A simple burst of visible light can now create skin-safe electrodes that could transform medical and wearable electronics.
Category: biotech/medical – Page 240
New research frames psychopathy as a potential survival adaptation to severe early adversity
New research suggests that specific personality traits may amplify the way childhood adversity shapes an individual’s approach to life. A study published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences provides evidence that subclinical psychopathy strengthens the link between childhood trauma and “fast” life history strategies. The findings indicate that for those who have experienced severe early difficulties, certain dark personality traits may function as adaptive mechanisms for survival.
Psychologists use a framework called Life History Theory to explain how people allocate their energy. This theory proposes that all living organisms must make trade-offs between investing in their own growth and investing in reproduction. These trade-offs create a spectrum of strategies that range from “fast” to “slow.”
A fast life history strategy typically emerges in environments that are harsh or unpredictable. Individuals with this orientation tend to prioritize immediate rewards and reproduction over long-term planning. They often engage in riskier behaviors and invest less effort in long-term relationships. This approach makes evolutionary sense when the future is uncertain.
Depression Quietly Damages the Heart Through Stress Circuits
Research from Mass General Brigham suggests that this increased risk is driven by stress-related brain activity, nervous system dysregulation, and chronic inflammation.
They also found that patients with both depression and anxiety were at even higher risk of cardiovascular disease than those diagnosed with just one condition.
Heart-brain connection: International study reveals role of vagus nerve in keeping the heart young
The secret to a healthier and “younger” heart lies in the vagus nerve. A recent study coordinated by the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa and published in Science Translational Medicine has shown that preserving bilateral cardiac vagal innervation is an anti-aging factor. In particular, the right cardiac vagus nerve emerges as a true guardian of cardiomyocyte health, helping to preserve the longevity of the heart independently of heart rate.
The study is characterized by a strongly multidisciplinary approach, integrating experimental medicine and bioengineering applied to cardiovascular research. Specifically, the research was led by the Translational Critical Care Unit (TrancriLab) of the Interdisciplinary Research Center Health Science, under the responsibility of Professor Vincenzo Lionetti, and by the laboratory of the Biorobotics Institute led by Professor Silvestro Micera, which contributed to the development of the bioabsorbable nerve conduit used to facilitate vagal regeneration.
The study involved a broad network of Italian and international institutions of excellence, including the Scuola Normale Superiore, the University of Pisa, the Fondazione Toscana G. Monasterio, the Institute of Clinical Physiology of the CNR, the University of Udine, GVM Care & Research, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, the Leibniz Institute on Ageing in Jena and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.
MIT study finds targets for a new tuberculosis vaccine
A large-scale screen of tuberculosis proteins has revealed several possible antigens that could be developed as a new vaccine for TB, the world’s deadliest infectious disease.
In the new study, a team of MIT biological engineers was able to identify a handful of immunogenic peptides, out of more than 4,000 bacterial proteins, that appear to stimulate a strong response from a type of T cells responsible for orchestrating immune cells’ response to infection.
There is currently only one vaccine for tuberculosis, known as BCG, which is a weakened version of a bacterium that causes TB in cows. This vaccine is widely administered in some parts of the world, but it poorly protects adults against pulmonary TB. Worldwide, tuberculosis kills more than 1 million people every year.
Does being infected or vaccinated first influence COVID-19 immunity?
A new study analyzing the immune response to COVID-19 in a Catalan cohort of health workers sheds light on an important question: does it matter whether a person was first infected or first vaccinated?
According to the results, the order of the events does alter the outcome, at least when it comes to long-term protection against omicron.
The study, published in Nature Communications, was led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) in collaboration with the Catalan Health Institute (ICS) and the Jordi Gol Institute (IDIAP JG), and with support from the Daniel Bravo Andreu Private Foundation (FPDBA).
Hidden ‘switches’ in DNA reveal new insights into Alzheimer’s disease
A tiny percentage of our DNA—around 2%—contains 20,000-odd genes. The remaining 98%—long known as the non-coding genome, or so-called ‘junk’ DNA—includes many of the “switches” that control when and how strongly genes are expressed.
Now researchers from UNSW Sydney have identified the DNA switches that help control how astrocytes work—these are brain cells that support neurons, and are known to play a role in Alzheimer’s disease.
In research published in Nature Neuroscience, researchers from UNSW’s School of Biotechnology & Biomolecular Sciences described how they tested nearly 1,000 potential switches—strings of DNA known as enhancers—in human astrocytes grown in the lab. Enhancers can be located very far away from the gene they control, sometimes hundreds of thousands of DNA letters away—making them difficult to study.