Lifeboat Foundation

Two categories of nanofabrication technologies are known as top-down and bottom-up approaches [5]. For the former, nanosized materials are prepared through the rupture of bulk materials to fine particles, and such a process is usually conducted by diverse physical and mechanical techniques like lithography, laser ablation, sputtering, ball milling and arc-discharging [6, 7]. These techniques themselves are simple, and nanosized materials can be produced quickly after relatively short technological process, but expensive specialized equipment and high energy consumption are usually inevitable. Meanwhile, a variety of efficient chemical bottom-up methods, where atoms assemble into nuclei and then form nanoparticles, have been intensively studied to synthesize and modulate nanomaterials with specific shape and size [8].

Indeed, chemical methodologies, including but not limited to, aqueous reaction using chemical reducing agents (e.g. hydrazine hydrate and sodium borohydride), electrochemical deposition, hydrothermal/solvothermal synthesis, sol–gel processing, chemical liquid/vapor deposition, have been developed up to now [5, 6]. These approaches can not only produce diverse nanomaterials with fairly high yields, but also endow fine controllability in tailoring nanostructures and properties of the products. Nevertheless, they have been encountering some serious challenges of harsh reaction conditions (e.g. pH and temperature), potential risks in human health and environment, and low cost-effectiveness. Moreover, there are biosafety concerns on products synthesized chemically using hazardous reagents, which restricts their applications in many areas, particularly in medicines and pharmaceuticals [9].

Impressively, biological methodology is becoming a favourite in nanomaterial synthesis nowadays to address challenges in chemical synthesis. Compared to chemical routes, biosynthesis using natural and biological materials as reducing, stabilizing and capping agents are simple, energy-and cost-effective, mild and environment-friendly, which is termed as “Green Chemistry” [2, 6]. More significantly, the biologically synthesized nanomaterials have much better competitiveness in biocompatibility, compared to those chemically derived counterparts. On the one hand, the biogenic nanomaterials are free from toxic contamination of by-products that are usually involved in chemical synthesis process; on the other hand, the biosynthesis do not need additional stabilizing agents because either the used organisms themselves or their constituents can act as capping and stabilizing agents and the attached biological components in turn form biocompatible envelopes on the resultant nanomaterials, leading to actively interact with biological systems [2]. As one of the most abundant biological resources, some microorganisms have adapted to habitat contaminated with toxic metals, and thus evolved powerful tactics for remediating polluted environment while recycling metal resources [7, 10], and some review articles on the biosynthesis of MNPs using diverse microorganisms including bacteria, yeast, fungi, alga, etc. and their applications have been published in recent years [1, 2, 6, 7, 10].

Researchers from the University of Maine and University of Massachusetts Amherst have designed new liquid-coated air filters that allow for improved early detection and analysis of airborne bacteria and viruses, including the one that causes COVID-19. The team has published their findings in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

While conventional air filters help control the spread of disease in public spaces like hospitals and travel hubs, they struggle to keep the pathogens they capture viable for testing. The inefficiency can inhibit scientists’ ability to identify biological threats early on, which could hinder any response and protection measures.

The research team, led by Caitlin Howell, a UMaine associate professor of biomedical engineering, developed a composite membrane with a liquid layer for filters that is better suited for capturing viable bacterial and viral samples for analysis. They modeled the membrane after the Nepenthes pitcher plant, which has a slippery rim and inner walls that cause insects to fall and become trapped within its digestive fluid. By keeping the bacteria and viruses they capture feasible for examination, researchers say their novel liquid-coated air filters can enhance air sampling efforts, early pathogen detection and biosurveillance for national security.

Modeling shows how genetic changes that don’t lead to changes in protein sequence can still alter protein function.

New modeling shows how synonymous mutations — those that change the DNA

DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is a molecule composed of two long strands of nucleotides that coil around each other to form a double helix. It is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms that carries genetic instructions for development, functioning, growth, and reproduction. Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA. Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (where it is called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the mitochondria (where it is called mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA).

The sick child’s prognosis, who had not responded to conventional treatment, was bleak. Nevertheless, a group of doctors from Rutgers University thought there could be hope despite the conventional wisdom against pursuing any further treatment.

