The drug was able to replicate the movement recovered in physical rehab, the traditional treatment.
Category: biotech/medical – Page 624
Experts Sound the Alarm: Your DNA Could Be Hacked
Without coordinated action, genomic data could be exploited for surveillance, discrimination, or even bioterrorism. Current protections are fragmented, and vital collaboration between disciplines is lacking. Key to successful prevention will be interdisciplinary cooperation between computer scientists, bioinformaticians, biotechnologists, and security professionals – groups that rarely work together but must align.
Our research lays the foundations for improving biosecurity by providing a single, clear list of all the possible threats in the entire next-generation sequencing process.
The paper also recommends practical solutions, including secure sequencing protocols, encrypted storage, and AI-powered anomaly detection, creating a foundation for much stronger cyber-biosecurity.
Think Cold, Burn Fat: How Your Brain’s Memories Help You Lose Weight
In a groundbreaking study, scientists discovered that the brain forms “cold memories” which can later trigger increased metabolism even without a drop in temperature.
By training mice to associate specific visual cues with cold environments, the researchers showed that the animals began heating themselves in anticipation of cold, driven by brain-stored memories. They pinpointed these cold memories to engram cells in the hippocampus and demonstrated that stimulating these cells could artificially activate thermogenesis. This exciting work opens up potential therapeutic strategies for conditions like obesity and cancer by harnessing learned thermal regulation and highlights the deep connections between memory, behavior, and metabolism.
Brain Forms “Cold Memories” That Influence Metabolism.
Android Spyware Disguised as Alpine Quest App Targets Russian Military Devices
Cybersecurity researchers have revealed that Russian military personnel are the target of a new malicious campaign that distributes Android spyware under the guise of the Alpine Quest mapping software.
“The attackers hide this trojan inside modified Alpine Quest mapping software and distribute it in various ways, including through one of the Russian Android app catalogs,” Doctor Web said in an analysis.
The trojan has been found embedded in older versions of the software and propagated as a freely available variant of Alpine Quest Pro, a paid offering that removes advertising and analytics features.
Gut Microbiome Shifts Rapidly After Alcohol Use
A new study shows that combining heavy alcohol use with burn trauma causes severe disruptions in the gut microbiome, leading to inflammation and a weakened gut barrier.
Scientists have found a way to ‘tattoo’ tardigrades
If you haven’t heard of a tardigrade before, prepare to be wowed. These clumsy, eight-legged creatures, nicknamed water bears, are about half a millimeter long and can survive practically anything: freezing temperatures, near starvation, high pressure, radiation exposure, outer space and more. Researchers reporting in the journal Nano Letters took advantage of the tardigrade’s nearly indestructible nature and gave the critters tiny “tattoos” to test a microfabrication technique to build microscopic, biocompatible devices.
“Through this technology, we’re not just creating micro-tattoos on tardigrades—we’re extending this capability to various living organisms, including bacteria,” explains Ding Zhao, a co-author of the paper.
Microfabrication has revolutionized electronics and photonics, creating micro-and nanoscale devices ranging from microprocessors and solar cells to biosensors that detect food contamination or cancerous cells. But the technology could also advance medicine and biomedical engineering, if researchers can adapt microfabrication techniques to make them compatible with the biological realm.
Inhibition of an enzyme that promotes inflammation may reduce cardiovascular risk in obese people
A research team led by Dr. Martin Mollenhauer from the Heart Center at University Hospital Cologne has investigated the link between obesity and the risk of cardiovascular disease in greater detail. The researchers have discovered that in obese patients and in mouse models, increased levels of the oxidative enzyme myeloperoxidase (MPO) are associated with poorer vascular function.
The results of the research have been published under the title “Myeloperoxidase impacts vascular function by altering perivascular adipocytes’ secretome and phenotype in obesity” in Cell Reports Medicine.
In people suffering from obesity, MPO is active in a particular form of fatty tissue surrounding the aorta. This fatty tissue is called perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT). MPO promotes inflammatory processes in PVAT and at the same time inhibits protective mechanisms that normally keep the blood vessels elastic and healthy.