Lasting Brain Effects
Researchers recently examined the brains of patients born with congenital blindness who had their vision restored surgically. Despite many years of having their sight back, these individuals had a visual cortex that more closely resembled the corresponding visual areas of individuals with permanent blindness.

Why this matters: These findings suggest that harsh experiences or environments early in life can result in irreversible structural changes in multiple regions of the brain. Poverty and adversity (abuse or neglect) have often been found to have a widespread effect across the brain, and extrapolating from this vision study, experts expect permanent neurological changes resulting from harsh early experiences, write Cordula Hölig, Brigitte Röder and Ramesh Kekunnaya, cognitive neuroscientists and an ophthalmologist, respectively, who are the study’s lead authors.

What the experts say: “Poverty and adversity can cause changes in brain development. …Ensuring access to safe environments, affordable health care, healthy food and appropriate education gives children the opportunity to develop and stay physically and mentally healthy,” write the study authors.

People With Complete Color Blindness Given Their First Sight of Color
A small selection of volunteers who were completely color blind can now faintly detect a splash of color following retinal gene therapy.

Following the trial by researchers in Israel, three adults and one child who could only sense brightness of light found that after gene therapy they were able to tell a red object apart from its darker background.
Achromatopsia is caused by defects in genes that control cone cells, our eyes' color-sensors. The approximately 1 in 30,000 people affected see all the vibrant colors of the world as blurry shades of gray.

A single gene mutation caused the congenital condition in the volunteers, and the researchers hoped that inserting functional copies of the gene into cone cells would allow them to see color.
The researchers used a viral vector to transport a functional copy of the gene into the retina which houses cone cells, in one of each participant's eyes.
Researchers found treated 'achromats' can perceive red color, albeit in a very limited way, and differently than normally sighted controls.
But the different shades of gray were not replaced by a range of rainbow colors.

Nevertheless, color detection was evident in all patients' treated eyes.

https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(23)00826-6?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0960982223008266%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

Study shows how the brain coordinates neuronal processing and communication during sleep

Past neuroscience studies have shown that while humans are sleeping, the brain remains highly active, consolidating memories and removing toxins accumulated during waking hours. While memory consolidation during sleep is a widely documented phenomenon, the processes underpinning it are yet to be fully elucidated.

Researchers recently carried out a study investigating the neural mechanisms through which the brain facilitates neuronal processing and communication between neurons during sleep. Their paper, published in Nature Neuroscience, unveils the processes through which the sequential unfolding of specific sleep rhythms coordinates memory consolidation while humans are asleep.

A few years ago, scientists found that some of the key sleep signatures ('slow oscillations,' 'spindles' and 'ripples') coincide in the hippocampus, the brain's 'memory hub.' This was a good indication that the synchronization of these sleep rhythms may be involved in memory consolidation. What was missing, however, was evidence that they in fact impact neuronal firing rates, i.e., the 'hard currency' of learning and plasticity.

Scientists now recorded the brain activity of 10 human participants as they were asleep using a technique known as intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG). These participants were patients with epilepsy who had electrodes implanted in their brain as part of their treatment.

While the patients were sleeping, Staresina and his colleagues simultaneously recorded their sleep rhythms and neuron firing rates. The recordings they collected showed that firing rates and neural communication are indeed orchestrated by slow oscillations, spindles and ripples, as they hypothesized.

Bernhard P. Staresina et al, How coupled slow oscillations, spindles and ripples coordinate neuronal processing and communication during human sleep, Nature Neuroscience (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41593-023-01381-w

The First Dark Stars
At least three far-off objects observed by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) could be stellar objects called “dark stars.” These stars might not be fueled by nuclear fusion but by the self-annihilation of dark matter—the invisible stuff that is thought to make up about 85 percent of the matter in the universe. Dark stars could have formed soon after the big bang, from the collapse of helium and hydrogen clouds that annihilated the particles within.
Dark stars have never been definitively observed before–astronomers weren’t even sure they really existed. To prove these objects are indeed dark stars will take many months of observation–particularly, watching their electromagnetic spectrums for a particular isotope of helium only found in dark stars, not in galaxies.
“Finding a dark star would not only provide a new look into the early formation of the universe,” says Pearl Sandick, a theoretical particle physicist at the University of Utah, “but would also be a unique opportunity to directly observe dark matter interactions.
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In 2007, scientists proposed the idea of Dark Stars. The first phase of stellar evolution in the history of the universe may be Dark Stars (DS), powered by dark matter (DM) heating rather than by nuclear fusion. Although made almost entirely of hydrogen and helium from the Big Bang, they form at the centers of protogalaxies where there is a sufficient abundance of DM to serve as their heat source. They are very bright diffuse puffy objects and grow to be very massive. In fact, they can grow up to ten million solar masses with up to ten billion solar luminosities. In this paper, they show that the James Webb Space Telescope may have already discovered these objects.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2305762120

A Cracked Piece of Metal Healed Itself in an Experiment!

 Scientists observed a metal healing itself, something never seen before. If this process can be fully understood and controlled, we could be at the start of a whole new era of engineering.

researchers were testing the resilience of the metal, using a specialized transmission electron microscope technique to pull the ends of the metal 200 times every second. They then observed the self-healing at ultra-small scales in a 40-nanometer-thick piece of platinum suspended in a vacuum.

Cracks caused by the kind of strain described above are known as fatigue damage: repeated stress and motion that causes microscopic breaks, eventually causing machines or structures to break. Amazingly, after about 40 minutes of observation, the crack in the platinum started to fuse back together and mend itself before starting again in a different direction.

Researchers have now confirmed  that metals have their own intrinsic, natural ability to heal themselves, at least in the case of fatigue damage at the nanoscale.

These are exact conditions, and we don't know yet exactly how this is happening or how we can use it. However, if you think about the costs and effort required for repairing everything from bridges to engines to phones, there's no telling how much difference self-healing metals could make.

And while the observation is unprecedented, it's not wholly unexpected. In 2013, materials scientists  worked on a study predicting that this kind of nanocrack healing could happen, driven by the tiny crystalline grains inside metals essentially shifting their boundaries in response to stress.

That the automatic mending process happened at room temperature is another promising aspect of the research. Metal usually requires lots of heat to shift its form, but the experiment was carried out in a vacuum; it remains to be seen whether the same process will happen in conventional metals in a typical environment.

A possible explanation involves a process known as cold welding, which occurs under ambient temperatures whenever metal surfaces come close enough together for their respective atoms to tangle together. Typically, thin layers of air or contaminants interfere with the process; in environments like the vacuum of space, pure metals can be forced close enough together to literally stick.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06223-0

Caterpillar Conceals a Venom Unlike Any Ever Seen in Insects

Caterpillars with a notoriously painful sting may have evolved their venom with help from ancient microbes, according to a new study  by scientists.

Their analysis has uncovered signs that a process known as horizontal gene transfer may have allowed sequences for toxins to jump from bacteria to the insect some time in their evolutionary past.

While the caterpillar's venom remains largely shrouded in mystery, researchers say its molecular secrets could turn out to be surprisingly beneficial for us.

The caterpillars wielding this venom are larvae of flannel moths (Megalopyge sp.); a soft, fuzzy genus native to North and South America. They're sometimes called "puss caterpillars," since their luxuriant coats of hairlike bristles can make them look sort of like caterpillar-sized cats.

But that's not their only nickname. Also known as "asp caterpillars," there's a hidden danger below those bristles.

The caterpillars' fur obscures an arsenal of venomous spines, which can inject powerful toxins into any would-be predators or hapless humans who touch them.

This venom causes an immediate and intense burning pain, commonly inspiring descriptions such as "being hit with a baseball bat," "walking on hot coals," or "the worst pain a patient has ever experienced," the researchers write.

part 1

The quirks of asp caterpillar venom support the idea it evolved independently from other insect venom, the researchers say. In fact, its origins seem to lie outside the animal kingdom entirely.

When researchers  looked at it more closely, they saw proteins that were very similar to some of the bacterial toxins that make people sick.

Specifically, asp caterpillar venom resembles a type of bacterial toxin that binds itself to the surface of a cell, the researchers explain, assembling into doughnut-like structures that rip holes in their cell target.

While organisms normally pass genes down their offspring in a so-called vertical fashion, sometimes genes can be transferred across between species – even distantly related ones – in a less common horizontal process.

Previous research has found evidence of horizontal gene transfer from bacteria to other, more complex creatures, including the transfer of genes involved with producing venom toxins.

In their new study, researchers say they've found evidence that major components of asp caterpillar venom were recruited as venom toxins from genes that bacteria transferred horizontally to their ancestors.

The venom in these caterpillars has evolved via the transfer of genes from bacteria more than 400 million years ago.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2305871120

Part 2

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Scientists develop AI-based tracking and early-warning system for viral pandemics

 Research scientists have developed a machine-learning system—a type of artificial intelligence (AI) application—that can track the detailed evolution of epidemic viruses and predict the emergence of viral variants with important new properties.

