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Category: biotech/medical – Page 273

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have developed a new material poised to revolutionize the next generation of high-power electronics, making them faster, more transparent, and more efficient. This engineered material enables electrons to move at higher speeds while staying transparent to both visible and ultraviolet light, surpassing previous performance records.

The research, published in Science Advances, a peer-reviewed scientific journal, marks a significant leap forward in semiconductor design, which is crucial to a trillion-dollar global industry expected to continue growing as digital technologies expand.

Semiconductors power nearly all electronics, from smartphones to medical devices. A key to advancing these technologies lies in improving what scientists refer to as “ultra-wide band gap” materials. These materials can conduct electricity efficiently even under extreme conditions. Ultra-wide band gap semiconductors enable high-performance at elevated temperatures, making them essential for more durable and robust electronics.

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There is a challenge related to prostate cancer from cancer cells that form resistance to treatments as the disease progresses. For medical science, these resistance mechanisms are not yet fully understood.

A new study by the University of Eastern Finland has filled some of this knowledge gap. The scientists found that inflammation-promoting immune cells, M1 macrophages, can transform cancer cells into stem-like cells and thus immune to treatment.

The study examined the impact of factors promoting inflammation in a tumour microenvironment on the progression of prostate cancer. Researchers focused particularly on the role of M1 and M2 macrophages in the tumour microenvironment. Macrophages are immune cells whose large number in the tumour area is often a sign of poor prognosis in relation to prostate cancer. These white blood cells stimulate the action of other immune system cells.

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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.

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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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