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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 8 hours ago

Why do blind people and musicians hear pitch better? New research suggests they have less internal noise
Early-blind participants showed better pitch discrimination, but not tone detection in noise, than sighted participants. Modelling linked enhanced pitch discrimination in early blindness and musical training to lower internal noise, indicating more consistent auditory processing rather than greater frequency selectivity.

original article.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 8 hours ago

Hot homes cause heart strain in older people
In 47 adults aged 65 or older, indoor temperatures ≥26°C were associated with heart rate increases of 1.3 beats/min per °C, nearly twice the rate below this threshold. Cardiovascular strain persisted for hours after heat exposure. Indoor temperature, rather than humidity, was the main correlate of strain.

Indoor temperatures above 26°C (79 degrees Fahrenheit) increased cardiovascular stress in older adults, with their heart rate increasing almost twice as rapidly as it did at temperatures below 26°C (79 degrees Fahrenheit).

The research provided real-world evidence that hot homes were a health issue, not just a comfort issue.
Indoor heat exposure can place substantial strain on the heart and can remain this way for up to several hours after exposure, suggesting cardiovascular strain accumulates and persists even after the mercury begins to fall.
The results reinforced the World Health Organization's temperature recommendations and highlighted the need for improved housing design, affordable cooling solutions, targeted heat-health messaging and support for heat-vulnerable populations.

Fergus K. O'Connor et al., Indoor temperatures above 26 °C impose disproportionate cardiovascular strain on older adults, Temperature (2026). DOI: 10.1080/23328940.2026.2750778

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 8 hours ago

Replacing dairy products with unfortified plant-based alternatives could lead to deficiencies in certain nutrients
UK dietary modelling indicated that replacing dairy with plant-based alternatives at current fortification levels reduced iodine, calcium, riboflavin and vitamin B12 intakes. Fortifying alternatives prevented these declines, while adding iodine-fortified bread further reduced iodine inadequacy.

The impact of replacing dairy products with plant-based dairy alternatives on iodine and other micronutrients: a modelling study and evaluation of policy options to support population intake, The Lancet Planetary Health (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.lanplh.2026.101515

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 11 hours ago

AI helps scientists discover new sugar substitutes

Machine learning and molecular docking screened 50.7 million compounds and prioritized 92 potential sweeteners while filtering out predicted bitterness. Many candidates differ structurally from known sweeteners. Their sweetness, safety and suitability for food use require experimental validation.

Shayma El-Atawneh et al., Ligand-based prediction of novel sweetener candidates, Food Chemistry (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2026.151732

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 11 hours ago

A self-charging toothbrush that generates electricity to kill bacteria while you brush

A lot of time and effort goes into toothbrush technology, whether changing bristle angles or tweaking and improving electric models. No matter the developments, they all essentially still do the same thing to a greater or lesser degree, which is using a mechanical scrubbing motion to clean teeth.
But an upgrade could soon be on the way. Scientists have developed a battery-free toothbrush that generates its own electricity to help kill plaque-causing bacteria as you clean.

To make a brush that produces its own electricity, the team first had to find the right material. They settled on a smart plastic called PVDF, which generates tiny electrical charges every time it bends and flexes. These microbursts of electricity react with water in the mouth to produce substances that are harmless to human cells but deadly to bacteria.
In their tests, the results were impressive. Plaque scores fell by about 40% in people using the experimental brushes, compared with roughly 15% in those using standard nylon brushes.
Volunteers using the experimental brushes also showed reduced gum inflammation and bleeding, along with a lower relative abundance of several disease-associated bacteria.

Yanhui Lu et al., Self-charged toothbrush facilitates tooth healthcare maintenance, Science Advances (2026). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aeg5744

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 11 hours ago

The difference was even greater for noncalcified plaque, the softer, fat-rich deposits more prone to rupture, which shrank by 28.2% versus 20%. Noncalcified plaque regressed in 51 out of 52 patients receiving combination therapy, compared with 39 people on standard treatment. Calcified plaque volume, however, increased modestly in both groups, which indicated plaque stabilization, where dangerous soft-core lipids are depleted and replaced by stable calcium deposits.

The results show that existing artery plaque is not necessarily permanent and can be reversed with aggressive cholesterol-lowering treatment, but only further investigation can tell whether the greater reduction translates into fewer cardiovascular events.

Martin Bødtker Mortensen et al., Intensive vs More Intensive Lipid-Lowering Therapy and Plaque Regression in Statin-Naive Patients, JAMA Cardiology (2026). DOI: 10.1001/jamacardio.2026.4788

Part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 11 hours ago

Stronger cholesterol treatment shrinks more plaque in heart arteries, new clinical trial finds
Atherosclerosis is a condition in which cholesterol and fat gradually accumulate inside the walls of medium and large arteries, forming a sticky deposit called plaque. As these deposits grow, they narrow the arteries, restricting the flow of oxygen-rich blood to vital tissues and organs. Over time, this buildup can lead to ischemic heart disease (IHD) or stroke. In a recent randomized clinical trial called FLOWPROMOTE, researchers present a strategy to reverse atherosclerosis partially.
They tested whether aggressively lowering bad cholesterol in newly diagnosed patients using cholesterol-lowering statins can shrink and reverse plaque buildup in heart arteries. Over an 18-month treatment period, participants either took atorvastatin 40 mg daily, a standard high-dose statin, or rosuvastatin 40 mg plus ezetimibe 10 mg daily, a stronger statin combined with a medicine that blocks cholesterol absorption in the gut.