In a paper published in Patterns on July 21, 2023, the scientists demonstrated the system by using data on recorded SARS-CoV-2 variants and COVID-19 mortality rates. They showed that the system could have predicted the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 "variants of concern" (VOCs) ahead of their official designations by the World Health Organization (WHO). Their findings point to the possibility of using such a system in real-time to track future viral pandemics.

The software enabled the researchers to track sets of genetic changes appearing in SARS-CoV-2 variants around the world. These changes—typically trending towards increased spread rates and decreased mortality rates—signified the virus' adaptations to lockdowns, mask wearing, vaccines, increasing natural immunity in the global population, and the relentless competition among SARS-CoV-2 variants themselves.

One of the big lessons of this work is that it is important to take into account not just a few prominent variants, but also the tens of thousands of other undesignated variants, which the scientists  call the 'variant dark matter.

A similar system could be used to track the detailed evolution of future viral pandemics in real time, the researchers note. In principle, it would enable scientists to predict changes in a pandemic's trajectory—for example, big increases in infection rates—in time to adopt appropriate public health countermeasures.

William E. Balch, Understanding the Host-Pathogen Evolutionary Balance through Gaussian Process Modelling of SARS-CoV-2, Patterns (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.patter.2023.100800. www.cell.com/patterns/fulltext … 2666-3899(23)00155-1

Using GPS as a possible earthquake predictor

A pair of seismologists  has found what might turn out to be an accurate way to predict earthquakes. In their study, reported in the journal Science, they looked at high-rate GPS time series data that was gathered in the time leading up to the moment earthquakes of magnitude 7 or above occurred. 

Seismologists have long sought to predict earthquakes so that people could react. In many cases, several minutes warning would be helpful—it would allow people to exit buildings that might collapse. Finding a precursor is difficult due to the lack of information regarding what was happening in the vicinity of an epicenter before a quake. In this new effort, they have found a way to go back in time to learn more about land shifting before a big quake.

In looking for an earthquake precursor, the researchers obtained and studied precise GPS data for geographical areas surrounding the epicenters of 90 quakes over magnitude 7 over the past several years. They found a pattern—a slip between tectonic plates that caused the land above them to move in a measurable, horizontal direction.

They also found that such slips could be observed and measured using GPS, that they occurred up to two hours before the earthquake struck and were too small to show up on standard seismographs. Most important, they saw the same slip in all the earthquakes they studied.

The work suggests that a reliable earthquake system could be designed based on a precise GPS listening system. On the downside,  researchers note that more work is required to prove that such a precursor exists for all, or at least most, large earthquakes. Also, they add, some upgrades to GPS technology are required to allow for measuring individual events around the clock.

 Quentin Bletery et al, The precursory phase of large earthquakes, Science (2023). DOI: 10.1126/science.adg2565

Roland Bürgmann, Reliable earthquake precursors?, Science (2023). DOI: 10.1126/science.adi8032

The role of ribosomes in the development of new treatments

The human body consists of trillions of cells, and 60% of the energy used within a cell is dedicated to a specific molecular machine. That machine is responsible for producing proteins, which are fundamental building blocks of the body.

The molecular machine is called a ribosome. The ribosome's task is to create proteins based on a copy of the genetic code found in the genome, known as mRNA. Until now, scientists thought that the ribosome performed the same type of work with all mRNA, like a standardized assembly line that it did not regulate on its own.

However, researchers now have discovered that this is not the case.

It has long been known that there are different types of ribosomes. But it has been assumed that no matter what mRNA you give the ribosome, it will produce a protein. But the new results suggest that different types of ribosomes produce specific proteins.

Scientists found that cancer cells have different ribosomes compared to other cells, and that was the basis for this new discovery. The paper based on this work is published in the journal Developmental Cell.

Part 1

This is an optical illusion.

The secret behind the confusing images is “reverse engineering”.

Devon, from 3D printing company Make Anything, proved that one side of each cylinder is shaped like a square and the other is more circular.

Very polite fish form queues in emergencies, new study finds

 Selfish humans push through one another to ensure their own survival – only to make everything worse. One very sensible species of fish forms queues to avoid exactly this issue, according to a new study.

When evacuating through narrow spaces, schools of neon tetra fish (Paracheirodon innesi) queue so that they don’t collide or clog up the line.

Researchers interpret this behaviour as respecting the social rules even in an emergency situation.  

Humans, like sheep, tend to quickly forget about social rules when they encounter a stressful situation, and rather adopt a selfish behaviour.

In the wild, neon tetra fish have to navigate around rocks in the rivers they swim along. To test how they do this when moving in large groups, a team of scientists from the University Grenoble Alpes, France, put the fish in a tank with narrow openings leading to other compartments.

These openings ranged in size from 1.5 to 4cm: not much bigger than the size of the fish themselves, which are 3cm long and 0.5cm wide.

The scientists then moved a fishing net through the tank and observed groups of 30 neon tetra fish as they evacuated through these openings.

The team were surprised to see that the fish gathered around the openings before passing through them – managing to avoid physical contact and clogging so that they could pass through at a constant rate.

The study marks the first time an experiment on crowd movements has focused on group evacuations in water. Previous observations have focused on animals that walk on 2D, solid surfaces.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-36869-9?utm_medium=affil...

Deadly dust: Engineered stone is making workers sick

Workers making artificial-stone slabs for the most popular type of countertops  are developing a potentially deadly, irreversible lung disease from tiny particles of toxic dust, researchers found in the largest study of this emerging health crisis.

When the synthetic quartz is cut, ground and polished, lung-damaging dust is released into the air, leading to a disease called silicosis. The disease has plagued miners and cutters of natural stone for centuries, but the engineered stone is far more dangerous due to its high concentration of silica, a natural product in sandstone, and the harmful polymer resins and dyes that are added to the engineered product.

This growing occupational hazard has been sickening and claiming the lives of workers, predominantly young Latino men, at an alarming rate since the first U.S. silicosis case due to engineered stone was reported in 2015, according to the study published in the July 24, 2023, edition of JAMA Internal Medicine.

JAMA Internal Medicine (2023). jamanetwork.com/journals/jamai … ainternmed.2023.3295

The cost of being a non-native English speaker in science

English serves as a convenient, common language for science. However, this practice poses insurmountable barriers to those whose first language is not English—the majority of people around the world.

According to research published on July 18 in the open access journal PLOS Biology, the disadvantages of being a non-native English speaker in science range from difficulties in reading and writing papers to reduced participation in international conferences.

Few studies to date have quantified the manifold costs of being a non-native English speaker in science. Researchers surveyed 908 environmental scientists from eight countries with different linguistic and economic backgrounds, and compared the amount of effort required by individual researchers to conduct a variety of scientific activities in English.

The survey revealed clear and substantial disadvantages for non-native English speakers. Compared to native English speakers, non-native English speakers need up to twice as much time to read and write papers and prepare presentations in English. Papers written by non-native English speakers are 2.5 times more likely to be rejected and 12.5 times more likely to receive a request for revision, simply due to the written English. Many of them also give up attending and presenting at international conferences because they are not confident communicating in English.

These findings have important implications for global efforts to create a more inclusive academia where anyone can thrive and shine. The authors found that these disadvantages disproportionately affect those at an early career stage and from lower income countries. Unless we break down these barriers, the authors argue, we won't be able to achieve fair participation for non-native English speakers in science, nor can we expect contributions to science from those whose first language happens to be a language other than English.

The researchers point out that countless people must have given up their scientific careers because of language barriers.

The real, bigger picture issue is that we have done almost nothing as a community, and instead relied on individuals' own efforts to tackle this problem.

With this in mind, the paper also proposes potential solutions, which range from supervisors recognizing the difficulties faced by their students, to journals providing free English editing, and funders offering financial support to efforts working towards overcoming language barriers.

"To date, being fluent in English has been a ticket to enter the world of academia," according to these researchers. "We must abandon this old system. Anyone in any part of the world should be able to participate in science and contribute to accumulating humanity's knowledge", they conclude.

 Amano T, Ramírez-Castañeda V, Berdejo-Espinola V, Borokini I, Chowdhury S, Golivets M, et al. The manifold costs of being a non-native English speaker in science, PLoS Biology (2023). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002184. journals.plos.org/plosbiology/ … journal.pbio.3002184

Psychological study suggests arithmetic is biologically-based and a natural consequence of our perception

Everyone knows that 2 + 2 = 4, but why do we have arithmetic in the first place, and why is it true?  have recently answered these questions by "reverse engineering" arithmetic from a psychological perspective. To do this, they considered all possible ways that quantities could be combined, and proved (for the first time in mathematical terms) that addition and multiplication are the simplest.

Their proof is based on four assumptions—principles of perceptual organization—that shape how we and other animals experience the world. These assumptions eliminate all possibilities except arithmetic, like how a sculptor's work reveals a statue hidden in a block of stone.

