Tableware made from sugarcane and bamboo breaks down in 60 days

Scientists have designed a set of "green" tableware made from sugarcane  and bamboo that doesn't sacrifice on convenience or functionality and could serve as a potential alternative to plastic cups and other disposable plastic containers. Unlike traditional plastic or biodegradable polymers—which can take as long as 450 years or require high temperatures to degrade—this non-toxic, eco-friendly material only takes 60 days to break down and is clean enough to hold your morning coffee or dinner takeout.

To find an alternative for plastic-based food containers, researchers turned to bamboos and one of the largest food-industry waste products: bagasse, also known as sugarcane pulp. Winding together long and thin bamboo fibers with short and thick bagasse fibers to form a tight network, the team molded containers from the two materials that were mechanically stable and biodegradable. The new green tableware is not only strong enough to hold liquids as plastic does and cleaner than biodegradables made from recycled materials that might not be fully de-inked, but also starts decomposing after being in the soil for 30-45 days and completely loses its shape after 60 days.

The researchers added alkyl ketene dimer (AKD), a widely used eco-friendly chemical in the food industry, to increase oil and water resistance of the molded tableware, ensuring the sturdiness of the product when wet. With the addition of this ingredient, the new tableware outperformed commercial biodegradable food containers, such as other bagasse-based tableware and egg cartons, in mechanical strength, grease resistance, and non-toxicity.

The tableware the researchers developed also comes with another advantage: a significantly smaller carbon footprint. The new product's manufacturing process emits 97% less CO2 than commercially available plastic containers and 65% less CO2 than paper products and biodegradable plastic. 

 Matter, Liu, Luan, and Li et al.: "Biodegradable, Hygienic, and Compostable Tableware from Hybrid Sugarcane and Bamboo Fibers as Plastic Alternative" www.cell.com/matter/fulltext/S2590-2385(20)30558-0 , DOI: 10.1016/j.matt.2020.10.004

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-tableware-sugarcane-bamboo-days.html?...

Evolution favours new diseases of 'intermediate' severity

New epidemic diseases have an evolutionary advantage if they are of "intermediate" severity, research shows.

Scientists tested the theory that pathogens (disease-causing organisms) that inflict intermediate levels of harm on their host are the most evolutionarily successful.

found that natural selection favors pathogens of intermediate virulence (how much harm a pathogen causes) at the point the disease emerges in a new host species.

This occurs because virulence and transmission are linked, with virulence arising because pathogens need to exploit hosts to persist, replicate and transmit.

While too-low virulence will be detrimental for pathogens if they cannot transmit, virulence that is too high will also be a disadvantage if infection kills hosts so fast that the pathogen does not have time to transmit.

Over time, pathogens that show intermediate levels of virulence should therefore have an evolutionary advantage.

Camille Bonneaud et al, Experimental evidence for stabilizing selection on virulence in a bacterial pathogen, Evolution Letters (2020). DOI: 10.1002/evl3.203

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-evolution-favors-diseases-intermediat...

Researchers find connection between household chemicals and gut microbiome

A team of researchers for the first time has found a correlation between the levels of bacteria and fungi in the gastrointestinal tract of children and the amount of common chemicals found in their home environment.

The work could lead to better understanding of how these semi-volatile organic compounds may affect human health.

The microbes in our gut, which include a large variety of bacteria and fungi, are thought to affect many processes, from nutrient absorption to our immunity, and an unhealthy microbiome has been implicated in diseases ranging from obesity to asthma and dementia.

In the study, the researchers measured levels of ubiquitous semi-organic compounds in the blood and urine of 69 toddlers and preschoolers and then, using fecal samples, studied the children's gut microbiomes. The semi-volatile organic compounds they measured included phthalates that are used in detergents, plastic clothing such as raincoats, shower curtains, and personal-care products, such as soap, shampoo, and hair spray, as well as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), which are used in stain- and water-repellent fabrics, coatings for carpets and furniture, nonstick cooking products, polishes, paints, and cleaning products. People are exposed daily to such chemicals in the air and dust in their homes, especially young children who might ingest them by crawling on carpets or frequently putting objects in their mouths.

When the researchers looked at the levels of fungi and bacteria in the gut, they found that children who had higher levels of the chemicals in their bloodstream showed differences in their gut microbiome.

Children with higher levels of PFASs in their blood had a reduction in the amount and diversity of bacteria, while increased levels of phthalates were associated with a reduction in fungi populations.

The correlation between the chemicals and less abundant bacterial organisms was especially pronounced and potentially most concerning.

The researchers also found, surprisingly, that the children who had high levels of chemical compounds in their blood also had in their gut several types of bacteria that have been used to clean up toxic chemicals. Dehalogenating bacteria have been used for bioremediation to degrade persistent halogenated chemicals like dry cleaning solvents from the environment. These bacteria are not typically found in the human gut.

"Finding the increased levels of these type of bacteria in the gut means that, potentially, the gut microbiome is trying to correct itself.

 Courtney M. Gardner et al, Exposures to Semivolatile Organic Compounds in Indoor Environments and Associations with the Gut Microbiomes of Children, Environmental Science & Technology Letters (2020). DOI: 10.1021/acs.estlett.0c00776

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-11-household-chemicals-gut-micr...

A potential game-changer to reverse alcohol intoxication

A staggering 3 million deaths occur every year as result from harmful use of alcohol, according to the World Health Organization.

Present in alcoholic drinks, ethanol, normally referred to as 'alcohol', affects every part of the human body. Brain function, circulation and even nail growth are impacted. When a certain level of blood alcohol concentration is reached, the intoxication can damage organs and lead to death.

Now a team of researchers  presents a proof of concept of a simple method that could become a game-changer in rescue therapy for severe alcohol intoxication, as well as just "sobering up."

Normally, 90% of the alcohol in the human body is cleared exclusively by the liver at constant rate that can't be increased. Currently there is no other method, short of dialysis, whereby alcohol can be removed from the blood. This leaves as the only options to treat life-threatening alcohol levels supportive measures such as giving oxygen, intravenous fluids, breathing assistance, and treating any heart issues with drugs.

The principle behind UHN team's approach is simply to recruit the lungs to breathe out the alcohol. The harder the breathing, it was reasoned, the more alcohol is eliminated. The team found that indeed, hyperventilation eliminated the alcohol at least three times faster than through the liver alone. But you can't just hyperventilate, because in a minute or two you would become light-headed and pass out.

When hyperventilating—breathing deeper and more rapidly than normal—the body eliminates carbon dioxide from the blood along with the alcohol. The decrease of this gas in the blood is the cause of symptoms such as light-headedness, tingling or numbness on hands and feet, and fainting.

The device used in this study allows the patient to hyperventilate off the alcohol while returning precisely the amount of carbon dioxide to the body to keep it at normal levels in the blood—regardless of the extent of hyperventilation. The equipment is the size of a small briefcase and uses a valve system, some connecting tubes, a mask, and a small tank with compressed carbon dioxide.

Scientific Reports (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-76233-9

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-11-potential-game-changer-rever...

At the moment the quickest superbug diagnosis time is around 24 hours. Now new research has identified a way of completing the whole blood sampling and analysis process in the space of just one hour.

