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Category: biotech/medical – Page 174

Summary: A recent study offers new insights into how brain regions coordinate during rest, using resting-state fMRI (rsfMRI) and neural recordings in mice. By comparing blood flow patterns with direct neural activity, researchers found that some brain activity remains “invisible” in traditional rsfMRI scans. This hidden activity suggests that current brain imaging techniques may miss key elements of neural behavior.

The findings, potentially applicable to human studies, may refine our understanding of brain networks. Further research could improve the accuracy of interpreting brain activity.

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This study explores how muscle contractions, such as those that occur during exercise, influence motor neurons—the cells responsible for controlling muscle movement.

There’s no doubt that exercise does a body good. Regular activity not only strengthens muscles but can bolster our bones, blood vessels, and immune system.

Now, MIT engineers have found that exercise can also have benefits at the level of individual neurons. They observed that when muscles contract during exercise, they release a soup of biochemical signals called myokines.

In the presence of these -generated signals, neurons grew four times further compared to neurons that were not exposed to myokines. These cellular-level experiments suggest that exercise can have a significant biochemical effect on nerve growth.

Continue reading “When muscles work out, they help neurons grow: Biochemical and physical effects of exercise could help heal nerves” | >

A genomic test developed at UC San Francisco to rapidly detect almost any kind of pathogen—virus, bacteria, fungus or parasite—has proved successful after a decade of use.

The test has the potential to vastly improve care for neurological infections that cause diseases like meningitis and encephalitis, as well as speed up the detection of new viral pandemic threats. It uses a powerful genomic sequencing technique, called metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS).

Rather than looking for one type of pathogen at a time, mNGS analyzes all the nucleic acids, RNA and DNA, that are present in a sample.

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It takes years of intense study and a steady hand for humans to perform surgery, but robots might have an easier time picking it up with today’s AI technology.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) and Stanford University have taught a robot surgical system to perform a bunch of surgical tasks as capably as human doctors, simply by training it on videos of those procedures.

The team leveraged a da Vinci Surgical System for this study. It’s a robotic system that’s typically remote controlled by a surgeon with arms that manipulate instruments for tasks like dissection, suction, and cutting and sealing vessels. Systems like these give surgeons much greater control, precision, and a closer look at patients on the operating table. The latest version is estimated to cost over US$2 million, and that doesn’t include accessories, sterilizing equipment, or training.

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Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a fundamental tool in modern medicine, offering detailed views of internal organs and tissues. These large, tube-shaped MRI machines, commonly seen in hospitals, utilize powerful magnets to analyze and visualize the density of water and fat molecules within the body.

In addition to these molecules, other substances like metabolites can also be mapped, but their concentrations are often too low to produce clear images. To overcome this limitation, a technique known as hyperpolarization is employed to enhance the magnetic resonance signal of these substances, making them more visible during MRI scans.

Hyperpolarization involves preparing a substance outside the body in a state where its magnetization—key to creating MRI images—is near its maximum. This process can boost the signal by thousands of times compared to its natural state. Once hyperpolarized, the substance is injected into the patient and transported to the target organ or tissue. However, before this can happen, it is crucial to confirm that the substance is adequately hyperpolarized through rigorous quality control processes.

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Substance use disorders are a group of conditions involving the recurrent use of substances, like drugs or alcohol, despite harmful consequences to physical, mental, or social health. These disorders are characterized by an inability to control usage, intense cravings, and continued use despite negative impacts on relationships, work, or health.

While it is well-known that substance use disorders have negative consequences for the individual, research has recently begun to focus on the effects of these disorders on others, known as the “harm to others” framework. A key area of these studies is the impact on children growing up with parents affected by substance use disorders. These children have been found to have lower academic achievement than their peers whose parents do not have such disorders, as well as an increased risk of various mental health and developmental issues.

Study author Hélio Manhica and his colleagues aimed to explore the mental health risks for children of parents with substance use disorders in greater detail. They also sought to determine whether these risks differ between males and females and if certain periods in childhood or adolescence are particularly critical in relation to exposure to parental substance use disorder (i.e., periods that influence the overall risk of developing psychiatric disorders).

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Summary: Researchers found that exercise promotes neuron growth through both biochemical signals (myokines) and physical stretching. Muscle cells, when contracted, release myokines that boost neuron growth and maturity. Furthermore, neurons that were “exercised” through mechanical movement grew just as much as those exposed to myokines.

These findings reveal the dual role of exercise in stimulating nerves, offering hope for developing therapies targeting nerve repair and neurodegenerative diseases. This research opens new avenues in treating nerve damage through “exercise as medicine.”

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Groundbreaking research presented at UEG Week 2024 reveals a promising new treatment strategy for type 2 diabetes (T2D) that could significantly reduce or even eliminate the need for insulin therapy.

This innovative approach, which combines a novel procedure known as ReCET (Re-Cellularization via Electroporation Therapy) with semaglutide, resulted in the elimination of insulin therapy for 86% of patients.

Globally, T2D affects 422 million people, with obesity recognized as a significant risk factor. While insulin therapy is commonly used to manage blood sugar levels in T2D patients, it can result in side effects such as weight gain and further complicate diabetes management. A need therefore exists for alternative treatment strategies.

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