Scientists find evidence the early solar system harbored a gap between its inner and outer regions

An MIT study suggests that a mysterious gap existed within the solar system’s protoplanetary disk around 4.567 billion years ago, and likely shaped the composition of the solar system’s planets. This image shows an artist’s interpretation of a protoplanetary disk.
Credits:Credit: National Science Foundation, A. Khan

In the early solar system, a “protoplanetary disk” of dust and gas rotated around the sun and eventually coalesced into the planets we know today.

A new analysis of ancient meteorites by scientists at MIT and elsewhere suggests that a mysterious gap existed within this disk around 4.567 billion years ago, near the location where the asteroid belt resides today.

The team’s results, appearing today in Science Advances, provide direct evidence for this gap.

“Over the last decade, observations have shown that cavities, gaps, and rings are common in disks around other young stars,” says Benjamin Weiss, professor of planetary sciences in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS). “These are important but poorly understood signatures of the physical processes by which gas and dust transform into the young sun and planets.”

Likewise the cause of such a gap in our own solar system remains a mystery. One possibility is that Jupiter may have been an influence. As the gas giant took shape, its immense gravitational pull could have pushed gas and dust toward the outskirts, leaving behind a gap in the developing disk.

Contraceptive pill can reduce type 2 diabetes risk in women with polycystic ovary syndrome

A study led by the University of Birmingham has revealed for the first time that the contraceptive pill can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes by over a quarter in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

The research findings also show that women with PCOS have twice the risk of developing type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes (dysglycemia) – highlighting the urgent need to find treatments to reduce this risk.

In addition to the risk of type 2 diabetes, PCOS – which affects 10% of women world-wide - is also associated with a number of other conditions in the long-term, such as endometrial cancer, cardiovascular disease, and non-alcohol related fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

Symptoms of PCOS include irregular periods or no periods at all, which can lead to fertility issues, and many suffer from unwanted hair growth (known as ‘hirsutism’) on the face or body, hair loss on the scalp, and oily skin or acne. These symptoms are caused by high levels of hormones called androgens in the blood of women with PCOS.

Women with PCOS also often struggle with weight gain and the cells in their body are often less responsive to insulin – the hormone that allows the body to absorb glucose (blood sugar) into the cells for energy. This reduced response to insulin can lead to elevated blood glucose levels and can cause the body to make more insulin, which in turn causes the body to make more androgens. The androgens further increase insulin levels - driving a vicious circle.

A decade after gene therapy

Evangelina Vaccaro, above, who received the gene therapy
 for ADA-SCID in a clinical trial in 2012.
Credit: Courtesy of Alysia Padilla-Vaccaro

Over a decade ago, UCLA physician-scientists began using a pioneering gene therapy they developed to treat children born with a rare and deadly immune system disorder. They now report that the effects of the therapy appear to be long-lasting, with 90% of patients who received the treatment eight to 11 years ago still disease-free.

ADA-SCID, or adenosine deaminase–deficient severe combined immunodeficiency, is caused by mutations in the gene that creates the ADA enzyme, which is essential to a functioning immune system. For babies with the disease, exposure to everyday germs can be fatal, and if untreated, most will die within the first two years of life.

In the gene therapy approach detailed in the new paper, Dr. Donald Kohn of UCLA and his colleagues removed blood-forming stem cells from each child’s bone marrow, then used a specially modified virus, originally isolated from mice, to guide healthy copies of the ADA gene into the stem cells’ DNA. Finally, they transplanted the cells back into the children’s bone marrow. The therapy, when successful, prompts the body to produce a continuous supply of healthy immune cells capable of fighting infections. Because the transplanted stem cells are the baby’s own, there is no risk of rejection.

New technique, effective in mice, could help advance the use of probiotics

Quanyin Hu

Scientists studying probiotics, beneficial bacteria that show promise for their ability to treat inflammatory bowel disease and other intestinal disorders, continue to face a problem: how to keep probiotics from getting obliterated in the gut before they can be helpful.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Pharmacy think they have a solution involving a dual-layer protection system that can keep probiotic bacteria alive in the lower intestine long enough to help treat or prevent colitis in a mouse model of the disease.

Quanyin Hu and postdoctoral researcher Jun Liu have filed for a patent on their double-protection technique and, with their collaborators, published their findings in the journal Nano Today.

If the new technique shows similar effectiveness in clinical trials, it could help advance the use of probiotics.

The research addresses one of the biggest limitations of treating disease with probiotics, which are bacteria that promote healthy tissue development and improve the gut microbiome.

“When you transfer these bacteria through the oral route, most of them are getting killed by the acidic environment of the stomach. Or they’re getting cleared out of the intestine because they aren’t adhering,” says Hu, the senior author of the report. “Our double protection technique addresses these limitations.”

Gel fights drug-resistant bacteria

In the fight against multidrug-resistant bacteria, scientists in Sweden have developed a new kind of antibiotic-free protection for wounds that kills drug-resistant bacteria and induces the body’s own immune responses to fight infections.

Reporting in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, researchers from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital say that the new treatment is based on specially-developed hydrogels consisting of polymers known as dendritic macromolecules.

KTH Professor Michael Malkoch says the hydrogels are formed spontaneously when sprayed on wounds and 100 percent degradable and non-toxic.

“Dendritic hydrogels are excellent for wound dressing materials because of their soft, adhesive and pliable tactile properties, which provide ideal contact on the skin and maintain the moist environment beneficial for optimal wound healing,” he says.