Researchers from across the fields of molecular biology, chemistry, integrated optics and chemical processing put their heads together to come up with the new process, which can look out for three different superbugs in one go.

Through a process of blood spinning, the bacteria are isolated from the samples so their DNA can be analysed. The researchers used fluorescent molecules designed to bind specifically to segments of bacterial DNA that contain known antibiotic resistant genes. If these genes were present in the sample, they could then be detected by a microchip.

Every hour the disease is untreated, survivability drops by about 7 percent. You want to know what you're fighting immediately so you can apply the right treatments. 

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2020/lc/d0lc00640h#!...

 https://www.sciencealert.com/new-test-can-spot-superbugs-in-your-bl...

New device puts music in your head—no headphones required

Imagine a world where you move around in your own personal sound bubble. You listen to your favorite tunes, play loud computer games, watch a movie or get navigation directions in your car—all without disturbing those around you.

That's the possibility presented by "sound beaming," a new futuristic audio technology from Noveto Systems. On Friday it  debuted a desktop device that beams sound directly to a listener without the need for headphones.

The listening sensation is straight out of a sci-fi movie. The 3-D sound is so close it feels like it's inside your ears while also in front, above and behind them.

Noveto expects the device will have plenty of practical uses, from allowing office workers to listen to music or conference calls without interrupting colleagues to letting someone play a game, movie or music without disturbing their significant others.

The lack of headphones means it's possible to hear other sounds in the room clearly.

The technology uses a 3-D sensing module and locates and tracks the ear position sending audio via ultrasonic waves to create sound pockets by the user's ears. Sound can be heard in stereo or a spatial 3-D mode that creates 360 degree sound around the listener, the company said.

The demo includes nature video clips of swans on a lake, bees buzzing and a babbling brook, where the listener feels completely transported into the scene.

You don't believe it because it sounds like a speaker, but no one else can hear it…it's supporting you and you're in the middle of everything. It's happening around you."

By changing a setting, the sound can follow a listener around when they move their head. It's also possible to move out of the beam's path and hear nothing at all, which creates a surreal experience.

It follows you wherever you go. So it's personally for you—follows you, plays what you want inside your head.

https://techxplore.com/news/2020-11-device-music-headno-headphones-...

Scientists race for hail collection for research

COVID-19 vaccines are coming – how will we know they work and are safe?

https://theconversation.com/covid-19-vaccines-are-coming-how-will-w...

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why do older adults get shorter?

It's not just older adults who get shorter. You start shrinking, the moment you get out of bed in the morning.

https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-do-older-adults-get-sh...

In-utero exposure to coronavirus pandemic could cause developmental difficulties, accelerated aging in the century ahead

Exposure to COVID-19 could pose a risk to the health and aging of individuals who aren't even born yet, according to a newly published analysis by USC researchers.

by the end of 2020, approximately 300,000 infants could be born to mothers infected by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Millions more will be born into families who have experienced tremendous stress and upheaval due to the pandemic even if they haven't been infected themselves, the authors added.

While the longer-term effects of COVID-19 on infants is yet to be seen, researchers can find some insight from the past, including the 1918 flu pandemic and previous coronavirus illnesses such as SARS in 2002 and MERS in 2012, Finch said.

"The 1918 influenza pandemic had long-term impacts on the cohort exposed in utero, which experienced earlier adult mortality and more diabetes, ischemic heart disease and depression after age 50," he said. "It is possible that the COVID-19 pandemic will also have long-term impacts on the cohort that was in utero during the pandemic, from exposure to maternal infection and/or the stress of the pandemic environment."

Maternal viral infections can affect fetuses through multiple pathways, from direct transmission through the placenta to inflammatory responses that disturb in-utero metabolism a

nd negatively affect growth. While direct maternal-fetal transmission of the virus and severe birth defects appear to have been rare during previous coronavirus outbreaks, there were increases in preterm delivery and low birth weight during both the 2002 SARS and 2009 H1N1 influenza outbreaks, which are possible consequences of increased inflammation.

While studies on COVID-19 and pregnancy are still in their early stages, there have already been some concerning results that merit a closer look in ongoing studies, the authors wrote. Increased rates of preterm birth may be linked to maternal SARS-CoV-2 infections, and other studies indicate that severe illness is correlated with a higher risk of stillbirth. Other potential dangers, including the increased risk of blood clots presented by both pregnancy and severe COVID-19, also need further study.

Molly Crimmins Easterlin et al, Will prenatal exposure to SARS-CoV-2 define a birth cohort with accelerated aging in the century ahead?, Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (2020). DOI: 10.1017/S204017442000104X

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-11-in-utero-exposure-coronaviru...

Scientists discover new family of quasiparticles in graphene-based materials

A group of researchers have discovered and characterized a new family of quasiparticles named 'Brown-Zak fermions' in graphene-based superlattices.

The team achieved this breakthrough by aligning the atomic lattice of a graphene layer to that of an insulating boron nitride sheet, dramatically changing the properties of the graphene sheet.

In a graphene layer which has been aligned with the boron nitride, electrons also start to bend—but if you set the magnetic field at specific values, the electrons move in straight line trajectories again, as if there is no magnetic field anymore! Such behaviour is radically different from textbook physics.

Researchers attribute this fascinating behaviour to the formation of novel quasiparticles at high magnetic field. Those quasiparticles have their own unique properties and exceptionally high mobility despite the extremely high magnetic field.

Nature Communications (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19604-0

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-scientists-family-quasiparticles-grap...

Microbes feeding on methane release arsenic into groundwater

Arsenic is a toxin now widely present in rivers and groundwater in countries such as Bangladesh and Vietnam. It is released by the activity of microorganisms. Yet for a long time it was unclear what the microorganisms ate to release the arsenic. A team of geomicrobiologists led by Professor Andreas Kappler from the University of Tübingen has shown that the microbes break down arsenic-bearing sediments using organic compounds from deep layers as food, disproving theories that the fuel for their activity was drawn from plants or algae on the surface. Now the team has also shown that along with the organic materials in the sediments, methane gas is an important source of food for the bacteria and also plays a key role in their release of arsenic. This new mechanism responsible for arsenic mobilization can explain elevated concentration of arsenic in many aquifers and will help to more precisely predict future drinking water contamination.

 Arsenic mobilization by anaerobic iron-dependent methane oxidation, Nature Communications Earth & Environment (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s43247-020-00037-y

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-microbes-methane-arsenic-groundwater....

Organoids produce embryonic heart

 stem cell biology and tissue engineering are turning fiction into reality with the advent of organoids: tiny lab-grown tissues and organs that are anatomically correct and physiologically functional.

The appeal of organoids is obvious. Essentially, they can provide us with an on-demand production of tissues and mini-organs for pharmaceutical and medical research, without constantly having to rely on donors. And although that goal might still be a long way off, we’re slowly getting closer.

Now, researchers have successfully produced a mouse heart organoid in its early embryonic stages.  The researchers grew their organoids from mouse embryonic stem cells, which, under the right conditions, can self-organize into structures that “mimic aspects of the architecture, cellular composition, and function of tissues found in real organs”. Placed in cell-culture under specific conditions, the embryonic stem cells form a three-dimensional aggregate called a “gastruloid”, which can follow the developmental stages of the mouse embryo.

