Science

This famously complex experiment gets explained simply

Abstract

Herein, the six-membered sulfur-containing cyclic carbonates was successfully synthesized from d- and l-xylose through an environmental friendly process by employing carbonyl sulfide (COS) as a sustainable C1-carbonation agent. The ring-opening polymerization of the monomers were rapidly initiated by bifunctional organocatalysts and alkali metal alkoxides, respectively, under ambient reaction conditions. The resultant sulfur-containing polycarbonates exhibit high-temperature resistance and good optical properties. This work furnishes an original and practical strategy for utilizing COS as a sulfur feedstock in biopolymer synthesis.

The research team conducted experiments involving two bacterial species: Vibrio natriegens and Ideonella sakaiensis.

Vibrio natriegens primarily inhabits saltwater ecosystems and is notable for its rapid reproduction rate. On the other hand, Ideonella sakaiensis possesses enzymes that give it the power to break down as well as ingest PET quickly, distinct from its.

As a result, the researchers isolated the genetic sequence from the latter (Ideonella sakaiensis) and integrated it into a plasmid. Plasmids are genetic sequences that may replicate independently within a cell even when it is distinct from the cell's original chromosome.

“In other words, you can sneak a plasmid into a foreign cell, and that cell will carry out the instructions in the plasmid’s DNA. And that’s exactly what the researchers did here,” noted the release.

The scientists then carefully incorporated the plasmid containing Ideonella sakaiensis genes into Vibrio natriegens bacterium in the lab. The resultant, V. natriegens was able to produce the required enzymes on its cell surface.

The researchers demonstrated that V. natriegens could degrade PET in a room-temperature-based saltwater setting.

“From a practical standpoint, this is also the first genetically engineered organism that we know capable of breaking down PET microplastics in saltwater. That’s important because it is not economically feasible to remove plastics from the ocean and rinse high concentration salts off before beginning any processes related to breaking the plastic down,” said Tianyu Li, the first author of this new study

Low-emissions strategy that could pay for itself helps scientists achieve high-yield hydrogen gas and high-value graphene.

World Community Grid is a volunteer computing project where people can donate their computer's spare computational power to science (similar to folding@home). This week they announced some results of their research and having passed the 800,000 CPU-year mark which is pretty incredible.

Previous discoveries from WCG have included new cancer markers for lung cancer, new candidates for high-efficiency materials for solar panels, and more.

Research paper: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2303859120

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Research paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016706123003324

Zhao J, Xu L, Sun J, et al Global trends in incidence, death, burden and risk factors of early-onset cancer from 1990 to 2019 BMJ Oncology 2023;2:e000049. doi: 10.1136/bmjonc-2023-000049

Abstract

Objective This study aimed to explore the global burden of early-onset cancer based on the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2019 study for 29 cancers worldwid.

Methods and analysis Incidence, deaths, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and risk factors for 29 early-onset cancer groups were obtained from GBD.

Results Global incidence of early-onset cancer increased by 79.1% and the number of early-onset cancer deaths increased by 27.7% between 1990 and 2019. Early-onset breast, tracheal, bronchus and lung, stomach and colorectal cancers showed the highest mortality and DALYs in 2019. Globally, the incidence rates of early-onset nasopharyngeal and prostate cancer showed the fastest increasing trend, whereas early-onset liver cancer showed the sharpest decrease. Early-onset colorectal cancers had high DALYs within the top five ranking for both men and women. High-middle and middle Sociodemographic Index (SDI) regions had the highest burden of early-onset cancer. The morbidity of early-onset cancer increased with the SDI, and the mortality rate decreased considerably when SDI increased from 0.7 to 1. The projections indicated that the global number of incidence and deaths of early-onset cancer would increase by 31% and 21% in 2030, respectively. Dietary risk factors (diet high in red meat, low in fruits, high in sodium and low in milk, etc), alcohol consumption and tobacco use are the main risk factors underlying early-onset cancers.

Conclusion Early-onset cancer morbidity continues to increase worldwide with notable variances in mortality and DALYs between areas, countries, sex and cancer types. Encouraging a healthy lifestyle could reduce early-onset cancer disease burden.