How the secrets of the tardigrade could improve lifesaving drugs like insulin

Tardigrade: This stocky microscopic animal, also known as a water bear, can survive in environments where survival seems impossible. Tardigrades have been shown to endure extremes of heat, cold and pressure—and even the vacuum of space—by entering a state of suspended animation and revitalizing, sometimes decades later, under more hospitable conditions.

If scientists  could understand the mechanism behind this extraordinary preservation they might be able to use the knowledge to improve medicines so that they remain potent longer and are less vulnerable to typical environmental challenges, ultimately broadening access and benefiting human health.

It turns out that one of the processes protecting tardigrades is spurred by a sugar molecule called trehalose, commonly found in living things from plants to microbes to insects, some of which use it as blood sugar. For a few select organisms, such as the water bear and the spiky resurrection plant, that can revive after years of near-zero metabolism and complete dehydration, trehalose's stabilizing power is the secret to their unearthly fortitude.

Armed with this insight, researchers invented a polymer based on the sugar. This polymer, called poly(trehalose methacrylate), or pTrMA, actually seems to improve upon nature in its ability to render drugs more robust to the ravages of time and temperature. They opted to investigate pTrMA's effects on insulin, a World Health Organization "essential medicine" that many people with diabetes inject daily to manage the disease.

Part 1

A series of studies  over the last three years has demonstrated pTrMA's potential. A recent study published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces found that the polymer preserved insulin at temperatures of nearly 200 degrees Fahrenheit—close to water's boiling point—and through almost a year of refrigerated storage, with 87% of the medication remaining intact, compared with less than 8% of insulin alone. Laboratory experiments into pTrMA's safety showed that it did not trigger an immune response in mice.

A 2021 study showed that insulin plus pTrMA has a low enough viscosity to be safely injected, and 2020 research demonstrated that a version of pTrMA designed to degrade inside the body retained the ability to stabilize insulin.

An early finding, from 2014, that pTrMA actually works better than trehalose as a preserving agent hasn't been the only pleasant surprise along the way.

Madeline B. Gelb et al, Poly(trehalose methacrylate) as an Excipient for Insulin Stabilization: Mechanism and Safety, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (2022). DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c09301

Madeline B. Gelb et al, Effect of Poly(trehalose methacrylate) Molecular Weight and Concentration on the Stability and Viscosity of Insulin, Macromolecular Materials and Engineering (2021). DOI: 10.1002/mame.202100197

Emma M. Pelegri-O'Day et al, Synthesis of Zwitterionic and Trehalose Polymers with Variable Degradation Rates and Stabilization of Insulin, Biomacromolecules (2020). DOI: 10.1021/acs.biomac.0c00133

Juneyoung Lee et al, Trehalose Glycopolymers as Excipients for Protein Stabilization, Biomacromolecules (2013). DOI: 10.1021/bm4003046

Parental age could be key factor in helping thoroughbred horses be first past the post

In a sport where the finest of margins can determine the winner, a new study has shown that parental age can be a determining factor in who comes out on top in horse races.

Experts  have shown that the speed of thoroughbred horses declines as parental age at conception increases. The research team analyzed more than 900,000 race performances from more than 100,000 racehorses from races across Great Britain.

They found that the age of both the mothers and fathers of the horses played a significant role in the overall speed of the racehorses.

The researchers believe the study can play a pivotal part not only in optimizing racehorse breeding, but crucially offers further evidence that parental age can affect offspring characteristics.

Evidence of maternal and paternal age effects on speed in thoroughbred racehorses. Royal Society Open Science. doi.org/10.5061/dryad.qbzkh18m0

 How dormant bacteria calculate their return to life

While facing starvation and stress conditions, some bacteria enter a dormant state in which life processes stop. Shutting down into a deep dormancy allows these cells, called spores, to withstand punishing extremes of heat, pressure and even the harsh conditions of outer space.

Eventually, when conditions become favorable, spores that may have been dormant for years can wake up in minutes and spring back to life.

Spores wake up by re-hydrating and restarting their metabolism and physiology. But until now scientists did not know whether spores can monitor their environment "in their sleep" without waking up. In particular it was not known how spores deal with vague environmental signals that do not indicate clearly favorable conditions. Would spores just ignore such mixed conditions or take note?

Now biologists have solved this mystery in a new study published in the journal Science. Researchers  discovered that spores have an extraordinary ability to evaluate their surrounding environment while remaining in a physiologically dead state. They found that spores use stored electrochemical energy, acting like a capacitor, to determine whether conditions are suitable for a return to normal functioning life.

They show that cells in a deeply dormant state have the ability to process information. They discovered that spores can release their stored electrochemical potential energy to perform a computation about their environment without the need for metabolic activity.

A composite movie showing the phase contrast of a single spore (top left) to visualize the dormant state. A movie (top right) shows the color-coded electrochemical potential of the same spore. The plot (bottom left) shows the corresponding time trace of the electrochemical potential values changing over time. Finally, a corresponding bar plot (bottom right) visualizes the jumps toward the threshold for returning to life. Credit: Süel Lab

Kaito Kikuchi et al, Electrochemical potential enables dormant spores to integrate environmental signals, Science (2022). DOI: 10.1126/science.abl7484. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abl7484

Why Does Salt Change the Taste of Everything?

If your coffee is too bitter, add a pinch of salt. If your salad isn’t sour enough, add a pinch of salt. If your beer is too bitter, add a pinch of salt. Salt has a seemingly magical ability to enhance good flavors and dampen bad ones.

What your breath could reveal about your health

Light-based therapy weakens antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Antibiotics are standard treatments for fighting dangerous bacterial infections. Yet the number of bacteria developing a resistance to antibiotics is increasing. Researchers  are overcoming this resistance with light.

The researchers tailored antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT)—a chemical reaction triggered by visible light—for use on antibiotic-resistant bacteria strains. Results showed the treatment weakened bacteria to where low doses of current antibiotics could effectively eliminate them.

The researchers began their work by choosing the bacteria and the three main parts of aPDT needed to combat it: molecular oxygen, light, and a photosensitizer—something that creates a reaction between oxygen and light. An already FDA-approved dye called methylene blue served as the photosensitizer. The light sources were specially constructed panels of 25 LEDs in reflective cones built by the Technical Support Laboratory of the São Carlos Institute of Physics. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus served as the bacteria, and the researchers grew cultures with the blue dye in them to ensure the photosensitizer alone would not affect the bacteria.

At first, the team used aPDT by itself at various light strengths, durations, and in a specific series of follow-up treatments to log the bacteria's response. The idea was to find the lowest dose and shortest series that could weaken the bacterial membranes and other resistance mechanisms. Cell recoveries and reproductions revealed how many generations it took before antibiotic resistance returned. Next, the researchers added measured levels and combinations of antibiotics at different time intervals after aPDT treatments to note the weakened bacteria's responses.

Jace A. Willis et al, Breaking down antibiotic resistance in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus : Combining antimicrobial photodynamic and antibiotic treatments, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2208378119

How To Make Yourself FLOAT!

Magic? Not really!

TAZ protein protects from age-related loss of function of blood stem cells

A well-functioning immune system is essential for protection against infections. However, with increasing age, the functioning of the immune system diminishes, which is also due to age-related damage in hematopoietic (blood) stem cells. Researchers have now discovered how the co-activator of the Hippo signaling pathway, the TAZ protein, can protect hematopoietic stem cells from aging and thus prevent them from loss of function. Moreover, hematopoietic stem cells age very heterogeneously. In addition to old cells, one can also find "youthful" cells when the protective mechanism has worked effectively.

Our blood is constantly being regenerated from hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). With increasing age, however, these blood stem cells experience a loss of function and their regenerative potential diminishes. In older people, there is another problem with blood formation (hematopoiesis): they form fewer lymphocytes (cells of the immune system), so they are often no longer able to cope as well with infections and usually do not show a highly effective immune response after a vaccination.

