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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 16, 2022 at 11:52am

Researchers develop painless tattoos that can be self-administered

 Instead of sitting in a tattoo chair for hours enduring painful punctures, imagine getting tattooed by a skin patch containing microscopic needles. Researchers have developed low-cost, painless, and bloodless tattoos that can be self-administered and have many applications, from medical alerts to tracking neutered animals to cosmetics.

Researchers have miniaturized the needle so that it's painless, but still effectively deposits tattoo ink in the skin.

Tattoos are used in medicine to cover up scars, guide repeated cancer radiation treatments, or restore nipples after breast surgery. Tattoos also can be used instead of bracelets as medical alerts to communicate serious medical conditions such as diabetes, epilepsy, or allergies.

Various cosmetic products using microneedles are already on the market—mostly for anti-aging—but developing microneedle technology for tattoos is new. 

Tattoos typically use large needles to puncture repeatedly into the skin to get a good image, a time-consuming and painful process. The  Tech team has developed microneedles that are smaller than a grain of sand and are made of tattoo ink encased in a dissolvable matrix.
Because the microneedles are made of tattoo ink, they deposit the ink in the skin very efficiently.

Although most microneedle patches for pharmaceuticals or cosmetics have dozens or hundreds of microneedles arranged in a square or circle, microneedle patch tattoos imprint a design that can include letters, numbers, symbols, and images. By arranging the microneedles in a specific pattern, each microneedle acts like a pixel to create a tattoo image in any shape or pattern.

The researchers start with a mold containing microneedles in a pattern that forms an image. They fill the microneedles in the mold with tattoo ink and add a patch backing for convenient handling. The resulting patch is then applied to the skin for a few minutes, during which time the microneedles dissolve and release the tattoo ink. Tattoo inks of various colors can be incorporated into the microneedles, including black-light ink that can only be seen when illuminated with ultraviolet light.

Song Li, Youngeun Kim, Jeong Woo Lee, Mark R. Prausnitz. Microneedle patch tattoos. iScience, 2022; 105014 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105014

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 16, 2022 at 11:38am

New lactic acid bacteria create natural sweetness in yogurt

Researchers have developed a yogurt bacterium, which can cleave lactose in a cost-effective and sustainable manner. This makes it possible to create natural sweetness in yogurt with less added sugar.

Yogurt without added sugar is a relatively sour experience. Often fruit or berries are added to improve taste, and sugar or sweeteners are added to increase sweetness. However, consumers are increasingly demanding natural foods with less added sugar.

To meet this demand researchers have developed a new and natural way to cleave the milk sugar, which relies on safe lactic acid bacteria. The developed lactic acid bacteria create natural sweetness in the yogurt, thus reducing the need for added sugar.

Belay Tilahun Tadesse et al, Consolidated Bioprocessing in a Dairy Setting─Concurrent Yoghurt Fermentation and Lactose Hydrolysis without Using Lactase Enzymes, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (2022). DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.2c04191

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Yogurt is fermented milk, and milk naturally contains around 50 grams sugar (lactose) per liter. Milk sugar is characterized by its low sweetness, but by breaking down lactose with enzymes, more sweet sugars (glucose and galactose) are released. By breaking down 70% of the lactose in milk, the sweetness can be increased what corresponds to 20 grams per liter of regular sugar.

Commercially available lactase enzymes currently used for breaking down lactose in milk products, are made using microorganisms, which involves, a tedious and costly purification process. Furthermore, transportation from the manufacturer site to the dairy adds to the costs.

With the solution that the DTU researchers have developed, the lactic acid bacteria-based lactase can be grown and used directly at the dairy, and in the milk that ends up being yogurt. In this way the costs for purchasing the lactase and transportation are reduced,

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 16, 2022 at 10:57am

Conversion to LED lighting brings new kind of light pollution

A team of researchers  has found that the slow conversion of outdoor lighting to LEDs across much of Europe has led to the development of a new kind of light pollution. In their paper published in the journal Science Advances, the group describes their study of photographs taken from the International Space Station.

