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Category: biotech/medical – Page 1,609

New tool reveals genetic influence of some sex-biased diseases, including lupus

Many human diseases can differ between males and females in their prevalence, manifestation, severity or age of onset. Examples include Lupus, where more than 80% of patients are females; Alzheimer’s disease, where females have higher incidence and tend to suffer quicker cognitive decline; and COVID-19 infections that are frequently more severe in males.

These sex differences may have a that is attributable to the sex . The X chromosome—one of the two sex chromosomes—is known to play an important role in human development and disease. New research led by Penn State College of Medicine reveals for the first time that sex-biased diseases can be attributable to that escape X chromosome inactivation (XCI), a process that ensures that females do not overexpress genes on their X-chromosomes.

The team developed a that can identify these XCI escape genes, and it may also help in determining whether a female will develop a sex-biased disease and if the disease will become progressively worse over time. The tool may even be useful in understanding the in immune responses to COVID-19, as the disease is thought to produce more severe symptoms and higher mortality in men than in women.

The Future of Aging | Dr. Harold Katcher Interview Series 2 — Ep5

In this video Dr. Katcher reveals his thought on the future of aging if E5 is fulfils on its promise.

Dr Katcher’s book is on Amazon.
The Illusion of Knowledge: The paradigm shift in aging research that shows the way to human rejuvenation.
https://amzn.to/3jJ5deD

Dr Harold Katcher is one of the discovers of the human breast cancer gene BRCA1, and has thousands of citations in the scientific literature with publications ranging from protein structure to bacteriology, bioinformatics and biochemistry. He was the Academic Director for Natural Sciences of the University of Maryland Global Campus and is now the Chief Scientific Officer at Yuvan Research Inc, a company working on the development of rejuvenation treatments.

Dr Katcher’s new book, the Illusion of Knowledge, the paradigm shift in aging research that shows the way to human rejuvenation will be launched on 4th September 2021 and is already available in electronic form. The book launch will take place at The Book Passage in the Ferry Building in San Francisco at 3:00 pm Pacific Time.

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Health claims Disclosure: Information provided on this video is not a substitute for direct, individual medical treatment or advice. Please consult with your doctor first. Products or services mentioned in this video are not a recommendation.

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Aging: It’s More Complicated Than We Thought

Summary: A new study on aging reveals a surprising discovery about the connection between protein shape and mitochondrial health.

Source: Buck Institute.

Every cell in the body goes through thousands of chemical reactions each day, and each reaction involves tiny protein molecules folded into precise shapes to perform their functions. Misfolded proteins underlie some of the most common and devastating diseases of aging, like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. A major focus of aging research is discovering ways to maintain protein shape and prevent misfolded proteins from wreaking havoc on cellular function.

Power of Light and Oxygen Clears Alzheimer’s Disease Protein in Brains of Live Mice

New photo-oxygenation catalyst targets amyloid structure, recruits brain immune system cells.

A small, light-activated molecule recently tested in mice represents a new approach to eliminating clumps of amyloid protein found in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients. If perfected in humans, the technique could be used as an alternative approach to immunotherapy and used to treat other diseases caused by similar amyloids.

Researchers injected the molecule directly into the brains of live mice with Alzheimer’s disease and then used a specialized probe to shine light into their brains for 30 minutes each day for one week. Chemical analysis of the mouse brain tissue showed that the treatment significantly reduced amyloid protein. Results from additional experiments using human brain samples donated by Alzheimer’s disease patients supported the possibility of future use in humans.

Artificial brain networks simulated with new quantum materials

Isaac Newton’s groundbreaking scientific productivity while isolated from the spread of bubonic plague is legendary. University of California San Diego physicists can now claim a stake in the annals of pandemic-driven science.

A team of UC San Diego researchers and colleagues at Purdue University have now simulated the foundation of new types of artificial intelligence computing devices that mimic brain functions, an achievement that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. By combining new supercomputing materials with specialized oxides, the researchers successfully demonstrated the backbone of networks of circuits and devices that mirror the connectivity of neurons and synapses in biologically based neural networks.

The simulations are described in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

License CRISPR patents for free to share gene editing globally

Wageningen is one of a clutch of research institutions globally that hold patents on CRISPR, a technique that enables precise changes to be made to genomes, at specific locations. Other institutions — including the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the University of California, Berkeley, which have some of the largest portfolios of patents on the subject — also provide CRISPR tools and some intellectual property (IP) for free for non-profit use. But universities could do better to facilitate access to CRISPR technologies for research.

Universities hold the majority of CRISPR patents. They are in a strong position to ensure that the technology is widely shared for education and research.

Dr. Marina Ezcurra, Ph.D. — Exploring The Gut Microbiota-Brain Axis In Health, Disease, and Aging

Exploring The Gut Microbiota-Brain Axis In Health, Disease, and Aging — Dr. Marina Ezcurra, Ph.D. University of Kent.

Dr. Marina Ezcurra (https://marinaezcurralab.com/) is a Lecturer in the Biology of Aging, and NeuroBiology, at the School of BioSciences, at the University of Kent, UK (https://www.kent.ac.uk/biosciences/people/2081/ezcurra-marina).

Dr. Ezcurra received her PhD from the Karolinska Institute in 2011. Her PhD research was a collaborative project between Karolinska and the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology at Cambridge, where she studied neural circuits and behavior using C. elegans in the lab of Dr. Bill Schafer.

During her PhD, Dr. Ezcurra identified extra-synaptic mechanisms by which nutritional status modulates nociception, involving neuro-peptidergic and dopaminergic signaling. She went on to do a postdoc working on aging with Dr. David Gems at University College London.

During her postdoc, Dr. Ezcurra developed methods to monitor the development of multiple age-related diseases in-vivo in C. elegans, leading to the discovery of a previously unknown process, Intestinal Biomass Conversion. This mechanism enables the C. elegans intestine to be broken down to produce vast amounts of yolk, resulting in poly-morbidity and mortality in aging nematodes. This work illustrates how aging and age-related diseases can be the result of run-on of wild-type gene function, rather than stochastic molecular damage.

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Gene self-correction in ‘chromosome caps’ can beat mutations, help prevent blood cancers

Mentions telomeres.

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People with rare disorders that cause shortened telomeres—protective caps that sit at the end of chromosomes—may be more likely to have blood cancers such as leukemia or myelodyplastic syndrome. Now, Johns Hopkins Medicine scientists have discovered several “self-correcting” genetic mutations in bone marrow that may protect such patients from these cancers.

In a study published online August 3 2021, in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the researchers also suggest these mutations can serve as biomarkers that may indicate if patients with short telomere syndromes are likely to develop blood cancers.

“These are the most common cancers we see in patients with short telomere syndromes,” says Mary Armanios, M.D., director of the Telomere Center and professor of oncology at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. “We know that at a certain point, the cells of patients with shortened either become cancerous or stay healthy.”