There are already numerous indications that these deficiencies associated with old age result primarily from age-related damage in the blood stem cells. How this damage occurs, and whether there are protective mechanisms that could possibly protect the blood stem cells from it, is not yet known. In a study recently published in Nature Communications, researchers have now used novel analytical mehtods at the single cell level to investigate in more detail what happens during the aging process in hematopoietic stem cells and what role the TAZ protein plays in this process.

The adult body replaces billions of cells every day; in this process, existing cells are continuously replaced by "new" cells. "Maintaining the balance between cell division, cell differentiation and cell death is tremendously important, because even the smallest imbalances disturb this equilibrium and sooner or later contribute to the development of cancer or can lead to premature aging.

Part 1

The researchers  found that blood stem cells do not age uniformly. Rather, they are very heterogeneous and exhibit mixed populations. Thus, it was possible to isolate subpopulations from old mice in which the cells were predominantly old, but also populations in which the cells were in a "youth-like" state. The gene expression pattern of these cells also tended to resemble those of young hematopoietic stem cells. This is an indication that TAZ can to some extent counteract the gradual loss of stem cell function and protect blood stem cells by rejuvenating them. Consequently, genetic downregulation of TAZ in old HSCs resulted in a drastic failure to restore the blood system upon transplantation of these HSCs.

Kyung Mok Kim et al, Taz protects hematopoietic stem cells from an aging-dependent decrease in PU.1 activity, Nature Communications (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32970-1

Part 2

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How genetics influences our body weight beyond genes

Heredity plays a role in how strongly we are predisposed to put on excess weight. In recent years, researchers have extensively examined which genes and gene variants play a role in this, and have identified roughly one hundred obesity susceptibility genes. However, genome-wide association studies have shown that less than half of all cases of hereditary obesity can be explained by these genes. The other half are the result of factors that, although part of our DNA, are not genes in the classical sense. Epigenetic information would be one example of such a factor.

A group of researchers  have now identified a further non-classic genetic risk factor for hereditary obesity: an endogenous microRNA molecule known as microRNA-7. Like genes, the blueprints for microRNA molecules are part of our chromosomes. But while genes act as the building instructions for proteins, the information contained in microRNA is not translated into protein form. Instead, the microRNA molecules act in our cells in the form of RNA.

MicroRNA-7 is the first microRNA for which they have been able to demonstrate an association with obesity.

Mary P. LaPierre et al, MicroRNA-7 regulates melanocortin circuits involved in mammalian energy homeostasis, Nature Communications (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33367-w

NASA spaceship deflected asteroid in test to save Earth

NASA on Tuesday said it had succeeded in deflecting an asteroid in a historic test of humanity's ability to stop an incoming cosmic object from devastating life on Earth.

The fridge-sized Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) impactor deliberately smashed into the moonlet asteroid Dimorphos on September 26, pushing it into a smaller, faster orbit around its big brother Didymos, said NASA.

 DART shortened the 11 hour 55 minute orbit to 11 hours and 23 minutes. Speeding up Dimorphos' orbital period by 32 minutes exceeded NASA's own expectation of 10 minutes.

DART's success as a proof-of-concept has made a reality of science fiction—notably in films such as "Armageddon" and "Don't Look Up."

Kinetic impact with a spaceship is just one way to defend the planet, albeit the only method possible with current technology.

Should an approaching object be detected early, a spaceship could be sent to fly alongside it for long enough to divert its path via using the ship's gravitational pull, creating a so-called gravity tractor.

Another option would be launching nuclear explosives to redirect or destroy an asteroid.

Source: NASA

Algorithms predict sports teams’ moves with 80% accuracy.

Researchers have found a way to restore sight in adult mice

 Researchers have found a way to restore sight in adult mice with a form of congenital blindness, in spite of the rodents' relative maturity.

The mice were modeling a rare human disorder of the eye's retina, called leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), which often causes blindness or severe visual impairment at birth.

This inherited condition seems to be caused by a mutation in any one of dozens of genes associated with the retina and its light-sensing abilities.

Researchers have been working on treatments that could restore damaged or dysfunctional photoreceptors in this part of the eye for several decades. Some strategies include retinal implants, gene editing interventions, and drug treatments.

These emerging therapies all boost vision with varying levels of success, but synthetic compounds that target the retina look particularly promising for those with mutations that involve rod photoreceptors.

Rods are the photoreceptors at the back of the eye that sense dim light. These specialized neurons utilize a series of biochemical reactions to convert sensory light into electrical signals for the rest of the brain to 'read'.

As light-sensitive pigments in retinal rods absorb low levels of light, they convert the molecule 11-cis retinal into all-trans-retinal, which in turn generates an impulse that travels down the optic nerve to the brain.

Previous studies on children with LCA have shown that synthetic retinoid treatments can help compensate for some vision loss when injected straight into the eye. But how these treatments impact adults with the condition is not as well understood.

"Although some progress has been made, it still remains unclear the extent to which adult visual circuits can be restored to a fully functional state at the level of the visual cortex upon correction of the retinal defect. Traditionally, it's been thought that the brain's visual system is formed and strengthened during certain developmental windows in early life. If the eye isn't being exercised during these critical periods, then visual networks in the brain may never be wired properly for sight, leading to lifelong deficits in vision.

But a mammal's potential for vision may not be so rigidly wired; it could be far more plastic than assumed.

To explore this idea, researchers administered a synthetic retinoid for seven days to adult rodents born with retinal degeneration.

The treatment was ultimately successful at partially restoring the animals' light sensitivity and their typical light-orienting behaviors for 27 days.

Nine days after treatment, far more neurons in the visual cortex were being activated by the optic nerve.

This suggests the central visual pathway that carries information from the eye to the visual cortex can be significantly restored by retinoid treatment, even in adult mice.Immediately after the treatment, the signals coming from the opposite-side eye, which is the dominant pathway in the mouse, activated two times more neurons in the brain. What was even more mind-blowing was that the signals coming from the same-side eye pathway activated five-fold more neurons in the brain after the treatment and this impressive effect was long-lasting.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096098222201449X...

Brain cells in a dish learn to play Pong in real time

A research team has for the first time shown that 800,000 brain cells living in a dish can perform goal-directed tasks—in this case the simple tennis-like computer game, Pong. They have shown they can interact with living biological neurons in such a way that compels them to modify their activity, leading to something that resembles intelligence.

DishBrain offers a simpler approach to test how the brain works and gain insights into debilitating conditions such as epilepsy and dementia,.

By building a living model brain from basic structures in this way, scientists will be able to experiment using real brain function rather than flawed analogous models like a computer.

Brett J. Kagan, In vitro neurons learn and exhibit sentience when embodied in a simulated game-world, Neuron (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2022.09.001. www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(22)00806-6

Scientists demonstrate that electricity may be obtainable from water with a high salt concentration

In an exciting new development, scientists  have demonstrated that electricity may be obtainable from water with a high salt concentration, such as seawater.

Some people think about "osmosis" as just a science term they were forced to learn in elementary school biology class. However, the spontaneous motion of dissolved ions or molecules through a semi-permeable membrane when there is a concentration difference between the two sides can be harnessed to generate electricity. And luckily for us, the oceans are filled with salty water, which may be used to help alleviate humanity's ever-growing demand for energy. However, in order to be practical, this membrane needs to be very thin and highly selective to allow ions—but not water molecules—to pass through.

Now, a research team led by Osaka University has used conventional semiconductor processing technology to precisely control the structure and arrangement of nanopores in an ultrathin silicon membrane. Because these fabrication methods have been around for decades, the costs and design complexities were minimized. Moreover, the size and location of the pores could be precisely controlled.