Prior research has shown that artificial light in natural environments adversely impacts wildlife and humans. Studies have shown that both animals and humans can experience disruptions to sleep patterns, for example. And many animals can become confused by the light at night, leading to survival problems. In this new effort, the researchers noted that officials in many countries have been promoting the use of LED lighting over traditional sodium lighting along roads and in parking areas due to the reduced energy demands of LEDs. To learn more about the impact of this change, the researchers obtained photographs taken by astronauts aboard the ISS over the years 2012 to 2013 and from 2014 to 2020. The photographs provide a much better range of light wavelengths than satellite images. The researchers were able to see which parts of Europe have converted to LED lighting and to what degree. They found that the U.K., Italy and Ireland, for example, have experienced significant changes, while other countries such as Austria, Germany and Belgium have experienced little change. They found that the LEDs emitted light at different wavelengths than the sodium bulbs. Noticeably different was the increase in blue light emissions in those areas that have converted to LED lighting. Blue lighting, the researchers note, has been found to interfere with the production of melatonin in humans and other animals, which interferes with sleep patterns. The researchers suggest the increase of blue light in areas lit by LEDs could be having a negative impact on the environment and also the people who live and work in such places. They suggest officials take a closer look at the impact of LED lighting before pushing ahead with new projects.

Alejandro Sánchez de Miguel et al, Environmental risks from artificial nighttime lighting widespread and increasing across Europe, Science Advances (2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abl6891

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 15, 2022 at 12:19pm

Drug turns cancer gene into 'eat me' flag for immune system

Tumor cells are notoriously good at evading the human immune system; they put up physical walls, wear disguises and handcuff the immune system with molecular tricks. Now,  researchers have developed a drug that overcomes some of these barriers, marking cancer cells for destruction by the immune system. The new therapy, described in Cancer Cell, pulls a mutated version of the protein KRAS to the surface of cancer cells, where the drug-KRAS complex acts as an "eat me" flag. Then, an immunotherapy can coax the immune system to effectively eliminate all cells bearing this flag.

Ziyang Zhang, Peter J. Rohweder, Chayanid Ongpipattanakul, Koli Basu, Markus-Frederik Bohn, Eli J. Dugan, Veronica Steri, Byron Hann, Kevan M. Shokat, Charles S. Craik. A covalent inhibitor of K-Ras(G12C) induces MHC class I presentation of haptenated peptide neoepitopes targetable by immunotherapy. Cancer Cell, 2022; 40 (9): 1060 DOI: 10.1016/j.ccell.2022.07.005

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 15, 2022 at 12:14pm

How this jellyfish can live forever

The tiny translucent jellyfish Turritopsis dohrnii can revert to an immature polyp state and revive itself again and again — effectively making it immortal. Researchers have now sequenced the jellyfish’s genome and studied the genes involved in its rejuvenation. They found that genes associated with DNA storage were highly expressed in adult jellyfish, but reduced as the animals transformed into polyps. However, genes linked to pluripotency, or the ability of cells to turn into any cell type, were increasingly expressed as the jellyfish reverted.

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Crossref citations come out into the open

The reference lists in Crossref are now free to read and reuse. The Crossref database registers DOIs, or digital object identifiers, for many of the world’s academic publications. Open-science advocates have for years campaigned to make papers’ citation data accessible under liberal copyright licen... to identify research trends and areas of research that need funding, and to spot when scientists are manipulating citation counts.

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Some microbes lie in wait until their hosts unknowingly give them t...

After more than two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, you might picture a virus as a nasty spiked ball—a mindless killer that gets into a cell and hijacks its machinery to create a gazillion copies of itself before bursting out. For many viruses, including the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the "mindless killer" epithet is essentially true.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 15, 2022 at 11:31am

Electric vehicles are now powering homes when utilities go down

Soon you'll be able to say goodbye to gas-powered generators and storage batteries if you want to power your home during a utility outage.

Your backup power source will be sitting in your driveway or garage, ready to keep your lights on, your fridge cold and your air conditioner blowing. Best of all, your power source will run silently, emit no dangerous exhaust, and be capable of safely running inside or outside during hurricanes and for at least a couple days afterward while your utility works to restore power. Electric vehicles with bidirectional charging capabilities are starting to hit the market as the auto industry transitions away from internal combustion engines. Just a handful of vehicles with so-called Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) capabilities are available now—and require costly aftermarket gear—but industry analysts expect their numbers to increase as more EVs come to market.

Bidirectional charging, as the term implies, is the capability to both receive and send power, and its availability in electric vehicles could provide a valuable layer of security to homeowners as severe weather events become more frequent and destructive.

https://techxplore.com/news/2022-09-storage-batteries-gas-electric-...

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 15, 2022 at 9:47am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 15, 2022 at 9:44am

New phases of water detected

Scientists  have discovered that water in a one-molecule layer acts like neither a liquid nor a solid, and that it becomes highly conductive at high pressures.

Much is known about how "bulk water" behaves: it expands when it freezes, and it has a high boiling point. But when water is compressed to the nanoscale, its properties change dramatically.

