University of Hyderabad faculty comes up with a potential COVID-19 vaccine

Amid a frightening picture being painted by coronavirus concerns across the world, there's a ray of hope emerging from the University of Hyderabad (UoH). In what could be a welcome breakthrough for the country and even the world, a faculty member of the biochemistry department has developed a possible vaccine against the dreaded coronavirus infection.

A statement issued by UoH states that Dr. Seema Mishra, faculty of the Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences, has designed potential vaccine candidates, called T cell epitopes, against all the structural and non-structural proteins of novel coronavirus-2 (2019-nCoV) for experimental testing.

These vaccine candidates are small coronaviral peptides, molecules which are used by cells to trigger an immune response to destroy cells harbouring these viral peptides. Using powerful immunoinformatics approaches with computational softwares, Dr Seema Mishra has designed these potential epitopes in a way that can be used to vaccinate an entire population.

Usually, vaccine discovery takes 15 years, but the powerful computational tools helped in quickly enlisting these vaccine candidates in about 10 days.

A ranked list of potential candidate vaccines, based on how effectively they will be used by human cells to stop the virus, has been generated. With no matches present in human protein pool, these coronaviral epitopes pose no cross-reactivity to human cells and hence, the immune response will be against viral proteins and not human proteins. However, these results have to be investigated experimentally in order to provide conclusive evidence.

These results have been disseminated to the scientific community using ChemRxiv preprint platform for urgent experimental assays.

Acknowledging that currently social distancing remains the best defence against nCov infections, the UoH stated that vaccination will take some time as further work is needed on the candidate epitopes.

"We are hopeful that our computational findings will provide a cost-and-time-effective framework for rapid experimental trials towards an effective nCoV vaccine," the statement said.

The University of Hyderabad clarified that although the research has been disseminated, the scientific community, in vitro studies are required to be conducted for establishing the findings conclusively.

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A protein in your brain can be your weapon against Alzheimer’s disease

Researchers have found that a protein that regulates white blood cells in the human brain could protect against Alzheimer’s disease.

The results  suggest that this protein, called CD33, could have important implications in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease.

“Immune cells in the brain, called microglia, play a critical role in Alzheimer’s disease,” explained  co-author of the study.

“They can be harmful or protective. Swaying microglia from a harmful to protective state could be the key to treating the disease,” the author added. Scientists have identified the CD33 protein as a factor that may decrease a person’s likelihood of this disease.

Now, this research has shown that the most common type of CD33 protein plays a crucial role in modulating the function of microglia. “The fact that CD33 is found on microglia suggests that immune cells can protect the brain from Alzheimer’s disease under the right circumstances,” said the  first author of the study.

Alzheimer’s disease affects more than 44 million people around the world. “These findings set the stage for future testing of a causal relationship between CD33 and Alzheimer’s Disease, as well as testing therapeutic strategies to sway microglia from harmful to protecting against the disease – by targeting CD33,” said the researcher.

“Microglia have the potential to ‘clean up’ the neurodegenerative plaques, through a process called phagocytosis — so a therapy to harness this ability to slow down or reverse this mental health disorder can be envisioned,” he said.


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Here's Why Our Body Freezes Momentarily When Introduced to Potential Threat

A chemical produced by nerve cells to allow transmission of signals between them, called serotonin, triggers a startle response, freezing the body momentarily in response to a potential threat, according to a new study.

The researchers, including those from Columbia University in the US, manipulated the levels of serotonin -- and another chemical called dopamine -- in the ventral nerve cord (VNC) of fruit flies, which is similar to the vertebrate spinal cord.

They analysed the steps taken by the insects on a special type of glass, and monitored how they moved.

The findings of the study, published in the journal Current Biology, revealed that when a fruit fly experiences an unexpected change to its surroundings -- such as a sudden vibration -- the release of serotonin helps to temporarily stop the fly in its tracks.

"We witnessed serotonin's biggest effects when the flies experienced rapid environmental changes. In other words, when they were startled," said study co-author Clare Howard from Columbia University.

The study offered insights into the biology of the startle response -- a phenomenon, which the researchers said, is observed in virtually every animal studied to date, from flies to fish to people.

"Imagine sitting in your living room with your family and -- all of a sudden -- the lights go out, or the ground begins to shake," said Richard Mann, study co-author from Columbia University.

