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Category: biotech/medical – Page 1,035

Some health conditions associated with appeared early and consistently long before diagnosis, while others became significant much later, a cohort study suggested.

For people with a subsequent diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, the earliest and most consistent associations at all time points over a 15-year span included depression, erectile dysfunction, gait abnormalities, hearing loss, and nervous and musculoskeletal symptoms, reported Lori Beason-Held, PhD, of the National Institute on Aging in Baltimore, and co-authors.

For those eventually diagnosed with vascular, the earliest and most consistent associations across 13 years were an abnormal electrocardiogram (EKG), cardiac dysrhythmias, cerebrovascular disease, non-epithelial skin cancer, depression, and hearing loss, the researchers reported in Annals of Neurology.

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Dr. Aubrey de Grey is a legend in the longevity field who has been steadfastly promoting the idea of life extension since well before it became mainstream. While with SENS Research Foundation, de Grey made significant contributions to geroscience, and at Longevity Summit Dublin last year, he announced the creation of his new brainchild, Longevity Escape Velocity Foundation (LEVF).

Now, the first major and long-awaited LEVF-funded project is being launched: Robust Mouse Rejuvenation (RMR). This is envisioned as a rolling research program aiming to increase both the mean and maximum lifespan of mice by at least 12 months with various combination therapies started late in life. For the first study, four therapies have been chosen: rapamycin, a senolytic, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), and telomerase expression. A groundbreaking experiment by any measure, RMR got us excited, and we reached out to Aubrey to discuss both RMR and LEVF in depth.

The following interview has Arkadi asking questions in bold and Aubrey de Grey answering in normal font.

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The finding that these “hidden” memories can be accessed once more, at least in mice, throws up a world of intriguing possibilities.

Neuroscientist Robbert Havekes and his team at the University of Groningen found that learning while sleep-deprived does not result in memory loss; rather, it is more difficult to recall.

“We previously focused on finding ways to support memory processes during a sleep deprivation episode,” says Havekes.

Artisteer/iStock.

Havekes and the team used optogenetic techniques and the human-approved asthma medicine roflumilast to find a means to make this “hidden knowledge” accessible once more days after researching while sleep-deprived.

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Time to reverse your age and restore youth.

Scientists at a San Diego-based biotech company Rejuvenate Bio claim to have increased the age of mice by reprogramming their genes. They believe their gene therapy actually works like a reverse aging technique that one day might be used for rejuvenating humans.

Their lifespan increased by about seven percent after the introduction of the genes.

National Science Foundation.

The researchers introduced three reprogramming genes into mice that had a remaining lifespan of about nine weeks. Interestingly, the mice survived for 18 weeks after the gene therapy. The tested mice were like 77-year-old humans before the gene therapy.

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You have probably heard of ChatGPT and DALLE-E, a new class of AI-powered software tools that can create new images or write text. The algorithm brings to life any idea you may have by putting together fragments of what it has previously seen — such as images annotated with meta-descriptions of what they represent — to generate original content from user-defined input. But now generative AI technology is revolutionizing drug discovery. Absci Corporation (Nasdaq: ABSI) is using machine learning to transform the field of antibody therapeutics: Absci has put out a press release today announcing the ability to create new antibodies with the use of generative AI.

GenerativeAI: You’ve seen it with images like DALL-E, you’ve seen it with text like ChatGPT. Now you can see it with protein design as well.

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COVID-19 is defined as a respiratory infection, but the effects of the novel coronavirus are certainly not confined to any one organ.

Dozens of recent autopsies show persistent evidence of SARS-CoV-2 throughout the body, including in the lungs, the heart, the spleen, the kidneys, the liver, the colon, the thorax, muscles, nerves, the reproductive tract, the eye, and the brain.

In one particular autopsy, remnants of the novel coronavirus were found in the brain of a deceased patient 230 days after they first started showing symptoms.

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New study demonstrates the potential for machine learning to accelerate the development of innovative drug delivery technologies.

Scientists at the University of Toronto have successfully tested the use of machine learning models to guide the design of long-acting injectable drug formulations. The potential for machine learning algorithms to accelerate drug formulation could reduce the time and cost associated with drug development, making promising new medicines available faster.

The study will be published today (January 10, 2023) in the journal Nature Communications.

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𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐫𝐞𝐚 𝐍𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐅𝐥𝐮𝐢𝐝 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 — 𝐃𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

𝘼 𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙢 𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙐𝙣𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝘾𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙜𝙚 𝙇𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙣 (𝙐𝘾𝙇) 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙐𝙣𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝘾𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙜𝙚 𝙇𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙣 𝙃𝙤𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙨 (𝙐𝘾𝙇𝙃) 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙫𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙢𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙧 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 — 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙬𝙞𝙨𝙚 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙖𝙨 𝙛𝙡𝙪𝙞𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚. 𝙁𝙡𝙪𝙞𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙪𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙘𝙤𝙜𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣. 𝙄𝙩 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙘𝙩𝙨 𝙚𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙛𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨, 𝙨𝙤𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙢𝙤𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮, 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙩𝙝, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙩𝙮. 𝙄𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙜𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙖𝙨 𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙮.

A team led by University College London (UCL) and University College London Hospitals (UCLH) researchers has mapped the parts of the brain that support our ability to solve problems without prior experience – otherwise known as fluid intelligence.

Fluid intelligence is arguably the defining feature of human cognition. It predicts educational and professional success, social mobility, health, and longevity. It also correlates with many cognitive abilities such as memory.

Fluid intelligence is thought to be a key feature involved in “active thinking” – a set of complex mental processes such as those involved in abstraction, judgment, attention, strategy generation, and inhibition. These skills can all be used in everyday activities – from organizing a dinner party to filling out a tax return.

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