Armed with this, the researchers exposed mouse embryonic stem cells to a “cocktail” of three factors known to promote heart growth. After 168 hours, the resulting gastruloids showed signs of early heart development: they expressed several genes that regulate cardiovascular development in the embryo, and they even generated what resembled a vascular network.

But more importantly, the researchers found that the gastruloids developed what they call an “anterior cardiac crescent-like domain”. This structure produced a beating heart tissue, similar to the embryonic heart. And much like the muscle cells of the embryonic heart, the beating compartment was also sensitive to calcium ions.

https://actu.epfl.ch/news/organoids-produce-embryonic-heart/

https://researchnews.cc/news/3583/Organoids-produce-embryonic-heart...

Anti-ageing therapy against metastases

Scientists discovered a genetic factor that determines whether ageing prostate cancer cells either die or become more aggressive. This finding provides important information for personalised therapy of patients.

Aging tumour cells stop proliferating. This cell ageing process is called senescence. In cancer therapy, it is deliberately induced with drugs to slow down tumour growth. However, such senescent tumour cells can, in certain conditions, also take the opposite path, which is undesirable in therapy: they become more aggressive and form metastases.

An international team of researchers was studying the senescence processes in prostate cancer. They have now found the genetic switch that determines the fate of senescent cells: the gene TIMP1. If this gene is inactive or absent in patients, factors are released in the tumour cell which reprogramme the cell and make it more aggressive and invasive.

Based on clinical data and genetic studies of prostate cancer patients, the scientists were also able to show that an inactive TIMP1 gene frequently occurs and correlates with lack of responsiveness to chemotherapy and a more severe clinical outcome.

The results of this research once again direct us towards personalised cancer therapy. Genetic factors of the patient can in fact determine whether senescence has a positive effect on tumour growth or a negative effect in stimulating the formation of metastases. In the latter case it is important to administer chemotherapeutic drug that induce senescence with caution. Instead, senolytic drugs that kill the senescent cells should be administered.

https://ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2020/11/anti-agein...

https://researchnews.cc/news/3571/Anti-ageing-therapy-against-metas...

Rosetta Comet Mission 

How to make a fake supernova

Powerful, mysterious stellar explosions are difficult to understand from afar, so researchers have figured out how to re-create supernovas' extreme physics in the lab and study how outbursts seed the cosmos with elements and energetic particles.

Compounds block stress-enhanced nicotine intake in rats
Stress is a major cause of relapse after people quit smoking. Worrying situations, such as money or relationship problems, can affect neurotransmitter levels in the brain, leading former smokers to reach for a cigarette. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science have discovered that compounds that activate γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors in the brain can keep rats from self-administering increased levels of nicotine during stressful conditions in an animal model for relapse.

GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter that decreases nerve signaling in the brain. When a person experiences stress, their GABA levels can decrease, causing some neurons to become hyperactive. Using an animal model, Burt Sharp and colleagues wanted to find out if giving rats compounds that stimulate GABAA, a specific type of GABA receptor, on certain neurons, called basolateral amygdala principal output neurons, could lessen the rats’ relapse to nicotine during stressful conditions.

In the animal model, rats were taught to press a lever to self-administer nicotine. After a week, the animals were withdrawn from nicotine for 8 days. To cause stress, the researchers confined the rats in a small space. After releasing the rodents, the team injected one of three compounds, called positive allosteric modulators of GABAA, or PAMs, into a specific region of the stressed rats’ brains, and then gave them access to the nicotine-administering levers. Untreated stressed rats pressed the levers about 1.5 times more frequently than they had before the abstinence period, while rats treated with any of the PAMs reduced nicotine intake to levels seen in unstressed rats before the abstinence period. If similar effects are confirmed in humans, novel, selective PAMs could be helpful in alleviating the stress-induced relapse to smoked tobacco, with potentially fewer side effects than GABA administration, the researchers say.
https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/presspacs/2020/acs-pre...
https://researchnews.cc/news/3588/Compounds-block-stress-enhanced-n...

Diagnostic imaging may increase risk of testicular cancer

Early and repeated exposures to diagnostic imaging, such as X-rays and CT scans, may increase the risk of testicular cancer, suggests a new study from Penn Medicine researchers published online in PLOS ONE. “The steady rise in testicular germ cell tumor (TGCT) cases over the past three or four decades suggests there is an environmental exposure risk at play, but no definitive risk factor has ever been identified.

The data suggests that the increased use of diagnostic radiation below the waist in men over that same time may contribute to the increase in incidence.

In this latest research, the authors conducted an observational study of 1,246 men between the ages of 18 and 55 with and without testicular cancer at Penn Medicine. The participants were invited to complete a questionnaire that elicited information on known and presumptive risk factors for testicular cancer and diagnostic imaging during their lifetime, including location on the body and number of exposures, prior to their diagnosis. Tumor samples were also collected.

After adjusting for known risks of testicular cancer, including cryptorchidism and family history, race, age, and other factors, the researchers found that there was a statistically significant increased risk of testicular cancer among those reporting at least three exposures to X-ray, including a colon X-ray, and CT below the waist, compared to men with no such exposure.

Individuals with three or more exposures to diagnostic radiation had a 59 percent increased risk of having TGCT compared to individuals with no exposures to diagnostic radiation. The risk was also elevated for those exposed to diagnostic radiation during the first decade of their life, compared to those first exposed at age 18 years or later.

https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-releases/2020/november/diagn....

https://researchnews.cc/news/3586/Diagnostic-imaging-may-increase-r...

Building blocks of life can form long before stars

An international team of scientists have shown that glycine, the simplest amino acid and an important building block of life, can form under the harsh conditions that govern chemistry in space.

The results, published in Nature Astronomy, suggest that glycine, and very likely other amino acids, form in dense interstellar clouds well before they transform into new stars and planets.

Comets are the most pristine material in our Solar System and reflect the molecular composition present at the time our Sun and planets were just about to form. The detection of glycine in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and in samples returned to Earth from the Stardust mission suggests that amino acids, such as glycine, form long before stars. However until recently, it was thought that glycine formation required energy, setting clear constraints to the environment in which it can be formed.

In the new study the international team of astrophysicists and astrochemical modelers have shown that it is possible for glycine to form on the surface of icy dust grains, in the absence of energy, through 'dark chemistry'. The findings contradict previous studies that have suggested UV radiation was required to produce this molecule.

Dark chemistry refers to chemistry without the need of energetic radiation. In the laboratory researchers were able to simulate the conditions in dark interstellar clouds where cold dust particles are covered by thin layers of ice and subsequently processed by impacting atoms causing precursor species to fragment and reactive intermediates to recombine.

The scientists first showed methylamine, the precursor species of glycine that was detected in the coma of the comet 67P, could form. Then, using a unique ultra-high vacuum setup, equipped with a series of atomic beam lines and accurate diagnostic tools, they were able to confirm glycine could also be formed, and that the presence of water ice was essential in this process.

Further investigation using astrochemical models confirmed the experimental results and allowed the researchers to extrapolate data obtained on a typical laboratory timescale of just one day to interstellar conditions, bridging millions of years.

