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Category: biotech/medical – Page 161

Study discovers an electric current in the gut that attracts pathogens like Salmonella. Researchers have discovered a novel bioelectrical mechanism that pathogens like Salmonella use to find entry points in the gut lining that would allow pathogens to pass and cause infection.

How do bad bacteria find entry points in the body to cause infection?

This question is fundamental for infectious disease experts and people who study bacteria. Harmful pathogens, like Salmonella, find their way through a complex gut system where they are vastly outnumbered by good microbes and immune cells. Still, the pathogens navigate to find vulnerable entry points in the gut that would allow them to invade and infect the body.

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Outperforms dermatologists in detecting melanoma, offering better diagnosis for challenging cases and improving patient care. 🩺🖥️

Heinlein, Maron, Hekler et al. evaluate an AI algorithm for detecting melanoma and compare its performance to that of dermatologist on a prospectively collected, external, heterogeneous dataset. The AI exhibits a significant performance advantage, especially in diagnosing challenging cases.

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Volatile anesthetics reversibly abolish consciousness or motility in animals, plants, and single-celled organisms (Kelz and Mashour, 2019; Yokawa et al., 2019). For humans, they are a medical miracle that we have been benefiting from for over 150 years, but the precise molecular mechanisms by which these molecules reversibly abolish consciousness remain elusive (Eger et al., 2008; Hemmings et al., 2019; Kelz and Mashour, 2019; Mashour, 2024). The functionally relevant molecular targets for causing unconsciousness are believed to be one or a combination of neural ion channels, receptors, mitochondria, synaptic proteins, and cytoskeletal proteins.

The Meyer–Overton correlation refers to the venerable finding that the anesthetic potency of chemically diverse anesthetic molecules is directly correlated with their solubility in lipids akin to olive oil (S. R. Hameroff, 2018; Kelz and Mashour, 2019). The possibility that general anesthesia might be explained by unitary action of all (or most) anesthetics on one target protein is supported by the Meyer–Overton correlation and the additivity of potencies of different anesthetics (Eger et al., 2008). Together these results suggest that anesthetics may act on a unitary site, via relatively nonspecific physical interactions (such as London/van der Waals forces between induced dipoles).

Cytoskeletal microtubules (MTs) have been considered as a candidate target of anesthetic action for over 50 years (Allison and Nunn, 1968; S. Hameroff, 1998). Other membrane receptor and ion channel proteins were ruled out as possible unitary targets by exhaustive studies culminating in Eger et al. (2008). However, MTs (composed of tubulin subunits) were not ruled out and remain a candidate for a unitary site of anesthetic action. MTs are the major components of the cytoskeleton in all cells, and they also play an essential role in cell reproduction—and aberrant cell reproduction in cancer—but in neurons, they have additional specialized roles in intracellular transport and neural plasticity (Kapitein and Hoogenraad, 2015). MTs have also been proposed to process information, encode memory, and mediate consciousness (S. R. Hameroff et al., 1982; S. Hameroff and Penrose, 1996; S. Hameroff, 2022). While classical models predict no direct role of MTs in neuronal membrane and synaptic signaling, Singh et al. (2021a) showed that MT activities do regulate axonal firing, for example, overriding membrane potentials. The orchestrated objective reduction (Orch OR) theory proposes that anesthesia directly blocks quantum effects in MTs necessary for consciousness (S. Hameroff and Penrose, 2014). Consistent with this hypothesis, volatile anesthetics do bind to cytoskeletal MTs (Pan et al., 2008) and dampen their quantum optical effects (Kalra et al., 2023), potentially contributing to causing unconsciousness.

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If you’ve ever opened a box from IKEA and wished the pieces inside could somehow spontaneously merge to form a table or chair, then a simple virus could have a thing or two to teach you. Self-assembly of complex molecules is essential for a wide array of biological structures, including proteins, cell membranes, or even entire viruses. Supramolecular chemistry is a field of study that attempts to build large molecules out of a discrete number of…

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Summary: A new study using artificial intelligence has provided novel insights into how the brain predicts future events and processes information. Researchers discovered that the brain’s spontaneous activity, even without external stimuli, plays a critical role in how we think and feel.

By analyzing local field potentials (LFPs), they uncovered how the brain remains active in anticipating possible scenarios, even in a resting state. These findings could lead to better diagnostic tools and treatments for neurological diseases.

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Related: Future moon astronauts may 3D-print their supplies using lunar minerals

“With the printing of the first metal 3D shape in space, ESA Exploration teams have achieved a significant milestone in establishing in-orbit manufacturing capabilities. This accomplishment, made possible by an international and multidisciplinary team, paves the way for long-distance and long-duration missions where creating spare parts, construction components, and tools on demand will be essential,” said Daniel Neuenschwander, director of Human and Robotic Exploration at ESA, in a statement.

This groundbreaking technology continues to expand its applications on Earth, revolutionizing fields such as medicine, fashion, art, construction, food production and manufacturing. In space, as long-duration missions to the moon and potentially Mars take shape, astronauts will need a means of independently repairing or creating tools or parts for machinery or structures that would be difficult to carry onboard a spacecraft, which have limited capacity.

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Humans have been trying to cheat death for thousands of years. Myths about elixirs promising immortality span various cultures, as do real concoctions that often did more harm than good. One of the most misguided attempts at creating a potion for immortality involved the first emperor of China and mercury pills. In his obsession with finding a formula that would grant him eternal life, Qin Shi Huang downed mercury and other toxic substances nearly two millennia ago, believing his alchemists had hit upon the perfect magical tonic. Unsurprisingly, he died prematurely at age 49.

Archeologists have discovered another 2,000-year-old “elixir for immortality” that sheds light on the true cost of chasing down eternal life.

While excavating the tomb of a Western Han noble family in China’s Henan province in 2018, researchers unearthed a bronze pot. At first, the team thought the liquid inside was wine, but more recently determined that it was an alchemist’s formulation: a yellow liquid containing potassium nitrate and alunite. These two ingredients are cited in ancient Taoist texts as ingredients for immortality. Potassium nitrate is an inorganic salt used today as a natural source of nitrate, and is a useful ingredient in food preservatives, fertilizer, and fireworks. Alunite is a mineral that forms in volcanic or sedimentary environments when sulfur-rich minerals oxidize. It has historically been used to make alum, which is important for water purification, tanning, and dyeing.

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