Monotonicity is the idea of "things changing in the same direction," and helps us keep track of our place in the world, so that when we approach an object it looms larger but smaller when we move away. Convexity is grounded in intuitions of betweenness. For example, the four corners of a football pitch define the playing field even without boundary lines connecting them. Continuity describes the smoothness with which objects seem to move in space and time. Isomorphism is the idea of sameness or analogy. It's what allows us to recognize that a cat is more similar to a dog than it is to a rock.

Taken together, these four principles structure our perception of the world so that our everyday experience is ordered and cognitively manageable.

The implications, explained in a paper in Psychological Review, are far-reaching because arithmetic is fundamental for mathematics and science. They suggest arithmetic is biologically-based and a natural consequence of our perception. Mathematics is thus a realization in symbols of the fundamental nature of the mind, and as such both invented and discovered. The seemingly magical success of mathematics in the physical sciences hints that our mind and the world are not separate, but part of a common unity.

Matt Grice et al, The psychological scaffolding of arithmetic., Psychological Review (2023). DOI: 10.1037/rev0000431

Dementia risk linked to protein imbalance
Abnormal levels of certain proteins — most of which have functions unrelated to the brain — could be an early hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. In a decades-long study of more than 10,000 people, unbalanced levels of 32 proteins during middle age were strongly associated with an elevated chance of developing dementia in later life. Some of the proteins showed changes only in blood plasma but not in brain tissue, which suggests that “mechanisms below the neck could also play a role”, says neurologist Nicholas Seyfried.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.adf5681

Gloomy climate calculation: Scientists predict a collapse of the Atlantic ocean current to happen mid-century

Important ocean currents that redistribute heat, cold and precipitation between the tropics and the northernmost parts of the Atlantic region will shut down around the year 2060 if current greenhouse gas emissions persist. This is the conclusion based on new calculations from the scientists that contradict the latest report from the IPCC.

Contrary to what we may imagine about the impact of climate change in Europe, a colder future may be in store. In a new study, published in Nature Communications, researchers from the University of Copenhagen's Niels Bohr Institute and Department of Mathematical Sciences predict that the system of ocean currents which currently distributes cold and heat between the North Atlantic region and tropics will completely stop if we continue to emit the same levels of greenhouse gases as we do today.

Using advanced statistical tools and ocean temperature data from the last 150 years, the researchers calculated that the ocean current, known as the Thermohaline Circulation or the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), will collapse—with 95% certainty—between 2025 and 2095. This will most likely occur in 34 years, in 2057, and could result in major challenges, particularly warming in the tropics and increased storminess in the North Atlantic region. "Shutting down the AMOC can have very serious consequences for Earth's climate, for example, by changing how heat and precipitation are distributed globally. While a cooling of Europe may seem less severe as the globe as a whole becomes warmer and heat waves occur more frequently, this shutdown will contribute to an increased warming of the tropics, where rising temperatures have already given rise to challenging living conditions.

"This result underscores the importance of reducing global greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible," says the researchers.

The calculations contradict the message of the latest IPCC report, which, based on climate model simulations, considers an abrupt change in the thermohaline circulation very unlikely during this century.

Peter Ditlevsen, Warning of a forthcoming collapse of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39810-w. www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-39810-w

Egg 'signatures' allow drongos to identify cuckoo 'forgeries' almost every time, study finds

African cuckoos may have met their match with the fork-tailed drongo, which scientists predict can detect and reject cuckoo eggs from their nest on almost every occasion, despite them on average looking almost identical to drongo eggs.

Fork-tailed drongos, belligerent birds from sub-Saharan Africa, lay eggs with a staggering diversity of colors and patterns. All these colors and patterns are forged by the African cuckoo. Through natural selection, the African cuckoo's eggs have evolved to look almost-identical to drongo eggs—a rare example of high-fidelity mimicry in nature.

African cuckoos lay their eggs in drongos' nests to avoid rearing their chick themselves (an example of so-called brood parasitism). By forging drongo egg colors and patterns, cuckoos trick drongos into thinking the cuckoo egg is one of their own.

But drongos use knowledge of their own personal egg "signatures"—their eggs' color and pattern –to identify cuckoo egg "forgeries" and reject them from their nests, say scientists. These "signatures" are like the signatures we use in our daily lives: unique to each individual and highly repeatable by the same individual.

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Researchers 

found that despite near-perfect mimicry of fork-tailed drongo eggs, African cuckoo eggs still have a high probability of being rejected.

Researchers carried out field work in the Choma district of Zambia during September to November across four years. The first step was to measure the differences in color and pattern of the fork-tailed drongo eggs and cuckoo eggs. The team found that the color and pattern of cuckoo eggs was, on average, almost identical to that of drongo eggs, and that all the broad types of drongo egg signatures were forged by the cuckoos.

The second step involved "egg rejection" experiments in which the researchers simulated cuckoo visits by "parasitizing" drongo nests with foreign eggs from other drongo nests (as a proxy for African cuckoo eggs). They then checked the nest daily to see whether the drongo parents accepted the foreign egg as one of their own, or realized it was an imposter and rejected it by removing it from their nest. The team could then test what differences in color and pattern between the foreign egg and the drongo's own eggs best predicted whether or not the drongo parents were tricked.

By combining results from both steps of the study, the researchers were able to create a model that predicted how often, on average, an African cuckoo would have its eggs rejected by a fork-tailed drongo host. They found the predicted rate of rejection to be 93.7%.

Additional simulations show this is likely due to drongos having evolved 'signatures' on their eggs. Even though cuckoos have evolved excellent 'forgeries,' individual cuckoos don't target individual drongo nests that match their own eggs. This means that for each cuckoo  egg laid, the likelihood that it will be a good enough match to that drongo's 'signature' is very low."

Lund et al. When perfection isn't enough: host egg signatures are an effective defence against high-fidelity African cuckoo mimicry, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.1125. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi … .1098/rspb.2023.1125

Link Between Vitamin D And Psoriasis Severity

Vitamin D deficiency or lower vitamin D levels are associated with a significant increase in the severity of psoriasis, according to new research on nearly 500 cases, one of the largest studies yet. These findings suggest people with the irritating skin condition that affects millions of people may benefit from vitamin D-rich foods or supplements. Psoriasis is an immune-mediated disease characterized by an abnormally fast turnover of skin cells, and its exact cause is unclear. It's thought to arise from a genetic predisposition triggered by environmental factors. Anyone who experiences its chronic buildup of dead cells, which causes itchy, scaly patches, knows psoriasis can be painful and involve more than just physical health. Some people even wrongly assume it's contagious. Scientists think vitamin D plays a role in preventing the progression of skin diseases by modulating the immune response and acting directly on the skin's repair cells. The researchers used self-reported psoriasis-affected body surface area to measure the severity of the disease in each individual. They also collected data on vitamin D levels from blood samples. After adjusting the data to account for lifestyle factors like age, gender, race, BMI, and smoking habits, the analysis found that people with lower vitamin D levels had significantly more severe psoriasis. Those with more psoriasis-affected body surface area had lower average vitamin D levels. On the other hand, the less affected someone's skin was by psoriasis, the higher their average vitamin D levels were. This relationship suggests that vitamin D might affect how psoriasis develops and progresses. Vitamin D deficiency has been previously linked with an increased risk of depression and COVID-19 mortality, while supplementation, when levels are inadequate, may reduce heart attack risk and ease depressive symptoms.

The study has been presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition, NUTRITION 2023.

Man Tests Positive For MERS-CoV in Abu Dhabi, WHO Reports

A man has tested positive for MERS-CoV in Abu Dhabi, the WHO. So far, the 28-year-old is the only case to test positive out of 108 close contacts identified, but the WHO is urging vigilance.

MERS‐CoV is a coronavirus first identified in the Middle East in 2012 after the virus made its way into humans from bats via camels. It's one of a number of zoonotic viruses (those that jump from animals into people) that health authorities keep close tabs on. The WHO was notified of the confirmed case by the United Arab Emirates' health surveillance body on July 10, 17 days after the young man tested positive in hospital on June 23. In light of the case, WHO "re-emphasizes the importance of strong surveillance" for acute respiratory infections and has urged health authorities to "carefully review any unusual patterns."

"No secondary cases have been detected to date," WHO's July 24 statement reads, although the organization expects additional cases will be reported from the Middle East or other countries where the virus circulates in animal hosts.

According to the WHO, the man had not recently traveled outside of the UAE before his diagnosis on June 23, and has no known history of direct contact with dromedary camels, the usual source of MERS infections.

"WHO continues to monitor the epidemiological situation and conducts risk assessments based on the latest available information," the statement reads.

https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2023-DON478

Meta-analysis finds vegetarian diets effective in lowering cholesterol, glucose and weight

Researchers have conducted a metadata analysis on vegetarian diets' effect on people at high risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). They found that the vegetarian diet was associated with significantly improved LDL-cholesterol, HbA1c (glucose level) and body weight.