Once formed, glycine can also become a precursor to other complex organic molecules . Following the same mechanism, in principle, other functional groups can be added to the glycine backbone, resulting in the formation of other amino acids, such as alanine and serine in dark clouds in space. In the end, this enriched organic molecular inventory is included in celestial bodies, like comets, and delivered to young planets, as happened to our Earth and many other planets.

A non-energetic mechanism for glycine formation in the interstellar medium, Nature Astronomy (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41550-020-01249-0 , www.nature.com/articles/s41550-020-01249-0

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-blocks-life-stars.html?utm_source=nwl...

Fish carcasses deliver toxic mercury pollution to the deepest ocean trenches

The sinking carcasses of fish from near-surface waters deliver toxic mercury pollution to the most remote and inaccessible parts of the world's oceans, including the deepest spot of them all: the 36,000-foot-deep Mariana Trench in the northwest Pacific.

And most of that mercury began its long journey to the deep-sea trenches as atmospheric emissions from coal-fired power plants, mining operations, cement factories, incinerators and other human activities.

Joel D. Blum el al., "Mercury isotopes identify near-surface marine mercury in deep-sea trench biota," PNAS (2020). www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.2012773117

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-fish-carcasses-toxic-mercury-pollutio...

New technology allows more precise view of the smallest nanoparticles

Current state-of-the-art techniques have clear limitations when it comes to imaging the smallest nanoparticles, making it difficult for researchers to study viruses and other structures at the molecular level.

Scientists from the University of Houston and the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center have reported in Nature Communications a new optical imaging technology for nanoscale objects, relying upon unscattered light to detect nanoparticles as small as 25 nanometers in diameter. The technology, known as PANORAMA, uses a glass slide covered with gold nanodiscs, allowing scientists to monitor changes in the transmission of light and determine the target's characteristics.

PANORAMA takes its name from Plasmonic Nano-aperture Label-free Imaging (PlAsmonic NanO-apeRture lAbel-free iMAging), signifying the key characteristics of the technology. PANORAMA can be used to detect, count and determine the size of individual dielectric nanoparticles.

Nareg Ohannesian et al. Plasmonic nano-aperture label-free imaging (PANORAMA), Nature Communications (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19678-w

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-technology-precise-view-smallest-nano...

Excess consumption of eggs linked to diabetes

The health benefits of the humble egg might not be all they're cracked up to be as new research from the University of South Australia shows that excess egg consumption can increase your risk of diabetes. It found that people who regularly consumed one or more eggs per day (equivalent to 50 grams) increased their risk of diabetes by 60 percent.

It was discovered  that higher long-term egg consumption (greater than 38 grams per day) increased the risk of diabetes among Chinese adults by approximately 25 percent.

The effect was also more pronounced in women than in men.

Yue Wang et al, Higher egg consumption associated with increased risk of diabetes in Chinese adults – China Health and Nutrition Survey, British Journal of Nutrition (2020). DOI: 10.1017/S0007114520003955

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-11-easy-eggs-egg-cess-consumpti...

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Baking Soda Boosts T Cells’ Ability to Fight Leukemia

 Math shows diverse thinkers equal better results

The exchange of information is key in making everyday decisions. But new  research shows that the group decision-making process may work best when members process information a bit differently.

Researchers published a new study today that tackles how groups make decisions and the dynamics that make for fast and accurate decision making. They found that networks that consisted of both impulsive and deliberate individuals made, on average, quicker and better decisions than a group with homogenous thinkers.

Bhargav Karamched et al. Heterogeneity Improves Speed and Accuracy in Social Networks, Physical Review Letters (2020). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.218302

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-decision-math-diverse-thinkers-equal....

New optical method paves way to breath test for cancer biomarker

Researchers have developed an extremely sensitive, yet simple optical method for detecting formaldehyde in a person's breath. Because formaldehyde is being studied as a potential biomarker for lung and breast cancer, the new method could one day lead to an inexpensive and fast way to screen for cancer.

Measuring biomarkers in exhaled breath is noninvasive, painless and fast and could be used to screen for cancer even at very early disease stages, which is crucial for successful treatment.

This new optical sensing method based on multipass spectroscopy can detect the presence of 1 molecule of formaldehyde in a million air particles, or 1 part per million, even in the presence of gasses that can interfere with optical measurement.

Mateusz Winkowski et al, Optical detection of formaldehyde in air in the 36 µm range, Biomedical Optics Express (2020). DOI: 10.1364/BOE.405384

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-optical-method-paves-cancer-biomarker...

Cancer researchers discover new human salivary glands

Scientists Discover New Human Salivary Glands

The findings may have implications for radiotherapy, a cancer treatment that can cause damage to salivary glands and leave lasting complications.

https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/scientists-discover-new-...

New study could help predict which individuals are more susceptible to cancer-causing agents

New insights into the mechanisms behind how cancer-causing agents in the environment activate genetic recombination in DNA could help to explain some of the effects of exposure as well as predicting which individuals may be more susceptible to developing the disease, a new study has suggested.

Everyone is exposed to low levels of carcinogens (substances or radiation that promote the formation of cancer) in the environment. One of the most widely found is benzopyrene—a general chemical pollutant found in smoke from stoves such as wood burners, exhaust fumes and barbequed meat and fish. One active ingredient of benzopyrene, BPDE, directly damages the DNA sequence forming what is known as adducts which in turn promote cancer-causing mutations.

While models exist showing how BPDE causes these mutations, some of the pathways are still not understood. It is currently believed that a BPDE adducts cause mutations during DNA synthesis because they activate a process called translesion synthesis—where cells copy the DNA despite the presence of unrepaired damage to allow progression of the replication fork—and this induces mutations. However, evidence also suggests the involvement of another process called homologous recombination (HR) which works by copying other undamaged parts of the genome. HR proteins repair complex DNA damage such as breaks in the DNA strands and interstrand cross-links, and protect and recover stalled or broken replication forks.

This latest study treated human cell lines with BPDE before using molecular biology methods, such as microscopy, to characterize the homologous recombination pathway in detail. Results have offered new insights showing that HR proceeds by an unusual mechanism at BPDE adducts and the process can be activated even when there are no stalled or collapsed replication forks. Instead, it is activated at single-stranded gaps in the DNA that are generated by the re-priming activity of PrimPol—a protein encoded by the PRIMPOL gene in humans.

The findings also address longstanding questions by showing that at bulky DNA adducts, the exchanges between the sister chromatids (the identical copies formed by the DNA replication of a chromosome), products of HR that have been traditionally connected with replication fork collapse and DSB repair, are associated with the repair of post-replicative gaps. Furthermore, these post-replicative gaps are produced by PrimPol, shedding light on the function of PrimPol during DNA damage tolerance.

Ann Liza Piberger, Akhil Bowry, Richard D. W. Kelly, Alexandra K. Walker, Daniel González-Acosta, Laura J. Bailey, Aidan J. Doherty, Juan Méndez, Joanna R. Morris, Helen E. Bryant, Eva Petermann. PrimPol-dependent single-stranded gap formation mediates homologous recombination at bulky DNA adducts. Nature Communications, 2020; 11 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19570-7

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-11-individuals-susceptible-canc...

Unexpectedly, The Universe Is Getting Hotter And Hotter as It Expands

The Universe is in a state of expansion and  the rate of expansion has been speeding up.

