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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 28, 2021 at 11:37am

On nights before a full moon, people go to bed later and sleep less, study shows

New research indicates that our planet's celestial companion impacts something else entirely—our sleep.

Scientists report that sleep cycles in people oscillate during the 29.5-day lunar cycle: In the days leading up to a full moon, people go to sleep later in the evening and sleep for shorter periods of time. The research team, led by UW professor of biology Horacio de la Iglesia, observed these variations in both the time of sleep onset and the duration of sleep in urban and rural settings—from Indigenous communities in northern Argentina to college students in Seattle, a city of more than 750,000. They saw the oscillations regardless of an individual's access to electricity, though the variations are less pronounced in individuals living in urban environments.

The pattern's ubiquity may indicate that our natural circadian rhythms are somehow synchronized with—or entrained to—the phases of the lunar cycle. And although the effect is more robust in communities without access to electricity, the effect is present in communities with electricity.

How phases of the moon can affect your sleep

L. Casiraghi el al., "Moonstruck sleep: Synchronization of human sleep with the moon cycle under field conditions," Science Advances (2021). advances.sciencemag.org/lookup … .1126/sciadv.abe0465

https://phys.org/news/2021-01-nights-full-moon-people-bed.html?utm_...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 28, 2021 at 11:30am

Cell death shines a light on the origins of complex life

Organelles continue to thrive after the cells within which they exist die, a team of scientists have found, overturning previous assumptions that organelles decay too quickly to be fossilized.

Researchers from  were able to document the decay process of eukaryotic algal cells, showing that nuclei, chloroplasts and pyrenoids (organelles found within chloroplasts) can persist for weeks and months after cell death in eukaryote cells, long enough to be preserved as fossils.

The research found that organelles don't decay immediately after cell death, but actually take many weeks to dissolve. The results of these experiments shed light on the controversial fossils of early complex life that include structures within the cells.

The structures in Shuiyousphaeridium, a fossil from 1,700 million years ago, closely resemble nuclei. This interpretation has previously been dismissed because of the assumed rapid decay of nuclei. the new decay experiments have shown that nuclei can persist for several weeks, meaning the structures in Shuiyousphaeridium are likely to be nuclei.

By revealing the decay patterns of organelles, the study's authors say they can demonstrate the presence of complex life to 1,700 million years ago, helping to elucidate their evolutionary history with greater precision and clarity.

"Experimental taphonomy of organelles and the fossil record of early eukaryote evolution" Sciences Advances, advances.sciencemag.org/lookup … .1126/sciadv.abe9487

https://phys.org/news/2021-01-cell-death-complex-life.html?utm_sour...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 27, 2021 at 10:53am

Wearing 2 Masks Is 'Common Sense'. Here's How to Do It Properly

US health officials have long been advising people to wear a cloth mask with three layers of protection, or a surgical or N95 mask, to protect against the novel coronavirus.

But some people, including many at the inauguration, have been doubling up on masks - layering them to create an extra barrier of protection.

It's a good idea, according to experts.

 

"If you have a physical covering with one layer, you put another layer on, it just makes common sense that it likely would be more effective.

How to double-mask

The type of mask you double up on will affect the level of protection it provides.

As Business Insider's Anna Medaris Miller previously reported, it's a good idea to use a surgical mask or an N95 in your layering.

For example, it's better to use a double-layered cloth mask for the outside layer and a disposable surgical mask for the inside, rather than using two single-layered masks together.

The three layers each serve an individual purpose: the outside layer protects against splashes and droplets, the middle layer filters, and the bottom layer absorbs things like saliva and sweat.

Another way to double layer could be using a two-layered cloth mask with a face shield on top, though there is some evidence that masks may be more protective than shields.

Double layering doesn't mean you should let your guard down. Public health officials say the general public should still use social distancing practices, wash their hands regularly, and avoid gathering indoors.

https://www.sciencealert.com/fauci-says-wearing-2-masks-is-common-s...

https://www.businessinsider.in/science/news/fauci-said-it-is-common...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 27, 2021 at 10:48am

Strange colon discovery explains racial disparities in colorectal cancer

The colons of African Americans and people of European descent age differently, new research reveals, helping explain racial disparities in colorectal cancer.

Scientists found that one side of the colon ages biologically faster than the other in both African Americans and people of European descent. In African Americans, however, the right side ages significantly faster, explaining why African Americans are more likely to develop cancerous lesions on the right side and why they are more likely to suffer colorectal cancer at a younger age, the researchers say.

