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Category: biotech/medical – Page 358

A 3D printed ‘metamaterial’ boasting levels of strength for weight not normally seen in nature or manufacturing could change how we make everything from medical implants to aircraft or rocket parts.

RMIT University researchers created the new metamaterial—a term used to describe an with not observed in nature—from common titanium alloy.

But it’s the material’s unique lattice structure design, recently revealed in the journal Advanced Materials, that makes it anything but common: tests show it’s 50% stronger than the next strongest alloy of similar density used in aerospace applications.

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On Wednesday, February 21st, at 01:40 p.m. PST (04:40 p.m. EST), an interesting package returned to Earth from space.

This was the capsule from the W-1 mission, an orbital platform manufactured by California-based Varda Space Industries, which landed at the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR). Even more interesting was the payload, which consisted of antiviral drugs grown in the microgravity environment of Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

The mission is part of the company’s goal to develop the infrastructure to make LEO more accessible to commercial industries.

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Investigators identified 15 factors that affect risk for young-onset dementia.

Limited data are available on risk factors for young-onset dementia. In this study, researchers assessed 39 potential risk factors for young-onset dementia from data in the UK Biobank. Participants 65 years of age or older without a dementia diagnosis were included in the analysis. Potential risk factors were grouped into sociodemographic factors, genetic factors, lifestyle factors, environmental factors, blood marker factors, cardiometabolic factors, psychiatric factors, and other risk factors.

Among 359,052 participants, the mean age at baseline was 55 years and 55% were women. There were 485 incident all-cause young-onset dementia cases after a mean follow-up of 8 years. Incident young-onset dementia increased with age and was more common in men. Fewer years of formal education, lower socioeconomic status, the presence of two apolipoprotein E ℇ4 alleles, no alcohol use, alcohol use disorder, social isolation, vitamin D deficiency (1 mg/dL), lower handgrip strength, hearing impairment, orthostatic hypotension, stroke, diabetes, heart disease, and depression were associated with higher risk for young-onset dementia in fully adjusted models. Men with diabetes were more likely to have young-onset dementia than men without diabetes, and women with high C-reactive protein were more likely to have young-onset dementia than women with low C-reactive protein levels.

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We don’t exactly know why we age; we know what aging looks like —the “symptoms”, so to speak— but the root causes remain foggy. One leading hypothesis is that the changes associated with old age, both external and internal, are a result of accumulating DNA damage. As this damage builds, cellular functions begin to break down and important pathways start going haywire.

One of the most extreme forms of DNA damage is the double-strand break, which happens when a strand of DNA snaps in half, leaving two separate slivers floating around. Left unfixed, these strands can snag at and break chromosomes, leading to diseases like cancer and other disorders. But how the body repairs this kind of wreckage has been a source of mystery. Now, scientists at the Dresden University of Technology have managed to shine a light on the process. Published in Cell, their work offers important new insights that may eventually help treat, and possibly reverse, DNA damage.

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Summary: Researchers made a groundbreaking discovery on how the human brain forms words before speaking. By utilizing Neuropixels probes, they’ve mapped out how neurons represent speech sounds and assemble them into language.

This study not only sheds light on the complex cognitive steps involved in speech production but also opens up possibilities for treating speech and language disorders. The technology could lead to artificial prosthetics for synthetic speech, benefiting those with neurological disorders.

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Summary: In people with PTSD, during REM sleep norepinephrine and serotonin levels remain high, reducing the brain’s ability to inhibit fear-expression neurons through neural rhythms sent between the prefrontal cortex and amygdala. Those with PTSD require higher frequency rhythms to extinguish fear memories. Researchers say unlocking the higher frequencies via therapies could help to restore quality sleep in those with PTSD.

Source: Virginia Tech.

During periods of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, brain activity often resembles that of awake behavior. At times, the brain can actually be more active during REM sleep than when you’re awake. It’s why REM sleep is sometimes called “paradoxical sleep,” said Virginia Tech neuroscientist Sujith Vijayan.

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Summary: Postmortem brains of those with schizophrenia have fewer genes associated with 12-hour activity cycles in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Mitochondrial-related genes in the dlPFC did maintain a 12-hour rhythm, but their activity did not peak at normal times.

Source: PLOS

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, U.S. present the first evidence of 12-hour cycles of gene activity in the human brain.

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Although the interplay between sex and mental health is well-studied, a new study suggests there may be a complex correlation between seemingly disparate disorders.

In a new paper published in the Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, a group of Italian psychology researchers say they’ve found a correlation between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depressive symptoms, hypomania (the clinical term for “mania” or high energy) and hypersexuality, or an intense preoccupation with sexual thoughts and acts — and that people who experience these sets of symptoms may use sex as a sort of “self-medication.”

Study coauthors Giacomo Ciocca, a sexual psychology assistant professor at Rome’s Sapienza University, and Davide Doroldi, a clinical psychologist, told PsyPost that they were inspired to look into the possible link after observing higher rates of hypersexuality among people with ADHD.

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