As this progresses, and the galaxy clusters and filaments of the Universe move farther apart, scientists theorize that the mean temperature of the Universe will gradually decline.

But according to new research led by the Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics (CCAPP) at Ohio State University, it appears that the Universe is actually getting hotter as time goes on.

After probing the thermal history of the Universe over the last 10 billion years, the team concluded that the mean temperature of cosmic gas has increased more than 10 times and reached about 2.2 million K (~2.2 °C; 4 million °F) today.

Explanation by scientists for this heating:  As the Universe evolves, gravity pulls dark matter and gas in space together into galaxies and clusters of galaxies. The drag is violent - so violent that more and more gas is shocked and heated up.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/abb403

https://www.sciencealert.com/the-universe-is-getting-hotter-and-hot...

Solar device can sterilize medical tools in off-grid areas without the need for electricity

Autoclaves, the devices used to sterilize medical tools in hospitals, clinics, and doctors' and dentists' offices, require a steady supply of pressurized steam at a temperature of about 125 degrees Celsius. This is usually provided by electrical or fuel-powered boilers, but in many rural areas, especially in the developing world, power can be unreliable or unavailable, and fuel is expensive.

Now, a team of researchers at MIT and the Indian Institute of Technology has come up with a way to generate the needed steam passively, using just the power of sunlight, with no need for fuel or electricity. The device, which would require a solar collector of about 2 square meters (or yards) to power a typical small-clinic autoclave, could maintain safe, sterile equipment at low cost in remote locations. A prototype was successfully tested in Mumbai, India.

The key to the new system is the use of optically transparent aerogel, a material developed over the last few years by Wang and her collaborators. The material is essentially a lightweight foam made of silica, the material of beach sand, and consists mostly of air. Light as it is, the material provides effective thermal insulation, reducing the rate of heat loss by tenfold.

This transparent insulating material is bonded onto the top of what is essentially off-the-shelf equipment for producing solar hot water, which consists of a copper plate with a heat-absorbing black coating, bonded to a set of pipes on the underside. As the sun heats the plate, water flowing through the pipes underneath picks up that heat. But with the addition of the transparent insulating layer on top, plus polished aluminum mirrors on each side of the plate to direct extra sunlight at the plate, the system can generate high-temperature steam instead of just hot water. The system uses gravity to feed water from a tank into the plate; the steam then rises to the top of the enclosure and is fed out through another pipe, which carries the pressurized steam to the autoclave. A steady supply of steam must be maintained for 30 minutes to achieve proper sterilization.

Joule, Zhao et al.: "A passive high-temperature high-pressure solar steam generator for medical sterilization" DOI: 10.1016/j.joule.2020.10.007,
www.cell.com/joule/fulltext/S2542-4351(20)30496-7

https://techxplore.com/news/2020-11-solar-device-sterilize-medical-...

How giant viruses fuel the evolution of algae

Viruses are tiny invaders that cause a wide range of disease. But viruses can do more than elicit sickness—and not all viruses are tiny.

Large viruses, especially those in the nucleo-cytoplasmic large DNA virus family, can integrate their genome into that of their host—dramatically changing the genetic makeup of that organism. This family of DNA viruses, otherwise known as "giant" viruses, has been known within scientific circles for quite some time, but the extent to which they affect eukaryotic organisms has been shrouded in mystery—till now.

Viruses play a central role in the evolution of life on Earth. One way that they shape the evolution of cellular life is through a process called endogenization, where they introduce new genomic material into their hosts. When a giant virus endogenizes into the genome of a host algae, it creates an enormous amount of raw material for evolution to work with.

Researchers discovered that 24 of the 65 genomes they analyzed had some kinds of viral signatures in their genomes, which originated from repeated endogenization of distinct viruses. In one algal organism, Tetrabaena socialis, researchers found that around 10 percent of its genes originated from a virus in the nucleo-cytoplasmic large DNA virus family.

Although the endogenization of viruses have been well studied, studies have mostly been limited to small RNA viruses, such as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the retrovirus that is responsible for causing acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

Widespread endogenization of giant viruses shapes genomes of green algae, Nature (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2924-2 , www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2924-2

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-lurking-genomic-shadows-giant-viruses...

The magic of science: Making diamonds in minutes!

An international team of scientists has defied nature to make diamonds in minutes in a laboratory at room temperature—a process that normally requires billions of years, huge amounts of pressure and super-hot temperatures.

The scientific team made two types of diamonds: the kind found on an engagement ring and another type of diamond called Lonsdaleite, which is found in nature at the site of meteorite impacts such as Canyon Diablo in the US.

Natural diamonds are usually formed over billions of years, about 150 kilometres deep in the Earth where there are high pressures and temperatures above 1,000 degrees Celsius.

This new unexpected discovery shows both Lonsdaleite and regular diamond can also form at normal room temperatures by just applying high pressures—equivalent to 640 African elephants on the tip of a ballet shoe.

The twist in the story is how researchers  applied the pressure. As well as very high pressures, they allowed the carbon to also experience something called 'shear' - which is like a twisting or sliding force. This might allow the carbon atoms to move into place and form Lonsdaleite and regular diamond.

Dougal G. McCulloch et al. Investigation of Room Temperature Formation of the Ultra‐Hard Nanocarbons Diamond and Lonsdaleite, Small (2020). DOI: 10.1002/smll.202004695

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-scientists-insta-bling-room-temperatu...

A DNA-based nanogel for targeted chemotherapy

Current chemotherapy regimens slow cancer progression and save lives, but these powerful drugs affect both healthy and cancerous cells. 

Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Nano Letters have designed DNA-based nanogels that only break down and release their chemotherapeutic contents within cancer cells, minimizing the impacts on normal ones and potentially eliminating painful and uncomfortable side effects.

Once ingested or injected, chemotherapy medications move throughout the body, indiscriminately affecting healthy cells along with those that are responsible for disease. Since many of these drugs are toxic to all cells, the desired tumor shrinkage can be accompanied by undesirable side effects, such as hair loss, gastrointestinal issues and fatigue. Nanogels made of DNA are one way that these drugs could be delivered, but they would still enter all cells. Tianhu Li, Teck-Peng Loh and colleagues reasoned that biomarkers—proteins or other components that are present in differing amounts in cancer cells and their healthy counterparts—could play a role in breaking down a nanogel, causing it to release its contents only in those that are cancerous. A biomarker called FEN1, a repair enzyme that cuts certain types of DNA, is present in larger amounts in cancer cells compared with healthy ones. The researchers wanted to see whether they could design a DNA nanogel that would specifically be degraded in cancer cells by FEN1.

To make DNA nanogels, the researchers used special DNA structures that FEN1 could recognize and cut. With cell-free systems, the researchers observed that the DNA-based nanogels were broken down by FEN1 but not by other DNA repair enzymes or compounds. When live cells were incubated with the DNA-based nanogels, healthy ones did not have enough FEN1 to break them down, but cancer cells did. When the chemotherapeutic drugs doxorubicin and vinorelbine were incorporated into the nanogel, human breast cancer cells died at higher rates than normal, healthy breast cells.