The researchers made this determination by looking at the DNA in colon tissue, and the “epigenetic” changes that come with age. These epigenetic changes are not alterations to the genes, but changes that affect how the genes work and how well they can do their jobs.

The scientists found that the right side of the colon in most African Americans had suffered a unique pattern of “hypermethylation,” affecting gene expression. It was, in essence, like the right side was old beyond its years. This, the researchers believe, could contribute to African Americans’ increased cancer risk and could explain why they are more likely to develop cancerous lesions on the right side.

The research could also explain why younger people of European descent are more likely to develop lesions on the left side – the side that tends to age faster in that group.

These findings highlight the importance of colon sidedness to biology of colorectal cancer.

https://academic.oup.com/jnci/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/...

https://news.virginia.edu/content/strange-colon-discovery-explains-...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 27, 2021 at 10:42am

Exercising muscle combats chronic inflammation on its own

Biomedical engineers at Duke University have demonstrated that human muscle has an innate ability to ward off the damaging effects of chronic inflammation when exercised. The discovery was made possible through the use of lab-grown, engineered human muscle, demonstrating the potential power of the first-of-its-kind platform in such research endeavors. The results appear online on January 22 in the journal Science Advances. 

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Exercising muscle combats chronic inflammation on its own

Exercising lab-grown human muscle autonomously blocks the damaging effects of interferon gamma

Biomedical engineers have demonstrated that human muscle has an innate ability to ward off damaging effects of chronic inflammation when exercised. The discovery was made possible through the use of lab-grown, engineered human muscle, demonstrating the potential power of the first-of-its-kind platform in such research endeavors.

Zhaowei Chen, Binjie Li, Ren-Zhi Zhan, Lingjun Rao, Nenad Bursac. Exercise Mimetics and JAK Inhibition Attenuate IFN-γ-induced Wasting in Engineered Human Skeletal Muscle. Science Advances, 2021 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.eabd9502

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/01/210122140624.htm

https://researchnews.cc/news/4805/Exercising-muscle-combats-chronic...

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Technology could upend DNA sequencing for diagnosing certain DNA mu...

Doctors are increasingly using genetic signatures to diagnose diseases and determine the best course of care, but using DNA sequencing and other techniques to detect genomic rearrangements remains costly or limited in capabilities. However, an innovative breakthrough developed by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center and the VCU Department of Physics promises to diagnose DNA rearrangement mutations at a fraction of the cost with improved accuracy.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 27, 2021 at 10:29am

Physicists discover new physical effect

Scientists have found that a perpendicular magnetic field makes electrically neutral quasiparticles (excitons) in semiconductors behave like electrons in the Hall effect. This discovery will help researchers to study the physics of excitons and Bose-Einstein condensates.

The Hall effect can be achieved by applying a magnetic field in a direction perpendicular to the current flow of a semiconductor or a metal plate. In this case, all the electrons will deflect to one side, which will accumulate a negative charge, while the other side has a positive charge. This results in voltage between the right and left end faces of the plate.

physicists have recently discovered a similar effect but for excitons, composite neutral quasiparticles. It occurs when a laser affects a semiconductor plate of gallium arsenide, for example, in the presence of a magnetic field. The new phenomenon was called the anomalous exciton Hall effect.

"If you take a thin stripe of a semiconductor material and put it under a laser beam at the right angle, you'll create a directed flow of exciton gas. By applying a perpendicular magnetic field to this film, you will make the exciton cloud deflect to one side. And this is a complete analog of the Hall effect—but for neutrally charged composite quasiparticles.

This effect will help researchers separate bright and dark excitons. When exciton gas is formed, some excitons are able to emit light once the electron returns to its place. Such quasiparticles are called bright excitons. Other excitons disappear without light emission—these are dark excitons. Although it is especially difficult to study and obtain them because both types of quasiparticles are created simultaneously, the proposed method for separating bright excitons from dark ones will successfully resolve this issue.the discovered effect is unlikely to be as widely applied Hall effect technologies used in smartphones, but it may be highly valuable for scientists who study excitons. In particular, it will greatly simplify the study of such mind-blowing and complex states of matter as Bose-Einstein condensates.

 V. K. Kozin et al. Anomalous Exciton Hall Effect, Physical Review Letters (2021). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.036801

https://phys.org/news/2021-01-physicists-physical-effect.html?utm_s...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 27, 2021 at 10:26am

Discovery makes the invisible visible

Australian scientists have discovered a new way to analyze microscopic cells, tissues and other transparent specimens, through the improvement of an almost 100-year-old imaging technique.

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Supercomputers aid scientists studying the smallest particles in th...

