Axolotls can completely rebuild their thymus, a key immune organ
Category: biotech/medical – Page 237
Why Mucus and Phlegm Matter in Health and Disease
It’s mucus season—the time of year this sticky goo makes an appearance in the form of runny noses and phlegmy coughs. While most people are only aware of mucus when they are sick, their organs are blanketed with the stuff year-round. And, when it comes to the microbes living in our bodies, mucus is incredibly important. It provides a spatial and nutritional niche for diverse organisms to thrive, while also preventing them from getting too close to host tissues. Mucus also regulates microbial growth, metabolism and virulence, ultimately controlling the composition of microbial communities throughout the body. As such, scientists are looking at how to exploit mucus-microbe interactions to foster human health.
Mucus is found in creatures spanning the tree of life, from corals to people. In humans and other mammals, the slick goop coats epithelial tissues, including those in the mouth, lungs, gut and urogenital tract. In these regions, mucus protects cells from physical and enzymatic stress, heals wounds and selectively filters particles that can pass through to underlying tissues.
Dimerization-dependent gel-like condensation with dsDNA underpins the activation of human cGAS
CGAS forms condensates on cytosolic double-stranded (ds)DNA and initiates inflammatory responses. Lueck et al. find that, although cGAS forms condensates on various nucleic acids, it enters a hydrogel-like state only with dsDNA via dimerization. The gel-like cGAS condensate not only protects bound dsDNA from exonucleases but also facilitates catalysis.
Parkinson’s disease triggers a hidden shift in how the body produces energy
Weight loss is a well-recognized but poorly understood non-motor feature of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Many patients progressively lose weight as the disease advances, often alongside worsening motor symptoms and quality of life. Until now, it was unclear whether this reflected muscle loss, poor nutrition, or deeper metabolic changes. New research shows that PD-related weight loss is driven mainly by a selective loss of body fat, while muscle mass is largely preserved, and is accompanied by a fundamental shift in how the body produces energy.
Although PD is classically viewed as a neurological disorder, increasing evidence points to widespread metabolic dysfunction. Patients often experience fatigue and nutritional decline, yet dietary advice has largely focused on boosting calories. The new findings challenge this conventional view, showing that weight loss in PD reflects a failure of the body’s standard energy-producing pathways rather than reduced food intake alone. The findings are published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.
The study was led by Professor Hirohisa Watanabe from the Department of Neurology at Fujita Health University, School of Medicine, Japan, along with Dr. Atsuhiro Higashi and Dr. Yasuaki Mizutani from Fujita Health University. The team aimed to clarify what exactly is lost when patients with PD lose weight and why the body is forced to change its energy strategy.
Antibody modulation of B cell responses—Incorporating positive and negative feedback
Antibodies modulate ongoing and future B cell responses. Cyster and Wilson review the various mechanisms whereby antibody feedback shapes B cell responses and present a framework for conceptualizing the ways antigen-specific antibody may influence immunity in conditions as diverse as infectious disease, autoimmunity, and cancer.
Smartwatch and Hypertension Notification
From JAMA: The US Food and Drug Administration recently cleared the Apple Watch hypertension notification feature.
Researchers applied performance metrics reported by Apple to nationally representative survey data and found that, overall, 69% of individuals who receive a smartwatch alert would have hypertension, while 79% of those who do not receive an alert would not have hypertension. However, these rates vary according to subgroup characteristics, such as age and sex.
Current guidelines recommend cuff-based blood pressure measurement as the standard for diagnosing hypertension. Incorporating cuffless device technologies into public health screening efforts will require additional validation and careful attention to device accuracy to reduce misclassification and the risk of false reassurance.
This cross-sectional study assesses the potential impact of a smartwatch hypertension notification feature for US adults who have not been diagnosed with hypertension.
Monitoring biological effects of somatic cell genome editing
CRISPR-based genome editing therapeutics are entering the clinic, but in vitro and in vivo tools are needed to assess their safety and efficacy. The authors review complementary technologies to monitor the biological effects of genome editing across scales, including the direct measurement of editing outcomes in DNA, human microphysiological systems and non-invasive in vivo imaging.
A Deep Dive Into The ‘Longevity Vitamin’, Ergothionine
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Lung cancer drug offers a surprising new treatment against ovarian cancer
A new study published by Mayo Clinic researchers suggests that ovarian cancer cells quickly activate a survival response after PARP inhibitor treatment, and blocking this early response may make this class of drugs work better. The research is published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
PARP inhibitors are a common treatment for ovarian cancer and can be especially effective in cancers with impaired DNA repair. However, many tumors eventually stop responding, even when the drugs initially show results. The new research identifies a way cancer cells may survive PARP inhibitor treatment early on, and it points to a potential strategy to block that response.
In the study, researchers found that ovarian cancer cells rapidly activate a pro-survival program after exposure to PARP inhibitors. A key driver of this response is FRA1, a transcription factor that helps turn on genes that allow cancer cells to adapt and avoid cell death.