Whenever there is a non-equilibrium situation, such as two water tanks with different salt concentrations, there is often an opportunity to covert this thermodynamic energy into electricity.

Scientists are trying to use this opportunity.

Makusu Tsutsui et al, Sparse multi-nanopore osmotic power generators, Cell Reports Physical Science (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrp.2022.101065

New abiotic pathway for the formation of oxygen

Oxygen plays a crucial role for all living organisms on Earth. Researchers have now found evidence that double ionized sulfur dioxide contribute to the formation of oxygen molecules. This could, in particular, explain the presence of oxygen in sulfur dioxide-rich atmospheres of several of Jupiter's moons.

How does oxygen form? On earth, the main explanation involves the biological process of photosynthesis, which was developed by cyanobacteria and kicked off the Great Oxidation Event about two billion years ago. Researchers have long realized that non-biological or abiotic processes also contribute to the formation of oxygen—especially out in space. On other celestial bodies where such bacteria are not present, the presence of oxygen can be explained by abiotic processes.

Researchers have now found a possible new abiotic pathway: the formation of oxygen from sulfur dioxide. The sulfur dioxide molecule is found in the atmosphere of many celestial bodies and large quantities can be ejected into the atmosphere during volcanic eruptions.

When the sulfur dioxide molecule is exposed to radiation of a sufficiently high energy, as provided by radiation from the sun for example, this molecule can be ionized into a double positively charged system. It can then assume a linear form with the two oxygen atoms being adjacent and the sulfur atom at one of the terminal ends. Before ionization, sulfur dioxide has a shape similar to the "Mickey Mouse" shape of the water molecule.

Upon double ionization, two of the bound electrons in the molecule get ejected and can lead to changes in the angle between the atoms in the molecule. Alternatively, as crucial in the present case, roaming can occur, that is, the atoms switch places, and the molecule takes on a whole new shape.

Once roaming has occurred, the sulfur atom may break up, leaving behind a simple positively charged oxygen molecule O₂⁺, which can then be neutralized by receiving an electron from another molecule. This sequence of events can explain how oxygen  formed in the atmospheres of several of Jupiter's moons such as Io, Europa and Ganymede, despite the lack of biological life there. Researchers think this happens naturally on Earth too.

 Måns Wallner et al, Abiotic molecular oxygen production—Ionic pathway from sulfur dioxide, Science Advances (2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abq5411

Experimental antibiotic torpedoes the protective slime that makes resistant bacteria tougher to fight

An experimental antibiotic is under development that is capable of neutralizing a wide range of drug-resistant, Gram-positive bacteria—pathogens that protect themselves in a slimy shield, called a biofilm, designed by nature to keep threats out.

Bacterial infections are extraordinarily difficult to treat when pathogens are protected by a biofilm. The film forms as a consequence of bacterial colonies growing together in a tough and protective matrix. Infections caused by bacteria protected by biofilms are often chronic and extend across a complex range: Dental infections that lead to tooth loss can be worsened by biofilms. Deadly drug-resistant lung infections, bacterial infiltration of the sac surrounding the heart, wound infections, and even infections of the blood can all be complicated by the presence of biofilms. Antibiotic treatment of biofilm-shielded bacteria are challenging, doctors say, because many conventional antibiotics can't penetrate the slime to kill the active bacteria.

Researchers have  been working to address resistant infections that involve biofilms. Some call their experimental medication MCC5194, and describe it as a modified version of vancomycin, the potent antibiotic backed by decades of use.

The difference between MCC194 and unmodified vancomycin is that the experimental drug acts as a torpedo when encountering biofilms. In preclinical tests, MCC5194 killed major Gram-positive bacterial threats such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus—MRSA—and destroyed the bacterial biofilm. The drug was also effective in tests against other Gram-positive bacteria, and eradicated their biofilms, too.

 Mark A. T. Blaskovich et al, A lipoglycopeptide antibiotic for Gram-positive biofilm-related infections, Science Translational Medicine (2022). DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abj2381

Wildlife populations plunge 69% since 1970: WWF

Wild populations of monitored animal species have plummeted nearly 70 percent in the last 50 years, according to a landmark assessment released Thursday that highlights "devastating" losses to nature due to human activity.

Featuring data from 32,000 populations of more than 5,000 species of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish, the WWF Living Planet Index shows accelerating falls across the globe.

In biodiversity-rich regions such as Latin America and the Caribbean, the figure for animal population loss is as high as 94 percent.

Globally, the report found that monitored animal populations had fallen 69 percent since 1970.

The Living Planet Report argues that increasing conservation and restoration efforts, producing and consuming food more sustainably, and rapidly and deeply decarbonising all sectors can alleviate the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss.

It also calls for governments to properly factor into policymaking the value of services rendered by nature, such as food, medicine and water supply.

Nature loss is not just a moral issue of our duty to protect the rest of the world. It is actually an issue of material value, an issue of security for humanity as well.

source: WWF

Researchers discovered driver of high blood pressure

Researchers have identified a key contributor to high blood pressure that could lead to new treatments. The discovery  breaks new ground in our understanding of how the body regulates blood pressure. It also shows how problems with this critical biological process drive high blood pressure, also known as hypertension.

This work  identifies a “new paradigm in hypertension,” according to an accompanying editorial in the journal where this work was published. The editorial says UVA’s “innovative” discoveries fill “major gaps” in our understanding of the fundamental molecular causes of high blood pressure. The discovery of a new mechanism for elevation of blood pressure could provide therapeutic targets for treating hypertension.

Blood pressure is controlled, in part, by calcium levels in smooth muscle cells that line blood vessel walls. Smooth muscle cells transport calcium in and use it to regulate the contraction of blood vessels as needed.

High blood pressure is commonly treated with “calcium blockers” that reduce the movement of calcium, but these medications have many side effects because they block a mechanism that is used by multiple organs in the body for carrying out normal functions. So a treatment option that targets the harmful effects of calcium, but not its beneficial effects, could be very helpful for patients with high blood pressure.

Researchers now discovered two critical – and previously unknown – signaling centers in smooth muscle cells that bring in calcium and regulate blood pressure. These “nanodomains,” the researchers found, act like symphony conductors for blood vessels, directing them to contract or relax as needed. These signaling centers, the researchers determined, are a key regulator of healthy blood pressure.

Further, these  scientists found that disruptions in this process contribute to high blood pressure. In both mouse models of the disease and hypertensive patients, the fine balance between constrictor and dilator signaling centers is lost. This caused the blood vessels to become too constricted, driving up blood pressure.

Understanding these components will help us target them to lower or raise the blood pressure in disease conditions that show high or low blood pressure, respectively.

https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.121.058607

https://newsroom.uvahealth.com/2022/10/11/uva-discovers-key-driver-...

The new findings help us better understand how our bodies maintain proper blood pressure and provide enticing targets for scientists seeking to develop treatments targeting underlying causes of high blood pressure. Developing treatments that do not affect the beneficial effects of calcium will require additional research and a deeper understanding of the calcium-use process

Plastics causing multi-organ damage in seabirds

New research shows that the presence of plastics in seabirds can induce multiple organ and tissue damage affecting the entire body in a multitude of ways, not just limited to the stomach as previously assumed.

Shearwaters are known to ingest large quantities of plastics. Upon examining the proventriculus (main stomach component), kidney and spleen of the birds the team found all organs to have microplastic particles embedded within them. Severe physiological and medical issues were reported in each bird including tissue damage, a significant reduction in tubular glands, and folds within the proventriculus as well as evidence of inflammation, fibrosis and loss of organ structures in the kidney and spleen.

This damage correlated to the birds exposure to macroplastics and indicates that once ingested, macroplastics can release microplastics through a form of shedding or digestive fragmentation. As a result, there is potential for macroplastic exposure to further induce both direct and indirect medical issues and disease through microplastics meaning that the health impacts of plastic pollution on seabirds could previously have been grossly underestimated.

