It can be frightening: when a person suddenly falls, convulsions twist the body and foam comes out of the mouth. Most people with epilepsy have sudden seizures, and estimates range from 50 million to 65 million people in the world.…
On March 22 from Baikonur launched three nanosatellites for space exploration by schoolchildren. The Soyuz-2.1.a rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome launched 38 nanosatellites from 18 countries into orbit. Three of them were created as part of the all-Russian Space Pi…
Most of the water on Mars may have remained in the solid rocks of the planet. This is stated in a study published in the journal Science. Scientists have come to this conclusion by compiling on the basis of data from rovers and spacecraft model of the Red Planet. With the help of the model was able to estimate how much fluid on Mars was at the initial stage of its existence and how much was lost over time. One way to estimate the amount of water on Mars is to analyze hydrogen levels in its atmosphere and rocks. The study says that each hydrogen atom contains one proton. However, some of the atoms have an extra neutron, which forms an isotope known as deuterium. Normally, the lighter hydrogen escapes due to the planet’s low gravity into space, while the heavier deuterium remains. By comparing the hydrogen and deuterium content, scientists were able to estimate how much ordinary hydrogen Mars would have lost over time and explain the mystery of water disappearing. It turns out that between 4.1 and 3.7 billion years ago, the volume of water on the Red Planet decreased by about 40 to 95 percent. And much or most of the liquid — 30 to 90 percent — was absorbed by minerals during the hydration process. “Mars became a dry and arid planet – as we know it today – about three billion years ago,” said Eva Scheller, lead author of the study and a specialist at the California Institute of Technology. That said, the liquid accumulated in the solid rocks of Mars cannot be said to be easily extracted and used by the planet’s first colonizers for their purposes. “They would have to heat a lot of rocks to get the necessary amount of water,” Scheller emphasized. According to early studies, Mars contained enough liquid to cover the entire surface of the planet with an ocean 100 to 1,500 meters deep. That’s about half the water contained in the Atlantic Ocean. Scientists are interested in this question, as usually the presence of water indicates the existence of some form of life. In November 2020, experts at the University of Arizona said that a large amount of Martian water may have been in the upper layers of the atmosphere. The liquid then evaporated as a result of photolysis.
Specialists from the Kurchatov Center for Genome Research have studied the fig mosaic pathogen in detail for the first time. The results of the work are published in the journal Plant Disease. Mosaic virus is so named because plants affected…
Ulyanovsk hydrometeocenter reports that Yellow snow was detected by the Ulyanovsk Oblast observation network in the regional center, as well as in the district centers of Inza, Surskoe, Bazarny Syzgan, Karsun, Veshkayma and the village of Kanadei in the Nikolayev…
Many people know from anatomy that the skin acts as a “protective shell” for human and animal organisms. It consists of two parts – the epidermis (the upper multilayer surface of the epithelium) and the dermis (the connective tissue part that unites the epidermis and the muscular tissues of the body). The skin occupies a large area on the human body. In adults it reaches 1.5-2.3 m2. Its main task is to protect the body from a wide range of external influences. Skin cells, like respiratory organs, take in oxygen, with which they enrich their activity in the body. In various traumatic situations (e.g., burns and major cuts) a person may lose his or her “protective shell”. It takes a long time for the skin to heal and recover. So to facilitate this process and help the skin to look healthy, scientists have developed versions of artificial human skin that will speed up healing on the body. The construction of artificial skin is as follows – on the collagen gel (the basis of the artificial skin), which contains dermal cells – fibroblasts (this is an analogue of dermis, having a large amount of collagen and fibroblasts), put the top layer of epithelial cells – keratinocytes, which are exactly like the epidermis – the top layer of skin. Thus, the artificial skin consists of two layers, just like real human skin. A finished product with the same structure as the patient’s skin is placed on the wound, and the healing process begins. Although the artificial skin itself takes root only temporarily, its constituent cells actively secrete various growth factors that stimulate the patient’s own cells to divide and migrate to the wound area. Thanks to this, the wound begins to heal faster around the edges. The skin regenerates. The donor cells are gradually replaced by the newly formed cells of the patient himself. Of course, the patient’s own skin from undamaged areas can also be used as a source of skin, but in the case of large-area burns, this is usually not enough. Since artificial skin resembles real human skin in its structure, it is also used for bionic prostheses with preservation of sensitivity. In Russia, the new material was developed in the course of obtaining a mixture of latex and bioactive plant components. The artificial tissue fits tightly to the wound, protects it further from external influences and performs the healing process. Scientists note that the most complex injuries with the new “skin” are tightened within two days. The Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences has created an ideal wound covering that protects the diseased place from mechanical damage and harmful infections. In addition, the artificial skin creates optimal conditions for cell growth and allows air and water vapor to pass through, so that the wound under such a coating does not dry out or get wet. When the thinnest film is applied to the wound, cells begin to transfer into it, mixing with the patient’s cells, and activating collagen production for wound healing and scar formation. The latex “backing” is then simply detached, and there is no need for medics to torment patients with endless dressings. And after discharge, the patient can use therapeutic ointments on their own, applying them to the latex film, which has micro pores just like normal skin.In 2019, scientists created for the first time a 3D bioprinter that prints skin in two layers of a patient’s own skin right on the wound. Experts from the Institute for Regenerative Medicine (USA) worked on this research. The printer uses “ink”, which consists of the patient’s cells, to minimize the risk of rejection. First, a biopsy of the patient’s healthy skin is made and a large number of cells are grown, then they are mixed with hydrogel to form the “ink” of the 3D-bioprinter. More precisely, two types of “ink” are created – for the inner layer (from fibroblast cells) and the outer layer (from keratinocytes). After successful experiments performed on mice, an excellent result was obtained, which in the future will allow clinical trials on humans.