Since the 1930s, scientists have been using particle accelerators to gain insights into the structure of matter and the laws of physics that govern our world. These accelerators are some of the most powerful experimental tools available, propelling particles to nearly the speed of light and then colliding them to allow physicists to study the resulting interactions and particles that form.

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Dogs synchronize their behavior with children, but not as much as w...

Dogs synchronize their behavior with the children in their family, but not as much as they do with adults, a new study from Oregon State University researchers found.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 27, 2021 at 10:25am

Microwaves used to deactivate coronavirus, flu, other aerosolized viruses

Studies indicate the COVID-19 virus may be contained in aerosols that can be generated and spread through breathing, coughing, sneezing, or talking by infected individuals. Researchers are increasingly focused on developing tools and methods to assist in decontaminating surfaces and spaces.

While scientists have previously explored the use of electromagnetic energy to deactivate flu virus in bulk fluids, less work has been done to understand the role of nonionizing radiation, such as microwaves, in reducing the infectivity of viral pathogens in aerosols. The tools required to both safely contain contaminated aerosol streams and expose these aerosols to controlled, well-characterized microwave doses have not been readily available.

In Review of Scientific Instruments, researchers from the Air Force Research Laboratory report development of a set of experimental tools capable of presenting electromagnetic waves to an aerosol mixture of biological media and virus with the capability to vary power, energy, and frequency of the electromagnetic exposure. The researchers seek to better characterize the threshold levels of microwave energy needed to inactivate aerosolized viral particles and, thus, reduce their ability to spread infection.

In teh initial expts., 

researchers are exposing a human-safe coronavirus surrogate, bovine coronavirus, to a range of microwave waveforms at frequencies ranging from 2.8 GHz to 7.5 GHz.

"The bovine coronavirus is similar in size and configuration to human coronavirus but is safe to human.

"Apparatus for controlled microwave exposure of aerosolized pathogens" Review of Scientific Instruments, aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0032823

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-01-microwaves-deactivate-corona...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 27, 2021 at 9:44am

Time-restricted eating 

When—not what—obese mice ate reduced breast cancer risk

Restricting eating to an eight-hour window, when activity is highest, decreased the risk of development, growth and metastasis of breast cancer in mouse models, report researchers.

The findings, published in the January 25, 2021 edition of Nature Communications, show that time-restricted feeding—a form of intermittent fasting aligned with circadian rhythms—improved metabolic health and tumor circadian rhythms in mice with obesity-driven postmenopausal breast cancer.

Previous research has shown that obesity increases the risk of a variety of cancers by negatively affecting how the body reacts to insulin levels and changing circadian rhythms. Now researchers were able to increase insulin sensivity, reduce hyperinsulinemia, restore circadian rhythms and reduce tumour growth by simply modifying when and for how long mice had access to food.

Both obesity and menopause can disrupt circadian rhythms, which in turn can lead to the development of insulin resistance, predisposing individuals to chronic diseases like cancer.

Data indicates that elevated insulin levels in obese mice are driving the accelerated tumor growth. Artificially elevating insulin levels accelerated tumor growth, whereas reducing insulin levels could mimic the effect of the time-restricted feeding. The results suggest that the antitumor effect of time-restricted feeding is due to improving metabolic health and lowering the levels of insulin.

Time-restricted eating has a positive effect on metabolic health and does not trigger the hunger and irritability that is associated with long-term fasting or calorie restriction," said Das. "Through its beneficial metabolic effects, time-restricted eating may also provide an inexpensive, easy to adopt, but effective strategy to prevent and inhibit breast cancer without requiring a change in diet or physical activity.

Manasi Das et al. Time-restricted feeding normalizes hyperinsulinemia to inhibit breast cancer in obese postmenopausal mouse models, Nature Communications (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-20743-7

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-01-whennot-whatobese-mice-ate-b...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 26, 2021 at 12:19pm

Apple Watch Helps Rescue Kidnapped Woman in US: Report

The police used the emergency ping feature to locate a kidnapped woman and rescue her.

An Apple Watch helped the police track down a kidnapped woman in the US. Police in Selma, Texas were able to reportedly use the emergency SOS feature on Apple Watch to locate a kidnapped woman and rescue her. The Apple Watch offered accurate location data of the victim, thanks to which the police were able to rush to her. This isn't the first time the Apple Watch has been reported to have saved a life. A few months ago, the Apple Watch's heart monitoring feature helped a 25-year-old in detecting irregularity in his heartbeat and potentially saving his life.

https://gadgets.ndtv.com/wearables/news/apple-watch-helped-rescue-k...

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