Processed food: Key reason for rise in autism

According to a recent study, processed foods may hold key to rise in autism. With the number of children diagnosed with autism on the rise, the need to find what causes the disorder becomes more urgent every day. With the findings of this study, researchers suggest that they are now a step closer to showing the link between the food pregnant women consume and the effects on a fetus' developing brain.

As part of the study, a team of researchers identified the molecular changes that happen when neuro -stem cells are exposed to high levels of an acid commonly found in processed foods. In the study, the scientists discovered how high levels of Propionic Acid (PPA), used to increase the shelf life of packaged foods and inhibit mold in commercially processed cheese and bread, reduce the development of neurons in fetal brains.

A specialist in gastroenterology research, began the study after reports showed that autistic children often suffer from gastric issues such as irritable bowel syndrome. He wondered about a possible link between the gut and the brain and began examining how the microbiome or gut bacteria differed between people with autism and those who do not have the condition.

"Studies have shown a higher level of PPA in stool samples from children with autism and the gut microbiome in autistic children is different. I wanted to know what the underlying cause was," he explained.

In the lab, the scientists found exposing neural stem cells to excessive PPA damages brain cells in several ways. First, the acid disrupts the natural balance between brain cells by reducing the number of neurons and over-producing glial cells.

While glial cells help develop and protect neuron function, too many glia cells disturb connectivity between neurons. They also cause inflammation, which has been noted in the brains of autistic children.

Excessive amounts of the acid also shorten and damage pathways that neurons use to communicate with the rest of the body. The combination of reduced neurons and damaged pathways impede the brain's ability to communicate, resulting in behaviours that are often found in children with autism, including repetitive behaviour, mobility issues and inability to interact with others.

 

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Human touch can detect even molecular differences

The human touch is sensitive enough to feel the difference between surfaces that vary by just a single layer of molecules, according to scientists. Humans can easily feel the difference between many everyday surfaces such as glass, metal, wood and plastic.

That is because these surfaces have different textures or draw heat away from the finger at different rates. However, researchers wanted to study if humans could detect the difference if they changed only the topmost layer of molecules.

"This is the greatest tactile sensitivity that has ever been shown in humans," said a professor. 

"Receptors processing sensations from our skin are phylogenetically the most ancient, but far from being primitive they have had time to evolve extraordinarily subtle strategies for discerning surfaces," said a scientist.

"This study is one of the first to demonstrate the range of sophistication and exquisite sensitivity of tactile sensations. It paves the way, perhaps, for a whole new approach to tactile psychophysics," a scientist said. 

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New blood test developed to improve cancer detection

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A new blood-based RNA test can detect, classify and pinpoint the location of cancer with greater accuracy by analysing a sample equivalent to one drop of blood, scientists say.

Using this new method for blood-based RNA tests of blood platelets, researchers have been able to identify cancer with 96% accuracy, researchers said. "Being able to detect cancer at an early stage is vital.

We have studied how a whole new blood-based method of biopsy can be used to detect cancer, which in the future renders an invasive cell tissue sample unnecessary in diagnosing lung cancer, for instance," said Jonas Nilsson, cancer researcher at Umea University in Sweden. "In the study, nearly all forms of cancer were identified, which proves that blood-based biopsies have an immense potential to improve early detection of cancer," said Nilsson.

Researchers from Umea University, in collaborations with researchers from the Netherlands and the US, investigated how a new method of blood-based RNA tests of the part of the blood called platelets could be used in detecting and classifying cancer. The results show that blood platelets could constitute a complete and easily accessible blood-based source for sampling and hence be used in diagnosing cancer as well as in the choice of treatment method.

Blood samples from 283 individuals were studied of which 228 people had some form of cancer and 55 showed no evidence of cancer. By comparing the blood sample RNA profiles, researchers could identify the presence of cancer with an accuracy of 96% among patients.

Among the 39 patients in the study in which an early detection of cancer had been made, 100% of the cases could be identified and classified. In follow-up tests using the same method, researchers could identify the origin of tumours with a so far unsurpassed accuracy of 71% in patients with diagnosed cancer in the lung, breast, pancreas, brain, liver, colon and rectum.

The samples could also be sorted in subdivisions depending on molecular differences in the cancer form, which can be of great use in the choice of treatment method. The study was published in the journal Cancer Cell.

How breast cancer spreads

Researchers have suggested that a protein only recently linked to cancer has a significant effect on the risk that breast cancer will spread, and that lowering the protein's level in cell cultures and mice reduces chances for the disease to extend beyond the initial tumor.

The study showed that mice implanted with breast cancer cells lacking the protein developed small, self-contained tumors consisting of cells that didn't leave the tumor. In contrast, mice implanted with cancer cells containing the protein developed larger, irregular masses and showed signs that cancer cells had invaded the surrounding tissue.

The research suggests that reducing production of the protein, called myoferlin, affects cancer cells in two primary ways: by changing the activation of many genes involved in metastasis in favor of normal cell behavior, and by altering mechanical properties of cancer cells - including their shape and ability to invade - so they are more likely to remain nested together rather than breaking away to travel to other tissues.

Myoferlin's influence on both molecular and mechanical processes in breast cancer cells suggests that diagnostic methods and perhaps even treatments eventually might be tailored to patients based on protein levels and mechanical properties in cells detected in tumors, researchers say.

Douglas Kniss , professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Ohio State's Wexner Medical Center and senior author of the study and his team used subtypes of triple-negative breast cancer cells for the study - one of the most lethal forms of breast cancer because of its likelihood to spread.

The study has been published in the journal PLOS ONE. 

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New ideas change your brain cells

Scientists have found that an important molecular change occurs in the brain when we learn and remember.

Researchers found that learning stimulates our brain cells in a manner that causes a small fatty acid to attach to delta-catenin, a protein in the brain.

This biochemical modification is essential in producing the changes in brain cell connectivity associated with learning.

The findings may provide an explanation for some mental disabilities, researchers said.

In animal models, the scientists found almost twice the amount of modified delta-catenin in the brain after learning about new environments.

While delta-catenin has previously been linked to learning, this study is the first to describe the protein’s role in the molecular mechanism behind memory formation.

“More work is needed, but this discovery gives us a much better understanding of the tools our brains use to learn and remember, and provides insight into how these processes become disrupted in neurological diseases,” said co-author Shernaz Bamji, an associate professor in University of British Columbia’s Life Sciences Institute.

Disruption of the delta-catenin gene has been observed in some patients with schizophrenia, researchers said.

“Brain activity can change both the structure of this protein, as well as its function,” said Stefano Brigidi, first author of the article and a PHD candidate Bamji’s laboratory.

“When we introduced a mutation that blocked the biochemical modification that occurs in healthy subjects, we abolished the structural changes in brain’s cells that are known to be important for memory formation,” Brigidi said.

The study is published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

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