These findings indicate DNA-based nanogels can introduce drugs into cancer cells with a high specificity, reducing the risk of side effects. The researchers say that the nanogels also could be used as probes for the biomarker enzyme, helping physicians more directly diagnose cancer compared with current methods.

Hao Zhang et al. Cancer Biomarker-Triggered Disintegrable DNA Nanogels for Intelligent Drug Delivery, Nano Letters (2020). DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c03671

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-dna-based-nanogel-chemotherapy.html?u...

SCI-COM: Time for scientists to speak up and be heard

https://www.scidev.net/asia-pacific/governance/columns/time-for-sci...

Strange Case : Kids Develop Coronavirus Antibodies Without Ever Testing Positive

From the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, scientists observed that children seemed to be less susceptible to developing COVID-19, although the exact reasons why remain unclear.
Now, an unusual case in Australia may provide unique insight into the mystery. In this family of five, the two parents became sick with COVID-19 after attending an interstate wedding without their children. However, the symptoms didn't show until days after they had returned from the trip.

Nonetheless, completely unbeknownst to them, they had brought SARS-CoV-2 into their home, and exposed their children to it. Once both the parents developed symptoms – including cough, congested nose, fever and headache – the entire family was tested for the virus. The parents' tests came back positive. The children's tests came back negative.
Healthcare workers asked the family to repeat the tests, but again the children's tests came back negative for SARS-CoV-2, even though two of the boys in the family (aged 9 and 7) had mild symptoms.
The youngest child, a 5-year-old daughter, remained asymptomatic throughout the entire episode, even though she was frequently sleeping in the same bed as the parents during their sickness (physical distancing precautions not feasible in the household during their quarantine).

Intrigued by the children's negative results while living in such close proximity to their infected parents, researchers asked the family to take part in a study, analysing samples of their blood, saliva, stools, and urine, and taking nose and throat swabs every two to three days.

Strangely enough, despite repeated polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests showing the children were consistently SARS-CoV-2 PCR negative, the researchers found SARS-CoV-2 specific antibodies in saliva of all the family members, and in detailed serology testing.

In other words, the children never tested positive for the virus, but some level of exposure to the virus had nonetheless triggered an immune response inside them, and one seemingly capable of countering the infection.
The youngest child, who showed no symptoms at all, had the strongest antibody response. Despite the active immune cell response in all children, levels of cytokines, molecular messengers in the blood that can trigger an inflammatory reaction, remained low. This was consistent with their mild or no symptoms.
The fact these children were able to shut down the virus and without even showing a positive test result suggests they have some level of their immune system which is able to respond and deal effectively with the virus, without them ever becoming very unwell.
In effect, the researchers think that the children did actually become infected by the virus, but their immune systems were somehow able to mount an anti-virus response that was highly effective in restricting virus replication, unlike their parents.

That immune response was so effective, it could have brought the viral load so low, that it went under the sensitivity of the PCR testing, which is another issue that bears further examination, the team thinks.

"The discordance between the virological PCR results and clinical serological testing, despite an evident immune response, highlights limitations to the sensitivity of nasopharyngeal PCR and current diagnostic serology in children," the researchers write.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19545-8
https://www.sciencealert.com/everyone-in-this-family-has-coronaviru...

New effective and safe antifungal isolated from sea squirt microbiome

By combing the ocean for antimicrobials, scientists have discovered a new antifungal compound that efficiently targets multi-drug-resistant strains of deadly fungi without toxic side effects in mice.

The new molecule was discovered in the microbiome of a sea squirt from the Florida Keys as part of an effort to identify novel antimicrobials from understudied ecosystems. Scientists named the antifungal turbinmicin, after the sea squirt from which it was isolated, Ecteinascidia turbinate.

The researchers tested purified turbinmicin against a slate of 39 fungi isolated from patients. These strains both represented diverse species and encompassed all the known ways that fungi have evolved resistance to existing drugs. In lab experiments, turbinmicin halted or killed nearly all fungal strains at low concentrations, indicating a potent effect.

Similar experiments in mice infected with drug-resistant strains of Candida auris and Aspergillus fumigatus also demonstrated turbinmicin's ability to attack resistant fungi. Because fungi and animals are closely related, and thus share similar cellular machinery, antifungals can prove toxic to animals as well. Yet, turbinmicin did not show toxic side effects in mice, even at concentrations 1000 times higher than the minimum dose. The effective dose would work out to tens of milligrams for an average-weight adult, less than for many other antibiotics.

F. Zhang el al., "A marine microbiome antifungal targets urgent-threat drug-resistant fungi," Science (2020). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi … 1126/science.abd6919

"Drugs from bugs in creatures of the sea," Science (2020). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi … 1126/science.abf1675

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-effective-safe-antifungal-isolated-se...

Disease-causing fungi continue to evolve resistance to the small number of drugs available to thwart them. As a result, more people are dying from previously treatable diseases, such as candidiasis or aspergillosis, which are caused by common fungi that sometimes turn virulent. Identifying compounds like turbinmicin is key to developing new and effective drugs. However, while turbinmicin is a promising drug candidate, additional study of the molecule and extensive preclinical research must be performed before a new drug can become available.

Researchers show water has multiple liquid states

An international team of researchers has shown that water can exist in two different liquid states—a finding that can explain many of water's anomalous properties.

The possibility that water could exist in two different liquid states was proposed approximately 30 years ago, based on results obtained from computer simulations. This hypothesis has been one of the most important questions in the chemistry and physics of water, and a controversial scenario since its beginnings. This is because experiments that can access the two liquid states in water have been very challenging due to the apparently unavoidable ice formation at the conditions where the two liquids should exist.

The usual "liquid" state of water that we are all familiar with corresponds to liquid water at normal temperatures (approximately 25 degrees C). However, a new research paper shows that water at low temperatures (approximately -63 degrees C) exists in two different liquid states, a low-density liquid at low pressures and a high-density liquid at high pressures. These two liquids have noticeably different properties and differ by 20% in density. The results imply that at appropriate conditions, water should exist as two immiscible liquids separated by a thin interface similar to the coexistence of oil and water.

Because water is one of the most important substances on Earth—the solvent of life as we know it—its phase behaviour plays a fundamental role in different fields, including biochemistry, climate, cryopreservation, cryobiology, material science, and in many industrial processes where water acts as a solvent, product, reactant, or impurity. It follows that unusual characteristics in the phase behaviour of water, such as the presence of two liquid states, can affect numerous scientific and engineering applications.

Experimental observation of the liquid-liquid transition in bulk supercooled water under pressure. Science (2020). science.sciencemag.org/lookup/ … 1126/science.abb9385

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-multiple-liquid-states.html?utm_sourc...

Undesirable rejection mechanism identified in stem cell transplantation

In the treatment of leukemia, stem cell transplantation subsequent to chemotherapy and radiation can often engender severe adverse inflammatory reactions—especially in the skin or in the gut, since these so-called barrier organs are more frequently affected. Up until now, the reason for this was unclear till now. Scientists now identified an immune mechanism that is partially responsible for this.

