Comment

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 27, 2021 at 9:53am

Underwater Drone Flies AND Swims

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 27, 2021 at 9:22am

 Lack of sleep affects your walk, new study finds

Good sleep can be hard to come by. But a new study finds that if you can make up for lost sleep, even for just a few weekend hours, the extra zzz's could help reduce fatigue-induced clumsiness, at least in how you walk.

There's plenty of evidence to show sleep, and how much we get of it, can affect how well we do on cognitive tasks such as solving a math problem, holding a conversation, or even reading this article. Less explored is the question of whether sleep influences the way we walk or carry out other activities that are assumed to be less mentally taxing.

The new study, by researchers at MIT and the University of São Paulo in Brazil, reports that walking—and specifically, how well we can control our stride, or gait—can indeed be affected by lack of sleep.

In experiments with student volunteers, the team found that overall, the less sleep students got, the less control they had when walking during a tread-mill test. For students who pulled an all-nighter before the test, this gait control plummeted even further.

Interestingly, for those who didn't stay up all night before the test, but who generally had less-than-ideal sleep during the week, those who slept in on weekends performed better than those who didn't.

Sleep deprivation affects gait control, Scientific Reports (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-00705-9

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-10-feet-lack-affects.html?utm_s...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 27, 2021 at 9:05am

'Nanozyme' therapy prevents harmful dental plaque build-up

A growing body of evidence points to a link between iron-deficiency anemia and severe tooth decay. Whether the connection is correlative or causative is unknown, though both conditions are associated with poor diets and are more common in people living in impoverished environments and with underlying medical conditions.

Now, new research suggests that an FDA-approved therapy for iron-deficiency anemia also holds promise for treating, preventing, and even diagnosing dental decay. The therapeutic, a combination of an iron-oxide nanoparticle-containing solution called ferumoxytol and hydrogen peroxide, was applied to real tooth enamel placed in a denture-like appliance and worn by the study subjects.

The study, published in the journal Nano Letters, found that a twice daily application of ferumoxytol, which activated hydrogen peroxide contained in a follow-up rinse, significantly reduced the buildup of harmful dental plaque and had a targeted effect on the bacteria largely responsible for tooth decay. These types of nanoparticles with enzyme-like properties are sometimes known as "nanozymes" and are increasingly being explored for their potential in biomedical and environmental applications.

Researchers found that this approach is both precise and effective. It disrupts biofilms, particularly those formed by Streptococcus mutans, which cause caries, and it also reduced the extent of enamel decay. 

Yuan Liu et al, Ferumoxytol Nanoparticles Target Biofilms Causing Tooth Decay in the Human Mouth, Nano Letters (2021). DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c02702

https://phys.org/news/2021-10-nanozyme-therapy-dental-plaque-build-...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 26, 2021 at 11:57am

Found: an Unknown 'Ghost' Ancestor in The Human Genome

A teenage girl from over 50,000 years ago of such strange uniqueness she looked to be a 'hybrid' ancestor to modern humans that scientists had never seen before.

Only recently, researchers have uncovered evidence she wasn't alone. In a 2019 study analysing the complex mess of humanity's prehistory, scientists used artificial intelligence (AI) to identify an unknown human ancestor species that modern humans encountered – and shared dalliances with – on the long trek out of Africa millennia ago.

About 80,000 years ago, the so-called Out of Africa occurred, when part of the human population, which already consisted of modern humans, abandoned the African continent and migrated to other continents, giving rise to all the current populations.

As modern humans forged this path into the landmass of Eurasia, they forged some other things too – breeding with ancient and extinct hominids from other species.

Up until recently, these occasional sexual partners were thought to include Neanderthals and Denisovans, the latter of which were unknown until 2010.

But in this study, a third ex from long ago was isolated in Eurasian DNA, thanks to deep learning algorithms sifting through a complex mass of ancient and modern human genetic code. 

Using a statistical technique called Bayesian inference, the researchers found evidence of what they call a "third introgression" – a 'ghost' archaic population that modern humans interbred with during the African exodus.

This population is either related to the Neanderthal-Denisova clade or diverged early from the Denisova lineage.

 In 2018, another team of researchers identified evidence of what they called a "definite third interbreeding event" alongside Denisovans and Neanderthals, and a pair of papers published in early 2019 traced the timeline of how those extinct species intersected and interbred in clearer detail than ever before.

There's a lot more research to be done here yet. Applying this kind of AI analysis is a decidedly new technique in the field of human ancestry, and the known fossil evidence we're dealing with is amazingly scant.

But according to the research, what the team has found explains not only a long-forgotten process of introgression – it's a dalliance that, in its own way, informs part of who we are today. If you subtract the Neanderthal and Denisovan parts, there is still something in the genome that is highly divergent.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-08089-7

https://www.sciencealert.com/artificial-intelligence-finds-an-unkno...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 26, 2021 at 11:47am

"Aquatic" Jaguars

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 26, 2021 at 11:32am

“Politicians who are not trained in science should not meddle in our day-to-day business, or tell scientists what’s right or wrong.”

