Now, A Pill That Promises to Melt Away Leukaemia

                A new drug that ‘melts’ away cancer has been given fast track approval in the US. Developed in Australia, Venetoclax was developed to specifically target chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The drug showed a positive result in 80% of clinical trials, with one in five patients finishing the programme completely cancer-free. Venetoclax is administered orally every day via a pill. In the original trial, 116 participants increased their dosage from 20mg to 400mg over a five week period. It truly does lead to the disease melting away in 20% of people.

                Cells, when they are born, are destined to die, and cancer cells – particularly leukemia cells – delay that death by using a protein called BCL2 that stops the normal time of death. Venetoclax works by specifically blocking the action of that BCL2 and allows the cells to die in the way that they were destined to. It causes no side-effects. Despite the majority of trial patients experiencing some benefit from Venetoclax, others did have a negative result. The drug marks an advance in immunotherapy, a new area of research that assesses how the body’s own immune system can defeat cancer. As yet, it has been used most effectively in the treatment of melanoma. While Venetoclax has received approval from the European Union and the United States, the drug has not yet been made available in Australia.

Zika Can Spread Via Tears Too

                Eyes may be a reservoir for Zika virus, say scientists. Evidence of the virus in the eyes and tears of infected mice raises the possibility that the infection may spread through tears. Zika virus causes mild disease in most adults but can cause brain damage and death in fetuses. About a third of all babies infected in uterus with Zika show symptoms of eye diseases like inflammation of the optic nerve retinal damage or blindness after birth. In adults, Zika can cause conjunctivitis – redness and itchiness of the eyes – and in rare cases, a condition known as uveitis that can lead to permanent vision loss.

                Researchers study suggests that the eye could be a reservoir for Zika virus. They need to consider whether people with Zika have infectious virus in their eyes and how long it actually persists. To determine what effect Zika infection has on the eye, the researchers infected adult mice under the skin and found live virus in the eyes seven days later. The observations confirm that Zika is able to travel to the eye. It is not yet known whether the virus typically makes that trip by crossing the blood retina barrier that separates the eye from the bloodstream, travelling along the optic nerve that connects the brain and the eye, or some other route. Eye infection raises the possibility that people could acquire Zika infection through contact with tears from infected people.

A New Particle That Can Unlock Secrets of Dark Matter Found

                Scientists, including those from India, have predicted the existence of a new fundamental particle – Madala boson – which may help solve the mystery of the elusive dark matter in the universe. Using data from a series of experiments that led to the discovery of the Higgs boson at European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) in 2012, the group established what they call the Madala hypotheses, in describing a new boson, named as the Madala boson. The experiment was repeated last year and this year, after a two and a half year shut down of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The data reported by the LHC experiments this year have corroborated the features in the data that triggered the Madala hypothesis.

                Based on a number of features and peculiarities of the data reported by the experiments at the LHC and collected up to the end of 2012, the Wits HEP group in collaboration with the scientists in India and Sweden formulated the Madala hypothesis. The hypothesis describes the existence of a new boson and field, similar to the Higgs boson. However, where the Higgs boson in the Standard Model of Physics only interacts with known matter, the Madala boson interacts with dark matter, which makes about 27% of the universe. With the discovery of the Higgs boson at the LHC in 2012 the Standard Model of Physics is now complete. However this model is insufficient to describe a number of phenomena such as dark matter.

A Blood Test That Spots Cancer Before Symptoms Appear

                A simple blood test that can detect cancer before any symptoms are noticeable has been developed. The scientists, who unveiled the test at the British science festival in Swansea, compared the new test to a smoke detector, because it does not actually find cancer but changes to red blood cells that occur when cancer is present. Discovering cancer early is a key factor in successful treatment. If a tumour is caught in a single part of the body, there is a much better chance that it can be removed surgically, if the cancer has spread to other organs, the chance the patient will die is much higher. Because it is a simple blood test, it could be used to monitor people with a high risk of getting the disease. The test can be likened to a ‘cancer smoke detector’ because a smoke detector does not detect the presence of fire in our homes but it’s by-products – smoke…. This test detects cancer, by detecting the ‘smoke’ – mutated blood cells.

                 The researchers said the test could detect cancer before there are any noticeable symptoms. The researchers worked on developing the test over the past four years, studying 300 healthy people, patients with signs of pre-cancer and patients with the oesophageal form of the disease. The test detects mutations in proteins on the surface of red blood cells. In healthy people, the number of mutations of this type averages about five per million, but in cancer patients there can be 50 to 100 mutants per million. These mutations do not have a role in the development of cancer, with the researchers describing the effect as “collateral damage” caused by the disease. Asked how significant the test would be if it worked for all cancers, researcher said: “With any cancer, if it is caught early enough and surgically removed, that is the biggest impact on the outcome of a cancer diagnosis.

