The recent research found that the consumption of coffee by more than 1 cup/day (median change=1.69 cups/day) over a 4-year period had an 11% lower risk of type 2 diabetes in the subsequent 4-years compared to those who made no changes in consumption. Participants who decreased their coffee intake by 1 cup a day or more (median change=-2 cups/day) had a 17% higher risk for type 2 diabetes. Changes in tea consumption were not associated with type 2 diabetes risk.
Caffeine which is present in the coffee can increase both glucose and insulin levels. So people with diabetes should be more cautious before consuming coffee. It may work adversely.
When the sweetener added to coffee, it removes the benefits of diabetes prevention. Also, enhance the risk of Diabetes
Nail biting and thumb sucking are the common oral habits of most of the children. But most parents try to stop the child from these kind of habits. The thumb sucking and nail biting habits between the age of 3 and 7 would minimize the risk of allergies such as asthma, atopic sensitization and hay fever during the age of 14. Atopic sensitization is the syndrome which is the predisposition to the allergic hypersensitivity. Research proved that, those oral habits would minimize the Atopy.
During nail biting and thumb sucking, they increase association of microorganisms such as Escherichia coli, and other parasite intestinal infections. It seems, the nail biting introduce wide variety of microbes to the gut microbiome. The immune stimulation secondary to the exchange of maternal oral bacteria might protect against allergies.
If the hygiene hypothesis is correct, then the nail biting and thumb sucking would reduce the risk of allergies. Hygiene hypothesis stated that childhood exposure to the microbial organisms reduce the risk of developing allergic diseases. Though the effect of thumb sucking and nail biting habits are likely to increase the microbial exposure, their direct effect on allergies are still unknown.
Reference: Stephanie J. Lynch, Malcolm R. Sears, Robert J. Hancox, (2016), "Thumb-Sucking, Nail-Biting, and Atopic Sensitization, Asthma, and Hay Fever", Pediatrics.
Butterflies exists in the world, about 56 million years ago. They are part of the class "Insects". There are four different stages of life cycle in Butterfly. They are Egg, Larvae, Pupa and adult. Before putating, they grow several thousand times from caterpillar. The generation time of the butterflies are vary with the place where they are in. For example, butterflies in the cold region takes several year for a single generation but the tropic region butterflies have several generation in a single year. The butterflies are polymorphic. They possess different characters and structures to evade their predators. But the one common thing among the butterflies are, they taste with their feet.
The taste receptors of butterflies are present on their feet. Because butterflies do not have mouths but they have the long straw like structure called Proboscis. They use to drink the juices from flower. They can't bite or chew their food, feel the taste by standing over it. By standing on the leaf, they know that those leaves are good for laying eggs or not and also sense that they have enough food for their caterpillars. Usually butterflies lay up to 500 eggs.
According to Lafcadio Heardon (Japan mythology), the butterflies are the personification of a human soul. In some mythologies, butterflies are the sign of rebirth. But, Omen mythology consider the butterflies are apparition to be potent of coming evil.
DNA sequencing using Sanger method is expensive and time consuming. Also requires bulky and expensive experiences. Needs certain environmental conditions to perform sequencing. But, for the first time DNA sequencing was done in space on June 23, 2016 by NASA using the Biomolecular Sequencer. The principal investigator of this project was Aaron Burton, PhD, NASA JSC, United States.
The Biomolecular sequencer is the device which is thumb-drive sized with the dimenstion of 9.5 X 3.2 X 1.6 centimeters. The weight of the sequencer is less than 120 grams along with the USB cable. The technology implemented in the sequencer are on the nanometer scale. So it is also called as MiniON. The sequencer can be charged only through the laptop or tablet via USB cable. The flow cells, to which the samples are added need to be replace within every 60 days.
Biomolecular sequencer (MiniON)
The DNA sequencing in the zero gravity could useful in the identification of microbes, helpful in the detection of DNA based life elsewhere in the space, also to understand the space crew members health and diagnose the disease. The sequencing in space could be useful for monitoring the changes in DNA of astronauts. The first sequencing result from the space is not yet published publicly.