In their paper, "Vegetarian Dietary Patterns and Cardiometabolic Risk in People With or at High Risk of Cardiovascular Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis," published in JAMA Network Open, the researchers present a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) on vegetarian diets' effects in individuals with or at high risk of CVDs. It aimed to assess the association of vegetarian diets with outcomes, including LDL-C, HbA1c, SBP, body weight and energy intake.

In analyzing the data from 29 studies on 20 randomized clinical trials over 22 years with 1,878 total participants, the researchers found consistently positive outcomes for participants on vegetarian diets. The studies used were mainly conducted in the U.S. and also included studies from the Czech Republic, Italy, Iran, Korea, New Zealand, and the Republic of China. Within the metadata were subsets of study parameters that all followed a similar result trend. Compared with participants' usual diet, vegetarian intervention diets significantly lowered LDL-C by 12.9 mg/dL. Compared with external control diets, consuming a vegetarian diet was associated with decreased LDL-C by 6.6 mg/dL in a mean of six months.

Vegetarian diets were associated with similar LDL-C reduction in studies with (−7.2 mg/dL) and without (−6.8 mg/dL) energy restriction involved. Vegetarian diets even lowered LDL-C (−5.9 mg/dL) in a subset of studies with no physical activity intervention or requirements.

The most consistent weight reduction was observed in people at high risk of CVDs (−9.1 mg/dL). Among all different vegetarian diets, lacto-ovo (including dairy and egg) vegetarian diets were associated with the greatest reduction in LDL-C.

The most significant weight reduction was observed in people at high risk of CVD (−3.6), followed by people with type 2 diabetes (−2.8 kg). An unexpected signal between restricted and unrestricted caloric studies observed more than twice the weight reduction in vegetarian intervention diets without energy restriction.

Those with unrestricted (vegetarian) calorie intake lost an average of 4.7 kg compared to 1.8 kg for those with energy-restricted vegetarian diets. It is unclear if this indicates additional benefits of an all-you-can-eat vegetarian diet, specific limitations on the type of foods available, or hidden high-calorie deviations from participants on restrictive diets.

Part 1

However, not all vegetarian diets are alike

Vegetarian meals marketed for convenience may be high in calories, refined carbohydrates, hydrogenated oils, high-fructose corn syrup, sucrose or artificial sweeteners and salt.

A higher risk of CVD and diabetes is possible on a vegetarian diet if the veggies pass through a deep fryer first. Foods rich in trans fatty acids and salt are associated with a 32% higher risk of coronary heart disease and a high risk of type 2 diabetes.

While a meta-analysis of 20 past trials cannot control for the wide range of diets included in those studies, which ranged from vegan to vegetarian (allowing for eggs and dairy), the overall signal from these diverse vegetarian diets was clear.

The vegetarian diet is associated with significant improvements in LDL-C, HbA1c (glucose level) and body weight in individuals with type 2 diabetes or at high risk of CVDs.

The data suggests that vegetarian diets might have a synergistic (or at least nonantagonistic) use in potentiating the effects of optimal drug therapy in the prevention and treatment of a range of cardiometabolic diseases.

So these things must be understood properly before going for a vegetarian diet.

Tian Wang et al, Vegetarian Dietary Patterns and Cardiometabolic Risk in People With or at High Risk of Cardiovascular Disease, JAMA Network Open (2023). DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.25658

Part 2

Long Hot July
Science articles have had their own recurring theme in recent weeks: extreme heat. An expert recently said,  “I’m feeling like a broken record about heat breaking records.” As if to further her point, today she gathered a list of the latest all-time high temps–ALL set in 2023. To cap it off, this July is set to be the hottest month ever recorded on Earth—and likely the hottest in about 120,000 years—preliminary analyses show.

What's causing this: Breaking high-temperature records is a hallmark of climate change. With more and more heat being trapped in the atmosphere by the greenhouse gases emitted when humans burn fossil fuels, heat records are now set increasingly more often than cold ones.

The solution is to ditch fossil fuels as soon as possible and to build up our use of renewable energy. Easier said than done, yes, but if extreme weather is the sweltering, flooding, hurricaning canary in the coal mine we know it to be, the urgency to make change is ramping up.

Then follow all that experts say. 

Scientists discover secret of virgin birth, and switch on the ability in female flies

For the first time, scientists have managed to induce virgin birth in an animal that usually reproduces sexually: the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.

Once induced in this fruit fly, this ability is passed on through the generations: The offspring can reproduce either sexually if there are males around, or by virgin birth if there aren't.

For most animals, reproduction is sexual—it involves a female's egg being fertilized by a male's sperm. Virgin birth, or "parthenogenesis," is the process by which an egg develops into an embryo without fertilization by sperm—a male is not needed. The offspring of a virgin birth are not exact clones of their mother but are genetically very similar, and are always female.

This work 's the first to show that you can engineer virgin births to happen in an animal—it was very exciting to see a virgin fly produce an embryo able to develop to adulthood, and then repeat the process.

In the genetically manipulated flies, the females waited to find a male for half their lives—about 40 days—but then gave up and proceeded to have a virgin birth.

In the experiments, only 1–2% of the second generation of female flies with the ability for virgin birth produced offspring, and this occurred only when there were no male flies around. When males were available, the females mated and reproduced in the normal way.

Switching to a virgin birth can be a survival strategy: A one-off generation of virgin births can help to keep the species going.

To achieve their results, researchers first sequenced the genomes of two strains of another species of fruit fly, called Drosophila mercatorum. One strain needs males to reproduce, the other reproduces only through virgin birth. The researchers identified the genes that were switched on or switched off when the flies were reproducing without fathers.

With the candidate genes for virgin birth ability identified in Drosophila mercatorum, the researchers altered what they thought were the corresponding genes in the model fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. It worked: Drosophila melanogaster suddenly acquired the ability for virgin birth.

The research involved over 220,000 virgin fruit flies and took six years to complete.

More information: Alexis L Sperling, A genetic basis for facultative parthenogenesis in Drosophila, Current Biology (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.07.006. www.cell.com/current-biology/f … 0960-9822(23)00913-2

How a gut microbe causes flies to live fast and die young

Researchers have uncovered how one species of gut bacteria causes fruit flies to perish early. This discovery illuminates the complex interactions between the microbes in our guts and our health.

The human gut is home to somewhere between 200 and 1,000 species of bacteria. The vast majority of these species are beneficial, converting food into useful compounds that the human body cannot make by itself. But some bacterial species have a negative impact on health.

The sheer number of bacterial species in the human gut makes it extremely challenging to untangle their individual effects on our health. Researchers find it much simpler to look at the gut microbiome of fruit flies since they only have about two to five bacterial species in their guts.

In a previous study, researchers have found that one of these species, Acetobacter persici, accelerated aging in flies, causing them to die early. A. persici has a drastic impact on fly lifespan, curtailing it by about 20%–30%.

Now, by feeding flies with a diet of dead A. persici, scientists have discovered the connection between A. persici and shortened fly lifespans.

To their surprise, the researchers found that the shortened lifespan is not due to a compound produced by A. persici. Rather, a component in the bacterium's cell wall triggers a receptor in the fly's gut, which stimulates the immune system, boosting the production of antimicrobial compounds and activating intestinal stem cells. It's this enhanced immunity that causes the flies to die young. In an intriguing twist, the team discovered that these effects also boost a fly's resistance to infection by a harmful bacterium that can kill flies. It thus provides flies with a short-term advantage in exchange for an early death—a tradeoff that the researchers dubbed a "live fast, die young" lifestyle.

This increased resistance to infection explains why the vast majority of flies in the wild have A. persici or other Acetobacter species in their guts. It's better to have a strong resistance to stressors such as infection rather than to live to a ripe old age.

The finding raises the possibility that "postbiotics"—food and drinks that contain dead gut microbes (rather than prebiotics containing live ones)—with health benefits could be developed.

The team now aims to determine the genes involved in the immune signaling that leads to shorter lifespans. They also want to see if the same mechanism occurs in other animals such as mice and humans.

Taro Onuma et al, Recognition of commensal bacterial peptidoglycans defines Drosophila gut homeostasis and lifespan, PLOS Genetics (2023). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010709

Microorganisms ward off parasites: Potential new function of CRISPR-Cas system discovered

Microorganisms use the CRISPR-Cas system to fight viral attacks. In genetic engineering, the microbial immune system is used for the targeted modification of the genetic make-up. A research team has now discovered another function of this specialized genomic sequence: archaea—microorganisms that are often very similar to bacteria in appearance—also use them to fight parasites. 

They analyzed the genetic material of microbes in the Earth's deep crust. More than 70% of the Earth's microorganisms are housed in the deep biosphere. If we want to understand diversity on our planet, it is worth taking a look into the deep.