Why a NASA Spacecraft Plans to Chase an Asteroid

                For the next two years, NASA’s latest robotic spacecraft will be chasing down an asteroid near Earth in the hopes of scooping up come of the most primordial bits of the solar system. The mission for the spacecraft, Osiris-Rex, is simple: Fly to an asteroid m grab some of the rock and bring it back to Earth, where scientists will study some of the pristine ingredients that went into the making of the solar system, including possible the building blocks of life. What was that beginning organic material like?

                Once off the ground, Osiris-Rex will be aiming to get close to the asteroid Bennu. It’s 500 meter size, about the height of the Empire State Building. Scientists believe that it is a conglomeration of leftovers, largely unchanged over the last 4.5 billion years. It’s time capsule from the earliest stages of solar system formation. Osiris-Rex will survey Bennu for more than a year to select the site where it well grabs the sample. The goal is to collect at least a couple of ounces of material. After departing Bennu in 2021, Osiris-Rex will pass by Earth in September 2023, dropping off a capsule with the samples.

                A Japanese mission, Hayabusa 2, will similarly collect sample from another carbon rich asteroid, but the Osiris-Rex scientists view the missions as complementary, not redundant. Researcher is particularly interested in gleaning information about organic molecules like amino acids, the building clocks of proteins that are known to float in outer space. Scientists hope that waterlogged minerals in the sample could tell whether the water in Earth’s oceans came from asteroids

Pollution is Bad For Brain, Triggers Alzheimer's

                Minute magnetic particles produced by car engines and brakes can travel into the human brain and may trigger Alzheimer’s disease. The tiny particles of iron oxide, known as magnetite, are toxic and it has been suggested they could play a role in causing or hastening the onset of Alzheimer’s Researchers, discovered microscopic spheres of the mineral magnetite in the brains of 37 people in Manchester and Mexico who had suffered neurodegenerative disease. This strongly magnetic mineral is toxic and has been implicated in the production of active oxygen species (free radicals) in the human brain, which are associated with neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease.

                Researchers used spectroscopic analysis to identify the particles as magnetite. Unlike angular magnetite particles that are believed to form naturally within the brain, most of the observed particles were spherical, with diameters up to 150 nanometers (nm), some with fused surfaces, pointing to high temperature formation – such as from vehicle engines or open fires. The spherical particles are often accompanied by nanoparticles containing other metals, such as platinum, nickel and cobalt. The particles they found are strikingly similar to the magnetite nano-spheres that are abundant in the airborne pollution found in urban settings, especially next to busy roads, and which are formed by combustion or frictional heating from vehicle engines or brakes.

                Other sources of magnetite nanoparticles include open fires and poorly sealed stoves within homes. Particles smaller than 200 nm are small enough to enter the brain directly through the olfactory nerve after breathing air pollution through the nose. Researcher’s results indicate that magnetite nanoparticles in the atmosphere can enter the human brain, where they might pose a risk to human health, including conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease. This finding open up a whole new avenue for research into a possible environmental risk factor for a range of different brain diseases.

Juno Shows Jupiter Like Never Before

                NASA spacecraft has captured the best view of Jupiter yet, revealing turbulent storms in the North Pole. Jupiter’s northern polar region is stormier than expected and appears bluer than the rest of the plane. NASA on 2 September released a batch of close-up pictures taken by the Juno spacecraft when it flew within 2,500 miles of Jupiter’s dense cloud tops. During the rendezvous that took Juno from pole to pole, the solar powered spacecraft turned on its camera and instruments to collect data. The detailed pictures look “like nothing we have seen or imagined before”. Juno also sent back views of Jupiter’s southern lights considered the most powerful in the solar system. The flyby was the first of three dozen planned close passes during the mission.

Unlike Earth and Mars, Jupiter is a gas giant that is likely to have formed first, shortly after the Sun. studying the big planer holds clues to understanding how Earth and the rest of the planets formed. After a five year journey, Juno slipped into orbit around Jupiter in July to map its poles, atmosphere and interior. It’s the first spacecraft to carry a titanium vault designed to shield its computer and electronics from intense radiation. Juno is the second mission to orbit Jupiter. When it completes its job in 2018, it will crash into Jupiter’s atmosphere and disintegrate. NASA planned the finale so that Juno won’t accidentally smack into Jupiter’s moon, particularly the icy moon Europa, a target of future exploration.