Repurposed drug effective for Zika virus

In both cell cultures and mouse models, a drug used to treat Hepatitis C effectively protected and rescued neural cells infected by the Zika virus and blocked transmission of the virus to mouse fetuses. Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues in Brazil and elsewhere, say their findings support further investigation of using the repurposed drug as a potential treatment for Zika-infected adults, including pregnant women.

 Zika infection during the first trimester confers the greatest risk of congenital microcephaly. Outbreaks of Zika virus in Brazil in 2015 and 2016 were marked by an increased incidence of newborns with congenital malformations, most notably undersized heads (microcephaly) and significant neurological abnormalities.

A great deal of research has focused on the pathology of Zika infections, including earlier work by the Muotri lab and collaborators that described how the virus is transmitted from mother to fetus by infecting cells that, ironically, will later develop into the brain's first and primary form of defense against invasive pathogens.

In its latest work, however, the Muotri lab sought clinical solutions. The team investigated an antiviral drug called sofosbuvir, approved and marketed under the brand name Sovaldi to treat and cure hepatitis C infections. The drug works by inhibiting replication of the hepatitis C virus; researchers noted that both hepatitis C and Zika belong to the same viral family and bore strong structural similarities that could make sofosbuvir effective against the latter. In addition, it had been reported that sofosbuvir was protective against Zika in different cell types.

In tests using human neural progenitor cells (NPCs)-self-renewing, multipotent cells that generate neurons and other brain cell types-the scientists found that exposure to sofosbuvir not only rescued dying NPCs infected with the Zika virus, but restored gene expression linked to their antiviral response. In subsequent tests using an immunodeficient mouse model infected by Zika, intravenous injections of sofosbuvir significantly reduced viral loads in blood serum compared to a placebo group.

Fetuses of Zika-infected pregnant mice did not show detectable Zika virus amplification in the sofosbuvir-treated group. This shows that the drug was well-tolerated by the Zika-infected pregnant mice and that it was able to arrest Zika replication in vivo and stop transmission from mother to fetus.
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Causes of baby brain

Baby brain refers to increased forgetfulness, inattention, and mental "fogginess" reported by four out of five pregnant women. These changes in brain function during pregnancy have long been recognised in midwifery folklore, the new study has confirmed "baby brain"  as a real phenomenon, and also affects several cognitive areas.

Researchers combined data from different studies reporting the relationship between pregnancy and brain changes. They examined the cognitive function of pregnant women and non-pregnant women to explore how pregnancy may affect other cognitive areas beyond memory and to look specifically at how these changes might vary according to pregnancy trimesters.

The result showed that when pregnant women are compared to non-pregnant women, they perform much worse on tasks measuring memory and executive functioning which includes attention, inhibition, decision-making and planning, and the difference most pronounced during the third trimester. Women were tested with tasks such as the digit span test, which involves remembering digits in a line.

When the same women were tested at multiple points during their pregnancies, the decline appeared to start during the first trimester, then stabilise from the middle to the end of the pregnancy. Some pregnant women may notice they don't feel as smart as usual, these effects are realistically not likely to have any dramatic impact on everyday life.

Some women will simply find it seems to take more mental effort to do tasks that were previously routine. These changes might be noticeable to people very close to them such as family or friends, but this is highly dependent on each woman's personal experience of pregnancy. There were reductions in grey matter in the brains of pregnant women in regions known to be closely tied to processing social information, such as decoding infant facial expressions and establishing healthy bonding between mother and child.

Baby brain is an important adaptive phenomenon that might help women prepare for raising their children by allowing their brains to adapt to their new role as mothers. Importantly, this same study showed losses of grey matter in the hippocampus, an area of the brain responsible for memory function, are restored two years after the birth of a child. This supports the idea cognitive declines are not permanent.
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Wi-fi and cellphones increase the risk of miscarriage

Wi-fi and cellphones increase pregnant women's risk of suffering a miscarriage by nearly 50 percent, new research reveals. Magnetic field (MF) non-ionizing radiation, which is also given off by power lines and cell towers, has been found in past studies to put a stress on the body, leading to genetic damage that can cause pregnant women to miscarry. Those exposed to the highest levels of MF radiation are 48 percent more likely to lose their baby than women exposed to the lowest amounts, the US study found.

MF radiation, which everyone is exposed to at some extent, has previously been linked to cancer
and has been recommended by the World Health Organization to be studied for its effect on pregnancies. Miscarriages affect between 15 and 20 percent of pregnancies in the US. They are defined as losing babies less than 20 weeks into their gestation.

Pregnant women can reduce their magnetic field (MF) non-ionizing radiation exposure by - Keeping cellphones away from their abdomens and not keeping them in clothes pockets. Turning Wi-Fi off when it is not in use, particularly while sleeping. Keeping cellphones on airplane mood when they are not in use. Talking on speakerphone when making calls and keeping them as brief as possible.