The term leukemia is used to describe a group of malignant diseases of the haematopoietic system, in which precursors of the white blood cells (leucocytes) proliferate uncontrollably. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are used to destroy the abnormal blood cells, which are then replaced by means of a stem cell transplant. In leukemia, the transplantation of healthy bone marrow stem cells or haematopoietic stem cells is often the only hope of recovery for patients. The process involves "replacing" all the recipient's blood cells that were previously destroyed by the treatment with donor cells.

However, the MedUni Vienna dermatologists have now found that there are so-called skin-resident and inactive T cells in the endogenous immune system that survive chemotherapy and radiotherapy intact and go on to survive for a further ten years between and beneath the epithelial cells of the skin, while the circulating T cells are destroyed.

"We were able to demonstrate that T cells surviving in the skin tissue are responsible for the inflammatory reaction following a stem cell transplant. These phenomena often occur within the first 100 days and can cause anything from mild eczema through to extensive fibrosis, hardening of the tissue, or blistering on the surface of the skin. In other words, the endogenous T cells attack the recipient (host) following stem cell transplantation." In specialist jargon, the condition is also referred to as Graft versus Host Disease (GvHD), and, for the first time, this study identified an inverse "Host-versus-graft reaction."

There were also cases in which the donor T cells further "supported," and thus intensified, this reaction. Affected patients are treated with cortisone, which causes an additional burden for patients who are already immunosuppressed following the transplantation. The study found that in patients who do not develop graft-versus-host disease, tissue-resident T cells remaining after treatment even proved to be beneficial to the recipient, in that they assumed their role in immune defense and protecting against infection.

In the future, the exemplary study results could lead to new treatment strategies that help to avoid, or at least to minimize, undesirable and violent inflammatory reactions following stem cell transplants by manipulating the recipient's inactive T cells in advance. In addition, the manipulation of tissue-resident T cells might lead to new therapeutic approaches for other chronic inflammatory skin diseases, such as psoriasis or neurodermatitis.

Johanna Strobl et al. Long-term skin-resident memory T cells proliferate in situ and are involved in human graft-versus-host disease, Science Translational Medicine (2020). DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abb7028

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-11-undesirable-mechanism-stem-c...

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The fundamental chemistry behind electrocatalytic water splitting

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-fundamental-chemistry-electrocatalyti...

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New system can sterilize medical tools using solar heat

Gut microbiome manipulation could result from virus discovery

Scientists have discovered how a common virus in the human gut infects and takes over bacterial cells – a finding that could be used to control the composition of the gut microbiome, which is important for human health.

The Rutgers co-authored research, which could aid efforts to engineer beneficial bacteria that produce medicines and fuels and clean up pollutants.
CrAssphages are the most abundant viruses infecting bacteria in the human gut. As such, they likely control our intestinal community of microbes (the microbiome).Understanding how these tiny viruses infect bacteria may allow scientists to control and manipulate the makeup of the microbiome, either by increasing the proportion of beneficial bacteria in our intestines or decreasing the number of harmful bacteria, thus promoting health and fighting disease.
Scientists found that crAssphages use their own enzyme (an RNA polymerase) to make RNA copies of their genes. RNA has the genetic information to make proteins. All cells, ranging from bacterial to human, use such enzymes to make RNA copies of their genes. And these enzymes are very similar in all living matter, implying that they’re ancient and related by common ancestry.
The atomic structure of a crAssphage enzyme is distinct from other RNA polymerases but closely resembles an enzyme in humans and other higher organisms that is involved in RNA interference. Such interference silences the function of some genes and may lead to certain diseases.

This is a startling result. It suggests that enzymes of RNA interference, a process that was thought to occur only in cells of higher organisms, were ‘borrowed’ from an ancestral bacterial virus early in evolution. The result provides a glimpse of how cells of higher organisms evolved by mixing and matching components of simpler cells and even their viruses.

In addition to deep evolutionary insights, phage (viral) enzymes such as crAssphage RNA polymerase may be used in synthetic biology to generate genetic circuits that do not exist in nature.

https://www.rutgers.edu/news/gut-microbiome-manipulation-could-resu...

https://researchnews.cc/news/3670/Gut-microbiome-manipulation-could...

Scientists identify brain cells that drive wakefulness and resist general anesthetics
Neuroscientists don’t know precisely what brain circuits control wakefulness and sleep, nor exactly how drugs for general anesthesia affect those circuits. But a new study from Penn Medicine researchers brings neuroscience a step closer to solving that important conundrum.

A team of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, in a study published online Nov. 13 in Current Biology, identified a population of neurons in the hypothalamus region of the brain that keeps mice from sleeping when they normally would when they are activated. Activating these neurons also “wakes” them from ongoing exposure to inhaled anesthetics like isoflurane or sevoflurane, and even helps maintain the alert state when animals are dosed with anesthetics.

The study also supports a hypothesis long debated by neuroscientists: that the parts of the brain regulating sleep and waking are also capable of regulating the brain’s response to general anesthetics.

https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-releases/2020/november/scien...

https://researchnews.cc/news/3673/Scientists-identify-brain-cells-t...

Your Tears Might Save Your Life Someday

They could ultimately be used to find diseases the way blood tests do now—but cheaper and more easily

At any given moment, about seven microliters of tears are present in each of our eyes—about a tenth of a drop of water. You might think of them as nothing more than salty water, but it’s more accurate to think if them filtered blood; they deliver oxygen and nutrients to our eyes, removing waste, serving as the first line of defense against pathogens and helping to heal injuries.

Tears also contain traces of the various chemicals originally present in blood, some of which serve as markers of illness—glucose, for example, which can signal diabetes, or enzymes that point to possible liver disease. That’s a primary reason doctors order blood tests. But it also that means that physicians—and maybe, in the near future, you—can look for indicators of illness by looking at your tears.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/your-tears-might-save-yo...

How rotavirus causes severe gastrointestinal disease

Rotavirus is a major cause of diarrhea and vomiting, especially in children, that results in approximately 128,000 deaths annually. The virus triggers the disease by infecting enterocyte cells in the small intestine, but only a fraction of the susceptible cells has the virus. In the mid-90s, scientists proposed that the small portion of infected cells promotes severe disease by sending out signals that disrupt the normal function of neighbouring uninfected cells, but the nature of the signal has remained a mystery.

In the current study published in the journal Science, a team led by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine discovered that rotavirus-infected cells release signaling molecules, identified as adenosine diphosphate (ADP), which binds its cellular receptor P2Y1 on neighboring cells. Activating P2Y1 by ADP results in signals called intercellular calcium waves in these uninfected cells. Disrupting ADP binding to its receptor reduced the severity of diarrhea in a mouse model of the disease, suggesting that targeting the P2Y1 may be an effective strategy to control viral diarrhea in human populations.

Further studies revealed previously unknown roles of ADP on rotavirus infection and replication, shining a spotlight on ADP as an important trigger of the multiple factors involved in severe diarrhea and vomiting caused by rotavirus. For instance, the researchers found evidence that ADP signaling increases rotavirus infection, the expression of inflammatory cytokine IL1-alpha and the secretion of serotonin, an inducer of diarrhea. ADP signaling also increases the expression of enzymes that produce prostaglandin and nitric oxide, potentially causing the increases in those compounds observed in rotavirus infection. Preventing ADP signaling and intercellular calcium waves reduced the production of the compounds mentioned above.