Jack Rivers-Auty et al, The one-two punch of plastic exposure: Macro- and micro-plastics induce multi-organ damage in seabirds, Journal of Hazardous Materials (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.130117

Study finds unexpected protective properties of pain

Pain has been long recognized as one of evolution's most reliable tools to detect the presence of harm and signal that something is wrong—an alert system that tells us to pause and pay attention to our bodies.

But what if pain is more than just a mere alarm bell? What if pain is in itself a form of protection? A new study led by researchers suggests that may well be the case in mice. The research, published Oct. 14 in Cell, shows that pain neurons in the mouse gut regulate the presence of protective mucus under normal conditions and stimulate intestinal cells to release more mucus during states of inflammation.

The work details the steps of a complex signaling cascade, showing that pain neurons engage in direct crosstalk with mucus-containing gut cells, known as goblet cells. It turns out that pain may protect us in more direct ways than its classic job to detect potential harm and dispatch signals to the brain. This work shows how pain-mediating nerves in the gut talk to nearby epithelial cells that line the intestines. This means that the nervous system has a major role in the gut beyond just giving us an unpleasant sensation and that it's a key player in gut barrier maintenance and a protective mechanism during inflammation.

Our intestines and airways are studded with goblet cells. Named for their cup-like appearance, goblet cells contain gel-like mucus made of proteins and sugars that acts as protective coating that shields the surface of organs from abrasion and damage. The new research found that intestinal goblet cells release protective mucus when triggered by direct interaction with pain-sensing neurons in the gut.

In a set of experiments, the researchers observed that mice lacking pain neurons produced less protective mucus and experienced changes in their intestinal microbial composition—an imbalance in beneficial and harmful microbes known as dysbiosis. To clarify just how this protective crosstalk occurs, the researchers analyzed the behavior of goblet cells in the presence and in the absence of pain neurons.

They found that the surfaces of goblet cells contain a type of receptor, called RAMP1, that ensures the cells can respond to adjacent pain neurons, which are activated by dietary and microbial signals, as well as mechanical pressure, chemical irritation or drastic changes in temperature. The experiments further showed that these receptors connect with a chemical called CGRP, released by nearby pain neurons, when the neurons are stimulated. These RAMP1 receptors, the researchers found, are also present in both human and mouse goblet cells, thus rendering them responsive to pain signals.

Experiments further showed that the presence of certain gut microbes activated the release of CGRP to maintain gut homeostasis.

Isaac M. Chiu, Nociceptor neurons direct goblet cells via a CGRP-RAMP1 axis to drive mucus production and gut barrier protection, Cell (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2022.09.024. www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(22)01196-5

Human brain cells implanted in rats

Miniature human-brain-like structures transplanted into rats can send signals and respond to environmental cues. Researchers grew the structures from human stem cells and then injected them into the brains of newborn rat pups. After six months, the organoids became fully integrated into the rat brains. The approach could lead to a way to test therapies for human brain disorders. But some researchers have ethical concerns about such experiments: creating rodent–human hybrids could harm the animals or produce animals with human-like brains.

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Would you like a QR code embedded in that cookie? Unobtrusive edibl...

There is currently a race to develop edible tags for food so that, for example, you can see where the food comes from or its ingredients, and the information disappears once you've eaten it. Now, researchers from Japan have developed a way to include an unobtrusive edible tag embedded inside the food—in their original experiments, cookies—that can be read without having to first destroy the food. Another major advantage of their method, known as "interiqr," is that the tag doesn't change the outer appearance or taste of the food at all.

Unobtrusive Edible Tags using Food 3D Printing

Inner structure of the body during physical rehab

Fatty tissue surrounding intestinal tracts of mice found to help eject gut-infesting worms

A team of researchers has found that fatty tissue surrounding the intestinal tracts of mice help to eject gut-infesting worms. Their paper is published in the journal Science Immunology.

Prior research has shown that mesenteric adipose tissue aids the immune system in responding to pathogens and also certain types of cancer. In this new effort, the researchers found that it also assists with combating parasitic infections.

The work began when the researchers inadvertently noticed that mesenteric adipose tissue (fatty tissue that surrounds the intestinal tract) stiffened when a mouse was infected with helminths, a type of worm. Such stiffening, the team noted, helped to eject the worms.

In taking a closer look at how fatty tissue might recognize and respond to a parasitic infection, the researchers found that a type of T cell found in such tissue, called Th2, communicated with stromal cells, which play a role in differentiating cells that grow into different types of structural support cells. They then conducted flow cytometry, histology, cell culture and single-cell RNA sequencing on the fatty tissue to learn more about how it stiffened in response to an infection.

They discovered that Th2 cells infiltrated fat tissue even though the parasite did not infect such tissue. They also found that the Th2 cells released both Amphiregulin and cytokine TGFβ. Additionally, the stromal cells became more active when in the presence of Amphiregulin and cytokine TGFβ and thus produced more cytokines. And finally, they found that the stromal and Th2 cells were combining in interstitial spaces in the fatty tissue, forcing them to become enlarged and to secrete collagen, which resulted in tissue stiffening.

The researchers also found that the stiffening lasted up to a year before tissue returned to normal, rather than progressing to fibrosis. This allowed the mice to respond more quickly to a secondary infection.

Agnieszka M. Kabat et al, Resident T H 2 cells orchestrate adipose tissue remodeling at a site adjacent to infection, Science Immunology (2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.add3263

Simulations show major forest fires can increase intensity of distant storms

A team of researchers has found, via simulation, that major forest fires in western parts of the United States can increase the intensity of thunderstorms hundreds or even thousands of miles downwind. The study is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Prior research has shown that wildfires or forest fires can have a major impact on local weather systems. Heat and soot can lead to the formation of major thunderstorms. In this new effort, the researchers found evidence of a similar phenomenon involving downwind systems far away from the fire.

To learn more about large-scale weather impacts of forest fires, the researchers pored over weather data for the continental U.S. for the years 2010 to 2020. They looked for major storm events that occurred not long after, or during major fires in the west. The researchers found several examples of major storms breaking out after major fires. But they also note that fire season in the west does not coincide with storm season farther east; thus, the impact of the fires on the storms is difficult to associate.

To gain a better understanding of what may occur during and after a major fire, the researchers turned to an established weather model that allowed for adjusting paraments such as heat and smoke to observe the impacts. The simulation showed that big fires can increase the intensity of storm systems hundreds or even thousands of miles away. The researchers also found that they can contribute to creation of larger hailstones.

More specifically, the simulations showed that large fires can increase air flowing across the continent, pushing moist air ahead of it. That can lead to increasing storm strength. The simulations also showed that the soot from a big fire can be carried for long distances, contributing to increases in hail size.

The researchers sum up by suggesting that global warming, which is making western parts of the U.S. both hotter and drier, is likely to lead to bigger and stronger storms across the U.S. due in part to the impact of the increase in forest fires.

Yuwei Zhang et al, Notable impact of wildfires in the western United States on weather hazards in the central United States, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2207329119

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Chemical Hair Straighteners Linked to Uterine Cancer

Rare and aggressive uterine cancers are rapidly raising and a new study suggests chemical straighteners might be partly to blame.

For almost 11 years, researchers at the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) followed 33,947 adults who had a uterus upon enrollment in the study. During this time, 378 uterine cancer cases were identified.

Those who had used a chemical straightening product more than four times in the 12 months prior to being surveyed were 155 percent more likely to later be diagnosed with uterine cancer, compared with those who had never received a straightening treatment.

To put it in perspective, those who never used hair straightening products would have a 1.64 percent chance of being diagnosed with uterine cancer by their 70th birthday. That number creeps up to 4.05 percent among those who frequently straighten their hair chemically – a still small, but appreciably higher risk.