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02885-w?utm_source=Natur...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 26, 2021 at 11:22am

Researchers discover a way to increase the effectiveness of antibiotics

Using immunotherapeutics to tackle the threat of superbugs

Researchers found a way to make antibiotics more effective against antibiotic-resistant bacteria—also known as 'superbugs.

Antimicrobial resistance to superbugs has been evolving and is one of the top 10 global public health threats facing humanity, according to the World Health Organization.

This new research will provide a pathway to increasing the effectiveness of antibiotics, without clinicians having to resort to risky strategies of giving patients higher doses or relying on the discovery of new types of antibiotics.

During a bacterial infection, the body uses molecules called chemoattractants to recruit neutrophils to the site of the infection. Neutrophils are immune cells with the ability to encapsulate and kill dangerous bacteria, critical to the immune response. Researchers attached a chemoattractant to an antibiotic, enabling them to enhance the recruitment of immune cells and improve their killing ability.

The findings have now been published in Nature Communications.

Antibiotic-chemoattractants enhance neutrophil clearance of Staphylococcus aureus, Nature Communications (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-26244-5

https://phys.org/news/2021-10-effectiveness-antibiotics.html?utm_so...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 26, 2021 at 11:12am

'Smart bandage' may help solve a major problem when treating chronic wounds

How can doctors make sure a dressed wound is healing without taking off the bandage? This is a conundrum, because removing a bandage can disrupt the healing process. Technology presented in a new study in open-access journal Frontiers in Physics could help.

This new 'smart bandage' contains a sensor that can very sensitively measure wound moisture levels and then transmit the data to a nearby smartphone, without requiring doctors to remove the bandage. In the future, by changing the geometry and materials in the bandage, the researchers may be able to fine tune it to suit different types of wounds. The technology could help doctors to monitor wounds more easily and successfully.

Chronic wounds can be a source of significant suffering and disability for patients who experience them. Getting such wounds to heal is tricky and there are many factors that can affect wound healing, such as temperature, glucose levels, and acidity. However, one of the most important is moisture levels. Too dry, and the tissue can become desiccated; too wet, and it can become white and wrinkly, as it does in the bath. Both these situations disrupt the healing process.

However, if a doctor wants to check the moisture levels of a wound then they need to remove the bandage, potentially damaging the delicate healing tissue. These issues have inspired this latest smart bandage, as a way to monitor wound moisture levels non-invasively. The choice of materials was a challenge, as bandages need to be biocompatible, disposable and inexpensive.

To achieve this, the researchers applied a conductive polymer called poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) onto a gauze using a technique called screen printing, and then incorporated the gauze with commercially available bandage materials. The idea is that changes in the moisture level of the wound cause a change in an electrical signal measured by the sensor.

PEDOT:PSS is an organic semiconducting polymer that can be easily deposited on several substrates as a standard ink. Researchers also incorporated a cheap, disposable and bandage-compatible RFID tag, similar to those used for clothing security tags, into the textile patch. The tag can wirelessly communicate moisture level data with a smartphone, allowing healthcare staff to know when a bandage needs to be changed.

Wireless textile moisture sensor for wound care, Frontiers in Physics, DOI: 10.3389/fphy.2021.722173

https://phys.org/news/2021-10-smart-bandage-major-problem-chronic.h...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 26, 2021 at 10:47am

Metaverse, the future tech 

Metaverse is internet brought to life, or at least rendered in 3D. It as a "virtual environment" you can go inside of—instead of just looking at on a screen. Essentially, it's a world of endless, interconnected virtual communities where people can meet, work and play, using virtual reality headsets, augmented reality glasses, smartphone apps or other devices.

It also will incorporate other aspects of online life such as shopping and social media. It's the next evolution of connectivity where all of those things start to come together in a seamless, doppelganger universe, so you're living your virtual life the same way you're living your physical life.

You will be able to do  things like go to a virtual concert, take a trip online, and buy and try on digital clothing. The metaverse also could be a game-changer for the work-from-home shift amid the coronavirus pandemic. Instead of seeing co-workers on a video call grid, employees could see them virtually.

For those who can afford it, users would be able, through their avatars, to flit between virtual worlds created by different companies.

A lot of the metaverse experience is going to be around being able to teleport from one experience to another.

And let me  also warn you about this ....  it will be based on using your personal data to sell targeted advertising, into the metaverse.

https://techxplore.com/news/2021-10-metaverse.html?utm_source=nwlet...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 26, 2021 at 10:22am

Combining intracranial EEG recordings with deep neural network models, researchers provided a detailed picture of the representational transformations from encoding to short-term memory maintenance and long-term memory retrieval that underlie successful episodic memory.

The results  suggest that memory representations pass through multiple stages of transformations to achieve successful long-term memory formation and recall.

Overall, the findings offer further evidence of the transformation of memory-specific neural representations throughout the encoding, short-term maintenance and long-term consolidation stages of memory.

Jing Liu et al, Transformative neural representations support long-term episodic memory, Science Advances (2021). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abg9715

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-10-memories-stages-encoded.html...

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