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Category: biotech/medical – Page 175

The Tbx1 gene influences brain volume and social behavior in autism and schizophrenia, with its deficiency linked to amygdala shrinkage and impaired social incentive evaluation.

A study published in Molecular Psychiatry has linked changes in brain volume to differences in social behavior associated with psychiatric conditions like autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia.

The research, led by Noboru Hiroi, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio), revealed that a deficiency in a specific gene was connected to social behavior differences in mice. These behavioral differences are similar to those often observed in psychiatric disorders.

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Researchers have developed a method using viruses to track neuronal development in frogs, shedding light on the evolution of vertebrate nervous systems and offering comparative insights with mammals.

Although viruses are typically associated with illnesses, not all viruses are harmful or cause disease. Some are instrumental in therapeutic treatments and vaccinations. In scientific research, viruses are often used to infect certain cells, genetically modify them, or visualize neurons in the organism’s central nervous system (CNS)—the command center made up of the brain, spinal cord, and nerves.

The highlighting process has now been successfully applied to amphibians, which are crucial for understanding the brain and spinal cord of tetrapods—four-limbed animals, including humans. This has been shown in a new study by an international EDGE consortium jointly led by the Sweeney Lab at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) and the Tosches Lab at Columbia University.

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Russian telecommunications watchdog Roskomnadzor has blocked the Viber encrypted messaging app, used by hundreds of millions worldwide, for violating the country’s legislation.

“Access to the Viber service is restricted due to the violation of the requirements of Russian legislation for organizers of information dissemination,” Russia’s internet regulator said in a press statement.

“Compliance with the requirements is necessary to prevent threats of using the messenger for terrorist and extremist purposes, recruiting citizens to commit them, selling drugs, as well as in connection with the posting of illegal information.”

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A research team led by Prof. Wang Haoyi from the Institute of Zoology (IOZ) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cell exhaustion model and a functional screening platform for identifying compounds that can rejuvenate exhausted T cells.

Using this innovative platform, the team identified the small-molecule compound miltefosine, which significantly enhances the tumor-killing activity of CAR-T cells. This study was published in Cell Reports Medicine on December 9.

T cell exhaustion is a differentiation state that arises when T cells are exposed to persistent antigen stimulation. This state is characterized by a progressive loss of effector functions, sustained expression of inhibitory receptors, impaired proliferation, and compromised mitochondrial respiration and glycolysis capacity.

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Though Elon Musk’s Neuralink put wireless brain implants in the spotlight — in early 2024, Musk announced his company’s first implant was successful — the research and development of these devices has spanned decades. The BrainGate clinical trials have been underway for 20 years, and the consortium’s wireless implant marks the first time a person has used an implant with high bandwidth capabilities.

Wireless technologies are opening doors in neuroscience, enabling new capabilities in communication, treatment, and research. Because wireless implants can monitor the brain for long periods of time, they offer a unique opportunity to examine neural dynamics, increasing our understanding of the human mind. Their cord-free design also benefits people hoping to use these devices outside a research setting and improve their quality of life.

The first brain implant is credited to neurologist Phil Kennedy, who had the device surgically affixed to his brain. Today, wired implants are less invasive and widely used. They can help prevent seizures, manage OCD symptoms, and treat movement disorders.

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The study offers new genetic insights into dietary preferences and suggests the potential to target SI as a means to selectively decrease sucrose consumption on a population scale.

The study was led by Dr. Peter Aldiss, now a group leader in the School of Medicine at the University of Nottingham, alongside Assistant Professor Mette K Andersen, at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Centre for Basic Metabolic Research in Copenhagen and Professor Mauro D’Amato at CIC bioGUNE in Spain and LUM University in Italy. It also involves scientists internationally from Copenhagen, Greenland, Italy, and Spain as part of the ‘Sucrase-isomaltase working group’

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“Our data support early resistance rehabilitation as a promising treatment to increase bone formation, bone healing strength, and promote full restoration of mechanical properties to pre-injury levels,” said Dr. Bob Guldberg.

How can implantable sensors help patients during their recovery? This is what a recent study published in npj Regenerative Medicine hopes to address as a team of researchers led by the University of Oregon investigated the use of implantable strain sensors to aid bone healing during rehabilitation from bone defect injuries. This study holds the potential to help provide patients with improved options regarding bone defect injuries while significantly reducing their rehabilitation time.

When it comes to rehabilitation, patients and doctors have always tried to find a middle-ground regarding the amount of strain needed to achieve the most desired outcomes, commonly called the “Goldilocks” principle. Therefore, this new study developed implantable sensors designed to monitor bone healing and determine if resistance training is a sufficient rehabilitation tool for patients. The researchers conducted an 8-week trial with laboratory rats split into three groups: resistance-trained, sedentary (inactive), and non-resistance.

In the end, the researchers found that while all three groups exhibited bone healing after the trial, the resistance-trained rats not only exhibited early signs of bone healing, but also exhibited increased tissue density, as well.

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Dr. Marta di Forti: “Our study indicates that daily users of high potency cannabis are at increased risk of developing psychosis independently from their polygenic risk score for schizophrenia.”

Is there a connection between cannabis use and developing psychosis? This is what a recent study published in Psychological Medicine hopes to address as an international team of researchers investigated how frequent cannabis use combined with a genetic predisposition for schizophrenia could lead to developing psychosis later in life. This study holds the potential to help researchers, medical professionals, and the public better understand how to identify the signs of psychosis in cannabis users and take necessary steps to address them as soon as possible.

For the study, the researchers conducted an observational study by obtaining data records of almost 150,000 individuals registered in United Kingdom and European Union medical databanks, one of which was the European Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene-Environment Interactions (EU-GEI), to examine records regarding patients who self-reported use and psychosis diagnoses. In the end, the researchers discovered a connection between individuals who self-reported lifetime frequent cannabis use and psychosis diagnoses, specifically regarding high potency cannabis which contains 10 percent or greater Delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

“These are important findings at a time of increasing use and potency of cannabis worldwide,” said Dr. Marta di Forti, who is a Professor of Drug use, Genetics, and Psychosis at King’s College London and a co-author on the study. “Our study indicates that daily users of high potency cannabis are at increased risk of developing psychosis independently from their polygenic risk score for schizophrenia. Nevertheless, the polygenic risk score for schizophrenia might, in the near future, become useful to identify those at risk for psychosis among less frequent users to enable early preventative measures to be put in place.”

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Large-scale protein and gene profiling have massively expanded the landscape of cancer-associated proteins and gene mutations, but it has been difficult to discern whether they play an active role in the disease or are innocent bystanders. In a study published in Nature Cancer, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine revealed a powerful and unbiased machine learning-based approach called FunMap for assessing the role of cancer-associated mutations and understudied proteins, with broad implications for advancing cancer biology and informing therapeutic strategies.

“Gaining functional information on the genes and proteins associated with cancer is an important step toward better understanding the disease and identifying potential therapeutic targets,” said corresponding author Dr. Bing Zhang, professor of molecular and human genetics and part of the Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center at Baylor.

“Our approach to gain functional insights into these genes and proteins involved using machine learning to develop a network mapping their functional relationships,” said Zhang, member of Baylor’s Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center and a McNair Scholar. “It’s like, I may not know anything about you, but if I know your LinkedIn connections, I can infer what you do.”

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