Not using appliances that give off MF non-ionizing radiation when in the car, as levels are already increased. Researchers from the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, California,  analyzed 913 pregnant women at varying stages of their gestation. Some of the study's participants had previously suffered at least one miscarriage. All of the participants carried an EMDEX Lite meter, which measures MF-radiation exposure, for 24 hours on a typical day. Their pregnancy outcomes were followed for the duration of their gestation.

High-radiation exposure increases the risk by up to 48%. Results reveal pregnant women with the highest MF-radiation exposure have a 48 percent greater risk of miscarrying than those with the lowest exposure. Among pregnant women exposed to the highest levels of MF radiation, 24.2 per cent had a miscarriage compared to 10.4 per cent of those exposed to the lowest amounts. This risk occurs regardless of whether women have suffered miscarriages in the past and are therefore more likely to lose another baby before its birth. This study provides evidence from a human population that magnetic field non-ionizing radiation could have adverse biological impacts on human health.
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Blood clotting disorder causes miscarriages

Women with the rare autoimmune disorder Antiphospholipid syndrome APS are prone to successive pregnancy losses. APS causes abnormal blood clots in the arteries or veins along with the risks that go with clotting, including stroke and Deep Vein Thrombosis. For pregnant women the effects of the disorder can be devastating, causing about half of them to be at risk of sequential miscarriages, spontaneous abortions or premature births.

Researchers have identified a protein that may protect against APS miscarriages. The researchers used purpose-bred mice injected with the antibodies that cause the condition to test the effects of the proteins CD39 and CD73, which work together to produce a molecule known as adenosine.

Adenosine has anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and anti-clotting properties. APS occurs when there is an increased level of circulating antibodies-the proteins designed to attack invading pathogens in the system but which, in the case of autoimmune diseases such as APS, attack the body's own cells. It was known that these antibodies were linked to clotting but not all patients with them go on to have APS.

The rates of miscarriages were compared in mice that lacked CD39 and CD73, in normal mice, and in mice with large amounts of the two proteins in their blood. The study found, as hypothesised, that mice that lacked CD39 and CD73 both had increased rates of miscarriages. Those with no CD39 lost 20% of fetuses. That is a six-fold increase compared with normal mice which lost 3.67% of fetuses. The mice with no CD73 had a three-fold increase. Mice with large amounts of CD39 had reduced miscarriage rates compared to those without it.
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Vaping can cause birth defects

Vaping while pregnant could cause babies to be born with disfiguring birth defects to their faces and heads. Exposure to e-cigarette vapor damaged cells that would eventually become facial features in ways that could cause facial clefts and uneven growth of facial structures. The Centers for Disease  Control and Prevention CDC and doctors already recommend that no form of smoking – including vaping – is safe for pregnant women.

As many as 19.4 percent of young adults thought that e-cigarettes caused ‘no harm,’ according to CDC data collected between 2013 and 2014. More than half of the same age group believed that they were only ‘moderately harmful.’ Studies have shown that e-cigarette vapor does have fewer toxins, but the products are so new that their effects aren’t fully understood.

They discovered that the mixture of liquids to create the novel flavors of e-cigarette vapor were responsible for the worst damage to the developing fetus. Most flavors led to only minor effects, like slightly smaller than normal faces. But one unnamed flavor in particular consistently caused the most damage. All of the frogs exposed to that flavor had significant facial clefts.

E-cigarettes use a heating mechanism to heat e-liquids and convert them into flavored vapor. The liquids contain nicotine, as well as propylene, glycol, vegetable glycerine and flavoring compounds. The ingredients used to make the various flavors are a bit of a mystery. Researchers  analyzed 159 varieties of flavored vape liquids, and found that more than two thirds used a compound called diacetyl, which is linked to a popcorn lung.

Previous research linked flavoring in e-liquids to heart defects in developing zebrafish, brain development delays in mice, and the release of at least two carcinogens. The researchers tested six different e-liquids, with nicotine strengths varying from six mg/ml to 24 and one or more flavoring additives. Two varieties had only one flavor each: red tobacco and menthol. They also tested a liquid flavored with both milk and dark chocolate, and one with melon and candy.

The most dramatic defects were tied to the two liquids with the greatest number of different flavors. One used strawberry, almond, caramel, vanilla, biscuit and Vienna cream flavorings, and the other had cereal, berries, cream and citrus. Both of the many-flavored varieties led to dramatically cleft faces or other facial birth defects in the frogs they were tested on.