Hair dyes, meanwhile, were not linked to uterine cancer.

These findings are the first epidemiologic evidence of association between use of straightening products and uterine cancer.

The worrisome results are the latest from a recent string of studies on widely-used chemicals that disrupt the endocrine system; messenger chemicals in our bodies that connect hormones to their target organs.

Excess hormones like estrogen and progesterone have been tied to uterine cancer in the past, and many hair products can mimic these natural hormones and bind to their receptors.

In 2018, researchers found endocrine-disrupting chemicals in 18 tested hair products. What's more, 84 percent of the chemicals identified were not listed on product labels.

In 2019, a study funded by the NIH found permanent hair dye and straightening chemicals are associated with a higher risk of breast cancer.

In 2021, a follow-up study found permanent hair dye and straightening chemicals are also associated with a higher risk of ovarian cancer.

Now, uterine cancer can be added to the list as well.

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

Selection of human immune-related genes was driven by the Black Death

The Black Death was the single greatest mortality event in recorded history, killing up to 50% of the European population in less than five years. New research has found evidence that one of the darkest periods in recorded human history placed a significant selective pressure on the human population, changing the frequency of certain immune-related genetic variants and affecting our susceptibility to disease today.

Caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, the global pandemic of the bubonic plague wiped out 30% to 60% of people in cities across North Africa, Europe, and Asia, with massive repercussions for the human race—and, apparently, our genome.

In the study, thanks to recent advances in sequencing technology, the scientists examined ancient DNA samples from the bones of over 200 individuals from London and Denmark who died before, during, and after the Black Death plague swept through the region in the late 1340s. Using targeted sequencing for a set of 300 immune-related genes, they identified four genes that, depending on the variant, either protected against or increased susceptibility to Y. pestis.

The research team zeroed in on one gene with a particularly strong association to susceptibility: ERAP2. Individuals who possessed two copies of one specific genetic variant, dubbed rs2549794, were able to produce full length copies of the ERAP2 transcript, therefore producing more of the functional protein, compared to another variant that led to a truncated and non-functional version of the transcript. Functional ERAP2 plays a role in helping the immune system recognize the presence of an infection.

Part 1

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When a macrophage encounters a bacterium, it chops it into pieces for them to be presented to other immune cells signaling that there's an infection. Having the functional version of the gene, appears to create an advantage, likely by enhancing the ability of our immune system to sense the invading pathogen. By the researchers' estimate, possessing two copies of the rs2549794 variant would have make a person about 40% more likely to survive the Black Death than those who had two copies of the non-functional variant.

The team even went so far as to test how the rs2549794 variant affected the ability of living human cells to help fight the plague, determining that macrophages expressing two copies of the variant were more efficient at neutralizing Y. pestis compared to those without it.

Examining the effects of the ERAP2 variants in vitro allowed teh scientists to functionally test how the different variants affect the behavior of immune cells from modern humans when challenged with living Yersinia pestis.

Luis Barreiro, Evolution of immune genes is associated with the Black Death, Nature (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05349-x. www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05349-x

Selection of human immune-related genes was driven by the Black Death

The Black Death shaped the evolution of immunity genes

Analysis shows women who publish physics papers are cited less often than men

A team of researchers affiliated with multiple institutions in the U.S. has found that women who publish physics papers are cited less often than are men. In their paper published in the journal Nature Physics, the group describes their analysis of more than 1 million published papers in multiple journals.

Prior research and anecdotal evidence have suggested that women are greatly underrepresented in the sciences, particularly chemistry, physics and math. Prior research has also shown that there are a number of reasons for the differences, among them, simple discrimination. In this new effort, the researchers looked at one type of discrimination—underciting papers based on gender—that could play a role in the underrepresentation of women in physics.

One of the ways that scientists measure prestige in their field is by the number of times their publications are cited. A high number of citations for a given paper also suggests that the work was both insightful and impactful on the field in which a paper has been published. Thus, a dearth of citations by a given scientist or paper could suggest that the work did little to advance the science involved. But it could also suggest that a bias exists in the science community that makes it more difficult for some members to collect citations.

The researchers 

studied approximately 1.07 million physics papers published over the years 1995 to 2020 in 35 well-established journals. Their effort involved counting the number of citations made for all of the papers and noting whether the authors of the paper were male or female (as determined by their forename).

The researchers found that papers published by men (where the first and last authors listed were male) were on average 4.23% more likely to be cited. This, they contend, shows that there is a gender bias that favors citing male colleagues over those who are female. They conclude by suggesting ways to reduce this bias, such as having researchers sign diversity statements or holding publishers more accountable.

 Erin G. Teich et al, Citation inequity and gendered citation practices in contemporary physics, Nature Physics (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41567-022-01770-1

Injecting extracellular vesicles from young mice into older mice found to reduce some signs of aging

A team of researchers has found that injecting older mice with extracellular vesicles (EVs) from young mice reduced some signs of aging. 

EVs, which are also known as exosomes, are structures produced in eukaryotic cells that are involved in signaling between cells and also used for transporting mRNA. Suspecting that aspects of the aging process might be related to degeneration in communication between cells, the researchers wondered what would happen if they injected older mice with EVs. To find out, they extracted stem cells from fatty tissue in young test mice. Next, they collected EVs that were produced by the cells they had collected. They then injected the EVs into the tails of older mice—once at the outset of the test and again a week later.

The researchers then began studying the mice to see what impact the injections might have. They found that after just two weeks, the mice showed improvements in physical strength, suggesting reductions in age-related muscle degeneration. They also found the mice tired less easily and tended to be better coordinated—and their fur grew back more quickly. The team noted that the improvements peaked at approximately 30 days after the initial injection and disappeared after approximately 60 days.

The researchers also dissected some of the test mice and found reductions in degeneration of kidney tissue and an increase in cell production. They also found reductions in inflammatory biomarkers and that some tissue appeared to be epigenetically younger.

Jorge Sanz-Ros et al, Small extracellular vesicles from young adipose-derived stem cells prevent frailty, improve health span, and decrease epigenetic age in old mice, Science Advances (2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abq2226

Alligators exposed to PFAS show autoimmune effects

A recent study of alligators  found the animals had elevated levels of 14 different per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) chemicals in their blood serum, as well as clinical and genetic indicators of immune system effects. The work adds to the body of evidence connecting PFAS exposure with adverse immune system effects.

Researchers took blood samples and did health evaluations on 49 alligators living along the Cape Fear River between 2018 and 2019. They compared these results to a reference population of 26 alligators from Lake Waccamaw, located in the adjoining Lumber River basin.

They  looked at 23 different PFAS and saw clear differences between both types and levels of PFAS in the two populations. The most unusual observation the team made was that alligators in the Cape Fear River which had high concentration of PFAS also had a number of unhealed or infected lesions.

Alligators rarely suffer from infections. They do get wounds, but they normally heal quickly. Seeing infected lesions that weren't healing properly was concerning and led the scientists  to look more closely at the connections between PFAS exposure and changes in the immune systems of the alligators.

A qRT-PCR genetic analysis revealed significantly elevated levels of interferon-alpha (INF-α) responsive genes in the Cape Fear River alligators: their levels were 400 times higher than those of the low level PFAS containing alligators, 

INF-α is a secreted immune protein involved in stimulating immune response.The set of INF-α responsive genes we analyzed are normally involved with viral infections. In humans, chronic (or long-term) high expression of this set of genes is an important indicator of autoimmune diseases, especially lupus. Additionally, some PFAS exposures in humans are linked with chronic autoimmune disorders like ulcerative colitis and thyroid disease. 

The elevated expression of INF-α in these alligators tells us that something in these alligators' immune responses is being disrupted.