The vaccines are one of the greatest success in the history of medicine. Vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular diseases. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease causing micro-organism and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe, its toxins or one of its surface proteins. The agent stimulates the body's immune system can more easily recognize and destroy any of these micro-organisms that it later encounters. But the past strategies are not succeed against the global diseases such as AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Because, the pathogens evade immune detection and possess extensive genetic variability. Such limitations of animal models to predict human immune response to vaccines and low success rate for vaccine development suggest the new paradigms must be implemented for accelerating vaccine development.
The genomic-based antigen discovery is being exploited for the design of vaccines against multiple bacterial pathogens. Similarly, the interrogation of memory B cells led to the identification of broadly neutralizing antibodies against influenza and other viruses. There are now being exploited as tools to design highly conserved epitope-based vaccines. Advances in adjuvant and vector delivery technologies are providing novel approaches for immune potentiation of vaccines. The translation of advances into vaccines remains impeded by major gaps in our knowledge of human immune responses.
The successful development of vaccines against the major global diseases for which the vaccines do not exist currently would be transformational for public health, with huge benefits across society. The new human immunology based clinical research is established for the next generation vaccine development, with the goal of elucidating and more effectively generating vaccine-induced protective immune responses.
The development of next generation vaccines will be effective against the major global killers such as AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other infectious diseases. The "Human Vaccine Project" could enable more successful vaccine development against allergies, autoimmune diseases and cancers. Also provide a foundation for vaccine development against new and emerging diseases.
Reference: Wayne C. Koff et al., (2013), "Accelerating Next-Generation Vaccine development for Global disease prevention" Science, 340, 1064-1072.
Associative memories are responsible for successful interactions with the environment. For associative learning and memories Neuroplastins are the key protein. The isoforms of Neuroplastin (Np55 and Np65) are coded by the single gene NPTN. The Neuroplastin is correlated with cortical thickness and intellectual abilities, also responsible for the person with schizophrenia. Np55 is found in various organs and cell types, whereas NP65 is brain-specific.
The researchers use neroplastin-deficient mice to study the dependence of Neuroplastin for the associative learning. The mice were trained to move from one end of the cage to other end under light (Associative Learning). After silencing the NPTN gene, the mice were not able to do their task perfectly, but the control mice were good at their task.
Retrograde amnesia of an associative learning task after induced ablation of the neuroplastin gene is remarkable. No other genes are reported yet for the retrograde amnesia. Amnesia is common to several psycopathologic disorders but the exact mechanisms are still unknown. The inducible neuroplastin-deficient mouse model clearly shows the neuronal protein as dispensable for recalling a previously learned associative task. The tomography imaging in awake mice, also shows the deficiency of neuroplastin causes the electropshyologic deficits.
Reference: Soumee Bhattacharya, Rodrigo Herrera-Molina, Victor Sabanov, Tariq Ahmed, Emilia Iscru, Franziska Stöber, Karin Richter, Klaus-Dieter Fischer, Frank Angenstein, Jürgen Goldschmidt, Philip W. Beesley, Detlef Balschun, Karl-Heinz Smalla, Eckart D. Gundelfinger, and Dirk Montag, "Genetically Induced Retrograde Amnesia of Associative Memories After Neuroplastin Ablation", Biological psychiatry.
We are entering the "Century of Biology." Recent developments in the biological sciences are giving us a better understanding of the natural world. At the same time and similar type we are developing new tools that are collectively referred to as "BIOTECHNOLOGY." That help us to address problems related to human health, food production, and the environment. Any new technology - particularly one as far-reaching as biotechnology - will generate interest, as well as concerns. Because the science behind biotechnology is complex, misconceptions arise over its impacts and implications.
In this blog we will answer the questions that many people have about biotechnology. These questions are organized along the lines of a news story: what, when, who, where, why, and how. As well as the daily news about Biotechnology will be keep on posting.