The microbiologists have analyzed the water that a geyser in the U.S. spits to the surface from the depths, as well as samples from the Horonobe underground laboratory in Japan. The research team focused on archaea, which live in the ecosystem as hosts and parasites. The tiny microbes are highly similar to bacteria in cell size but have substantially different physiological properties. The result of their genomic analysis provided new insights: there were conspicuously few parasites in the vicinity of the hosts, and the hosts showed genetic resistance to the parasites. The researchers discovered the reason for this in the genetic scissors in the genome of the microorganisms.

In the course of evolution, the archaea have incorporated the parasitic DNA. If a parasite with the same DNA now attacks the organism, the foreign genetic material is probably recognized by the CRISPR system and presumably decomposed.

In order to rule out the possibility that they have only come across isolated cases, the researchers have extended the analysis to more than 7,000 genomes and observed the phenomenon very frequently.

Sarah P. Esser et al, A predicted CRISPR-mediated symbiosis between uncultivated archaea, Nature Microbiology (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41564-023-01439-2

Researchers discover how mitochondria call for help when under stress

As life propagated across Earth in the form of the widest variety of single-celled organisms, sometime between 3.5 and 1 billion years ago one such organism managed an evolutionary coup: Instead of devouring and digesting bacteria, it encapsulated its prey and used it as a source of energy. As a host cell, it offered protection and nutrition in return.

This is referred to as the endosymbiotic theory, according to which that one single-celled organism was the primordial mother of all higher cells, out of which all animals, fungi and plants developed. Over the course of billions of years, the encapsulated bacterium became the cell's powerhouse, the mitochondrion, which supplies it with the cellular energy currency ATP.

It lost a large part of its genetic material—its DNA—and exchanged smaller DNA segments with the mother cell. However, now as in the past, mitochondria divide independently of the cell and possess some genes of their own.

How closely the cell and the mitochondrion work together in human cells today is what some researchers are investigating. They have now discovered how the mitochondrion calls for help from the cell when it is under stress. Triggers for such stress can be infections, inflammatory diseases or genetic disorders, for example, but also nutrient deficiencies or cell toxins. The study has been published in the journal Nature.

A certain type of mitochondrial stress is caused by misfolded proteins that are not quickly degraded and accumulate in the mitochondrion. The consequences for both the mitochondrion and the cell are dramatic: Misfolded proteins can, for example, disrupt energy production or lead to the formation of larger amounts of reactive oxygen compounds, which attack the mitochondrial DNA and generate further misfolded proteins. In addition, misfolded proteins can destabilize the mitochondrial membranes, releasing signal substances from the mitochondrion that activate apoptosis, the cell's self-destruction program. The mitochondrion responds to the stress by producing more chaperones (folding assistants) to fold the proteins in order to reduce the misfolding, as well as protein shredding units that degrade the misfolded proteins. Until now, how cells trigger this protective mechanism was unknown.

The researchers artificially triggered misfolding stress in the mitochondria of cultured human cells and analyzed the result. What makes it difficult to unravel such signaling processes is that an incredibly large number take place simultaneously and at high speed in the cell.

The research team therefore availed itself of methods (transcriptome analyses) that can be used to measure over time to what extent genes are transcribed. In addition, the researchers observed, among other things, which proteins bind to each other at which point in time, at which intervals the concentrations of intracellular substances change, and what effects there are when individual proteins are systematically deactivated.

Part 1

The result is that the mitochondria send two chemical signals to the cell when protein misfolding stress occurs: They release reactive oxygen compounds and block the import of protein precursors, which are produced in the cell and are only folded into their functional shape inside the mitochondrion, causing these precursors to accumulate in the cell. Among other things, the reactive oxygen compounds lead to chemical changes in a protein called DNAJA1. Normally, DNAJA1 supports a specific chaperone (folding assistant) in the cell, which molds the cell's newly formed proteins into the correct shape.

As a consequence of the chemical change, DNAJA1 now increasingly forces itself on the folding assistant HSP70 as its helper. HSP70 then takes special care of the misfolded protein precursors that accumulate around the mitochondrion because of the blocked protein import. By doing so, HSP70 reduces its interaction with its regular partner HSF1. HSF1 is now released and can migrate into the cell nucleus, where it can trigger the anti-stress mechanism for the mitochondrion.

It was very exciting to discover how the two mitochondrial stress signals are combined into one signal in the cell, which then triggers the cell's response to mitochondrial stress. Moreover, in this complex process, which is essentially driven by tiny local changes in concentration, the stress signaling pathways of the cell and the mitochondrion dovetail very elegantly with each other—like the cogs in a clockwork.

F. X. Reymond Sutandy et al, A cytosolic surveillance mechanism activates the mitochondrial UPR, Nature (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06142-0

Part 2

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Who are scientists on whom experiments were performed?

Here is the story of a Doctor Who Jammed a Catheter Into His Heart to help humanity…

Werner Theodor Otto Forßmann : (29 August 1904 – 1 June 1979) was a German researcher and physician from Germany who shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in Medicine (with Andre Frederic Cournand and Dickinson W. Richards) for developing a procedure that allowed cardiac catheterization. In 1929, he put himself under local anesthesia and inserted a catheter into a vein of his arm. Not knowing if the catheter might pierce a vein, he put his life at risk. Forssmann was nevertheless successful; he safely passed the catheter into his heart.

Twinkle twinkle little star
What if you can 'listen' to that twinkle?
Wouldn’t that be wonderful?
Yes, you can, now!
Science makes it possible

Imagine the melodies of distant worlds!
Click on the video below to listen to the twinkle of a star

And clap like a child

Nerve cells in the brain can halt all movement in the body—even breathing

When a hunting dog picks up the scent of a deer, it sometimes freezes. On the spot. The same thing can happen to people who need to concentrate on a challenging task.

Now researchers have made a discovery that adds to our knowledge of what happens in the brain when we suddenly stop moving. They have found a group of nerve cells in the midbrain which, when stimulated, stop all movement. Not just walking; all forms of motor activity. They even make the mice stop breathing or breathe more slowly, and the heart rate slow down.

There are various ways to stop movement. What is so special about these nerve cells is that once activated they cause the the movement to be paused or freeze. Just like setting a film on pause. The actors movement suddenly stop on the spot.

When the researchers ended activating the nerve cells, the mice would start the movement exactly where it stopped. Just like when pressing "play" again.

This 'pause-and-play pattern' is very unique; it is unlike anything we have seen before. It does not resemble other forms of movement or motor arrest we or other researchers have studied. There, the movement does not necessarily start where it stopped, but may start over with a new pattern.

The nerve cells stimulated by the researchers are found in the midbrain in an area called the pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN), and they differ from other nerve cells there by expressing a specific molecular marker called Chx10. The PPN is common to all vertebrates including humans. So even though the study was performed in mice, the researchers expect the phenomenon to apply to humans too.

Part 1

Some might suggest that the nerve cells are activated by fear. Most people are familiar with the phenomenon of "freezing" caused by extreme fear. But that is not the case.

Researchers  have compared this type of motor arrest to motor arrest or freezing caused by fear, and they are not identical. They are very sure that the movement arrest observe here is not related to fear. Instead, they think  it has something to do with attention or alertness, which is seen in certain situations.

The researchers think it is an expression of a focused attention. However, they stress that the study has not revealed if this is indeed the case. It is something that requires more research to demonstrate.

The new study may be able to help us understand some of the mechanisms of Parkinson's disease.

Motor arrest or slow movement is one of the cardinal symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Scientists speculate that these special nerve cells in PPN are over-activated in Parkinson's disease. That would inhibit movement. Therefore, the study, which primarily has focused on the fundamental mechanisms that control movement in the nervous system, may eventually help us to understand the cause of some of the motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease.

Among other things, the researchers used optogenetics to stimulate the nerve cells in the brainstem.

In short, optogenetics is a biological technique that involves genetically modifying specific brain cells to make them more sensitive to light. This means that the cells can be activated by a flash of light.

In the study, the researchers were able to stimulate the specific group of nerve cells  in mice and thus determine the motor function of these cells.

New study links brain waves directly to memory

Neurons produce rhythmic patterns of electrical activity in the brain. One of the unsettled questions in the field of neuroscience is what primarily drives these rhythmic signals, called oscillations. Researchers have found that simply remembering events can trigger them, even more so than when people are experiencing the actual event.

The researchers, whose findings are published in the journal Neuron, specifically focused on what are known as theta oscillations, which emerge in the brain's hippocampus region during activities like exploration, navigation and sleep. The hippocampus plays a crucial role in the brain's ability to remember the past. Prior to this study, it was thought that the external environment played a more important role in driving theta oscillations. But this new study found that memory generated in the brain is the main driver of theta activity.

They found that theta oscillations in humans are more prevalent when someone is just remembering things, compared to experiencing events directly.

The results of the study could have implications for treating patients with brain damage and cognitive impairments, including patients who have experienced seizures, stroke and Parkinson's disease. Memory could be used to create stimulations from within the brain and drive theta oscillations, which could potentially lead to improvements in memory over time.