Blood Concentrations of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances are Associated with Autoimmune-like Effects in American Alligators from Wilmington, North Carolina, Frontiers in Toxicology (2022). DOI: 10.3389/ftox.2022.1010185

Metallic water prepared for first time under terrestrial conditions

Inside a vacuum chamber, the researchers expose a drop of sodium-potassium alloy to a small amount of water vapor, which begins to condense on its surface. The electrons liberated from the alkali metal dissolve in the layer of water on the surface faster than the chemical reaction that results in the explosion. There are a sufficient number of them to overcome the critical limit for the formation of a conduction band and thus give rise to a metallic water solution.

https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-transformed-pure-water-into...

Disruption of gut microbial balance is associated with increased mortality after kidney, liver transplants

Disruptions in the gut microbiome have been linked to lower survival rates for people who have undergone kidney and liver transplants, a finding that highlights the critical importance of the vast and complex microbial communities that dwell within us.

Scientists studied  faecal samples from more than 1,000 recipients of kidney and liver transplants to learn how the balance of microbes in the gut microbiome impact post-transplant survival. Gut microbiome dysbiosis—disruptions in microbial diversity—is associated with increased mortality after solid organ transplantation, researchers found.

The gut microbiome is made up of both "good" and "bad" microbes: bacteria, viruses and fungi. Health benefits throughout the body are derived from the healthy balance of these microbial communities in the gut. However, the living communities are not static; they fluctuate in response to diet, emotions, exercise, surgery, and exposure to medications.

Past studies demonstrated that recipients of stem cell transplants had a higher mortality risk when faced with disruptions in their gut microbiome. It has taken until now to pose the same question, based on a large sample size, whether microbiota disruption negatively impacts recipients of solid organ transplants.

They were aware that the health of the microbiome influenced the fate of patients who had undergone stem cell transplants, infusions that are sometimes referred to as bone marrow transplants. The procedure provides the recipient with a donor's healthy progenitor cells to generate a new blood supply. But scientists also were aware that a successful stem cell transplant wasn't enough unless the gut microbiome was also flourishing with a diverse population of beneficial microbes.

The researchers reported  on the need for microbial variety to ensure a healthy transplant outcome.

J. Casper Swarte et al, Gut microbiome dysbiosis is associated with increased mortality after solid organ transplantation, Science Translational Medicine (2022). DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abn7566

Increased thermogenesis in fat cells during active period of circadian rhythm limits weight gain in mice

A team of researchers has found that an increase in thermogenesis in fat cells during active periods of the daily circadian rhythm can limit weight gain in mice.

Prior research has shown that overeating during the inactive phase of the circadian rhythm in mice and humans can lead to higher levels of weight gain. Likewise, adhering to time-restricted feeding (TRF) can lead to less weight gain. But until now, why this happens has not been fully understood. To learn more about the effects of a high-fat diet on mice over phases of the circadian rhythm, the researchers fed two groups of mice a high-fat diet. One group was fed during their active phase (when it was dark out) and the other was fed during their inactive phase (when it was light out.) They then took a close look at what was occurring in the fat cells of both groups. The researchers found that the mice fed during their inactive phase gained more weight, as expected. But they also learned more about the factors behind such a weight gain. One of the biggest was thermogenesis, the process by which heat is generated in the body. They found that an increase in thermogenesis in fat cells during the active phase of the circadian rhythm (due to a boost in creatine in fat cells) was at least partly responsible for restricting weight gain. They also found that a zinc finger protein can block the genes responsible for producing the chemicals that regulate thermogenesis by controlling production of adenosine triphosphate. They conclude that their work has helped to explain why TRF can play such an important role in weight management.

Chelsea Hepler et al, Time-restricted feeding mitigates obesity through adipocyte thermogenesis, Science (2022). DOI: 10.1126/science.abl8007

Damien Lagarde et al, The timing of eating controls energy use, Science (2022). DOI: 10.1126/science.ade6720

Why NASA is trying to crash land on Mars

 Like a car’s crumple zone, the experimental SHIELD lander is designed to absorb a hard impact.

NASA has successfully touched down on Mars nine times, relying on cutting-edge parachutes, massive airbags, and jetpacks to set spacecraft safely on the surface. Now engineers are testing whether or not the easiest way to get to the Martian surface is to crash.

Rather than slow a spacecraft’s high-speed descent, an experimental lander design called SHIELD (Simplified High Impact Energy Landing Device) would use an accordion-like, collapsible base that acts like the crumple zone of a car and absorbs the energy of a hard impact.

The new design could drastically reduce the cost of landing on Mars by simplifying the harrowing entry, descent, and landing process and expanding options for possible landing sites.

https://researchnews.cc/news/15986/Why-NASA-is-trying-to-crash-land...

Breaking the sound barriers without the sonic boom

Seventy-five years ago, a sonic boom thundered for the first time over the high desert of California.

It was Oct. 14, 1947, and the joint X-1 team of NACA, Air Force (newly formed that year), and Bell engineers and pilots had broken the sound barrier —an imaginary wall in the sky some said was impossible to penetrate.

Now, aeronautical innovators with NASA's Quesst mission are poised to break the sound barrier again, only this time in a very different way that could make it possible for all of us to one day travel by air just as fast as any of the X-1 pilots who flew supersonic. With X-59.

Through Quesst, NASA plans to demonstrate the X-59 can fly faster than sound without generating the typically loud sonic booms.

Researchers gained a greater understanding of how aircraft create sonic booms and turned their attention the idea of lowering the intensity of the sonic booms by manipulating the shape of the airplane.

That idea was tested in flight by NASA's Shaped Sonic Boom Demonstration program during 2003–2004. It used a Northrop F-5E jet whose fuselage was modified to give it a shape designed to produce quieter sonic booms.

And it worked now. First flight of the X-59 is targeted for early 2023.

Source: NASA

Particle Physics Could Reduce The 'Collateral Damage' of Cancer Treatments

Researchers at Europe's science lab CERN, who regularly use particle physics to challenge our understanding of the universe, are also applying their craft to upend the limits to cancer treatment.

The physicists here are working with giant particle accelerators in search of ways to expand the reach of cancer radiation therapy, and take on hard-to-reach tumors that would otherwise have been fatal.

In one CERN lab, called CLEAR, the research is aimed at creating very high energy beams of electrons – the negatively charged particles in the atom – that eventually could help to combat cancerous cells more effectively. They are researching a "technology to accelerate electrons to the energies that are needed to treat deep-seated tumors, which is above 100 million electron volts" (MeV)

The idea is to use these very high-energy electrons (VHEE) in combination with a new and promising treatment method called FLASH.

This method entails delivering the radiation dose in a few hundred milliseconds, instead of minutes as is the current approach.

This has been shown to have the same destructive effect on the targeted tumor but causes far less damage to the surrounding healthy tissue. The effect of the brief but intense FLASH treatment is to "reduce the toxicity to healthy tissue while still properly damaging cancer cells".

At such low energy though, the beams cannot penetrate deeply, meaning the highly-effective treatment has so far only been used on superficial tumors, found with skin cancer.

But the CERN physicists are now collaborating with the Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) to build a machine for FLASH delivery that can accelerate electrons to 100 to 200 MeV, making it possible to use the method for much more hard-to-reach tumors.

source: new agencies

NEOWISE: Revealing Changes in the Universe

During sleep, one brain region teaches another, converting novel data into enduring memories

What role do the stages of sleep play in forming memories?

We've known for a long time that useful learning happens during sleep. You encode new experiences while you're awake, you go to sleep, and when you wake up your memory has somehow been transformed.

Yet precisely how new experiences get processed during sleep has remained mostly a mystery. Using a neural network computational model they built, researchers now have new insight into the process.