"Your response, and that of your family, will be the same: You will stop, freeze and then move to safety. With this study, we show in flies that a rapid release of the chemical serotonin in their nervous system drives that initial freeze. And because serotonin also exists in people, these findings shed light on what may be going on when we get startled as well," Mann explained.

The researchers found that when they activated neurons producing serotonin in the VNC, the flies slowed down, and when these nerves were silenced, the flies sped up.

They also showed that serotonin levels could impact the insects' walking speed under a wide variety of conditions, such as different temperatures, when the flies were hungry, or while they walked upside down.

The team also devised two scenarios to induce a startle response in the flies -- in one, they turned the lights off, creating a total blackout for the insects, and in the other, they simulated an earthquake.

To create the earthquake effects, the researchers created a miniature, fly-sized arena perched atop specialised vibrating motors.

The scientists also manipulated the fly's ability to produce serotonin when they were exposed to either the blackout or earthquake scenarios.

"We found that when a fly is startled in these scenarios, serotonin acts like an emergency brake; its release is needed for them to freeze, and that part of this response may be a result of stiffening both sides of the animal's leg joints," said Mann.

"This co-contraction could cause the brief pause in walking, after which the insect begins to move," he added.

The researchers suggested that this pause allowed the fly's nervous system to gather information about sudden changes, and decide how it should respond.

With more results from future experiments, the scientists said they plan to develop a detailed blueprint of the molecules involved in locomotion that can be applied even to other animals, including humans.

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Certain hearts 'unfit' for donation no more

 Many hearts are declared unfit for donation due to stress-induced heart failure. But a recent study found that this condition has no bearing on the outcome of a transplant further opening path for up to 30 per cent more heart transplants.

"Systematic utilisation of these hearts would mean a breakthrough for heart transplantation, as more patients could be accepted for transplantation," said  senior lecturer. The study, is based on particulars of 641 potential heart donors in Sweden in the years 2006-2016.

Either these people, who had been declared brain-dead, had said yes to donation during their lives or their survivors had given the go-ahead. As many as 24 per cent of potential donors had acute stress-induced cardiomyopathy, or broken heart syndrome, in which cardiac function is impaired in one part of the heart, while the other parts beat normally. This condition is caused by the massive surge in stress hormones observed in the course of brain death.

The functional impairment appears to be transient: Within a few hours or days, the heart recovers. Nevertheless, there are recommendations that these hearts should not be transplanted. The selection process, therefore, varies from one location to another. To date, the transplantation centre in Gothenburg has had the favourable clinical experience of transplanting hearts with stress-induced heart failure, and there were 42 such cases in the current study.

The results show that when the donors' hearts had been subject to stress-induced heart failure, the outcomes for recipients were no different. Neither was mortality affected; rather, it conformed to the expected 20 per cent rate in both groups after ten years.

"The impairment in cardiac function seems to be temporary and is not caused by coronary artery disease or other heart diseases. This fact fits well with stress-induced heart failure. When we repeatedly examine these hearts, we see that their function recovers quickly," says the researcher.

More studies are to follow the current one, to verify the results. Ending disqualification of donors with stress-induced heart failure is seen as especially urgent since the condition arises more often in young people, whose hearts are otherwise well suited for donation. "We estimate that the supply of donor's hearts could be increased by 20-30 per cent if these hearts are used," he concluded.  


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Want to Live Longer? Optimism is the Key

Researchers have found that individuals with greater optimism are more likely to live longer and achieve “exceptional longevity”.

“While research has identified many risk factors for diseases and premature death, we know relatively less about positive psychosocial factors that can promote healthy aging,” said an Asst. Prof. pf psychology.

“This study has strong public health relevance because it suggests that optimism is one such psychological asset that has the potential to extend the human lifespan. Interestingly, optimism may be modifiable using relatively simple techniques or therapies,” the Prof. added.

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The study, was based on 69,744 women and 1,429 men. Both groups completed survey measures to assess their level of optimism, as well as their overall health and health habits such as diet, smoking and alcohol use.

Women were followed for 10 years, while men were followed for 30 years.

When individuals were compared based on their initial levels of optimism, the researchers found that the most optimistic men and women demonstrated, on average, an 11 to 15 percent longer lifespan, and had 50-70 percent greater odds of reaching the age of 85 compared to the least optimistic groups.

The results were maintained after accounting for age, demographic factors such as educational attainment, chronic diseases, depression and also health behaviors, such as alcohol use, exercise, diet and primary care visits. “However, exactly why optimistic people appear to live longer is still up for debate,” he said.