Lifeboat Foundation

Cognitive dysfunction in aging is a major biomedical challenge. Whether treatment with klotho, a longevity factor, could enhance cognition in human-relevant models such as in nonhuman primates is unknown and represents a major knowledge gap in the path to therapeutics. We validated the rhesus form of the klotho protein in mice showing it increased synaptic plasticity and cognition. We then found that a single administration of low-dose, but not high-dose, klotho enhanced memory in aged nonhuman primates. Systemic low-dose klotho treatment may prove therapeutic in aging humans.

In people with the variant, past exposure to other coronaviruses may prep the immune system to fight off the disease.

NIH-funded clinical trial finds cholesterol-lowering treatment reduced cardiovascular events by 35%.

A National Institute of Health-supported study found that statins, a class of cholesterol-lowering medications, may offset the high risk of cardiovascular disease in people living with HIV by more than a third, potentially preventing one in five major cardiovascular events or premature deaths in this population. People living with HIV can have a 50–100% increased risk for cardiovascular disease. The findings are published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

This is a good use of AI. Definitely regular it but I can see it’s contributing to medical research.

Summary: Researchers have utilized artificial intelligence to uncover the promising potential of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) in combating Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

By integrating AI, chemistry, and omics research, the study identified specific bioactive compounds in EVOO that could contribute to the treatment and prevention of AD. Ten phytochemicals within EVOO, such as quercetin, genistein, luteolin, and kaempferol, were found to exhibit potential impacts on AD protein networks.

Continue reading “AI Unlocks Olive Oil’s Potential in Alzheimer’s Battle” »

Scientists adding a human intelligence gene into monkeys — it’s the kind of thing you’d see in a movie like Rise of the Planet of the Apes. But Chinese researchers have done just that, improving the short-term memories of the monkeys in a study published in March 2019 in the Chinese journal National Science Review. While some experts downplayed the effects as minor, concerns linger over where the research may lead.

The goal of the work, led by geneticist Bing Su of Kunming Institute of Zoology, was to investigate how a gene linked to brain size, MCPH1, might contribute to the evolution of the organ in humans. All primates have some variation of this gene. However, compared with other primates, our brains are larger, more advanced and slower to develop; the researchers wondered whether differences that evolved in the human version of MCPH1 might explain our more complex brains.

Article from 2019

Continue reading “What Happens When Scientists Put a Human Intelligence Gene Into a Monkey?” »

From a Google AI that writes news articles to a robotic liver transplant, check out this week’s awesome tech stories from around the web.

Materials that are both strong and lightweight could improve everything from cars to body armor. But usually, the two qualities are mutually exclusive. Now, University of Connecticut researchers and colleagues have developed an extraordinarily strong, lightweight material using two unlikely building blocks: DNA and glass.

“For the given density, our material is the strongest known,” says Seok-Woo Lee, a materials scientist at UConn. Lee and colleagues from UConn, Columbia University, and Brookhaven National Lab reported the details on July 19 in Cell Reports Physical Science.

Strength is relative. Iron, for example, can take seven tons of pressure per square centimeter. But it’s also very dense and heavy, weighing 7.8 grams/cubic centimeter. Other metals, such as titanium, are stronger and lighter than iron. And certain alloys combining multiple elements are even stronger. Strong, lightweight materials have allowed for lightweight body armor, better medical devices and made safer, faster cars and airplanes.

“We really didn’t know which way it would go,” he said.

To find out, the researchers generated versions of the enzymes that would specifically move into the nucleus and bypass the mitochondria. They discovered that this relocation fortified the cells, keeping them alive. They demonstrated that this process worked in both heart cells generated from human stem cells and in mice exposed to chemotherapy.

“This seems to be a new mechanism by which heart cells can defend themselves against chemotherapy damage,” noted Rehman, who is also a member of the University of Illinois Cancer Center.

The earlier that Alzheimer’s disease and other similar conditions can be spotted, the better the treatment options are, and scientists have discovered a blood biomarker that could signal the risk of dementia many years in advance.

A team from the National Institute on Aging, the University of Texas, and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the US, as well as other institutions across the world, looked at data on 10,981 individuals collected across the course of 25 years.

In particular, the researchers analyzed the proteome of these individuals: the complete set of proteins expressed in a body, driving all kinds of biological processes from cell communication to hormone levels.