In research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they show that as the brain cycles through slow-wave and rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep, which happens about five times a night, the hippocampus teaches the neocortex what it learned, transforming novel, fleeting information into enduring memory. This is not just a model of learning in local circuits in the brain. It's how one brain region can teach another brain region during sleep, a time when there is no guidance from the external world.

The team ran several sleep simulations using a brain-inspired learning algorithm they built. The simulations revealed that during slow-wave sleep, the brain mostly revisits recent incidents and data, guided by the hippocampus, and during REM sleep, it mostly reruns what happened previously, guided by memory storage in the neocortical regions. As the two brain regions connect during non-REM sleep, that's when the hippocampus is actually teaching the neocortex. Then, during the REM phase, the neocortex reactivates and can replay what it already knows, solidifying the data's hold in long-term memory.

When the neocortex doesn't have a chance to replay its own information, we see that the information there gets overwritten. Scientists think you need to have alternating REM and non-REM sleep for strong memory formation to occur.

This needs to be tested further to confirm, though. 

Singh, Dhairyya et al, A model of autonomous interactions between hippocampus and neocortex driving sleep-dependent memory consolidation, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2123432119. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2123432119

Study explains why adults' hearts don't regenerate

While skin and many other tissues of the human body retain the ability to repair themselves after injury, the same isn't true of the heart. During human embryonic and fetal development, heart cells undergo cell division to form the heart muscle. But as heart cells mature in adulthood, they enter a terminal state in which they can no longer divide.

As heart cells mature in mice, the number of communication pathways called nuclear pores dramatically decreases, according to new research . While this might protect the organ from damaging signals, it could also prevent adult heart cells from regenerating, the researchers found.

The study suggests that quieting communication between heart cells and their environment protects this organ from harmful signals related to stresses such as high blood pressure, but at the cost of preventing heart cells from receiving signals that promote regeneration.

This work provides an explanation for why adult hearts do not regenerate themselves, but newborn mice and human hearts do. These findings are an important advance in fundamental understanding of how the heart develops with age and how it has evolved to cope with stress.

Bernhard Kühn, Changes in nuclear pore numbers control nuclear import and stress response of mouse hearts, Developmental Cell (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2022.09.017. www.cell.com/developmental-cel … 1534-5807(22)00719-5

How heart failure disrupts the cell's mitochondria

Chronic heart failure causes the cell's powerhouses to malfunction, in part due to overconsumption of an important intermediary compound in energy production. Supplementing the diet to compensate for this could prove a promising strategy for treating heart failure.

Mitochondria are small organelles found in almost every cell and are responsible for converting carbohydrates, fats and proteins into energy to power biochemical reactions. Chronic heart failure is known to be associated with mitochondrial dysfunction, but much is still unknown about how this happens at the molecular level.

A research team 

studied the biochemical processes that occur in mice with chronic heart failure caused by surgically blocking part of the blood supply to their hearts. They specifically looked at heart cells outside the boundaries of dead tissue.

They found a significant reduction in a compound called succinyl-CoA, which is an intermediary in the cell's tricarboxylic acid cycle. This cycle, which happens inside mitochondria, plays an important role in breaking down organic molecules to release energy.

Further investigations revealed that this reduction of succinyl-CoA levels was at least in part caused by its overconsumption for the synthesis of heme, which is essential for mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation. This latter process is needed for transferring and synthesizing energy-carrying and storage molecules by mitochondria.

Adding a compound called 5-aminolevulinate acid (5-ALA) to the drinking water of mice immediately after cutting off the blood supply to part of the heart significantly improved their heart function, treadmill running capacity and survival. At the molecular level, it improved the oxidative phosphorylation capacity of heart muscle mitochondria and appeared to restore their succinyl-CoA levels.

Further research is needed to clarify other factors involved in reducing mitochondrial succinyl-CoA levels in heart failure. For example, the scientists found evidence that succinyl-CoA may also be overconsumed in heart failure-affected mitochondria in order to break down ketones as a source of energy. But more investigations are needed to understand why this might happen and whether there really is a direct link between the two.

Shingo Takada et al, Succinyl-CoA-based energy metabolism dysfunction in chronic heart failure, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2203628119

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Plastic recycling remains a 'myth':  study

Plastic recycling rates are declining even as production shoots up, according to a Greenpeace U.S. report out Monday that blasted industry claims of creating an efficient, circular economy as "fiction."

Titled "Circular Claims Fall Flat Again," the study found that of 51 million tons of plastic waste generated by US households in 2021, only 2.4 million tons were recycled, or around five percent.

After peaking in 2014 at 10 percent, the trend has been decreasing, especially since China stopped accepting the West's plastic waste in 2018.

Virgin production—of non-recycled plastic, that is—meanwhile is rapidly rising as the petrochemical industry expands, lowering costs.

Plastic waste is generated in vast quantities and is extremely difficult to collect— as becomes clear during what the report called ineffective "volunteer cleanup stunts".

Even if it were all collected, mixed plastic waste cannot be recycled together, and it would be "functionally impossible to sort the trillions of pieces of consumer plastic waste produced each year". 

Moreover,  the recycling process itself is environmentally harmful, exposing workers to toxic chemicals and itself generating microplastics.

Then recycled plastic carries toxicity risks through contamination with other plastic types in collection bins, preventing it from becoming food-grade material again. 

The most important point is  the process of recycling is prohibitively expensive.New plastic directly competes with recycled plastic, and it's far cheaper to produce and of higher quality. So people rarely tread this path.

Source: AFP

Climate Questions: How do we know humans triggered warming?

Call it Law and Order: Climate Change. Scientists used detective work to pinpoint the prime suspect in Earth's warming: us.

They proved it couldn't be anything but carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels.
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For more than 30 years top scientists from across the globe have worked together every several years to draft a report on climate change and what causes it and with each report—and increases in global temperatures—they have become more and more certain that climate change is caused by human activities. In the latest version of their report they said: "It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ...

Scientists—including the late Ralph Cicerone, the former president of the National Academy of Scientists—have told The Associated Press their confidence in climate change being a human caused problem is equivalent to their certainty in understanding that cigarettes are deadly.

Scientists can calculate how much heat different suspects trap, using a complex understanding of chemistry and physics and feeding that into computer simulations that have been generally accurate in portraying climate, past and future. They measure what they call radiative forcing in watts per meter squared.

The first and most frequent natural suspect is the sun. The sun is what warms Earth in general providing about 1,361 watts per meter squared of heat, year in year out. That's the baseline, the delicate balance that makes Earth livable. Changes in energy coming from the sun have been minimal, about one-tenth of a watt per meter squared, scientists calculate.

But carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels is now trapping heat to the level of 2.07 watts per meter squared, more than 20 times that of the changes in the sun, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Methane, another powerful heat-trapping gas, is at 0.5 watts per meter square.

The sun's 11-year cycle goes through regular but small ups and downs, but that doesn't seem to change Earth's temperature. And if anything the ever so slight changes in 11-year-average solar irradiance have been shifting downward, according to NASA calculations, with the space agency concluding "it is therefore extremely unlikely that the Sun has caused the observed global temperature warming trend over the past century."

In other words, the sun had an alibi.

Part 1

The other natural suspects—volcanoes and cosmic rays—had even less influence during the last 150 years of warming, scientists conclude.

The other way to show that it is carbon dioxide causing warming is by building what Vecchi calls "a causal chain."

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration records measured on a Hawaiian volcano show rising carbon dioxide levels as do ice records that go back thousands of years. But the key is what type of carbon dioxide.

There are three types of carbon-containing material. Some contain light carbon, or carbon-12. Some contain heavy carbon or carbon-13 and still others contain radioactive carbon-14.