Plaque buildup in the heart's arteries isn't necessarily a point of no return because bringing cholesterol levels down aggressively can actually make existing plaques shrink. With combination therapy, 90% of patients saw their plaque volume decrease, compared with 75% on standard treatment. The findings are published in JAMA Cardiology.
Lowering low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), also known as bad cholesterol, is a primary target of many drugs that target fat buildup in arteries. Several clinical trials have linked every 38.6 mg/dL drop in LDL with a 22% reduction in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease or atherosclerosis, and a 25%–30% reduction in coronary artery disease.

Imaging studies have shown that cholesterol-lowering treatments can shrink plaque buildup in coronary arteries. However, these studies only reported very modest shrinkage of about 1% to 5%. So, the researchers wanted to know if this was the absolute limit of what medications could achieve, or if better strategies could produce more substantial reversal.

For FLOWPROMOTE, the researchers brought together 104 adults from Denmark with stable chest pain and significant coronary artery disease, confirmed by a coronary CT scan showing more than 50% artery narrowing and restricted blood flow.

None had previously taken statins. The participants were randomly split into two equal groups, with one receiving intensive treatment with atorvastatin alone and the other receiving more intensive treatment with rosuvastatin and ezetimibe.

To track changes in their arteries over time, all participants underwent noninvasive coronary CT angiography (CTA) at three points: before treatment began, at nine months, and again at 18 months.

They found that more intensive combination therapy lowered LDL cholesterol by 65%, bringing average levels down from 127.4 mg/dL to just 42.5 mg/dL, compared with a 38% reduction with standard intensive therapy. The cholesterol reduction was accompanied by greater plaque regression. Total plaque volume shrank by 21.1% with combination therapy, compared with 13.6% with standard treatment.
Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa yesterday

Wild animals can now GPS-collar themselves for research

For six decades, wildlife researchers have faced a persistent challenge: to attach a tracking device to study a wild animal, they first have to catch it. Now, a new approach allows GPS collars to be deployed autonomously on free-roaming terrestrial wildlife. Published in BioScience, the proof-of-concept study demonstrates Capture-Free Telemetry (CFT), a technique that places tracking devices on wild animals as they interact with baited deployment units in their natural habitat.
Capture-Free Telemetry uses species-specific autonomous deployment setups that allow wild animals to collar themselves when interacting with baited devices in their habitat. In trials conducted in Norway, Bischof demonstrated proof-of-concept systems tailored to both ungulates (red deer, Cervus elaphus) and carnivores (red foxes, Vulpes vulpes). The field trials involving deer were conducted at the Norwegian Deer Centre (Norsk hjortesenter), a national competence center for deer and other wild ungulates in Norway.

To safeguard animal welfare, safety features are built directly into the design. The collars automatically adjust to the animal's neck size. They are also designed to drop off after a few weeks or a couple of months and have built-in weak spots to allow separation in case of discomfort or entanglement.

Rethinking wildlife telemetry: capture-free instrumentation for ethics, scale, and inference, BioScience (2026). DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biag154

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa yesterday

When they analyzed the recordings they collected, the researchers found that individual neurons in the mice's hippocampus responded in different and changing ways. Nonetheless, separable patterns within their collective activity appeared to represent the location where an experience unfolded, the progression of time and the choices made by the animals.

The temporal and contextual components of these representations are governed by local inhibitory interactions and input-driven cell–assembly dynamics, respectively.
These findings reveal the circuit basis of disentangled hippocampal representations, offering a unifying geometric principle of population coding that supports flexible memory representations and enables rapid generalization of prior knowledge to new situations.
The results of this study suggest that the mouse hippocampus encodes different aspects of experiences via distinct patterns of neuronal activity. These patterns could ultimately help mice to tell different experiences apart, while also applying what they learned in the past in new situations.

Wenbo Tang et al., Circuit mechanisms for disentangled representations and generalization in the hippocampus, Nature Neuroscience (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41593-026-02491-x

Part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa yesterday

Neurons in the hippocampus separate different aspects of experiences

When remembering an experience, people often recall not just where it happened, but also its timing and how it unfolded over time. This helps them to recall sequences of events and associations that can guide their actions in new scenarios.
Memories of events, their timing and the order they occurred in are known to be encoded by the hippocampus. This is a structure located deep inside the brain that plays a key role in memory, the regulation of emotions and spatial navigation.

Past research showed that some neurons in the hippocampus, called place cells, become active when people are in specific locations. These neurons can also respond to other features of an event or experience.

Researchers recently studied the activity of neurons in the hippocampus of mice as they were completing various tasks. Their observations, presented in a paper published in Nature Neuroscience, suggest that different aspects of experience are represented by distinguishable patterns in the collective activity of hippocampal neurons.
To understand how neurons in the hippocampus encode experiences, the researchers carried out experiments with mice. The mice were trained to complete memory tasks in different mazes, including a task that required them to remember the route they previously took (left or right) and select the path heading the opposite direction during the following experimental trial.
While the mice were navigating mazes, the team recorded the activity of neurons in their hippocampus using tiny probes that were implanted in their brains. These probes contain many electrodes that can record the electrical signals associated with the activity of individual neurons.
In the hippocampus, neurons are tuned to spatial location, yet their activity is also modulated by multiple external and internal variables and appears to drift randomly over time, making it difficult to link hippocampal computations to behaviour.
By analyzing hippocampal population dynamics in behaving mice, they revealed a structured organization underlying the diversity of single-neuron responses—the hippocampus encodes different aspects of experience as disentangled variables represented in the co-activity dynamics of cell assemblies.

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