What transpired over the following several weeks in the fall of 2020, described in a case study recently published in the European Medical Journal, was notable and representative of a newer approach to effectively treating a strange disease, the doctors stated.

The study focuses on the medical case of a 5-year-old girl who suffered from anti-NMDAR (N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor) encephalopathy, a rare and difficult-to-diagnose malfunction of the brain. Unresponsive to treatments, the child had been transferred to a rehabilitation center and been in a catatonic state for three months when a team of Rutgers physicians were called in to help.

BioAge Labs, a clinical-stage biotech developing therapeutics that target the molecular causes of aging to extend healthy human lifespan, today announced positive Phase 1b clinical data for BGE-105, a highly selective, potent, orally available small-molecule agonist of the apelin receptor APJ.

BGE-105 treatment resulted in statistically significant prevention of muscle atrophy relative to placebo in healthy volunteers aged 65 or older after 10 days of strict bed rest.

Longevity. Technology: Muscle atrophy – loss of muscle mass and strength – is a universal feature of human aging that increases the risk of multiple morbidities, shortens lifespan and diminishes quality of life. Hospitalisation and periods of forced inactivity greatly accelerate this loss in older people.

Spermidine is a popular longevity supplement – and with good reason, as it has antiaging properties and can suppress inflammation and oxidation. Studies have shown the interestingly-named polyamine can increase lifespan in animal models, and research indicates that its decline with aging is linked to the onset of age-related diseases.

Longevity. Technology: All this background is useful if you are wondering if supplements are right for you and if so, which ones to take. However, having a professional perspective is always useful, and founder of Impact Health Dr Halland Chen MD is a Double Board-Certified doctor who is a Partnered Practitioner of spermidineLIFE. We caught up with Dr Chen to find out what it is like practising at the cutting edge of longevity medicine, and what are some of the most promising interventions he recommends to his patients.

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For the first cell to develop into an entire organism, genes, RNA molecules and proteins have to work together in a complex way. At first, this process is indirectly controlled by the mother. At a certain point in time, the protein GRIF-1 ensures that the offspring cut themselves off from this influence and start their own course of development. A research team from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) details how this process works in the journal Science Advances.

When a new organism starts to develop, the mother calls the shots. During fertilization, the egg cell and sperm fuse to form a single new cell. However, the course of cell division, and thus how a new living being forms, is initially determined by the mother cell.

“Regardless of the organism, cell division is initially pre-programmed by the mother,” explains geneticist Professor Christian Eckmann from MLU. The mother’s cell provides a developmental starter set that includes the first proteins as well as the RNA molecules that serve as blueprints for further proteins. All this is necessary to jump start cell division and an organism’s development.

A team of researchers from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands and the Veterans Administration in the U.S. has conducted a genome-wide association study looking into genetic overlap between 12 common psychiatric disorders. The group describes profiling pleiotropic genetic incidences to 12 common psychiatric disorders in their paper published in the journal Nature Genetics.

Many years ago, psychiatrists and other medical professionals preferred to think of psychiatric conditions as separate diseases, unrelated to one another. More recently, genetics findings involved in psychiatric disorders have suggested that not only are some of them related, but some have overlap, which suggests that illnesses such as autism might have multiple forms, giving rise to a spectrum of diseases.

In this new effort, the research team conducted a cross-examination of 12 psychiatric disorders, looking specifically for genetic overlap. Their work involved conducting a cross-trait meta-analysis to study the impact of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), genes in general, cells, pathways and tissue types that might be shared by the 12 disorders ADHD, alcoholism, anorexia, anxiety disorder, autism, bipolarism, depression, OCD, PTSD, schizophrenia and Tourette syndrome.

The new method, called GOPHER, helps researchers to determine the best AI program to use for analyzing the human genome.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is an innovative tool that can be trained to make predictions and solve problems quickly and with accuracy. However, the reasoning behind the output, or information sent out after the AI software receives input from datasets, is not yet clearly understood.

Understanding how AI creates its predictions.

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