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Category: biotech/medical – Page 44

Disrupted sleep-wake and molecular circadian rhythms are a feature of aging associated with metabolic disease and reduced levels of NAD+, yet whether changes in nucleotide metabolism control circadian behavioral and genomic rhythms remains unknown. Here, we reveal that supplementation with the NAD + precursor nicotinamide riboside (NR) markedly reprograms metabolic and stress-response pathways that decline with aging through inhibition of the clock repressor PER2. NR enhances BMAL1 chromatin binding genome-wide through PER2 K680 deacetylation, which in turn primes PER2 phosphorylation within a domain that controls nuclear transport and stability and that is mutated in human advanced sleep phase syndrome.

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Scientists created a stem cell-based method to produce high-quality mitochondria at scale, enabling effective treatments for osteoarthritis and other diseases linked to mitochondrial dysfunction. Scientists have developed a groundbreaking method to mass-produce high-quality human mitochondria, a

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A research group led by Takumi Kagawa and Masashi Kato at Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine has discovered that using “a unique sound stimulation technology”—a device that stimulates the inner ear with a specific wavelength of sound—reduces motion sickness. Even a single minute of stimulation reduced the staggering and discomfort felt by people that read in a moving vehicle.

The results, published in Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine, suggest a simple and effective way to treat this common disorder.

“Our study demonstrated that short-term using a unique sound called ‘sound spice’ alleviates symptoms of motion sickness, such as nausea and dizziness,” Kagawa said. “The effective sound level falls within the range of everyday environmental noise exposure, suggesting that the sound technology is both effective and safe.”

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In humans and other multicellular organisms, cells multiply. This defining feature allows embryos to grow into adulthood, and enables the healing of the many bumps, bruises and scrapes along the way.

Certain factors can cause cells to abandon this characteristic and enter a zombie-like state known as senescence where they persist but no longer divide to make new cells. Our bodies can remove these senescent cells that tend to pile up as we age. The older we get, however, the less efficient our immune systems become at doing so.

“In addition to no longer growing and proliferating, the other hallmark of senescent cells is that they have this inflammatory program causing them to secrete inflammatory molecules,” said Peter Adams, Ph.D., director and professor of the Cancer Genome and Epigenetics Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys and senior and co-corresponding author of the study.

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Let me begin by telling the story of how this impacted my own life.

It was subtle at first, the little moments I began to miss.

The chirping of birds, the gentle hum of the refrigerator, even the soft whispers shared between my grandchildren, all started to fade.

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How does a robotic arm or a prosthetic hand learn a complex task like grasping and rotating a ball? The challenge for the human, prosthetic or robotic hand has always been to correctly learn to control the fingers to exert forces on an object.

The and nerve endings that cover our hands have been attributed with helping us learn and adapt to our manipulation, so roboticists have insisted on incorporating sensors into robotic hands. But–given that you can still learn to handle objects with gloves on– there must be something else at play.

This mystery is what inspired researchers in the ValeroLab in the Viterbi School of Engineering to explore if tactile sensation is really always necessary for learning to control the fingers.

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Imagine a world where losing a tooth doesn’t mean living with dentures or undergoing expensive implants. It might sound like science fiction, but researchers in Japan are on the verge of making this dream a reality. A groundbreaking discovery suggests that humans possess a third set of teeth —dormant tooth buds that typically never develop.

This revolutionary finding could transform dental care as we know it. Scientists have identified a way to activate these dormant tooth buds through a newly developed medication. If successful, this treatment could enable people to regrow lost teeth, making dentures and implants a thing of the past.

Let’s dive into the science behind this discovery and explore how it might change the future of dentistry.

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To explore how the brain deciphers the melody of speech, researchers worked with the rare group of patients who had electrodes implanted in their brains as part of epilepsy treatment. While these patients actively listened to an audiobook recording of “Alice in Wonderland,” scientists tracked activity in multiple brain regions in real time.

Using the intracerebral recordings from the electrodes deep in the patient’s brain, researchers noted the Heschl’s gyrus section processed subtle changes in voice pitch — not just as sound, but as meaningful linguistic units. The brain encoded pitch accents separately from the sounds that make up words.

The author says the research also revealed that the hidden layer of meaning carried by prosodic contours — the rise and fall of speech — is encoded much earlier in auditory processing than previously thought.

Similar research was conducted in non-human primates, but researchers found those brains lacked this abstraction, despite processing the same acoustic cues.

By unlocking the hidden layer of speech, the team discovered how the brain processes pitch accents, revealing profound implications for various fields.

“Our findings could transform speech rehabilitation, AI-powered voice assistants, and our understanding of what makes human communication unique,” the author said.

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