Nowadays, there’s lots of buzz about spectacular new medical treatments, such as personalized cancer therapy with modified immune cells or antibodies. Such treatments, however, are very complex and expensive and so find only limited application. Most medical therapies are still based on small chemical compounds that can be produced in large quantities and thus at low cost.
Terahertz (THz) waves and THz technologies have gradually opened a new style for communications, cloud-based storage/computing, information contest, and medical tools. With the advancement of THz technologies, studies on THz nonlinear optics have emerged, achieving considerable breakthroughs in both physics and technology.
Researchers have discovered tiny time delays in electron activity within molecules when exposed to X-rays, a groundbreaking finding made possible by advanced X-ray lasers at the Linac Coherent Light Source.
These delays, measured in attoseconds, reveal complex interactions that could advance our understanding of molecular dynamics and potentially influence fields like cancer detection.
Pioneering Attosecond Measurements
Researchers have decoded the genomic sequence of Zygnema algae, revealing insights into the evolutionary transition from aquatic to terrestrial plant life. This breakthrough enhances our understanding of plant adaptation mechanisms and offers a basis for future studies in environmental resilience and bioenergy.
Plant life first emerged on land about 550 million years ago, and an international research team co-led by University of Nebraska–Lincoln computational biologist Yanbin Yin has cracked the genomic code of its humble beginnings, which made possible all other terrestrial life on Earth, including humans.
The team — about 50 scientists in eight countries – has generated the first genomic sequence of four strains of Zygnema algae, the closest living relatives of land plants. Their findings shed light on the ability of plants to adjust to the environment and provide a rich basis for future research.
Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have shown that therapeutically restoring ‘youthful’ levels of a specific subunit of the telomerase enzyme can significantly reduce the signs and symptoms of aging in preclinical models. If these findings are validated in clinical trials, they could have important therapeutic implications for age-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, heart disease, and cancer.
The study, published in Cell, identified a small molecule compound that restores physiological levels of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT), which normally is repressed with the onset of aging. Maintenance of TERT levels in aged lab models reduced cellular senescence and tissue inflammation, spurred new neuron formation with improved memory, and enhanced neuromuscular function, which increased strength and coordination.
The researchers show that TERT functions not only to extend telomeres, but also acts as a transcription factor to affect the expression of many genes directing neurogenesis, learning and memory, cellular senescence, and inflammation.
Neurons in the brain are like vast networks, receiving thousands of signals from other neurons through tiny structures called synapses.
Researchers from Bonn and Japan have clarified how neighboring synapses coordinate their response to plasticity signals: Nerve cells in the brain receive thousands of synaptic signals via their “antenna,” the so-called dendritic branch. Permanent changes in synaptic strength correlate with changes in the size of dendritic spines. However, it was previously unclear how the neurons implement these changes in strength across several synapses that are close to each other and active at the same time.
The researchers—from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), the University of Bonn, the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) and the RIKEN Center for Brain Science (CBS)—assume that the competition between spines for molecular resources and the spatial distance between simultaneously stimulated spines affect their resulting dynamics. The results of the study have now been published in the journal Nature Communications.
Neurons are the computing units of the brain. They receive thousands of synaptic signals via their dendrites, with individual synapses undergoing activity-dependent plasticity. This synaptic plasticity is the mechanism underlying our memory and thinking and reflects long-lasting changes in synaptic strength.
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A nanoparticle formulation, using oligonucleotide chemistry, able to release a gene editing system with single cell resolution after near infrared laser activation. The full potential of the formulation was demonstrated in the brain after intracerebral and intranasal administrations. The spot of the laser defined the region of gene editing.
Understanding cellular architectures and their connectivity is essential for interrogating system function and dysfunction. However, we lack technologies for mapping the multiscale details of individual cells and their connectivity in the human organ–scale system. We developed a platform that simultaneously extracts spatial, molecular, morphological, and connectivity information of individual cells from the same human brain. The platform includes three core elements: a vibrating microtome for ultraprecision slicing of large-scale tissues without losing cellular connectivity (MEGAtome), a polymer hydrogel–based tissue processing technology for multiplexed multiscale imaging of human organ–scale tissues (mELAST), and a computational pipeline for reconstructing three-dimensional connectivity across multiple brain slabs (UNSLICE).
WEHI researchers have found a specific immunotherapy could hold promise for treating gliomas, an aggressive form of brain cancer with limited treatment options.
The new study shows that CAR T cell therapy not…
Researchers at WEHI have identified a promising new two-in-one treatment that not only targets and destroys an aggressive form of brain cancer, but also helps the immune system develop a lasting defence against it.
This dual-action approach uses a specific immunotherapy known as CAR T cell therapy to treat gliomas, an incurable brain cancer with few treatment options.