The number may actually be higher.
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It’s always the quiet ones.
Desde diciembre laboratorios de todo el mundo trabajan a la carrera para averiguar si dos nuevas variantes de coronavirus, una detectada en Sudáfrica y llamada 501Y.V2, y otra encontrada en Reino Unido y llamada B.1.1.7, pueden ser más escurridizas par…
We already hosted many doubts about electronic cigarettes, to which we now add the conclusions of a new study: which can cause inflammation in the intestine.
In the study Has been published this January 5, 2021 in the magazine iScience. This is the first study to demonstrate how chronic exposure to e-cigarettes increases the gut's susceptibility to bacterial infections.
Intestinal barrier alteration
The results of the study suggest that the chemical components of electronic cigarettes, specifically propylene glycol and vegetable glycerol, they disrupt the intestinal barrier and trigger inflammation in the body, which can lead to a variety of health problems.
Everything we eat or drink, our lifestyle choices in other words, has the ability to affect our gut microbes, gut barrier, and overall health. We now know that what we smoke, like e-cigarettes, also negatively impacts it.
For the study, the team used three-dimensional models of human intestinal tracts generated from patient cells and simulated what happens when vapors from e-cigarettes enter the intestinal lining. The researchers validated the findings using mouse models.
To produce the three-dimensional intestinal organoids, the researchers collected stem cells from patients' biopsies during colonoscopies and They grew them in vitro. The stem cells differentiated into four different types of cells that make up the intestinal lining. Finally, the team exposed the organoids to the liquid vapor of the e-cigarette, mimicking the frequency of a chronic vaper.
'Given the importance of the intestinal barrier in maintaining the body's immune homeostasis, the findings provide valuable information about the Possible long-term harmful effects of chronic use of electronic cigarettes on our health.
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The news
Electronic cigarettes cause inflammation in the intestine
was originally published in
Xataka Science
by
Sergio Parra
.
We generally think that monozygotic twins are natural clones, which are identical twins. At the beginning of development, the embryo divides, separates and produces two groups of cells whose genes are identical, each of which will grow into a different but equal baby.
The results of a new study published in Nature indicate that cell allocation during development shapes genomic differences between monozygotic twins. But How relevant is this to determining that twins are not identical?
Monozygotic twins
The monozygotes are so similar that, even in 2009, in Germany, the arrest warrant for two of them was lifted when it could not be proven who had been the author of a jewelry theft in Berlin given their extraordinary resemblance (DNA included). But perhaps a small variation in the environment can produce very large effects on the phenotype (or the opposite), like the butterfly that flaps its wings at one end of the world and, through the art of birlibirloque, ends up generating hurricanes at the other end.
But before the birth of twins, we can take into account other important aspects that could undermine the common assumption that The genome sequences of monozygotic twins are almost identical. In fact, there is a paucity of studies characterizing the genomic differences between these twins.
Thus, the average number of differences between the genomes of monozygotic twins is unknown. Furthermore, the types of mutations that lead to these differences and their timing are unknown. That is what the cited study has tried to elucidate..
To estimate the number and timing of mutations that differ between monozygotic twins, Postzygotic mutations present in the somatic tissue of one of the twins were looked for., but not the other, and were timed by comparing whole genome sequencing (WGS) data from monozygotic twins, their offspring, spouses, and parents.
It was then shown that monozygotic twins differ on average in** 5.2 early developmental mutations** and that approximately 15% of monozygotic twins have a substantial number of these early developmental mutations specific to one of them.
CpG > TpG mutations increased in frequency with embryonic development, coinciding with an increase in DNA methylation. Thus, the results indicate that cell allocation during development shapes genomic differences between monozygotic twins.
With everything, Some clarifications must be made regarding these findings..
Precisions about these results
This study is one of hundreds of articles from deCODE (DEcentralized Citizen Owned Data Ecosystem), which have repeatedly demonstrated how much deeper we can still delve into human biology when you have the genomic sequence of an entire country.
The authors studied a subset of de novo mutations (a de novo mutation is a mutation that appears for the first time in a family; neither parents nor grandparents have this genetic alteration) that arise after the formation of the zygote (that is, after fusion of sperm and egg).
Most de novo mutations are pre-zygotic and are present in the sperm or egg. The authors report 5.2 post-zygotic mutations in the 15% of the twins. This is ~0.1% of the total de novo mutation rate, which is 74 per individual.
We must keep in mind that a human being has six billion base pairs (considering the diploid genome). Consequently, the post-zygotic mutation rate is 5.2 / 6e09 \u003d 8.6e-10, which amounts to a simple drop in the ocean of the genome.
Pre-zygotic mutations are less random as they are associated with the sex and age of the parents. But, post-zygotic mutations are likely to occur by chance.
Therefore, most of the large effect associations reported for de novo mutations are likely due to prezygotic mutations. Nature study shows nothing about pathogenicity or phenotypic effects of post-zygotic mutations.
Given this background, claiming that the findings of this study call into question the validity of twin-based heritability studies is unwarranted. Identical twins remain essentially identical in their genomic sequence.
