Category: Bulletins - Sci-Tech Bulletin

Benzene Exposure Linked to Severe Systemic Sclerosis

Exposure to particulate (PM10) and benzene is associated with more severe skin involvement and reduced lung function. Benzene, in particular, is a potential environmental factor that influences the progression of systemic sclerosis. This disease is associated with early inflammation, immune dysfunction, and vascular injury, followed by progressive fibrosis of the skin and internal organs, especially the lungs. Higher benzene exposure may increase the vascular inflammatory-fibrotic burden, contributing to greater skin involvement and lung impairment, as reflected in DLCO measurements. Occupational exposure to substances such as crystalline silica dust, solvents, ketones, and welding fumes further elevates these risks.

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HOPES Program improves Mental Health, Skills, and Preventive Care in Older Adults

The HOPES program improves community living skills and self-efficacy among older adults with reduced psychiatric symptoms. This intervention combines psychosocial skills training with preventive healthcare for the oldies suffering from serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder and major depression. Compared with usual treatment, interventions such as HOPES can produce lasting functional and behavioral benefits, allowing preventive health care screening and advanced care planning, supporting greater independence and better long-term mental health outcomes in the ageing population.

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Monsoon season increases the risk of parasitic eye infection

A study confirms that a spore-forming unicellular parasite widely causes eye infection, termed as acute microsporidial keratoconjunctivitis (MKC), peaks during the monsoon season. Environmental factors such as rainfall, high humidity, and wind speed significantly increase the infection rate. In India, keratoconjunctivitis cases rise sharply in September and are lowest in May. Other known causes of infections are exposure to soil, sports activities, and water contamination in swimming pools. Air pollutants like O₃, CO, NO₂, and SO₂ show little impact on infection rates, though higher ground-level ozone may offer some protective effect.

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RosettaAntibody and SnugDock as Robust computational tools for Drug development

Computational Antibody Modelling tools are Transforming Modern Drug Development

Computational tools “Rosetta Antibody” and “Rosetta SnugDock”, developed by scientists, provide a simplified and automated framework for studying the kinematics of antibody–antigen docking. These tools enable single-domain antibody modelling, incorporating new loop modelling techniques and improved docking algorithms to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of antibody engineering. Benchmarking shows better structural predictions and more reliable binding simulations compared to earlier approaches. These models could fast-track the discoveries and developments of drugs, vaccines and personalised medicine, making accelerated innovation affordable.

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Carbon Dots are revolutionising cancer diagnosis, drug delivery, and advanced therapies

Carbon dots (CDs) are carbon-based nanomaterials that are emerging as a potential biomaterial with appealing applications in bioimaging, biosensing, drug delivery, and radiation therapies such as photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT). Carbon dots enable precise bioimaging, allowing real-time detection of cancer cells, and can selectively target tumours when functionalized with specific drug molecules while reducing side effects. Their low-cost production and versatility due to their brilliant fluorescence, high photostability, good biocompatibility, and low toxicity make them a promising nanotheranostic tool for practical clinical use at affordable costs.

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Rising Temperatures and Heatwaves may affect our mental health

A meta-analysis found that rising temperatures and heatwaves are linked to increased mental health problems, including higher mortality and hospital admissions. Each 1°C rise in temperature significantly raises risks for mood disorders, neurotic disorders, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, and suicide. When the temperature stays extremely high for consecutive 3 days, older adults, males, and fragile populations living in tropical and subtropical climate zones are more vulnerable. As global temperatures rise, addressing heat-related mental health risks becomes increasingly important for healthcare systems and policymakers to adopt heat mitigation strategies and provide mental health support during extreme weather.

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Hibiscus Extract Stop Breast Cancer growth and Boost Treatment

Hibiscus extract has been studied for its ability to selectively kill breast cancer cells while sparing normal cells. The extract induced programmed cell death in triple-negative and estrogen-positive breast cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, it increases oxidative stress and disrupts mitochondrial function, thus enhancing the effectiveness of chemotherapies such as taxol and cisplatin at 50 folds lower drug doses. Thus, hibiscus can be potentially used as an adjuvant therapy for the long-term treatment of cancer and for improving the quality of life of patients.

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Microorganisms adapting to environmental changes such as temperature, pH, and nutrient availability

How microorganisms adapt to changing environments at molecular level and undergo evolution

Microorganisms adapt to changing environments through molecular and cellular mechanisms by pleiotropy, often driven by changes in gene regulation and signaling pathways. Organisms may evolve as specialists or generalists depending on environmental variability and predictability. Strategies include anticipatory regulation, cellular memory, and stochastic bet-hedging. Rapid adaptations like gene amplification or aneuploidy provide short-term benefits but are costly long term. Research shows that genetic background strongly influences outcomes, making evolution context-dependent. These insights are important for understanding antibiotic resistance, cancer evolution, biotechnology, and managing adaptation in natural and applied systems.

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AI-Powered Digital Twins Enable Early Alzheimer’s Diagnosis with 88% Accuracy

Early diagnosis has been made possible by a digital twin model (DADD) that derives personalized Alzheimer’s disease (AD) biomarkers from non-invasive electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings. DADD model could identify early stage alzheimer’s with 79% accuracy while also identifying cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers with 88% accuracy and future cognitive decline with 87% accuracy using only non-invasive data. The DADD model enables scalable, low-cost screening and early intervention for preclinical AD such as subjective cognitive decline (SCD), reducing reliance on invasive tests with strong diagnostic and prognostic value.

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Boosting Adiponectin Naturally is the key to better Metabolism and Longevity

Adiponectin, classified as adipokine is a hormone produced by adipose tissue that acts as a cytokine to regulate glucose levels, lipid metabolism, and inflammation in the body. Higher levels of adiponectin have been studied to improve insulin sensitivity, promoting fat oxidation, and protecting organs such as the heart, liver, brain, and kidneys. Its pronounced role in regulating obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer makes it a highly valuable biomarker and a potential therapeutic target for monitoring the effectiveness of preventive and treatment interventions

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