 Alexandra L. Chang-Graham et al, Rotavirus induces intercellular calcium waves through ADP signaling, Science (2020). DOI: 10.1126/science.abc3621

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-11-rotavirus-severe-gastrointes...

**In a First, Scientists Say They've Partially Reversed a Cellular Aging Process in Humans

Every time a cell inside your body replicates, a slither of your youth crumbles to dust. This occurs via the shortening of telomeres, structures that 'cap' the tips of our chromosomes.

Now, scientists in Israel say they've been able to reverse this process and extend the length of telomeres in a small study involving 26 patients.

The participants sat in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber for five 90 minutes sessions per week over three months, and as a result, some of their cell's telomeres were extended by up to 20 percent.

It's an impressive claim - and something many other researchers have attempted in the past without success. But of course it's worth flagging that this is a small sample size, and the results will need to be replicated before we can get too excited. 

However, the fact that hyperbaric oxygen therapy appears to affect telomere length is a compelling link worth investigating further. 

Telomeres are repeating chunks of code that act as the DNA equivalent of the plastic or metal aglet capping the end of a shoelace.

They copy themselves along with the rest of the chromosomes whenever a cell divides. Yet with every replication, tiny fragments of code from the very tip of the sequence fail to make it into the new copy, leaving the freshly minted chromosome a touch shorter than its predecessor.

As anybody who has lost the cap of their shoelace knows, it doesn't take long for the shoelace to lose its integrity. Similarly, shorter telomeres put sequences further down the chromosome at higher risk of hazardous mutations.

These mutations coincide with changes that predispose us to a bunch of age-related conditions, not least of all diseases such as cancer.

That's not necessarily to say that we age because our telomeres shrink, but there is a connection between telomere length and health that researchers are keen to investigate further.

"Longer telomeres correlates with better cellular performance. There are plenty of ways to accelerate the erosion of our telomeres. Failing to get adequate sleep could do it, as might chowing down on too much processed food, and maybe even having kids.
Slowing down the loss takes a bit more effort, but engaging in regular exercise and eating well are sound bets if you want your chromosomes to remain as long as possible.

A real achievement would be to flip our chromosomal hourglass completely and return lost sections of telomere. The fact that high-turnover tissues lining our gut do this naturally using an enzyme called telomerase has fuelled research over the years.

There have been plenty of milestones in attempts to achieve this task. Gene therapy in mice has shown it could one day be feasible in humans. More recently, stem cells from a supercentenarian woman had their telomeres completely reset outside of her body.

Some studies have found potential for tiny increases of maybe a few percent with provision of nutritional supplements such as vitamin D.

https://www.aging-us.com/article/202188/text

https://www.sciencealert.com/oxygen-therapy-found-to-turn-back-the-...

** Asymptomatic Children Can Spread Malaria to Mosquitoes

Children infected with malaria can become 'superspreaders' and pass the parasite to droves of local mosquitoes, even if the kids never develop symptoms of the disease, a new study suggests. 

Since this disease is passed from humans to mosquitoes and then back again, rather than from person to person, this finding is worrisome. If malaria goes untreated in these asymptomatic children, the parasites will continue to circulate among mosquitoes, even in places that employ intensive malaria controls like insecticides, bednets, and free diagnostic tests and treatments. According to new research, presented Wednesday (Nov. 18) at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH), even a small number of infected children can transmit malaria parasites to a mob of mosquitoes, which can then go on to infect more humans. From their new research in Uganda, the researchers concluded that asymptomatic children between ages 5 and 15 are the main source of infection for local mosquitoes in the region they studied. Some of these children were so-called superspreaders, meaning they infected a much larger number of mosquitoes than others; in experiments where mosquitoes were fed blood samples from infected people, more than 60 percent of the resulting mosquito infections could be traced back to just four asymptomatic children, two of whom were school-age. The other two superspreaders were ages 3 and 4.

Despite some children becoming infected with multiple malaria clones during the study, these kids never fell ill and continued to lead a "normal life … somehow living with all these parasites

https://www.livescience.com/asymptomatic-children-malaria-reservoir...

3D-printed, lifelike heart models could help train tomorrow’s surgeons

Astronomers discover new 'fossil galaxy' buried deep within the Milky Way

Scientists working with data from the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys' Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) have discovered a "fossil galaxy" hidden in the depths of our own Milky Way.

The proposed fossil galaxy may have collided with the Milky Way ten billion years ago, when our galaxy was still in its infancy. Astronomers named it Heracles, after the ancient Greek hero who received the gift of immortality when the Milky Way was created.

The remnants of Heracles account for about one third of the Milky Way's spherical halo. But if stars and gas from Heracles make up such a large percentage of the galactic halo, why didn't we see it before? The answer lies in its location deep inside the Milky Way.

"To find a fossil galaxy like this one, we had to look at the detailed chemical makeup and motions of tens of thousands of stars. That is especially hard to do for stars in the center of the Milky Way, because they are hidden from view by clouds of interstellar dust. APOGEE lets us pierce through that dust and see deeper into the heart of the Milky Way than ever before.

APOGEE does this by taking spectra of stars in near-infrared light, instead of visible light, which gets obscured by dust. Over its ten-year observational life, APOGEE has measured spectra for more than half a million stars all across the Milky Way, including its previously dust-obscured core and finally discovered this fossil galaxy .

"Evidence from APOGEE for the Presence of a Major Building Block of the Halo Buried in the Inner Galaxy," Danny Horta et al., 2020 Nov. 20, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: arxiv.org/abs/2007.10374].

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-astronomers-fossil-galaxy-deep-milky....

Fake news and misinformation kill: How can you trust what you are told about Covid-19?

**Virus evolution could undermine a COVID-19 vaccine – but this can be stopped

https://theconversation.com/virus-evolution-could-undermine-a-covid...

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Ultrasound Reveals Parasitic Worms Squirming Around Inside Man's Stomach in Delhi

Previewed Reality: A system that allows users to predict future changes in their environment

When robots and humans interact in a shared environment, it is important for them to move in ways that prevent collisions or accidents. To reduce the risk of collisions, roboticists have developed numerous of techniques that monitor an environment, predict the future actions of humans moving in it, identify safe trajectories for a robot and control its movements accordingly.

Researchers at Kyushu University in Japan recently created a system that allows human users to forecast future changes in their environment, which could then inform their decisions and guide their actions. 

To collect information about the position of different objects, robots and humans in a shared environment, the researchers used a number of strategically placed sensors, including optical trackers and an RGB-D camera. The optical trackers monitored the movements of objects or robots, while the RGB-D camera mainly tracked human actions.

The data gathered by the sensors was then fed to a motion planner and a dynamics simulator. Combined, these two system components allowed the researchers to forecast changes in a given environment and synthesize images of events that are likely to occur in the near future, from the viewpoint of a specific human.

Human users could then view these synthesized images simply by wearing a VR headset or an AR display. On the headset or display, the images were layed over those of a user's actual surroundings, in order to clearly illustrate the changes that could take place in the future.

Asuka Egashira et al. Near-future perception system: Previewed Reality, Advanced Robotics (2020). DOI: 10.1080/01691864.2020.1829041

https://techxplore.com/news/2020-11-previewed-reality-users-future-...