Facial and mouth clefts are gaps in the middle of the face that can affect both soft muscle and skin tissue and bones. They are rare in humans, effecting only about 1 in every 150,000 babies born worldwide. Depending on how severe the cleft is, they may be reparable with surgery, but if left untreated can also make it difficult for people with cleft faces and palates to eat, make them prone to ear infections and hearing loss, speech and language impairments and dental problems.
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Low protein diet for longevity

Having a low-protein diet early in life may help you live longer. A study found fruit flies which share more than two thirds of humans genes live twice as long when given minimal protein diet at tender age. A typical western diet is high in protein and fats from meat, diary, and eggs with red meat in linked to heart disease and cancer. There is an evidence that eating too much protein long-term can lead to an increased risk of osteoporosis and kidney problems.

The researchers also believe their findings could be explained because a low-protein diet produces less toxic lipids secreted by the skin. Health skin lipids form a natural barrier keeping out dirt, impurities and harmful chemicals that can accelerate ageing. Scientists used the fly drosophila melanogaster to understand how diet in early life acts to alter lifespan. These insects are used in lifespan experiments because it lives for only two to three months.

The team stressed that there was enough evidence to recommend pregnant women go on low-protein diets to boost their unborn child's health. There is evidence in humans and other mammals that a mother's diet can alter the risk of her offspring developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes later in life, but the genetic processes underlying this effect remain to be identified.
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Eat fish to avoid schizophrenia

According to new research, pregnant women should eat more fish for proper development of their children. Eating seafood during pregnancy improves brain development. Children born to mothers who consumed 400g of oily fish each week while they were expecting had higher language and communication skills.

However, the researchers warned pregnant women to avoid eating anymore than this amount due to the potential effects of mercury. For the new study, researchers obtained blood samples from a small group of  women in week 17 of gestation. Prenatal mercury exposure was also calculated by asking the women to report what they consumed halfway through their pregnancy.

Mothers then reported children's language and communications skills at age five by filling out a questionnaire. Resaerchers then performed a statistical analysis to assess the impact of mercury. For mothers who ate less than 400g of seafood a week there were clear benefits, such children performed significantly better on the speech and language test, the researchers found.
maternal seafood intake during pregnancy was positively associated with the language and communication scales.

The NHS encourages pregnant women to eat fish because of the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids. However, they should avoid swordfish, shark and marlin because of high mercury levels. Consumption of tuna, which contains moderate levels of mercury, should be limited to two steaks a week or four cans, the NHS says.Pregnant women should also eat noT more than two portions a week of oily fish such as mackerel, sardines or salmon.
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Potential Zika vaccine prevents pregnancy transmission and testicular damage

Zika infection typically results in mild or symptom-free infections in healthy individuals, infected pregnant women without symptoms may still give birth to a baby with birth defects like microcephaly.

Researchers has shown that a potential Zika vaccine can protect fetuses against infection and  protect males against testicular infection and injury. It also prevents a lowered sperm count after one vaccination.

Infected men without any signs of illness may still incur testicular injury and lowered sperm count. The Zika virus could infect the male reproductive system for several months, posing risk for sexual transmission.

Taking a single-dose vaccine could prevent Zika infection in non-human primates, prevent mother-to-fetus transmission, and stop male testis infection in mice. The vaccine provides a protective immune response, this vaccine exhibited an excellent safety profile in mouse and non-human primate models.
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Zika virus weakened immune system and deformed fetus

The Zika virus increases in pregnant women by suppressing their dampened immune systems and attacks their natural defenses, which allows the virus to directly attack the fetus. A woman's immune system naturally suppresses itself during pregnancy to keep the body from recognizing the fetus as a foreign body and attacking it, Zika uses this process, turning pregnant woman's immune defense so the virus can spread without any hindrance.

Researchers tested African and Asian strains of Zika in the blood samples of healthy men, women and pregnant women. Researchers discovered that the Asian strain of Zika targets monocytes, which are white blood cells that mount the body's immune defense by destroying viruses and bacteria, people can survive the attack, but pregnant women cannot because Zika exploits the existing process by which the body protects a fetus from immune attack. Zika virus suppresses immune system like HIV.

The virus goes in, multiplies, grows and then crosses the placenta attack the fetus and cause disease. The blood of pregnant women infected with Zika also showed abnormally high expression of two genes that have been previously associated with pregnancy complications. Microcephaly have been associated with mothers who were infected with the Zika virus before giving birth, a pregnant women naturally have higher levels of immune-suppressing M2 macrophages to prevent the womb from rejecting the fetus.

However, the Asian Zika virus boosts M2 macrophage reproduction, decreasing the infection fighting process and encouraging immune suppression. Researchers discovered that the Asian Zika virus is more dangerous during first and second trimester, when the virus can increase immune suppression. During the third trimester, the blood of infected pregnant women and non-pregnant women were about the same.

