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Category: biotech/medical – Page 490

Previously, researchers have used implants surgically placed in the brain or bulky, expensive machines to translate brain activity into text. The new approach, presented at this week’s NeurIPS conference by researchers from the University of Technology Sydney, is impressive for its use of a non-invasive EEG cap and the potential to generalize beyond one or two people.

The team built an AI model called DeWave that’s trained on brain activity and language and linked it up to a large language model—the technology behind ChatGPT—to help convert brain activity into words. In a preprint posted on arXiv, the model beat previous top marks for EEG thought-to-text translation with an accuracy of roughly 40 percent. Chin-Teng Lin, corresponding author on the paper, told MSN they’ve more recently upped the accuracy to 60 percent. The results are still being peer-reviewed.

Though there’s a long way to go in terms of reliability, it shows progress in non-invasive methods of reading and translating thoughts into language. The team believes their work could give voice to those who can no longer communicate due to injury or disease or be used to direct machines, like walking robots or robotic arms, with thoughts alone.

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Scientists looking to tackle our ongoing obesity crisis have made an important discovery: Intermittent fasting leads to significant changes both in the gut and the brain, which may open up new options for maintaining a healthy weight.

Researchers from China studied 25 volunteers classed as obese over a period of 62 days, during which they took part in an intermittent energy restriction (IER) program – a regime that involves careful control of calorie intake and fasting on some days.

Not only did the participants in the study lose weight – 7.6 kilograms (16.8 pounds) or 7.8 percent of their body weight on average – there was also evidence of shifts in the activity of obesity-related regions of the brain, and in the make-up of gut bacteria.

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Resurrection biology — attempting to bring strings of molecules and more complex organisms back to life — is gaining traction in labs around the world.

The work is a far cry from the genetically engineered dinosaurs that escape in the blockbuster movie “Jurassic Park,” although for some scientists the ultimate goal is de-extinction and resurrecting animals and plants that have been lost.

Other researchers are looking to the past for new sources of drugs or to sound an alarm about the possibility of long-dormant pathogens. The field of study is also about recreating elements of human history in an attempt to better understand how our ancestors might have lived and died.

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Persistent chronic inflammation – also recognized as metaflammation or inflammaging – emerges as a consistent factor in ailing populations, in conditions correlated with age-related deterioration and even in ostensibly robust individuals. This phenomenon has been correlated with the onset of autoimmune disorders such as psoriasis and lupus, as well as chronic diseases including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, among others. Investigations have substantiated that environmental and lifestyle variables such as smoking, a poor diet, physical inactivity and lack of or poor quality sleep can contribute to the perpetuation of chronic underlying inflammation.

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) is a critical coenzyme; vital for the functionality of all living cells, the preservation of intracellular NAD+ pools plays a crucial role in supporting cellular and metabolic processes. Key among these processes is the production of cellular energy, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and DNA repair. Research indicates that a decrease in NAD+ levels is linked to compromised inflammatory responses and innate immune dysfunction. This implies that the levels of NAD+ may play a critical role in the operational efficacy of immune cells.

NR is an efficient NAD+ precursor; clinically proven to increase NAD+ safely and effectively it has become a popular supplement, and there is a growing body of clinical evidence demonstrating the anti-inflammatory effects of NR supplementation (either alone or in combination with other ingredients) for healthy, older adults, or those with inflammation-related disorders [4]. Indeed, NR supplementation has potential for more robust effects among the elderly and diseased populations as they tend to have compromised NAD+ and a higher inflammatory status.

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Scientists introduce Zman-seq, a method revolutionizing our understanding of dynamic cellular changes in the human body over time. Read more about this groundbreaking study.

In a recent study published in Cell, scientists led by Prof. Ido Amit at the Weizmann Institute of Science have introduced Zman-seq. This revolutionary method breaks through the temporal barriers of cellular analysis.

This innovative approach allows tracking and measuring changes in individual cells within the body over time.

Continue reading “Breaking temporal barriers: Zman-seq’s journey into cellular dynamics” | >

Hard-to-detect colorectal pre-cancerous lesions known as serrated polyps, and the aggressive tumors that develop from them, depend heavily on the ramped-up production of cholesterol, according to a preclinical study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine. The finding points to the possibility of using cholesterol-lowering drugs to prevent or treat such tumors.

In the study, published Oct. 13 in Nature Communications, the researchers analyzed mice that develop serrated polyps and tumors, detailing the chain of molecular events in these tissues that leads to increased cholesterol production.

They confirmed their findings in analyses of human serrated polyps and tumors, and showed in mouse models that replicate the human cancer that blocking cholesterol production prevented the progression of these types of intestinal tumors.

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