By developing a new way to predict this unusual behavior with unprecedented accuracy, the researchers have detected several new phases of water at the molecular level.

Water trapped between membranes or in tiny nanoscale cavities is common—it can be found in everything from membranes in our bodies to geological formations. But this nanoconfined water behaves very differently from the water we drink.

Until now, the challenges of experimentally characterizing the phases of water on the nanoscale have prevented a full understanding of its behaviour. But in a paper published in the journal Nature, researchers describe how they have used advances in computational approaches to predict the phase diagram of a one-molecule thick layer of water with unprecedented accuracy.

The researchers found that water which is confined into a one-molecule thick layer goes through several phases, including a "hexatic" phase and a "superionic" phase. In the hexatic phase, the water acts as neither a solid nor a liquid, but something in between. In the superionic phase, which occurs at higher pressures, the water becomes highly conductive, propelling protons quickly through ice in a way resembling the flow of electrons in a conductor.

The researchers found that the one-molecule thick layer of water within the nanochannel showed rich and diverse phase behavior. Their approach predicts several phases which include the hexatic phase—an intermediate between a solid and a liquid—and also a superionic phase, in which the water has a high electrical conductivity. The hexatic phase is neither a solid nor a liquid, but an intermediate, which agrees with previous theories about two-dimensional materials.

Angelos Michaelides, The first-principles phase diagram of monolayer nanoconfined water, Nature (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05036-x. www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05036-x

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 14, 2022 at 12:25pm

United in Science: We are heading in the wrong direction

World heading into ‘uncharted territory of destruction’, says climate report

Governments and businesses failing to change fast enough, says United in Science report, as weather gets increasingly extreme

The world’s chances of avoiding the worst ravages of climate breakdown are diminishing rapidly, as we enter “uncharted territory of destruction” through our failure to cut greenhouse gas emissions and take the actions needed to stave off catastrophe, leading scientists have said.

Despite intensifying warnings in recent years, governments and businesses have not been changing fast enough, according to the United in Science report published on Tuesday. The consequences are already being seen in increasingly extreme weather around the world, and we are in danger of provoking “tipping points” in the climate system that will mean more rapid and in some cases irreversible shifts.

https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/united-science-we-are...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 14, 2022 at 12:00pm

The blood stem cell research that could change medicine of the future

Biomedical engineers and medical researchers have independently made discoveries about embryonic blood stem cell creation that could one day eliminate the need for blood stem cell donors.

The achievements are part of a move in regenerative medicine towards the use of "induced pluripotent stem cells" to treat disease, where stem cells are reverse engineered from adult tissue cells rather than using live human or animal embryos.

But while we have known about induced pluripotent stem cells since 2006, scientists still have plenty to learn about how cell differentiation in the human body can be mimicked artificially and safely in the lab for the purposes of delivering targeted medical treatment.

Two studies have emerged  in this area that shine new light on not only how the precursors to blood stem cells occur in animals and humans, but how they may be induced artificially.

In a study published today in Cell Reports, researchers demonstrated how a simulation of an embryo's beating heart using a microfluidic device in the lab led to the development of human blood stem cell "precursors," which are stem cells on the verge of becoming blood stem cells.

 They made a device mimicking the heart beating and the blood circulation and an orbital shaking system which causes shear stress—or friction—of the blood cells as they move through the device or around in a dish."

These systems promoted the development of precursor blood stem cells which can differentiate into various blood components—white blood cells, red blood cells, platelets and others. They were excited to see this same process—known as hematopoiesis—replicated in the device.

And in an article published in Nature Cell Biology in July, another group of researchers revealed the identity of cells in mice embryos responsible for blood stem cell creation. They researchers looked for the mechanism that is used naturally in mammals to make blood stem cells from the cells that line blood vessels, known as endothelial cells. They  identified the cells in the embryo that can convert both embryonic and adult endothelial cells into blood cells in the process.

Both studies are significant steps towards an understanding of how, when, where and which cells are involved in the creation of blood stem cells. In the future, this knowledge could be used to help cancer patients, among others, who have undergone high doses of radio- and chemotherapy, to replenish their depleted blood stem cells.

 Robert E. Nordon, Mimicry of embryonic circulation enhances the hoxa hemogenic niche and human blood development, Cell Reports (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111339. www.cell.com/cell-reports/full … 2211-1247(22)01167-6

Vashe Chandrakanthan et al, Mesoderm-derived PDGFRA+ cells regulate the emergence of hematopoietic stem cells in the dorsal aorta, Nature Cell Biology (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41556-022-00955-3

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