, even a low level of one type of microbe in the airways can have a profound effect on the way other microbes respond to antibiotics. 

The results highlight the need to consider the interaction between different species of microbe when treating infections with antibiotics—and to adjust dosage accordingly.

Thomas James O'Brien et al, Decreased efficacy of antimicrobial agents in a polymicrobial environment, The ISME Journal (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41396-022-01218-7

https://phys.org/news/2022-03-effectiveness-antibiotics-significant...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 22, 2022 at 11:42am

This work solves a paradox around auxotroph success by revealing how auxotrophs are very valuable to their communities. They increase the metabolic interactions within the communities, and by doing so, increase the tolerance to drugs. Additionally, the increase in metabolic flow also leads to an enrichment of the shared environment, with more supplies available that can be used for growth and survival.

Mohammad Alam, Microbial communities form rich extracellular metabolomes that foster metabolic interactions and promote drug tolerance, Nature Microbiology (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41564-022-01072-5. www.nature.com/articles/s41564-022-01072-5

https://phys.org/news/2022-03-microbial-cells-cooperate-drug-tolera...

Part 3

**

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 22, 2022 at 11:41am

In their study, published in Nature Microbiology today, the scientists analyzed data from 12,000 microbial communities from all over the world, provided by the Earth Microbiome Project.

Within these groups of different microorganisms, which live together producing and absorbing materials they all need to survive and grow, the researchers found one type in particular was highly prevalent. Auxotrophs, which are unable to create essential metabolites, like amino acids, vitamins or fatty acids, were present in 99.95% of the 12,538 communities they studied.

The widespread nature of auxotrophs has been considered a paradox, a fundamental problem in our understanding of microbiology. This is because they must absorb metabolites from the environment and so they have been thought of as weaker than other cells which can create these chemical compounds themselves. They have been seen as scrounger cells, a drain on communal resources.

By analyzing drug exposure data from the project, the scientists found that communities with auxotrophs are more likely to have tolerance against hundreds of drugs, than communities without these cells. Moreover, the research showed that they are not scrounger cells, but rather cooperative partners as, in exchange for taking up metabolites that are essential for them, they return other metabolites to the community.

Further experiments using a yeast model showed that this increased tolerance is because cells that cooperate in metabolism, have increased levels of metabolic export, the movement of metabolites out of cells. As a side-effect, this also causes drugs to be moved out of cells at a higher rate.

Part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 22, 2022 at 11:39am

Microbial communities where cells cooperate have increased drug tolerance

New research  has revealed a key mechanism which increases tolerance to drugs amongst microbial communities. The findings could help the development of more effective antifungal treatments.

Antimicrobial drug resistance and tolerance occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi or parasites no longer respond, or have less sensitivity, to treatments. It is a major issue within medicine, for example, invasive fungal infections are responsible for 1.6 million deaths annually.

Around the world, more people die each year from invasive fungal species than from malaria. There are currently only three classes of antifungal drugs in clinical use and in an increasing number of cases, these antifungals fail. Understanding the mechanisms which increase or decrease the chance of a drug working is crucial to aid the developments of new treatments.
Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 22, 2022 at 11:36am

Scientists discover how molecule becomes anticancer weapon

Years of toil in the laboratory have revealed how a marine bacterium makes a potent anti-cancer molecule.

The anti-cancer molecule salinosporamide A, also called Marizomb, is in Phase III clinical trials  to treat glioblastoma, a brain cancer. Scientists now for the first time understand the enzyme-driven process that activates the molecule.

Researchers found that an enzyme called SalC assembles what the they call the salinosporamide anti-cancer "warhead." 

The work solves a nearly 20-year riddle about how the marine bacterium makes the warhead that is unique to the salinosporamide molecule and opens the door to future biotechnology to manufacture new anti-cancer agents.

Now that scientists understand how this enzyme makes the salinosporamide A warhead, that discovery could be used in the future to use enzymes to produce other types of salinosporamides that could attack not only cancer but diseases of the immune system and infections caused by parasites.

 Bradley Moore, Enzymatic assembly of the salinosporamide γ-lactam-β-lactone anticancer warhead, Nature Chemical Biology (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41589-022-00993-w. www.nature.com/articles/s41589-022-00993-w

https://phys.org/news/2022-03-scientists-molecule-anticancer-weapon...

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