Sarah E. Seger et al, Memory-related processing is the primary driver of human hippocampal theta oscillations, Neuron (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2023.06.015

When electrons slowly vanish during cooling: Researchers observe an effect unique to the quantum world

Many substances change their properties when they are cooled below a certain critical temperature. Such a phase transition occurs, for example, when water freezes. However, in certain metals there are phase transitions that do not exist in the macrocosm. They arise because of the special laws of quantum mechanics that apply in the realm of nature's smallest building blocks.

It is thought that the concept of electrons as carriers of quantized electric charge no longer applies near these exotic phase transitions. Researchers have now found a way to prove this directly. Their findings allow new insights into the exotic world of quantum physics. The publication has now been released in the journal Nature Physics.

If you cool water below zero degrees Celsius, it solidifies into ice. In the process, it abruptly changes its properties. As ice, for example, it has a much lower density than in a liquid state—which is why icebergs float. In physics, this is referred to as a phase transition. But there are also phase transitions in which characteristic features of a substance change gradually. If, for example, an iron magnet is heated up to 760 degrees Celsius, it loses its attraction to other pieces of metal—it is then no longer ferromagnetic, but paramagnetic. However, this does not happen abruptly, but continuously: The iron atoms behave like tiny magnets.At low temperatures, they are oriented parallel to each other. When heated, they fluctuate more and more around this rest position until they are completely randomly aligned, and the material loses its magnetism completely. So while the metal is being heated, it can be both somewhat ferromagnetic and somewhat paramagnetic.

The phase transition thus takes place gradually, so to speak, until finally all the iron is paramagnetic. Along the way, the transition slows down more and more. This behavior is characteristic of all continuous phase transitions. Physicists call it 'critical slowing down'. The reason is that with continuous transitions, the two phases get energetically closer and closer together.

Part 1

Such a "slowing down" is typical for phase transitions based on the excitation of bosons. Bosons are particles that "generate" interactions (on which, for example, magnetism is based). Matter, on the other hand, is not made up of bosons but of fermions. Electrons, for example, belong to the fermions.

Phase transitions are based on the fact that particles (or also the phenomena triggered by them) disappear. This means that the magnetism in iron becomes smaller and smaller as fewer atoms are aligned in parallel. Fermions, however, cannot be destroyed due to fundamental laws of nature and therefore cannot disappear. "That's why normally they are never involved in phase transitions."

Electrons can be bound in atoms; they then have a fixed place which they cannot leave. Some electrons in metals, on the other hand, are freely mobile—which is why these metals can also conduct electricity. In certain exotic quantum materials, both varieties of electrons can form a superposition state. This produces what are known as quasiparticles.

They are, in a sense, immobile and mobile at the same time—a feature that is only possible in the quantum world. These quasiparticles—unlike "normal" electrons—can be destroyed during a phase transition. This means that the properties of a continuous phase transition can also be observed there, in particular, critical slowing down. So far, this effect could be observed only indirectly in experiments.

Researchers have now developed a new method, which allows direct identification of the collapse of quasiparticles at a phase transition, in particular the associated critical slowing down.

The result contributes to a better understanding of phase transitions in the quantum world. On the long term, the findings might also be useful for applications in quantum information technology.

Critical slowing down near a magnetic quantum phase transition with fermionic breakdown, Nature Physics (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41567-023-02156-7. www.nature.com/articles/s41567-023-02156-7

Part 2

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Scientists want to understand how the worms survived in extreme conditions for extraordinarily long periods of time.

The discovery, published  recently in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS Genetics, offers new insight into how the worms, also known as nematodes, can survive in extreme conditions for extraordinarily long periods of time, in this case tens of thousands of years.

In 2018, Anastasia Shatilovich, a scientist from the Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems in Soil Science RAS in Russia, thawed two female worms from a fossilized burrow dug by gophers in the Arctic.

The worms, which were buried approximately 130 feet in the permafrost, were revived simply by putting them in water, according to a news release from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Germany.

Called Panagrolaimus kolymaensis, after the Kolyma River in Russia, where they were found, the worms were sent to Germany for further study. The creatures, which have a life span measured in days, died after reproducing several generations in the lab, researchers said.

Using radiocarbon dating, researchers determined the specimens were frozen between 45,839 and 47,769 years ago, during the late Pleistocene.

The roughly millimeter-long worms were able to resist extreme low temperatures by entering a dormant state called cryptobiosis, a process researchers at the institute have been trying to understand.

No nematodes had been known to achieve such a dormant state for thousands of years at a time, Teymuras Kurzchalia, a professor emeritus at the institute who was involved in the study, said recently.

The major take-home message or summary of this discovery is that it is, in principle, possible to stop life for more or less an indefinite time and then restart it.

Researchers identified key genes in the nematode that allow it to achieve the cryptobiotic state. The same genes were found in a contemporary nematode called Caenorhabditis elegans, which can also achieve cryptobiosis.

This led researchers to understand that they cannot survive without a specific sugar called trehalose. Without this sugar, they just die.

The Siberian permafrost has long offered the scientific community a window into the organisms of the distant past. Ancient viruses, mummified bodies and a suite of microscopic creatures have been resurrected from the ice over the years.

Mysterious Creatures Feed Microbes to Their Babies in New Scientific First

Caecilian mothers grow a fatty skin layer for their babies to tear off and eat. It offers not only nourishment for their offspring but also microbes, providing a starter kit for their young's own microbiome, new research has discovered.

Caecilians are weird, mysterious creatures. They look sort of like huge worms or small snakes, but they're really limbless amphibians, lesser-known relatives of frogs and salamanders. They lead secretive lives, generally hidden from view in soil or stream beds.

What little we do know about caecilians invites more curiosity. They can be surprisingly doting parents, especially by amphibian standards. In some species, mothers provide the skin meals for their young, who have uniquely adapted baby teeth to help them eat it.

Many animals are known to pass microbes to the next generation through parental care in some way, but this is the first direct evidence of it happening in any amphibian. And of all the amphibian species it could be, the study's authors found this happening in caecilians.

 Even after the period of skin feeding (or maternal dermatophagy) ends, a mother and her babies often stay together, the researchers note, coiling up together as a family.

The study found that bacteria from the environment were the least important source for microbiomes of young caecilians. But all juveniles shared at least some of their skin and gut microbiomes with their mothers, which they obtained via both skin feeding and coiling.

https://animalmicrobiome.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s42523-...

Early-life lead exposure linked to higher risk of criminal behaviour in adulthood

An evaluation of 17 previously published studies suggests that exposure to lead in the womb or in childhood is associated with an increased risk of engaging in criminal behavior in adulthood. 

Lead exposure can cause a variety of health challenges, such as cardiac issues,kidney damage, immune system dysfunction, reproductive problems, and impaired neurodevelopmental function in children. Research has also uncovered statistical associations between lead exposure and criminal behaviour, both at the level of the entire population and at the level of individual people. However, the findings of individual-level studies have been inconsistent.

To help clarify the existing evidence, researchers conducted a systematic review of studies that address links between individual lead exposure and crime or other antisocial behaviors. Their analysis included 17 studies, which employed a variety of methods for measuring lead exposure—using blood, bones, or teeth—and addressed the effects of exposure at different ages, including in the womb or early childhood, later childhood, and adolescence or adulthood.

The review highlighted a wide range of findings among the studies. For instance, in some cases, no statistical links were found between early childhood lead exposure and later delinquent behavior. One study showed a link between exposure and antisocial behavior, but not arrests. Still, several studies found links between early childhood exposure to lead and later arrests, including drug-related arrests. The authors also used a tool called ROBINS-E to evaluate each study for statistical bias, finding some studies to be more statistically robust than others.

Overall, in light of the known biological effects of lead, this review suggests that an individual exposed to lead in the womb or in early childhood may have a higher risk of engaging in criminal behaviour as an adult.

Policy action to prevent lead exposure is of utmost importance as our research shows an excess risk for criminal behavior in adulthood exists when an individual is exposed to lead in utero or during childhood. Preventing lead exposure is crucial to safeguard public health and promote a safer society for all.

Talayero MJ, The association between lead exposure and crime: A systematic review, PLOS Global Public Health (2023). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0002177

Chatbots sometimes make things up. Is AI's hallucination problem fixable?

Spend enough time with ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence chatbots and it doesn't take long for them to spout falsehoods. 

Described as hallucination, confabulation or just plain making things up, it's now a problem for every business, organization and high school student trying to get a generative AI system to compose documents and get work done. Some are using it on tasks with the potential for high-stakes consequences, from psychotherapy to researching and writing legal briefs.

According to experts there isn't any model today that doesn't suffer from some hallucination! They're really just sort of designed to predict the next word, and so there will be some rate at which the model does that inaccurately. 

So experts are now trying to make them truthful. But they aren't very sure. Because the problem is inherent in the mismatch between the technology and the proposed use cases.

But still what is wrong with trying to improve the software/hardware? let us cross our fingers and hope for the best.

