chakravarthy

A compound that makes chilli peppers spicy may help curb lung cancer spread, according to a study that may pave the way for a novel treatment against the deadly disease. Most cancer-related deaths occur when cancer spreads to distant sites, a process called metastasis. "Lung cancer and other cancers commonly metastasise to secondary locations like the brain, liver and bone, making them difficult to treat", said Jamie Friedman, a doctoral candidate who performed the research at Marshall University in the United States. "Our study suggests that the natural compound capsalcin from chilli peppers could represent a novel therapy to combat metastasis in lung cancer patients", Friedman said.  In experiments involving three lines of cultured human non-small cell lung cancer cells, the researchers observed that capsalcin inhibited invasion, the first step of the metastatic process. Additional experiments revealed that capsalcin suppresses lung cancer metastasis by inhibi...

Scientists have been altering the genes of mice, pigs, goats, chicken and butterflies for quiet some time. But even as a Crispr, a transformative gene-editing tool, made seemingly impossible genetic alterations possible, reptiles had remained untouched. That changed with the birth of a nearly transparent Anolis lizard, the first gene-edited reptile, according to the draft of a study made public in April 2019. Ashley Rasys, a graduate student at the University of Georgia who was involved in the lizard's creation, arrived shortly after he broke through his thick shell. "I was floored", she said. "We weren't really expecting to generate an albino lizardat first", she added.  "We can now create two to four mutant lizards from just a day's work", said Douglas Menke, the Director of the Genetics Department at the University of Georgia and another author of the study. The scientists could have altered a variety of gene, but they focused on the mut...

A team of NASA researchers, including and Indian-origin scientist has found the surface inside the International Space Station (ISS) is littered with microbes just like in a gym or office on Earth - threatening astronauts' health at the orbiting laboratory. The knowledge of the composition of the microbial and fungal communities on the ISS can be used to develop safety measures for NASA for long-term space travel, said the researchers in a paper that appeared in the Journal 'Microbiome'. The authors found that while fungal communities were stable, microbial communities were similar across locations but changed over time. The microbes on the ISS were mostly human-associated. They included organisms that are considered opportunistic pathogens on Earth such as 'Staphylococcus Aureus' and 'Pantoea' and 'Bacillus'. There are currently six astronauts on board the International Space Station. Whether these opportunistic bacteria could cause disease in a...

Scientists have discovered evidence of different forms of bacteria embedded within a Martian meteorite, suggesting that life had once existed on the Red Planet. Named Scientists from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS) Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences discovered embedded organic material in mineralised form such as different forms of bacteria in ALH-77005, the Martian meteorite.  [ Courtesy: The Times of India dated 09th April, 2019 (Tuesday) ]. - Challapalli Srinivas Chakravarthy - ---------------------------------------------------------

Scientists have decoded how the bronze weapons of China's iconic Terracotta Army remained pristine and shiny despite being buried for nearly 2,000 years. The team found that the chrome plating on the weapons - once thought to be the earliest form of anti-rust technology - derives from a decorative varnish rather than a preservation technique. The study, published in the Journal "Scientific Reports', reveals that the chemical composition and characteristics of the surrounding soil, rather than Chromium, may be responsible for the weapons' famous preservation power. [ Courtesy: The Times of India dated 09th April, 2019 (Tuesday) ]. - Challapalli Srinivas Chakravarthy - -------------------------------------------------------- 

Those renouncing Indian citizenship will now have to declare the circumstances or reasons for which they intend to acquire foreign citizenship. Also, only one living spouse of foreign origin of a citizen or OCI can apply for registration as an OCI card-holder. Those renouncing Indian citizenship on account of being national of another country will now have to declare the circumstances or reasons due to which they intend to acquire foreign citizenship. The home minsitry, while notifying the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2018, also made it clear that only living spouse of foreign origin of a citizen of India or overseas citizen of India (OCI) would be eligible to apply for registration as an OCI card-holder. "This is in conformity with the law that bans polygamy (except in case of Muslims by virtue of their personal law)", said a home ministry official. The amended rules also require Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) who are ordinarily resident in India for six months, spouse o...

