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

Endothelial insulin resistance induced by adrenomedullin mediates obesity-associated diabetes

The hormone adrenomedullin disrupts insulin signaling in blood vessel cells, contributing to systemic insulin resistance in obesity-associated type 2 diabetes, according to a Science study from earlier this year in mice.

The results suggest a potential new target for treating obesity-related metabolic disease.

Insulin resistance is a hallmark of obesity-associated type 2 diabetes. Insulin’s actions go beyond metabolic cells and also involve blood vessels, where insulin increases capillary blood flow and delivery of insulin and nutrients. We show that adrenomedullin, whose plasma levels are increased in obese humans and mice, inhibited insulin signaling in human endothelial cells through protein-tyrosine phosphatase 1B–mediated dephosphorylation of the insulin receptor. In obese mice lacking the endothelial adrenomedullin receptor, insulin-induced endothelial nitric oxide–synthase activation and skeletal muscle perfusion were increased. Treating mice with adrenomedullin mimicked the effect of obesity and induced endothelial and systemic insulin resistance. Endothelial loss or blockade of the adrenomedullin receptor improved obesity-induced insulin resistance.

ID1 boosts antiviral immunity by countering PRMT5-mediated STING methylation

Li et al. report that ID1 sustains STING activation and innate immunity by blocking PRMT5-STING binding, thereby preventing PRMT5-mediated methylation at Arg281 of STING. The PRMT5 inhibitor EPZ015666 enhances STING activation by suppressing PRMT5, providing a therapeutic candidate for antiviral treatment.

To unify relativity and quantum mechanics we must abandon materialism

Physicists have so far failed to unify general relativity and quantum mechanics. As attempts to unite them into a quantum theory of gravity mount up, philosopher of physics Dean Rickles argues that the assumption of materialism is the problem. We need to look beyond the physical—beyond space, time and matter—to something primordial out of which minds can construct physical reality, and which explains both general relativity and quantum mechanics. Pioneers like John Wheeler and David Bohm have already begun to chart what such a realm of “pre-physics” might look like—it’s high time physics took their ideas more seriously.

A pair of recent physics Nobel prizes (2020 and 2022) were awarded for basic research in general relativity (Einstein’s theory of gravitation that explains gravity as the curvature of spacetime by matter and energy) and quantum mechanics (our best bet for a theory of matter and energy). The experimental successes of these theories keep piling up. There is clearly much truth in them. They both aim to describe the same world: this world. They should surely overlap, since the matter and energy described by quantum mechanics should curve spacetime as well as good old-fashioned non-quantum mechanical matter and energy. Why then can we not construct a theory in which they both appear? Why is it so difficult to build what would be a Quantum Theory of Gravity?

Tenascin-C from the tissue microenvironment promotes muscle stem cell maintenance and function through Annexin A2

Tenascin-C (TnC) produced by the fibro-adipogenic progenitors (FAPs) is required for MuSC maintenance and function. FAP-secreted TnC signals through Annexin-A2 on the MuSC surface to promote self-renewal and regeneration potential.

Starlink Rival Launches Its Largest Satellite Yet for Space-Based Cellular Network

With this week’s launch, the company is poised to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink in beaming connectivity from space.

Size does matter

AST SpaceMobile launched its first satellite, BlueWalker 3, in September 2022 to test its ability to establsih cellphone towers in space. A year later, the company used its prototype satellite to carry out the first 5G phone call from space to a regular Samsung Galaxy S22.

Single-cell spatiotemporal transcriptomic and chromatin accessibility profiling in developing postnatal human and macaque prefrontal cortex

The human brain is a fascinating and complex organ that supports numerous sophisticated behaviors and abilities that are observed in no other animal species. For centuries, scientists have been trying to understand what is so unique about the human brain and how it develops over the human lifespan.

Recent technological and experimental advances have opened new avenues for neuroscience research, which in turn has led to the creation of increasingly detailed descriptions of the brain and its underlying processes. Collectively, these efforts are helping to shed new light on the underpinnings of various neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders.

Researchers at Beijing Normal University, the Changping Laboratory and other institutes have recently set out to study both the human and macaque brain, comparing their development over time using various genetic and molecular analysis tools. Their paper, published in Nature Neuroscience, highlights some key differences between the two species, with the human pre-frontal cortex (PFC) developing slower than the macaque PFC.

“Unraveling the cellular and molecular characteristics of human prefrontal cortex (PFC) development is crucial for understanding human cognitive abilities and vulnerability to neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders,” wrote Jiyao Zhang, Mayuqing Li, and their colleagues in their paper. “We created a comparative repository for gene expression, chromatin accessibility and spatial transcriptomics of human and macaque postnatal PFC development at single-cell resolution.”

Human-specific molecular and cellular regulatory programs prolong prefrontal cortical maturation by orchestrating postnatal development of neurons and glia, with implications for cognitive function and susceptibility to neurodevelopmental disorders.

Continue reading “Single-cell spatiotemporal transcriptomic and chromatin accessibility profiling in developing postnatal human and macaque prefrontal cortex” | >

Therapeutic VEGFC treatment provides protection against traumatic-brain-injury-driven tauopathy pathogenesis

How traumatic brain injury (TBI) mechanistically contributes to neurodegenerative disease remains poorly understood. Marco et al. find that therapeutic viral vector-based delivery of VEGFC recuperates meningeal lymphatic drainage deficits post-TBI and protects against severe development of tauopathy, neurodegeneration, and cognitive decline in the PS19 mouse model of tauopathy.

/* */