Source: AP 

Is AI only software? 

AI is about the principles of making machines learn and make intelligent decisions. AI has many subfields under it: Machine Learning, Reinforcement Learning, Computer Vision (very tightly coupled with Machine Learning), Deep Learning, NLP, data representation and semantics, learning theory, Robotics (which is the hardware side of things) which includes things like planning, motion and manipulation...etc.

So its not only about software. AI can be in the form of abstract theory, learning from data to make predictions and intelligent decisions (software) or in robotics (hardware).

You shouldn't declaw tigers or other big cats

Declawing house cats to keep them from scratching people and furniture is controversial – and even banned in some countries  – but the practice is not limited to house cats. In a new study, researchers looked at the effects of declawing on larger cat species and found that declawing disproportionately impacts their muscular capabilities as compared to their smaller brethren.

Declawing is still done on large cats like lions and tigers, often in an effort to allow cubs to more safely be handled in photo opportunities or for entertainment purposes.

What people might not realize is that declawing a cat is not like trimming our fingernails; rather, it is removing part or all of the last bone of each digit. Like us, each cat finger has three bones, and declawing is literally cutting that third bone off at the joint.

The researchers looked at the muscular anatomy of over a dozen exotic cats – from smaller species including bobcats, servals and ocelots, to lions and tigers – to determine the effect of declawing on their forelimb musculature.

They measured muscle density and mass, and also examined muscle fibers from both clawed and declawed exotic cats. They found that for the larger species declawing resulted in 73% lighter musculature in the forearm’s digital flexors. These muscles are involved in unsheathing the claws. They also found that overall, forelimb strength decreased by 46% to 66%, depending on the size of the animal, and that other muscles in the forelimb did not compensate for these reductions.

With big cats, there’s more force being put through the paws. So if you alter them, it is likely that the effects will be more extreme.

This is because paw size and body mass don’t scale up at a 1:1 ratio. Paw area increases at a slower rate than does body mass (which is proportional to volume), so larger cats have smaller feet relative to their body size, and their paws must withstand more pressure.

Additionally, big cats are more reliant on their forelimbs – they bear most of the weight, and these bigger cats use their forelimbs to grapple because they hunt much larger prey. So biomechanically speaking, declawing has a more anatomically devastating effect in larger species.

Lara L. Martens et al, The Effects of Onychectomy (Declawing) on Antebrachial Myology across the Full Body Size Range of Exotic Species of Felidae, Animals (2023). DOI: 10.3390/ani13152462

Conjunctivitis is the swelling or inflammation of the conjunctiva, the thin, transparent layer of tissue that lines the inner surface of the eyelid and covers the white part of the eye. Causes may or may not be infectious. Allergic Conjunctivitis  ( seasonal allergies) Infectious Conjunctivitis  ( Bacterial, Viral ) Chemical Conjunctivitis ( air pollution, chlorine in water ) Ippudu ee season lo sadharanam ga vachedi viral or bacterial conjunctivitis. There are Eye drops or ointments  for Bacterial con. There are  Antibiotics too. But no drops or ointments can treat viral conjunctivitis. Antibiotics will not cure a viral infection. The virus has to run its course, which may take up to two or three weeks.  In case you have to deal with infectious people,  frequent hand washing and keeping hands away from eyes can make a difference. Don't use Common towels, soaps .Be Careful. If you feel  pain and irritation  please visit a doctor . Self medication is not good.

Novel molecules fight viruses by bursting their bubble-like membranes

Antiviral therapies are notoriously difficult to develop, as viruses can quickly mutate to become resistant to drugs. Viruses have different proteins on their surfaces that are often the targets of therapeutics like monoclonal antibodies and vaccines. But targeting these proteins has limitations, as viruses can quickly evolve, changing the properties of the proteins and making treatments less effective. These limitations were on display when new SARS-CoV-2 variants emerged that evaded both the drugs and the vaccines developed against the original virus.

But what if a new generation of antivirals ignores the fast-mutating proteins on the surface of viruses and instead disrupts their protective layers?

Scientists found an Achilles heel of many viruses: their bubble-like membranes. Exploiting this vulnerability and disrupting the membrane is a promising mechanism of action for developing new antivirals.

In a new study published Aug. 2 in the journal ACS Infectious Diseases, the researchers show how a group of novel molecules inspired by our own immune system inactivates several viruses, including Zika and chikungunya. Their approach may not only lead to drugs that can be used against many viruses, but could also help overcome antiviral resistance.

Drawing inspiration from our immune system is the new mantra. Our innate immune system combats pathogens by producing antimicrobial peptides, the body's first line of defense against bacteria, fungi, and viruses. Most viruses that cause disease are encapsulated in membranes made of lipids, and antimicrobial peptides work by disrupting or even bursting these membranes. While antimicrobial peptides can be synthesized in the lab, they are rarely used to treat infectious diseases in humans because they break down easily and can be toxic to healthy cells. Instead, scientists have developed synthetic materials called peptoids, which have similar chemical backbones to peptides but are better able to break through virus membranes and are less likely to degrade. 

Part 1

The membranes surrounding viruses are made of different molecules than the virus itself, as lipids are acquired from the host to form membranes. One such lipid, phosphatidylserine, is present in the membrane on the outside of viruses, but is sequestered towards the interior of human cells under normal conditions.

Because phosphatidylserine is found on the exterior of viruses, it can be a specific target for peptoids to recognize viruses, but not recognize—and therefore spare—our own cells. Moreover, because viruses acquire lipids from the host rather than encoding from their own genomes, they have better potential to avoid antiviral resistance.

The researchers tested seven peptoids against the four viruses. They found that the peptoids inactivated all three enveloped viruses—Zika, Rift Valley fever, and chikungunya—by disrupting the virus membrane, but did not disrupt coxsackievirus B3, the only virus without a membrane.

Moreover, chikungunya virus containing higher levels of phosphatidylserine in its membrane was more susceptible to the peptoids. In contrast, a membrane formed exclusively with a different lipid named phosphatidylcholine was not disrupted by the peptoids, suggesting that phosphatidylserine is crucial in order for peptoids to reduce viral activity.

The researchers are continuing pre-clinical studies to evaluate the potential of these molecules in fighting viruses and to understand if they can overcome the development of resistance. Their peptoid-focused approach may hold promise for treating a wide range of viruses with membranes that can be difficult to treat, including Ebola, SARS-CoV-2, and herpes.

 Peptidomimetic Oligomers Targeting Membrane Phosphatidylserine Exhibit Broad Antiviral Activity, ACS Infectious Diseases (2023). DOI: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.3c00063 , pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsinfecdis.3c00063

Part 2

Zap these cells for insulin
Genetically engineered human cells that produce insulin when stimulated by a small electric current could one day be used to develop insulin implants for people with type 1 diabetes. Reactive oxygen species — unstable oxygen-containing radicals that are produced when a current is applied — are involved in a chain that switches on a gene needed to make insulin. Researchers implanted the cells into mice with high blood sugar and used acupuncture needles to apply a current — which triggered the cells to release insulin.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s42255-023-00850-7.epdf?sharing_tok...

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Chatbots are coming to science search Scopus, Dimensions and Web of Science are introducing conversational search using large language models (LLMs). Scopus AI is intended to be a light, playful tool to help researchers quickly get summaries of topics that they’re unfamiliar with. The bot uses a version of GPT-3.5 to return a fluent summary paragraph, together with references and further questions to explore. The Dimensions chatbot first uses a search engine to retrieve relevant articles and then an Open AI GPT model to generate a summary paragraph around the top-ranked abstracts. Both tools will probably be released widely by the end of this year or the beginning of the next. It’s unclear when Web of Science’s LLM-powered search will become available.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02470-3?utm_source=Natur...

Genetic predisposition to atrial fibrillation accelerated by air pollution, research suggests

Research has connected the effects of air pollutants on the risk of atrial fibrillation (AF). In a paper, "Air pollution, genetic susceptibility, and the risk of atrial fibrillation: A large prospective cohort study," published in PNAS, researchers find long-term exposure to air pollutants increases the risk of AF, particularly among individuals with high genetic susceptibility.

Air pollutants have long been associated with cardiovascular diseases. Recent studies have linked short-term exposure to these pollutants with acute exacerbations of AF. Studies on twins suggest that genetic susceptibility plays a big part in the risk of AF, but these risk factors explain only about half of AF cases.

The current study focuses on the cumulative damage caused by long-term exposure to these pollutants, revealing an association between increased concentrations of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters smaller than 2.5 μm (PM_2.5), particulate matter with diameters of 10 μm (PM₁₀), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), and nitrogen oxide and the underlying genetic risk of AF.

Despite the visible haze that can come with smoke, dust or vehicle emissions, particle pollution is comprised of tiny non-visible elements under 10 μm, and these can travel deep into the lungs. For reference, the average width of human hair is around 70 μm.

