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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 10, 2014 at 5:39am

Scientists beat cancer protein by 'turning it against itself'

In a new study, scientists have a new way to beat one of the most hard to pin down target proteins in cancer cells, by turning the protein's own molecular machinations against it.

Researchers at Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center used a specially crafted compound to disrupt the protein's ability to rev up its own production and that of other proteins involved in tumor cell growth. The result, in laboratory samples of neuroblastoma cancer cells and in mice with an aggressive form of neuroblastoma, was death of the cancer cells and retreat of the animals' tumors, with little or no harm to normal cells. Neuroblastoma is a pediatric cancer that begins in embryonic nerve cells and generally occurs in infants and young children.

The study focused on a cell protein called MYCN, one of a family of proteins that are notorious not only for stimulating the growth and proliferation of cancer cells, but also for their ability to evade targeted drug therapies. Researchers now hope that the approach may prove effective against some of the many other cancers also characterized by a surplus of MYC-family proteins in tumor cells.

MYCN and its kin are "transcription factors," proteins that bind to DNA and influence the rate at which genetic information is used by the cell - essentially serving as brightener/dimmer switches for gene activity. Lead author Edmond Chipumuro said that as per recent studies, when transcription factors like MYC were mutated or overabundant, they could have a cancerous effect. They cause a global rise in gene expression, making genes throughout the cell more active.

Although very rare in children older than 10, neuroblastoma has been by far the most common cancer in infants. It accounts for about 7 percent of all cancers in children, and 15 percent of all pediatric cancer deaths.

Chemical biologists led by Dana-Farber's Nathanael Gray, PhD, designed and custom-made a compound called THZ1 that forms a particularly strong bond with CDK7, which is one of the many proteins used in the assembly of a super-enhancer, rendering the protein essentially nonfunctional. When researchers treated laboratory samples of MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma cells with THZ1, the tumor cells died, but normal cells were unaffected. When they used the agent to treat mice with this type of neuroblastoma, the tumors shrank markedly, with no negative side effects for the animals.

Study's senior author, Rani George explained because normal cells didn't acquire super-enhancers on these master regulators, the agent had a profound impact on neuroblastoma tissue but not on normal tissue.

-Journal CELL

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 8, 2014 at 9:01am

Possible alternative to antibiotics: scientists from the University of Bern have developed a novel substance for the treatment of severe bacterial infections without antibiotics, which would prevent the development of antibiotic resistance

Scientists have developed the first effective alternative to antibiotics in what is being described as a major development in the battle against superbugs.

A patient trial showed the drug was effective at eradicating the MRSA superbug. Scientists say it is unlikely the infection could develop resistance against the new treatment which is already available as a cream for skin infections.

Researchers hope to develop a pill or injectable version of the drug within five years.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 8, 2014 at 8:29am

Virus pushing tigers towards extinction
Adding to the existing pressures of habitat loss, poaching and depletion of prey species, a new threat to tiger populations in the wild has surfaced in the form of a lethal virus.

According to a new study from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), canine distemper virus (CDV) has the potential to be a significant driver in pushing the tigers towards extinction.

While CDV has recently been shown to lead to the deaths of individual tigers, its long-term impacts on tiger populations had never before been studied, researchers said.

The authors evaluated these impacts on the Amur tiger population in Russia's Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Zapovednik (SABZ), where tiger numbers declined from 38 individuals to 9 in the years 2007 to 2012.

In 2009 and 2010, six adult tigers died or disappeared from the reserve, and CDV was confirmed in two dead tigers - leading scientists to believe that CDV likely played a role in the overall decline of the population.

Joint investigations of CDV have been an ongoing focus of scientists since its first appearance in tigers in 2003.
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone....

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 8, 2014 at 8:06am

Direct brain-to-brain connection has been established between humans for the second time

Scientists in the US have successfully linked the brains of six people, allowing one person to control the hands of another using just their thoughts.
Researchers from the University of Washington in the US have managed to non-invasively link-up two people’s brains and allowed them to communicate without speaking.

This is the second time they’ve succeeded in creating this brain-to-brain communication, one year after they first showed it was possible, and it brings the ability closer to real-world applications.

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone....

