Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Get the latest international news and world events from around the world.

Log in for authorized contributors

Fundamental engineering principles can help identify disease biomarkers more quickly

People often compare the genome to a computer’s program, with the cell using its genetic code to process environmental inputs and produce appropriate responses.

But the machine metaphor can be extended even further to any , and applying established concepts of engineering to biology could revolutionize how scientists make their observations within biology, according to research from University of Michigan.

In a paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Indika Rajapakse, Ph.D., Joshua Pickard, Ph.D. (now an Eric and Wendy Schmidt Postdoctoral Fellow at the Broad Institute), and their team propose that fundamental principles of and observability can be applied to study that change over time.

Six billion tonnes a second: Rogue planet found growing at record rate

Astronomers have identified an enormous ‘growth spurt’ in a so-called rogue planet. Unlike the planets in our Solar System, these objects do not orbit stars, free-floating on their own instead. The new observations, made with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT), reveal that this free-floating planet is eating up gas and dust from its surroundings at a rate of six billion tonnes a second. This is the strongest growth rate ever recorded for a rogue planet, or a planet of any kind, providing valuable insights into how they form and grow.

“People may think of planets as quiet and stable worlds, but with this discovery we see that planetary-mass objects freely floating in space can be exciting places,” says Víctor Almendros-Abad, an astronomer at the Astronomical Observatory of Palermo, National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), Italy and lead author of the new study.

The newly studied object, which has a mass five to 10 times the mass of Jupiter, is located about 620 light-years away in the constellation Chamaeleon. Officially named Cha 1107–7626, this rogue planet is still forming and is fed by a surrounding disc of gas and dust. This material constantly falls onto the free-floating planet, a process known as accretion. However, the team led by Almendros-Abad has now found that the rate at which the young planet is accreting is not steady.

Scientists create a paper-thin light that glows like the sun

Scientists have developed an ultra-thin, paper-like LED that emits a warm, sunlike glow, promising to revolutionize how we light up our homes, devices, and workplaces. By engineering a balance of red, yellow-green, and blue quantum dots, the researchers achieved light quality remarkably close to natural sunlight, improving color accuracy and reducing eye strain.

DNA repair mechanisms help explain why naked mole-rats live a long life

Naked mole-rats are one of nature’s most extraordinary creatures. These burrowing rodents can live for up to 37 years, around ten times longer than relatives of a similar size. But what is the secret to their extreme longevity? How are they able to delay the decay and decline that befalls other rodents? The answer, at least in part, is due to a switch in a common protein that boosts DNA repair, according to new research published in the journal Science.

One of the main causes of aging in all animals, including humans, is the accumulation of damaged DNA, our genetic instruction manual. When this damage is not fixed, it leads to , damaged proteins and eventually a breakdown in the body’s functions.

To understand how the naked mole-rat is so resistant to DNA damage, a study led by researchers at Tongji University in China focused on a common protein called cGAS (cyclic GMP-AMP synthase). In most mammals, cGAS interferes with DNA repair, but the researchers suspected it may have evolved a different function in the long-living rats.

Effects of re-challenge with temozolomide in grade 2/3 IDH mutant gliomas at first progression

Background Patients with WHO grade 2 and 3 isocitrate dehydrogenase mutation (IDHmt) gliomas commonly receive temozolomide (TMZ), with or without radiation therapy, as initial therapy. At progression, TMZ is sometimes reinstated despite a paucity of data on effectiveness. Methods We reviewed imaging outcomes of patients with WHO 2016 grade II/III IDHmt gliomas re-treated with TMZ at first progression between 2007 and 2019. Tumor growth rates were calculated over the year preceding re-treatment and throughout the re-treatment period, ranging from 3 to 41 months. RANO criteria were utilized to assess TMZ response rate. Results 15 subjects included six grade II, five grade III oligodendrogliomas, one grade II and three grade III astrocytomas. Median time between completion of the first TMZ course and initiation of re-treatment was 47 months. Median progression-free survival with TMZ re-treatment was 27.4 months and median overall survival was 47.8 months. Mean rate of tumor growth by bidimensional product increased from 0.29 cm2 /month, in the year prior to first tumor progression, to 0.47 cm2/month during re-treatment, ranging from 3 to 41 months, with monotherapy TMZ. Volumetric mean rate of tumor growth was 1.12 cc/month in the year prior to first tumor progression versus 1.29 cc/month during TMZ re-treatment. Five patients experienced tumor growth rate reduction, of whom 3 patients experienced tumor shrinkage as measured by 2D; 2 of these 3 patients also experienced tumor shrinkage as measured by 3D. There was no radiographic response by RANO criteria. Conclusion These findings suggest previously treated, progressive IDHmt gliomas are generally resistant to TMZ, underscoring the need for alternative approaches.

Piperlongumine induces meningioma cell death via the ROS-mediated endoplasmic reticulum stress and the alteration of the ubiquitin-proteasome system

Meningiomas, the most common primary tumors of the central nervous system, are curable by surgical resection and radiotherapy. However, systemic therapeutic chemotherapy for meningiomas has not existed. Piperlongumine (PL), a natural alkaloid extracted from the long pepper (Piper longum), has emerged as a promising candidate for cancer treatment due to its multimodal anti-cancer effects. However, the effects of PL in meningiomas are limited.

We examined the anti-cancer effect of PL in vitro using primary benign meningioma cells and malignant meningioma cells. The underlying mechanism of PL in meningiomas was investigated through gene expression experiments at both mRNA and protein levels.

PL inhibited meningioma cell growth, evidenced by inducing G2/M phase arrest via the up-regulation of cell cycle regulators including TP53 and CDKN1A/p21 and enhancing cell apoptosis via the up-regulation of cleaved caspase 3 and cleaved PARP1. PL-induced meningioma cell death was triggered via the activation of intracellular reactive oxygen species production leading to endoplasmic reticulum stress and the alteration of ubiquitin-proteasome system resulting in the accumulation of poly-ubiquitinated proteins.

New research on liver cell diversity could help scientists understand tumor complexity

Hepatocytes, the main cell type in the liver, differ in function according to their location in the liver. A new study shows that mitochondrial responses to nutrients drive this diversity — a finding that could help researchers better understand tumor cell heterogeneity.

/* */