Before and after. On the left, bacteria prior to exposure to the dendritic hydrogel, and on the right, the bacteria is visibly damaged.

The antibacterial effects of the hydrogels have yet to be fully understood, but the key lies in these macromolecules’ structure. It’s distinguished by well-ordered branches that terminate with a profusion of cationic, charged contact points.

How T cell assassins reload their weapons to kill and kill again

Cytotoxic T cells are specialist white blood cells that are trained by our immune system to recognize and eliminate threats – including tumor cells and cells infected with invading viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19. They are also at the heart of new immunotherapies that promise to transform cancer treatment.

Professor Gillian Griffiths from the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, who led the research, said: “T cells are trained assassins that are sent on their deadly missions by the immune system. There are billions of them in our blood, each engaged in a ferocious and unrelenting battle to keep us healthy.

“Once a T cell has found its target, it binds to it and releases its toxic cargo. But what is particularly remarkable is that they are then able to go on to kill and kill again. Only now, thanks to state-of-the-art technologies, have we been able to find out how they reload their weapons.”

Covid Lockdown: children who spent more time in nature fared best

Credit: Ben Wicks on Unsplash

A study has found that children who increased their connection to nature during the first COVID-19 lockdown were likely to have lower levels of behavioral and emotional problems, compared to those whose connection to nature stayed the same or decreased - regardless of their socio-economic status.

The study, by researchers at the University of Cambridge and the University of Sussex, also found that children from affluent families tended to have increased their connection to nature during the pandemic more than their less affluent peers.

Nearly two thirds of parents reported a change in their child’s connection to nature during lockdown, while a third of children whose connection to nature decreased displayed increased problems of wellbeing - either through ‘acting out’ or by increased sadness or anxiety.

The results strengthen the case for nature as a low-cost method of mental health support for children, and suggest that more effort should be made to support children in connecting with nature - both at home and at school.

The researchers’ suggestions for achieving this include: reducing the number of structured extracurricular activities for children to allow for more time outside, provision of gardening projects in schools, and funding for schools, particularly in disadvantaged areas, to implement nature-based learning programs.

Pesticide linked to chronic kidney disease

A commonly available pesticide has been associated with an increased risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in a University of Queensland study.

Researchers analyzed links between pesticide exposure and the risk of kidney dysfunction in 41,847 people, using data from the USA National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

School of Public Health Associate Professor, Nicholas Osborne said the study found people exposed to higher amounts of the insecticide Malathion, known as Maldison in Australia, had 25 per cent higher risk of kidney dysfunction.

“Nearly one in 10 people in high income countries show signs of CKD, which is permanent kidney damage and loss of renal function,” Dr Osborne said.

Risk factors of developing CKD include age, hypertension and diabetes.

Dr Osborne said CKD with no known cause was rising in low-to-middle income countries such as India, Sri Lanka and Mesoamerica.

“Initially, it was suspected the condition was associated with agricultural workplaces through exposure to heat stress, dehydration, pesticide spraying, heavy metals and agrochemicals,” Dr Osborne said.

Identifying Better Ways to Save the World’s Reefs

Scientists work to restore damaged coral reefs by
growing health fragments to transplant.
Photo: University of Konstanz/Anna Rolk.

In the race to save the world’s fragile corals from climate change and disease, USF Department of Integrative Biology Assistant Professor John Parkinson is among an international group of scientists looking for better ways to restore damaged reefs. In new research published Tuesday in the journal Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, the team makes its case for nature-based approaches that give coral colonies a boost in their fight to survive warming seas.

Led by the University of Konstanz in Germany, the team calls for the use of new technologies to identify, propagate, and even strengthen naturally resilient coral colonies, which can then be transplanted to threatened reefs. The systematic review evaluates several emerging methods that have been used to improve coral heat tolerance, scoring them in terms of risk, cost, and scalability. The objective of the project is to provide guidance on which interventions might most effectively extend the natural adaptive capacity of corals, the researchers said.

The race to save the world’s coral reefs is a high priority for conservationists: 30 percent of all marine biodiversity depends on reef ecosystems and more than one billion people rely on the reefs for sustaining fishing stocks, tourism, and a healthy marine environment. Even a small rise in ocean temperatures can cause coral “bleaching” – when corals expel the algae living in their tissues causing the coral to turn completely white – leaving the organisms more susceptible to disease and death.

Flu season is coming and it could be ugly

Photo by Usman Yousaf on Unsplash

As COVID-19 restrictions ease, Canada is seeing a resurgence of many respiratory viruses—and many experts predict this year’s flu season could be severe.

Dr. Michael Curry (he/him), clinical associate professor with UBC faculty of medicine’s department of emergency medicine, reveals how this year’s flu season will be different from the last and weighs in on how to reduce your risk of getting sick.

How will this year’s flu season be different from last year?

Last flu season we essentially had no cases of influenza and relatively few cases of other respiratory viruses here in Canada. When someone was sick with a respiratory infection eight or nine months ago, it was very likely they had COVID-19.

This year, the big change I have seen is the re-emergence of our ‘usual suspect’ respiratory infections. Common cold viruses are back and circulating again. While we are still seeing COVID-19 in Canada, we are finding other respiratory viruses on a regular basis as well.

How might this year’s flu season interact with the fourth wave of COVID-19?

With the upsurge in other respiratory viruses, we can expect a resurgence of influenza this year.

A bad flu season can rapidly fill up emergency departments and hospital beds, and as we all know, COVID-19 is already doing a good job at that.