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The news
Are the genomes of identical twins really identical?
was originally published in
Xataka Science
by
Sergio Parra
.
Gustavo Bueno's materialist philosophy, among others, is based on two master pillars. One of which is that, in order to avoid stumbling into dogmatism or relativism, Every proposal must be based on the firm rock of rigorous sciences..
He reached similar conclusions, three centuries ago, Baruch Spinoza (Amsterdam, November 24, 1632 – The Hague, February 21, 1677), probably the first relevant philosopher who wanted to completely separate philosophy from religion, encouraging the former to embrace science with more interest.
The most hated philosopher
Considered one of the three great rationalists of 17th century philosophy, along with the French Rene Descartes and the german Gottfried Leibniz, Spinoza was born in the freest city of the time: Amsterdam.
Spinoza's library in the same house, where he lived between 1661 and 1663.
Only in a place as ideologically disruptive as Amsterdam, where the most heterodox thinkers came to live, could Spinoza become the first philosopher of modernity, the first to systematically propose that religion and politics were to be separated, and one of the first promoters of democracy (although he would later think that it was not the only acceptable form of government).
He was also the precursor of the movement to separate faith and superstitions in the Bible, conceiving it as a historical document, and proposed that religion will no longer trample the kingdom of science.
Precisely for this reason, Spinoza would also be one of the most hated philosophers of his time.
A unique life
Spinoza would be totally influenced by the ideas of Descartes, as well as his mentor, Franciscus van den Enden, who was also a radical supporter of Cartesian precepts. Spinoza entered van den Enden's heterodox academy to study in the mid-1650s.
Spinoza would also feel attracted to one of the many sects born in that new era of nonconformity, specifically the branch of the Mennonites in the Netherlands: a sect known as the Collegiants, who were pacifists and believed in withdrawing from society; as explained Russell Shorto in his book Amsterdam:
If we were to collect the names of some of these sects, anyone would think we were reading a list of bands summoned to play at a folk music festival: there were the Tremblers, the Enthusiasts, the Seekers and the Equalizers.
Spinoza's tomb in the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) in The Hague
Little by little, Spinoza would forget about his father's business and would concentrate only on learning philosophy and guide your interests to cultivate reason. And he would attack the religion with such fervor that his Jewish community would condemn him to excommunication: not in vain, he attacked its practices and laws with as much ruthlessness as a stand-up comedian could do today.
Spinoza believed in God, but for practical purposes he was an atheist, because his god was nothing like the god of the rest. When a rabbi would, in fact, ask Albert Einstein If he believed in God, he replied: "I believe in Spinoza's God, who reveals himself in the harmony of existence governed by laws, I do not believe in a god who deals with fate and human actions."
The main room of the house - which is now preserved as a museum. Its appearance has been re-constructed.
Being excommunicated, then, for Spinoza was a relief. He said goodbye not only to the community but to his own family. In the 17th century, everyone necessarily belonged to some formal religion. The church or the synagogue were not only spaces where one attended religious ceremonies, but they constituted the very community of people and represented a basic element of identity and legitimacy in social material. However, Spinoza would no longer convert to Christianity or any other faith.
Harassed for his criticism of religious orthodoxy, his books were included in the Index librorum prohibitorum of the Catholic Church (1679). His work circulated clandestinely until it was claimed by great German philosophers of the early 19th century: "Schleiermacher [...] Hegel, Schelling all proclaim with one voice that Spinoza is the father of modern thought."
But Spinoza was, in fact, only one more element of the great changes that occurred at that time. The true transforming engine was the ecosystem where Spinoza would grow up. Specifically, Amsterdam. If you want to know why this place was so special, you can do so in the following video:
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The news
Spinoza: the hated philosopher who wanted to separate religion from science
was originally published in
Xataka Science
by
Sergio Parra
.
What will our work performance be like on a rainy day? And another solitude? How does the weather affect the work context?
These and other questions have recently been addressed by researchers at the Leuphana University of Lüneburg, who have carried out A study which investigates the effects of daily morning weather about how people feel while they are at work.
morning weather
He study, published in the magazine Applied Psychology, specifically examined people's daily energy levels, job satisfaction, burnout, and stress in relation to morning weather.
To conduct the study, employees were asked to complete two surveys daily during all work days: one in the morning before starting work and one after work.
Later, they developed what is known as pictorial scale, which is essentially a diagram in which different intervals or phenomena are represented by illustrations usually used to summarize weather forecasts (i.e. a sun, a sun partially hidden by a cloud, a cloud with rain, etc.).
115 employees participated in their study, completing the surveys they had prepared for a total of 457 days. Interestingly, the data they collected suggested that morning weather was only related with positive states of well-being and not with negative states. In other words, the researchers found that the better the weather in the morning, the more employees felt energized and satisfied with their work. On the contrary, when the weather was bad, people felt more fatigued and dissatisfied. On the other hand, more negative indicators of well-being, such as exhaustion and stress, They seemed unaffected by the weather.
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The news
Your performance at work will be different depending on the weather when you get up.
was originally published in
Xataka Science
by
Sergio Parra
.