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Category: biotech/medical – Page 40

Sitting Could Be Shrinking Your Brain (And Exercise May Not Help)

Sitting might be a comfortable and convenient way to spend much of your day, but a new study of older adults suggests it can lead to brain shrinkage and cognitive issues, irrespective of how much exercise you’re managing to fit in.

The research counters the idea that periods of sitting can be balanced out by periods of being active, at least when it comes to brain health in people aged 50 or above.

The study researchers, from Vanderbilt University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Seoul National University, think that too much sitting or lying down (known as sedentary behavior) can impact the brain and increase the risk of different types of dementia later in life, including Alzheimer’s disease.

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Dubai Doctor Fears Losing His Job As AI Accurately Analyses X-Ray: “Going To Apply To McDonald’s”

A pulmonologist based in Dubai was astonished by the accuracy of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in diagnosing diseases. Recently, Dr. Mohammad Fawzi Katranji tested an AI tool’s ability to detect pneumonia from an X-ray and was impressed when it pinpointed the same areas he had identified, as well as an additional spot he had missed. The AI completed the task in seconds, a stark contrast to the 20 years Dr. Katranji spent acquiring his expertise. The AI’s findings ultimately aided in the patient’s recovery.

“I am about to lose my job. This is scary because I developed the skill over 20 years, which lets me look at an X-ray and point to pneumonia,” he said in the video, showing his findings.

“Now, here comes AI, and they pick it up in a second. Now, you don’t need professional eyes to look at these X-rays. You just have artificial intelligence. They picked up pneumonia. I am going to be applying to McDonald’s soon, and I hope they have some openings,” the doctor joked.

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Researchers develop a new set of genetic tools designed to treat brain diseases

Scientists say they’ve put together a new kind of molecular toolkit that could eventually be used to treat a variety of brain diseases, possibly including epilepsy, sleep disorders and Huntington’s disease.

The kit currently contains more than 1,000 tools of a type known as enhancer AAV vectors, with AAV standing for “adeno-associated virus.” A consortium that included researchers from Seattle’s Allen Institute for Brain Science and the University of Washington combined harmless adeno-associated viruses with snippets of engineered DNA to create a gene-therapy package that could target specific neurons in the brain while having no effect on other cells.

Researchers laid out their findings in a set of eight studies published today in the Cell Press family of journals. The work is part of a project called the Armamentarium for Precision Brain Cell Access, funded through the National Institutes of Health’s BRAIN Initiative.

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Black tea and berries could contribute to healthier aging

Higher intakes of black tea, berries, citrus fruits and apples could help to promote healthy ageing, new research has found.

This study conducted by researchers from Edith Cowan University, Queen’s University Belfast and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, found that foods rich in flavonoids could help to lower the risk of key components of unhealthy ageing, including frailty, impaired physical function and poor mental health.

“The goal of medical research is not just to help people live longer but to ensure they stay healthy for as long as possible,” ECU Adjunct Lecturer Dr Nicola Bondonno said.

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Conversational agent can create executable quantum chemistry workflows

Artificial intelligence (AI) agents and large-language models (LLMs), such as the model underpinning OpenAI’s conversational platform ChatGPT, are now widely used by people worldwide, both in informal and professional settings. Over the past decade or so, some of these models have also been adapted to tackle complex research problems rooted in various fields, including biology, physics, medical sciences and chemistry.

Existing computational tools employed by chemists are often highly sophisticated and complex. Their complexity makes them inaccessible to non-expert users and often even difficult for expert chemists to use.

Researchers at Matter Lab at the University of Toronto and NVIDIA have developed El Agente Q, a new LLM-based system that could allow chemists, particularly those specialized in , to easily generate and execute quantum chemistry workflows, sequences of computational tasks required to study specific chemical systems at the quantum mechanical level.

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Adolescent health is at a tipping point, global analysis suggests

By 2030, there will still be over 1 billion of the world’s adolescents (aged 10–24 years) living in countries where preventable and treatable health problems like HIV/AIDS, early pregnancy, unsafe sex, depression, poor nutrition and injury collectively threaten the health and well-being of adolescents, suggests a new analysis from the second Lancet Commission on adolescent health and well-being.

Commission co-chair, Professor Sarah Baird, George Washington University (U.S.) says, The health and well-being of adolescents worldwide is at a tipping point, with mixed progress observed over the past three decades.

While tobacco and alcohol use has declined and participation in secondary and tertiary education has increased, overweight and obesity have risen by up to eight-fold in some countries in Africa and Asia over the past three decades, and there is a growing burden of poor adolescent mental health globally.

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