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 8, 2014 at 8:03am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 7, 2014 at 7:28am

Making tiny machines that can move through blood and other fluids that have inconsistent consistencies, or viscosities, is tough. Now scientists say that their “micro-scallop” is up to the task. The device has two shells attached at a single hinge. Magnets control how quickly the shells flap open and shut. Depending on those speeds, the viscocity of the fluid between the shells can change, propelling the 300-micrometer-wide scallop forward. The design could pave the way for similar swimmers to travel through blood and tissue and deliver therapeutic drugs to targeted areas, researchers report November 4 in Nature Communications.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 6, 2014 at 7:19am

The bizarre behavior of the quantum world — with objects existing in two places simultaneously and light behaving as either waves or particles — could result from interactions between many 'parallel' everyday worlds, a new theory suggests.

“It is a fundamental shift from previous quantum interpretations,” says Howard Wiseman, a theoretical quantum physicist at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, who together with his colleagues describes the idea in Physical Review X.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 6, 2014 at 6:59am

Fabiola Gianotti, an Italian physicist who garnered global attention 2 years ago when she and another physicist announced the discovery of the Higgs boson, has been named the next director-general of CERN, the European particle physics laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland, where that momentous discovery was made. Gianotti will take over for current director-general Rolf-Dieter Heuer on 1 January 2016, the laboratory announced.
CERN boasts the world's biggest atom smasher, the 27-kilometer-long Large Hadron Collider (LHC), and an annual budget equal to $1.1 billion, making it the de facto global center of particle physics. Gianotti will be the 16th director-general in the laboratory's 60-year history. She will also be the first woman, which has some leading female particle physicists cheering.

Gianotti's rise to lead one of the top global scientific institutions in the world was not always a role she saw in her future. Her initial education in Milan focused on literature, art history, ancient languages and music, the latter inspiring her to pursue a possible career in piano performance at the Milan Conservatory. But the big questions raised by her studies moved her to find answers through other disciplines.
“I thought that physics, the little bit I knew of it, would allow me to address those questions in a more practical way,” she says. “I mean, being able to give answers.”

At age 25, with a PhD in particle physics from the University of Milan, Gianotti joined CERN where the Large Hadron Collider is housed. In 2009, she became project leader of the Atlas collaboration, one of two teams working separately to find the Higgs in the collider data. As the group's spokesperson and coordinator, Gianotti had the honor of announcing the discovery of the elusive particle on July 4, 2012
As part of her new role, Gianotti not only intends to spearhead new discoveries using CERN's 16.7 mile-long Large Hadron Collider, but also promote the sciences as something that can be harmonized with the arts.

She developed a passion for cooking that remains with her today, while at school she devoured Greek, Latin and philosophy. She also took up classical dance with the aim, she once decided, of becoming a ballerina – though not any old ballerina. She had to be a star of the Bolshoi Ballet. Music remains a fundamental influence and taught her a rigorous approach to life.

"Art and physics are much closer than you would think," she told MyHero.com "Art is based on very clear, mathematical principles like proportion and harmony. At the same time, physicists need to be inventive, to have ideas, to have some fantasy."

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 5, 2014 at 9:12am

Mechanism for spontaneous HIV 'cure'
French scientists said on Tuesday they had found the genetic mechanism by which two HIV-infected men may have experienced a "spontaneous cure", and said it offered a new strategy in the fight against AIDS.

Both men were infected by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), one of them 30 years ago, but never developed AIDS symptoms.

The AIDS-causing virus remained in their immune cells but was inactivated because its genetic code had been altered, the scientists said.

The change appeared to be linked to increased activity of a common enzyme named APOBEC, they theorized.

The "apparent spontaneous cure" throws up an intriguing avenue for drug engineers, the team said in a statement.

The work, published in the journal Clinical Microbiology and Infection, was carried out by scientists at France's Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm).

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 5, 2014 at 7:19am

Evaluation of mycotoxins, mycobiota, and toxigenic fungi in selected medicinal plants of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
Herbal medicines such as licorice, Indian rennet and opium poppy, are at risk of contamination with toxic mould, according to a new study published in Fungal Biology. The authors of the study, from the University of Peshawar, Pakistan say it’s time for regulators to control mold contamination.
Medicinal plant samples were analyzed for mycotoxin and mould contamination.
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Natural occurrence of aflatoxins and ochratoxin A was detected in the samples.
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Exceeding levels of mould contamination mainly Aspergillus and Penicillium were shown.
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Contamination might be due to poor storage, transport, and handling conditions.
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Isolated fungal spp. revealed toxigenic potential after culturing on synthetic media.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878614614000981

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