Over the last century or so, there's more carbon-12 in the atmosphere compared to carbon-13 and less carbon-14 in recent decades, according to NOAA. Carbon-12 is essentially fossil carbon from long ago, as in fossil fuels. So the change in the ratio of carbon-12 to carbon-13 tells scientists the carbon in the air is more from burning fossil fuels than natural carbon, Vecchi said.

That's the fingerprint of burning coal, oil and natural gas.

https://phys.org/news/2022-10-climate-humans-triggered.html?utm_sou...

Part 2

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Why eLife Is Doing Away with Rejections

The peer-reviewed journal eLife announced recently (October 20) that it will be doing away with the long-held practice of accepting or rejecting scientific manuscripts that are submitted for publication. Last year, the journal began exclusively reviewing papers that had already been posted as preprints. Now, eLife will post submitted preprints regardless of their quality, alongside commentary from peer reviewers and anassessment from the journal itself that details the reviewers’ and editors’ thoughts on the significance of the research and the strength of the evidence supporting the paper’s conclusions. Authors will have the option to revise the papers and resubmit, or simply ask that the manuscript be published as-is on the eLife site.

The peer-reviewed journal eLife announced recently (October 20) that it will be doing away with the long-held practice of accepting or rejecting scientific manuscripts that are submitted for publication. Last year, the journal began exclusively reviewing papers that had already been posted as preprints. Now, eLife will post submitted preprints regardless of their quality, alongside commentary from peer reviewers and an assessment from the journal itself that details the reviewers’ and editors’ thoughts on the significance of the research and the strength of the evidence supporting the paper’s conclusions. Authors will have the option to revise the papers and resubmit, or simply ask that the manuscript be published as-is on the eLife site. It’s all about moving from the assessment being based on where you publish [to being] based on what you publish.

The executive director of eLife says: 

For every paper that we review, we will post a reviewed preprint that is a rerendering of the of the original preprint on the eLife website. It will feature the peer reviews that we’ve received and an editorial assessment—we’re calling it an eLife assessment. And that is a brief summary of the reviews that give a description of the strength of evidence and also the significance of the research. . . . Rather than having published in eLife being the primary . . . indicator of quality, we’re replacing that with something which is much more nuanced, which essentially focuses on the actual research itself and highlights the strength of the paper itself.

https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/q-a-why-elife-is-doing-a...

https://elifesciences.org/articles/83889?utm_source=content_alert&a...

Researchers create first quasiparticle Bose-Einstein condensate

Physicists have created the first Bose-Einstein condensate—the mysterious fifth state of matter—made from quasiparticles, entities that do not count as elementary particles but that can still have elementary-particle properties like charge and spin. For decades, it was unknown whether they could undergo Bose-Einstein condensation in the same way as real particles, and it now appears that they can. The finding is set to have a significant impact on the development of quantum technologies including quantum computing.

Bose-Einstein condensates are sometimes described as the fifth state of matter, alongside solids, liquids, gases and plasmas. Theoretically predicted in the early 20th century, Bose-Einstein condensates, or BECs, were only created in a lab as recently as 1995. They are also perhaps the oddest state of matter, with a great deal about them remaining unknown to science.

BECs occur when a group of atoms is cooled to within billionths of a degree above absolute zero. Researchers commonly use lasers and magnet traps to steadily reduce the temperature of a gas, typically composed of rubidium atoms. At this ultracool temperature, the atoms barely move and begin to exhibit very strange behaviour.

They experience the same quantum state—almost like coherent photons in a laser—and start to clump together, occupying the same volume as one indistinguishable super atom. The collection of atoms essentially behaves as a single particle.

Most BECs are fabricated from dilute gases of ordinary atoms. But until now, a BEC made out of exotic atoms has never been achieved. Exotic atoms are atoms in which one subatomic particle, such as an electron or a proton, is replaced by another subatomic particle that has the same charge. Positronium, for example, is an exotic atom made of an electron and its positively charged anti-particle, a positron. An exciton is another such example. When light hits a semiconductor, the energy is sufficient to excite electrons to jump up from the valence level of an atom to its conduction level. These excited electrons then flow freely in an electric current—in essence transforming light energy into electrical energy. When the negatively charged electron performs this jump, the space left behind, or hole, can be treated as if it were a positively charged particle. The negative electron and positive hole are attracted and thus bound together.

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Combined, this electron-hole pair is an electrically neutral quasiparticle called an exciton. A quasiparticle is a particle-like entity that does not count as one of the 17 elementary particles of the standard model of particle physics, but that can still have elementary-particle properties like charge and spin. The exciton quasiparticle can also be described as an exotic atom because it is in effect a hydrogen atom that has had its single positive proton replaced by a single positive hole.

Electron-hole systems have been used to create other phases of matter such as electron-hole plasma and even exciton liquid droplets. The researchers wanted to see if they could make a BEC out of excitons.

Direct observation of an exciton condensate in a three-dimensional semiconductor has been highly sought after since it was first theoretically proposed in 1962. Nobody knew whether quasiparticles could undergo Bose-Einstein condensation in the same way as real particles

 Yusuke Morita et al, Observation of Bose-Einstein condensates of excitons in a bulk semiconductor, Nature Communications (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33103-4

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Word and face recognition can be adequately supported with half a brain, study finds

A study of brain plasticity and visual perception has found that people who, as children, had undergone surgery removing half of their brain, correctly recognized differences between pairs of words or faces more than 80% of the time. Considering the volume of removed brain tissue, the surprising accuracy highlights the brain's capacity—and its limitations—to rewire itself and adapt to dramatic surgery or traumatic injury.

The findings, published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), is the first-ever attempt to characterize neuroplasticity in humans and understand whether a single brain hemisphere can perform functions typically split between the two sides of the brain.

Neuroplasticity is a process that allows the brain to change its activity and rewire itself, either structurally or functionally, in response to changes in the environment. And even though brain plasticity peaks early in development, our brains continue to change well into adulthood.

As humans age, the two halves of our brains, called hemispheres, become increasingly specialized. Even though this division of labor is not absolute, the two hemispheres adopt distinct chief responsibilities: The left hemisphere matures into the primary place for reading printed words, and the right hemisphere matures into the primary place for recognizing faces.

But neuroplasticity has limitations, and this hemispheric preference becomes more rigid over time. In some cases, adults who develop a brain lesion because of stroke or a tumor might experience a reading impairment or become face blind, depending on whether the left or right hemisphere of the brain is affected.

But what happens when the brain is forced to change and adapt while it is still highly plastic? To answer this question, researchers looked at a special group of patients who had undergone a complete hemispherectomy—or a surgical removal of one hemisphere to control epileptic seizures—during childhood.

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Because hemispherectomies are relatively rare, scientists seldom have access to more than a handful of patients at a time. But the Pitt team found an unexpected silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic: the normalization of telemedicine services, which made it possible to enroll 40 hemispherectomy patients, an unprecedented number for studies of this kind.

To assess word recognition capacity, researchers presented their participants pairs of words, each differing by only one letter, such as "soap" and "soup" or "tank" and "tack." To test how well the children recognized different faces, scientists showed them pairs of photos of people. Either stimulus appeared on the screen for only a fraction of a second, and the participants had to decide whether the pair of words or the pair of faces were the same or different.

Astoundingly, the single remaining hemisphere supported both of those functions. The capacity for word and face recognition between control subjects and people with hemispherectomies differed, but the differences were less than 10%, and the average accuracy exceeded 80%. In direct comparisons between matching hemispheres in patients and controls, patients' accuracy on both face and word recognition was comparable regardless of the hemisphere removed.

This study showed that  losing half of the brain does not equate to losing half of its functionality. While we can't definitively predict how any given child might be affected by a hemispherectomy, the performance that we see in these patients is encouraging. 

Michael C. Granovetter et al, With childhood hemispherectomy, one hemisphere can support—but is suboptimal for—word and face recognition, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2212936119

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