The particles can be hundreds of different chemicals depending on their source. Direct emissions from agricultural, automotive, industrial, fire or construction sites will reflect what is coming from those sources. In the atmosphere, more environmentally complex sources like those emitted from power plants, heavy industries and automobile emissions can undergo reactions to produce chemicals like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.

When combining genetic susceptibility with high air pollutant levels, participants exposed to high air pollutants with high genetic risk had approximately 149–182% higher risk of AF than individuals with low genetic risk factors.

The study also found a significant additive risk interaction between PM₁₀ and NO₂ and genetic risk, with approximately 16.4–35.1% of cases attributable to the joint effects of these pollutants and genetic predisposition.

The combined effects of  air pollutants and genetic risk showed a dose-response manner, such that exposure to high air pollutant levels and having high genetic risk resulted in high AF chances.

Yudiyang Ma et al, Air pollution, genetic susceptibility, and the risk of atrial fibrillation: A large prospective cohort study, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2302708120

A new discovery in a cause of inner-ear bone loss

Chronic inflammation of the middle ear can cause several problems and complications that can affect a person's hearing and balance. One such problem is the formation of a cholesteatoma, which is an abnormal collection of cells in the ear that can cause bone erosion if left untreated. In turn, this can cause symptoms such as hearing loss, dizziness, facial paralysis, and even a brain infection.

In a study published recently in Nature Communications, researchers have revealed the cause of cholesteatomas, which may help in developing new therapies for patients who are suffering from this disease.

Cholesteatomas are made up of cysts or bumps in the ear that consist of skin, collagen fibers, skin cells, fibroblasts, keratin, and dead tissue. There are many theories on how these cholesteatomas can cause bone erosion, including the activation of cells responsible for the breakdown of the minerals and matrix of the bone, the presence of inflammatory markers and enzymes, and the accumulation and pressure from dead cells and tissues in the ear. However, the exact mechanism for the creation of cholesteatomas remains unknown.

A cholesteatoma can still return or happen again even after its surgical removal, so it is important to know what is actually causing it.

To investigate this, researchers looked at human cholesteatoma tissues that were surgically removed from patients. A process called single-cell RNA sequencing analysis was employed to identify cells responsible for triggering bone erosion; these were called osteoclastogenic fibroblasts. This study demonstrated how these fibroblasts expressed an abundant amount of activin A, a molecule that regulates different physiologic functions of the body. The presence of activin A is said to cause bone erosion through a process in which specialized cells initiate bone resorption through a process wherein the minerals and matrix of the bones are broken down and absorbed by the body. 

The researchers were successful in showing the relationship between activin A and bone erosion in cholesteatoma.

Currently in clinical settings, the only effective treatment for cholesteatomas is complete surgical removal. However, the discovery of how a cholesteatoma can cause bone erosion in this study offers new hope for developing novel medical treatments as first-line management for cholesteatomas.

Single-cell transcriptomics of human cholesteatoma identifies an activin A-producing osteoclastogenic fibroblast subset inducing bone destruction, Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40094-3

Study reveals unexpected importance of the thymus in adults

The thymus gland—which produces immune T cells before birth and during childhood— is often regarded as nonfunctional in adults, and it's sometimes removed during cardiac surgery for easier access to the heart and major blood vessels.

New research  by investigators and  published in the New England Journal of Medicine has uncovered evidence that the thymus is in fact critical for adult health generally and for preventing cancer and perhaps autoimmune disease.

To determine whether the thymus provides health benefits to adults, the team evaluated the risk of death, cancer, and autoimmune disease among 1,146 adults who had their thymus removed during surgery and among 1,146 demographically matched patients who underwent similar cardiothoracic surgery without thymectomy. The scientists also measured T cell production and blood levels of immune-related molecules in a subgroup of patients.

Five years after surgery, 8.1% of patients who had a thymectomy died compared with 2.8% of those who did not have their thymus removed, equating to a 2.9-times higher risk of death. Also during that time, 7.4% of patients in the thymectomy group developed cancer compared with 3.7% of patients in the control group, for a 2.0-times higher risk.

The thymus is absolutely required for health. If it isn't there, people's risk of dying and risk of cancer is at least double. This indicates that the consequences of thymus removal should be carefully considered when contemplating thymectomy.

In an additional analysis involving all patients in the thymectomy group with more than five years of follow-up, the overall mortality rate was higher in the thymectomy group than in the general U.S. population (9.0% vs. 5.2%), as was mortality due to cancer (2.3% vs. 1.5%).

Kameron A. Kooshesh et al, Health Consequences of Thymus Removal in Adults, New England Journal of Medicine (2023). DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2302892

Study shows people experience emotions with computer-generated art

Computers and artificial intelligence (AI) are becoming increasingly important in the art world. AI-generated artworks fetch millions at auction, and artists routinely use algorithms to create aesthetic content.

Now, a team of researchers  has conducted experiments showing that, contrary to popular intuition, people perceive emotions and intentions when viewing art, even when they know the work was generated by a computer. The study was published in the journal Computer in Human Behavior.

Jason Allen’s A.I.-generated work, “Théâtre D’opéra Spatial,” ( Source: nytimes)

Researchers investigated whether people respond emotionally to, or perceive intentionality in, art that they believe was generated by a computer.

The researchers presented participants with abstract black-and-white artworks, explaining that the artworks were either randomly generated by a computer or intentionally created by a person to evoke emotion.

Before viewing each artwork, participants were told whether it was supposedly created by a computer or a person; this information was true in half of the cases. The participants were then asked to rate the artworks based on several dimensions. In addition, they were asked to indicate the emotions they personally experienced while viewing the artworks, the emotions they believed the artworks were intended to evoke in viewers, and the emotions, if any, they believed the artists themselves felt while creating the artworks.

The results showed that participants almost always experienced some emotion and perceived some level of intentionality.

The study thereby provides new empirical evidence that people can form emotional attachments to computer-generated art. So contrary to common assumptions, people seem to perceive emotions and intentions even when they know that something was created by a computer. However, they reported stronger emotions and rated the artwork more positively if it had actually been created by a person—even when they got the wrong information that the art was computer-generated.

Thus, the results also show that a subtle but significant difference in emotional impact remains between human and artificial art. This could point to specific characteristics in man-made art that are perceived by viewers.

Overall, the results raise new questions for human-computer interaction and the growing role of AI as a creative entity in art, design, and entertainment.

 Theresa Rahel Demmer et al, Does an emotional connection to art really require a human artist? Emotion and intentionality responses to AI- versus human-created art and impact on aesthetic experience., Computers in Human Behavior (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2023.107875

Geostationary satellite reveals widespread midday depression in dryland photosynthesis during 2020 heat wave

We are facing unprecedented heat waves . These conditions have resulted in severe consequences for both human and nature systems, including dire water shortages, rampant wildfires, substantial agricultural losses, and increased human mortality.

The places where these heat waves occur, ecosystems face exacerbated water stress due to more frequent and protracted droughts and heat waves, which can profoundly impair ecosystem photosynthesis and carbon uptake, in turn affecting the global carbon cycle.

Investigating vegetation photosynthesis at various time scales provides valuable insights into vegetation growth, carbon uptake, and environmental interactions. Traditional polar-orbiting satellite observations have aided in monitoring gross primary production (GPP) at longer scales (e.g., monthly, annual), but they are limited in capturing diurnal variations. Fortunately, in recent years, emerging new-generation geostationary satellites with sub-daily sampling capability, provide unique opportunities to study diurnal variations of vegetation photosynthesis and their responses to environmental conditions over the course of day at large spatial scales.

In a recent study, scientists estimated hourly GPP across the Conterminous U.S. based on observations from Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R (GOES-R), and then investigated how the diurnal cycle of photosynthesis responded to the severe late-summer heat wave of 2020. The work is published in the journal Science Advances.

The study provides an exploration of heat wave impacts on the diurnal dynamics of photosynthesis at a continental scale, revealing a widespread midday and afternoon depression of photosynthesis in dryland ecosystems during the heat wave. In the study the researchers examine the environmental regulation of diurnal photosynthesis dynamics across diverse ecosystems, and illustrate how current radiation-based methods for upscaling polar-orbiting satellite snapshots to daily means may under- or overestimate daily GPP.

They found a widespread midday and afternoon depression in ecosystem photosynthesis during the heat wave .

The diurnal metrics exhibit divergent responses to the heat wave across vegetation types and along aridity gradients. Overall, shrubland and grassland are more sensitive to the heat wave than the other vegetation types.

The impact of the heat wave on the diurnal cycle of photosynthesis is predominantly observed in arid and semiarid regions with an aridity index (AI) below 0.6. They found that the largest GPP loss occurred at noon or during the afternoon for the majority of western regions, later than the GPP peak hour during the heat wave year, further substantiating the asymmetric influence of heat waves on diurnal photosynthesis fluctuations.

 Xing Li et al, New-generation geostationary satellite reveals widespread midday depression in dryland photosynthesis during 2020 western U.S. heatwave, Science Advances (2023). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adi0775