Black Holes are long-time super-stars of science fiction. But their Hollywood fame is a little strange given that no-one has ever actually seen one - at least, until now. If you needed to see to believe, then thank the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), which has just produced the first ever direct image of a Black Hole. This amazing feat required global collaboration to turn the Earth into one giant telescope and image an object thousands of trillions of kilometres away. As stunning and ground-breaking as it is, the EHT project is not just about taking on a challenge. It's an unprecedented test of whether Einstein's ideas about the very nature of space and time hold up in extreme circumstances, and looks closer than ever before at the role of Black Holes in the universe.  Capturing the Uncapturable: A Black Hole is a region of space whose mass is so large and dense that not even light can escape its gravitational attraction. Against the black background of the inky beyond, cap...

Ironically, it was Gandhi who coined the term 'Dyerism' to describe brute force and violent suppression. Brigadier General Dyer, the chief perpetrator of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, was an object of hate among Indians, but Mahatma Gandhi forgave General Dyer again and again, even as he warned people against 'Dyerism'. At that time, Mahatma Gandhi was trying to show the country a different path - a path of non-violence and forgiveness. Gandhi said that "it would be sin for me to serve General Dyer and cooperate with him to shoot innocent men. But it will be an exercise of forgiveness or love for me to nurse him back to life, if he was suffering from a physical malady". [ Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (CWMG) Vol. 18, p. 195, 'Religious Authority for Non-Cooperation', Young India, 25th August, 1920 ].  Gandhi even wrote that Dyer 'merely destroyed a few bodies but the others tried to kill the soul of a nation'. He said that "the fu...

(1). If you care for your Brain, sleep for eight hours. (2). If you care for your Eyes, massage your feet with oil before going to bed. (3). If you care for your Ears, pour garlic mixed oil in ears frequently. (4). If you care for your Nose, eat mint regularly. (5). If you care for your Mouth, gargle frequently with GingellY (Sesamum) oil. (6). If you care for your Throat, use pepper frequently. (7). If you care for your Lungs avoid smoking. (8). If you care for your Heart, avoid excess salt. (9). If you care for your Liver, avoid excessive fatty food. (10). If you care for your Stomach, avoid cold food. (11). If you care for your Intestine, replace junk food with vegetables.  (12). If you care for your Pancreas, avoid over-feeding.  (13). If you care for your kidney, drink a lot of water during the day, drink less water at night, empty your bladder before going to bed. (14). If you care for your Urinary Tract, use raw onion regularly. (15). If yo...

(1). Walk Away from arguments that leads you to nowhere but anger.  (2).Walk Away from people who deliberately put you down. (3). Walk Away from any thought that reduces your worth. (4). Walk Away from failures and fears that stiffle your dreams. (5). Walk Away from people who do not care for you and who are opportunistic.  (6). The more you Walk Away from things that poison your soul, the happier your life will be. (7). Give yourself A Walk towards love, peace, kindness and goodness.  (8). Give Yourself A Walk to God's house and worship Him in Truth and in Spirit. (9). May God help us daily to walk in the right direction, to walk towards Him and with Him. (10). Let's do more walking. - Challapalli Srinivas Chakravarthy, 12th April, 2019 (Friday) - -----------------------------------------------------------------

[ Courtesy: Preventive Cardiologist Dr. Narayan Rao, Mumbai ]. Every seed of pomegranate which goes in your stomach is a seed of life for your heart . (1). Two things are full of benefits for the human being, Lukewarm Water and Pomegranate. (2). I prepared a decoction, boiling a fistful of dried seeds of Pomegranate in half liter of water for ten minutes, strained the decoction and advised those patients suffering from painful Angina to drink a glass of lukewarm decoction on empty stomach early mornings.  (3). Amazing result was observed; the decoction of dried pomegranate seeds worked like a magic, the feeling of tightness and heaviness of chest and the pain were relieved. (4). It encouraged me to try more experiments on various types of cardiac patients. So I experimented on patients who were suffering from painful Angina, Coronary Arterial Blockage, Cardiac Ischemia (insufficient blood flow to the heart muscle), etc, who were waiting for bypass surgery.  (5). ...

Understanding Butterfly Effect : Nearly 45 years ago, during the 139th meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Edward Lorenz posed a question: "Does the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?" The answer to that question probably differs from what you have heard. The concept referred to as the Butterfly Effect has been embraced by popular culture, where the term is often used to emphasise the outsize significance of minute occurrences, as in the 1990 movie 'Havana', in which Robert Redford, playing the role of Jack Well, a gambler with a knack for math, proclaims to his co-star, Lena Olin, that "a butterfly can flutter its wings over a flower in China and cause a hurricane in the Caribbean". Lorenz, the mild-mannered Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Meteorology Professor who developed the concept, never intended for it to be applied in this way. Indeed, he meant to convey the opposite po...