During pregnancy, the host body is prone to opportunistic infection
Previous clinical studies showed that Zika virus infection during the first and second trimesters of pregnancy are strongly associated with fetal abnormalities. These anomalies cause brain damage and developmental delays in babies even if they are born with normal-sized heads.
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Diagnosing Zika virus with nanotechnology

Testing for Zika requires that a blood sample be refrigerated and moved to a laboratory, this delay diagnosis and treatment. The researchers tested blood samples taken from people infected with Zika virus and compared it to blood from people that do not have the virus.

 Blood from Zika-infected patients tested positive while blood from Zika-negative controls did not. The assay produced no false-positive results.

Zika infection is either asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic; people infected with Zika don't know they're infected, many people don't become sick after being bitten by an infected mosquito.

 Testing is particularly important for pregnant women because Zika infection can cause congenital Zika syndrome, which contributes to several neurologic problems in the fetus or newborn infant.

Population screening is the effective way of diagnosing the diseases. Using of gold nanorods mounted on paper to detect Zika infection within a few minutes is faster and better than the current method.

The test relies on a protein made by Zika virus that causes an immune response in infected individuals. The protein is attached to tiny gold nanorods mounted on a piece of paper.

The paper then is completely covered with tiny, protective nanocrystals. The nanocrystals allow the diagnostic nanorods to be shipped and stored without refrigeration prior to use.

To use the test, a technician rinses the paper with slightly acidic water, removing the protective crystals and exposing the protein mounted on the nanorods. Then, a drop of the patient's blood is applied. If the patient has come into contact with the virus, the blood will contain immunoglobulins that react with the protein.

Immunoglobulins persist in the blood for a few months, and when they come into contact with the gold nanorods, the nanorods undergo a slight color change that can be detected with a hand-held spectrophotometer. With this test, results and treatments will be immediate.
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Nerlynx drug for early breast cancer treatment

Breast cancer starts when cells in the breast begin to grow out of control. The cancers can start from different parts of the breast. It can start from the ducts that carry milk to the nipple or in the glands that make breast milk.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration FDA has approved Nerlynx a once-daily oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor for the extended adjuvant treatment of adult patients with early stage HER2-overexpressed/amplified breast cancer.

Nerlynx is a prescription medicine used to treat adults who have early-stage breast cancer, which is HER2-positive and has previously been treated with the medicine trastuzumab.

Nerlynx may cause serious side effects like diarrhea, liver problems, fatigue,
vomiting, fever, rash, right upper abdominal pain, weight loss and urinary tract infection UTI.

Pregnant women, nursing mother and women planning to get pregnant can not use Nerlynx.
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Vaginal microbiome responsible for preterm birth

The composition and structure of the vaginal microbiome may influence susceptibility to adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Decrease in the diversity and structure of vaginal microbes of pregnant women between the first and second trimesters is related with preterm birth.

Women at risk of preterm birth are treated with broad strokes, including hormones or antibiotics, bed rest and a surgical procedure that closes the cervix during pregnancy.

Stable amount and diversity of vaginal microbes leads to full term pregnancy while pregnant women who delivered their babies early experienced decreases in the amount and diversity of such microbes between the first and second trimesters.



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Facts about Zika virus

Zika virus is a mosquito- borne illness that is spread by the Aedes species of mosquito.

Aedes albopictus, known as the Asian tiger mosquito, and the Aedes Aegyptus, known as the yellow fever mosquito are responsible for Zika virus.

The Zika virus was first identified in monkeys, in Uganda in 1947. The first human cases were detected in Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania in 1952.

Presently, there is no treatment for the virus. Avoiding mosquito bites is the major prevention method against Zika virus.

Signs and symptoms of Zika virus are vague and can last for up to 1 week. Diagnosis of the virus is typically confirmed with a blood test.

Major Zika virus cases occur in tropical regions, such as Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay, Suriname, Venezuela, and French Guiana.

Currently, there is no treatment for  Zika. People living with the virus must
increase their body fluid to prevent
dehydration, relieving pain and fever with acetaminophen.

 CDC advised pregnant women who are diagnosed with Zika to go for monitoring of fetal growth and anatomy program every 3-4 weeks.

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Taking vitamin D in pregnancy protect babies from asthma

Taking vitamin D supplements in pregnancy strengthens babies' immune systems, which may lower their risk of developing asthma, new research reveals.

The unborn babies of expectant mothers who take more than the recommended daily vitamin D dose for pregnant women respond better when exposed to simulated pathogens.

Researchers from King's College London analysed the impact of taking a 4,400 IU vitamin D supplement every day during a woman's second and third trimester versus the recommended daily intake of 400 IU.

Study participants were randomised at 10 to 18 weeks of pregnancy to receive either high or low dose vitamin D.

The researchers then took umbilical cord blood samples from 51 pregnant women to assess the responsiveness of newborns' immune systems when exposed to simulated pathogens.

Results show that blood samples of babies born to mothers taking the higher vitamin D dose, had a greater immune response.





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