Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: biotech/medical – Page 775

Multiple studies show that children face elevated health risks after COVID infection

Long COVID can result in increased risk for a variety of serious health problems for young people, including those affecting the kidney, gut, and cardiovascular system, according to a group of new studies led by investigators at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

“While most public attention has focused on the acute phase of COVID-19, our findings reveal children face significant long-term health risks that clinicians need to monitor,” said senior author Yong Chen, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology. The studies were conducted under the Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) Initiative, a special project including more than two dozen health care institutions.

These medical centers pooled de-identified data from electronic health records dating back to the start of the COVID pandemic.

Scientists discover quantum computing in the brain

Kurian’s group believes these large tryptophan networks may have evolved to take advantage of their quantum properties. When cells breathe using oxygen—a process called aerobic respiration—they create free radicals, or reactive oxygen species (ROS). These unstable particles can emit high-energy UV photons, which damage DNA and other important molecules.

Tryptophan networks act as natural shields. They absorb this harmful light and re-emit it at lower energies, reducing damage. But thanks to superradiance, they may also perform this protective function much more quickly and efficiently than single molecules could.

Carbon nanotubes made from waste carbon dioxide produce surprising plasma when microwaved

Plasma is the fourth state of matter and is often referred to as an electrified gas. A plasma will form when a neutral gas is heated to the point where electrons are freed from their atoms. These free electrons allow current to flow through the gas so that it reacts to both electric and magnetic fields. Plasmas have many applications across materials science, medicine and manufacturing, however, specialised equipment is usually needed to maintain the plasma state.

The mostly widely used method for synthesising carbon nanotubes and other graphene nanocarbons is chemical vapour deposition, which requires substantial energy and material, and produces large quantities of carbon dioxide emissions. In 2009, Licht showed that a molten carbonate electrolysis method could be a more sustainable alternative. It involved directly splitting carbon dioxide into oxygen gas and carbon in the form of graphene nanocarbons.2

Now, Licht’s group has employed molten carbonate electrolysis to convert carbon dioxide into carbon nanotubes. Microwaving these carbon nanotubes in a regular microwave oven ignites a striking yellow-white plasma within seconds and reaches temperatures exceeding 800°C.

Childhood Adversity May Damage The Brain’s White Matter, Study Finds

Hardships in childhood could have lasting effects on the brain, new research shows, with adverse events such as family conflict and poverty potentially affecting cognitive function in kids for several years afterwards.

This study, led by a team from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Massachusetts, looked specifically at white matter: the deeper tissue in the brain, made up of communication fibers ferrying information between neurons.

“We found that a range of adversities is associated with lower levels of fractional anisotropy (FA), a measure of white matter microstructure, throughout the whole brain, and that this is associated with lower performance on mathematics and language tasks later on,” write the researchers in their published paper.

Klotho: A protein that promotes healthy aging and improves longevity

An international study led by the Institut de Neurociències at the UAB (INc-UAB) has shown that increasing levels of the Klotho protein in mice extends lifespan and improves both physical and cognitive health when aging.

As we grow older, it is natural to lose and , leading to greater frailty and a higher risk of falls and serious injuries. Cognitively, neurons progressively degenerate and lose connections, while diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s become more prevalent. In a society where the population is steadily aging, reducing these effects is one of the main challenges for research.

Now, in an article published in Molecular Therapy, an international research team led by Professor Miguel Chillón, ICREA researcher at the INc-UAB, has shown that increasing levels of the secreted form of the Klotho protein (s-KL) improves aging in mice.

Biochemical method offers view into earliest stages of RNA production

When RNA molecules are synthesized by cells—a critical process in the creation of proteins and other cellular functions—they typically undergo a series of “folding” events that determine their structure and the role they will play in expressing genetic information in living organisms.

Until recently, however, not much was known about these folding processes that occur very early in the life of RNA molecules.

But Yale researchers have now developed a method to map and measure the structure of RNA as it develops, an advance that may help scientists design more effective treatments for a host of diseases. Their findings are described in the journal Molecular Cell.

New hydrogel semiconductor could lead to better tissue-interfaced bioelectronics

The ideal material for interfacing electronics with living tissue is soft, stretchable, and just as water-loving as the tissue itself—in short, a hydrogel. Semiconductors, the key materials for bioelectronics such as pacemakers, biosensors, and drug delivery devices, on the other hand, are rigid, brittle, and water-hating, impossible to dissolve in the way hydrogels have traditionally been built.

A paper published today in Science from the UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) has solved this challenge that has long stymied researchers, reimagining the process of creating hydrogels to build a powerful semiconductor in form. Led by Asst. Prof. Sihong Wang’s research group, the result is a bluish gel that flutters like a sea jelly in water but retains the immense semiconductive ability needed to transmit information between living tissue and machine.

The material demonstrated tissue-level moduli as soft as 81 kPa, stretchability of 150% strain, and charge-carrier mobility up to 1.4 cm2 V-1 s-1. This means their material—both semiconductor and hydrogel at the same time—ticks all the boxes for an ideal bioelectronic interface.

/* */