The First Learning of Babies in The Womb: A Mini Review

Shreya Chowdhury

Published Date: Mar - 09 - 2025

As a fast-growing field and a significant contributor to the present society, prenatal learning has become an important area of research since it demonstrates how the learning process of babies starts even before they are born. This short publication discusses how different maternal activities during pregnancy like reading aloud and explaining, playing music, eating healthy food, engaging in exercise, and avoiding stress positively and negatively affect the unborn child. It analyzes how these activities influence the early learning capabilities and developmental outcomes of a baby, highlighting the importance of creating a good prenatal environment. This paper also explores problems that pregnant women experience in developing countries and suggests other options for a healthy baby. By understanding these factors, pregnant women can create a healthy environment for their babies, which contributes to both the immediate and long-term developmental benefits for their babies. The overall goal of this paper is to demonstrate the need for resources and policies that promote good prenatal care to all women and their babies around the world.

A Review: Abrogation of PRRSV infectivity by CRISPR-Cas13b-mediated viral RNA cleavage in mammalian cells by Cui et al.

Calista Madej

Published Date: Jul - 22 - 2025

This review evaluates the findings of Cui et al. (2020), who demonstrated the efficacy of CRISPR/Cas13b in targeting and cleaving PRRSV RNA in mammalian cells. The authors engineered a single-vector system to deliver Cas13b and duplex crRNAs targeting ORF5 and ORF7, resulting in significant knockdown of PRRSV RNA. Flow cytometry and qRT-PCR confirmed a reduction in viral transcript expression and infectivity. These results suggest that CRISPR/Cas13b offers a promising platform for developing RNA virus-targeted therapeutics.

Assessing Phosphoanhydride-Containing Biomolecules as Biosignatures on Mars

Calista Madej

Published Date: Jul - 22 - 2025

The preservation of biomolecules is critical for detecting potential biosignatures under Martian conditions. Mars' consistently low surface temperatures necessitate a detailed understanding of biomolecular stability during extended cryostorage. We assessed the stability of two biomolecules containing phosphoanhydride bonds, polyphosphate (polyP) and adenosine triphosphate (ATP), in the cyanobacteria Synechococcus sp. WH8102 cells stored at -80°C to simulate Martian temperature. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis revealed that polyP maintained stability for up to 74 days, while ATP stability persisted for approximately 41.7 days. We also evaluated the extraction efficiency and variability in biomolecule recovery (for DNA, RNA, ATP, and polyP) using three extraction methods: mechanical lysis, plankton lysis buffer (PLB), and boiling Tris. PLB extraction provided the most consistent and reliable recoveries across all biomolecule types, whereas mechanical lysis resulted in the lowest yields and highest variability in recovery. Overall, our results demonstrate that polyP, but not ATP, retains significant stability under cryogenic conditions, suggesting its viability as a biosignature for Mars sample return missions and in situ astrobiological investigations.

Children demonstrate greater arsenic methylation efficiency than adults, particularly in the conversion of monomethylarsonic acid (MMA) to dimethylarsinic acid (DMA)

Uttam K Chowdhury, Masanori Ando, Hiroshi Tokunaga, Dipankar Chakrabortic

Published Date: Jul - 26 - 2025

The arsenic-exposed group (24 adults and 18 children) was selected from Datterhat (South) village in the Madaripur district of Bangladesh. We collected spot urine samples and arsenic species—As(III), DMA, MMA, and As(V) in urine were measured using HPLC-ICP-MS. The methylation capacity was compared between adults and children using two ratios: the primary methylation index (PMI), calculated as the ratio of MMA to inorganic arsenic (iAs), and the secondary methylation index (SMI), calculated as the ratio of DMA to MMA.

Results show that, among adults, the average percentage of inorganic arsenic is 4.9% higher in females than in males, whereas the percentage of DMA is 4.36% higher in males than in females. Similarly, among children, girls have 4.38% higher inorganic arsenic than boys, while boys have 5.7% higher DMA than girls. However, these differences were not statistically significant.

It was observed that, on average, children had 2.57% lower inorganic arsenic, and 6.56% lower MMA compared to adults, while the average DMA was 9.14% higher in children than in adults. The average values of inorganic arsenic: 18.17% (adults) vs. 15.60% (children), MMA: 17.20% (adults) vs. 10.64% (children), and DMA: 64.62% (adults) vs. 73.67% (children).

This indicates that adults have a higher percentage of MMA, and a lower percentage of DMA compared to children. While there was no significant difference in the MMA/iAs ratio between the two groups (0.92 vs. 0.73 for adults vs. children, respectively), but the DMA/MMA ratio was significantly higher in children (8.15) compared to adults (4.11).

An interesting finding was the significantly higher DMA/MMA ratio in exposed children compared to controls (8.15 vs. 4.22, respectively). This may reflect a more efficient detoxification response to higher arsenic exposure, as the conversion of MMA to DMA helps eliminate the highly toxic MMA³?. However, no such difference was observed in adults (4.11 vs. 4.98).

Within the same families, children consistently showed lower percentages of inorganic arsenic and MMA and higher percentages of DMA than adults. The DMA/MMA ratio was also consistently and significantly higher in children across all families examined. These observations suggest that the arsenic methylation process is more efficient in children than in adults, particularly the second methylation step (conversion of MMA to DMA).

Furthermore, the distribution of DMA/MMA ratios across different ages in the exposed population indicates that this ratio decreases with increasing age, implying that the efficiency of the methylation process, specifically the second step, declines with age. This supports the conclusion that children exhibit higher arsenic methylation efficiency, especially in MMA to DMA conversion compared to adults.

Gender-Based Variations in Urinary Arsenic Metabolites in Mexican and Bangladeshi Adults

Uttam K. Chowdhury

Published Date: Aug - 06 - 2025

This study investigated gender differences in urinary arsenic metabolites and methylation capacity among adults exposed to arsenic in drinking water in two regions: the Lagunera area of Mexico (38–116 µg As/L) and Datterhat village, Bangladesh (118–620 µg As/L).

Urine samples were collected from 191 individuals in Mexico (98 females, 93 males) and 24 in Bangladesh (13 females, 11 males). Arsenic metabolites were measured using HPLC-ICP-MS.

In Mexico, females had a significantly lower %MMA/%Inorg-As ratio (0.69 ± 0.04 vs. 0.82 ± 0.05, p<0.05) and higher %DMA/%MMA ratio (10.35 ± 0.69 vs. 7.26 ± 0.45, p<0.01) compared to males. The %DMA/%Inorg-As ratio was also significantly higher in females (p<0.05), suggesting more efficient second-step methylation and less efficient first-step methylation in females.

In Bangladesh, males showed slightly lower %Inorg-As (15.52% vs. 20.41%) and slightly higher %DMA (66.99% vs. 62.63%) than females, though differences were not statistically significant. Ratios of MMA/Inorg-As and DMA/MMA showed no significant gender differences, indicating similar methylation capacity in both sexes. It also appears that the overall arsenical skin lesions of adult females are somewhat higher than males.

Conclusion: Females in Mexico exhibited more efficient arsenic methylation than males, while no significant gender differences were observed in Bangladesh.