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Archive for the ‘biotech/medical’ category: Page 1902

Dec 20, 2019

Cops Can Now Get Warrants for Entire DNA Websites

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, law enforcement, policy

To that end, Fields decided to ask a Florida judge to grant him a warrant that would override the new policy, allowing him to search GEDmatch’s entire database, including users who hadn’t opted in — and Judge Patricia Strowbridge did just that, the detective announced at a recent police convention, according to the NYT.

Legal experts told the NYT that this appears to be the first time a judge has approved a DNA website warrant this broad, with New York University law professor Erin Murphy calling it “a huge game-changer.”

“The company made a decision to keep law enforcement out, and that’s been overridden by a court,” Murphy told the newspaper. “It’s a signal that no genetic information can be safe.”

Dec 20, 2019

Gut microbiota shape ‘inflamm-ageing’ cytokines and account for age-dependent decline in DNA damage repair

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension

Objective Failing to properly repair damaged DNA drives the ageing process. Furthermore, age-related inflammation contributes to the manifestation of ageing. Recently, we demonstrated that the efficiency of repair of diethylnitrosamine (DEN)-induced double-strand breaks (DSBs) rapidly declines with age. We therefore hypothesised that with age, the decline in DNA damage repair stems from age-related inflammation.

Design We used DEN-induced DNA damage in mouse livers and compared the efficiency of their resolution in different ages and following various permutations aimed at manipulating the liver age-related inflammation.

Results We found that age-related deregulation of innate immunity was linked to altered gut microbiota. Consequently, antibiotic treatment, MyD88 ablation or germ-free mice had reduced cytokine expression and improved DSBs rejoining in 6-month-old mice. In contrast, feeding young mice with a high-fat diet enhanced inflammation and facilitated the decline in DSBs repair. This latter effect was reversed by antibiotic treatment. Kupffer cell replenishment or their inactivation with gadolinium chloride reduced proinflammatory cytokine expression and reversed the decline in DSBs repair. The addition of proinflammatory cytokines ablated DSBs rejoining mediated by macrophage-derived heparin-binding epidermal growth factor-like growth factor.

Dec 20, 2019

What happens after removing part of the brain with cancer surgery?

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

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Dec 20, 2019

Rejuvenation Roundup December 2019

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, life extension

Rejuvenation Roundup November 2019


Quite a number of readily understandable reviews were published this month, along with an X10 episode on epigenetic alterations; if you’re new to the biology of aging or want to introduce someone else to the topic with new material, this is a great time to start.

LEAF News

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Dec 20, 2019

Why Didn’t She Get Alzheimer’s? The Answer Could Hold a Key to Fighting the Disease

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, neuroscience

Researchers have found a woman with a rare genetic mutation that has protected her from dementia even though her brain has developed major neurological features of the disease.

Dec 20, 2019

A clue to a cure for Alzheimer’s disease

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, neuroscience

Half of people who live to 85 will develop Alzheimer’s disease — a disturbing statistic. But research into a family in South America has revealed a gene mutation that appears to afford protection, and may lead to a way to treat or possibly even prevent the disease.

Dec 20, 2019

Ketamine-like drug for depression gets UK licence

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Psychiatrists divided on ‘game-changing’ esketamine due to potential for addiction.

Dec 19, 2019

New method captures real-time movement of millions of molecules in 3D

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

The human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, wages war in our bodies using a strategy evolved over millions of years that turns our own cellular machines against themselves. Despite massive strides in understanding the disease, there are still important gaps. For years, scientists at the University of Utah wished there was a way to visualize how the virus and its molecules interact with human cells in real time. So, a research group developed one.

Dec 19, 2019

A new Gene Therapy Strategy, courtesy of Nature

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, nanotechnology, neuroscience

Scientists have developed a new gene-therapy technique by transforming human cells into mass producers of tiny nano-sized particles full of genetic material that has the potential to reverse disease processes.

Though the research was intended as a proof of concept, the experimental therapy slowed tumor growth and prolonged survival in mice with gliomas, which constitute about 80 percent of malignant brain tumors in humans.

The technique takes advantage of exosomes, fluid-filled sacs that cells release as a way to communicate with other cells.

Dec 19, 2019

Are herpes virus infections linked to Alzheimer’s disease?

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine report today in the journal Neuron evidence that refutes the link between increased levels of herpes virus and Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, the researchers provide a new statistical and computational framework for the analysis of large-scale sequencing data.

About 50 million people worldwide are affected by Alzheimer’s disease, a type of progressive dementia that results in the loss of memory, cognitive abilities and verbal skills, and the numbers are growing rapidly. Currently available medications temporarily ease the symptoms or slow the rate of decline, which maximizes the time patients can live and function independently. However, there are no treatments to halt progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

“Like all types of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by massive death of brain cells, the neurons. Identifying the reason why neurons begin and continue to die in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients is an active area of research,” said corresponding author Dr. Zhandong Liu, associate professor of pediatrics at Baylor and the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital.