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Category: biotech/medical – Page 826

Homologous pairing (HP), i.e., the pairing of similar or identical double-stranded DNA, is an insufficiently understood fundamental biological process. HP is now understood to also occur without protein mediation, but crucial mechanistic details remain poorly established. Unfortunately, systematic studies of sequence dependence are not practical due to the enormous number of nucleotide permutations and multiple possible conformations involved in existing biophysical strategies even when using as few as 150 basepairs. Here, we show that HP can occur in DNA as short as 18 basepairs in a colloidal microparticle-based system. Exemplary systematic studies include resolving opposing reports of the impact of % AT composition, validating the impact of nucleotide order and triplet framework and revealing isotropic bendability to be crucial for HP. These studies are enabled by statistical analysis of crystal size and fraction within coexisting fluid-crystal phases of double-stranded DNA-grafted colloidal microspheres, where crystallization is predicated by HP.

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We may build incredible AI. But can we contain our cruelty? Oxford professor Nick Bostrom explains.

Up next, Is AI a species-level threat to humanity? With Elon Musk, Michio Kaku, Steven Pinker & more ► https://youtu.be/91TRVubKcEM

Nick Bostrom, a professor at Oxford University and director of the Future of Humanity Institute, discusses the development of machine superintelligence and its potential impact on humanity. Bostrom believes that in this century, we will create the first general intelligence that will be smarter than humans. He sees this as the most important thing humanity will ever do, but it also comes with an enormous responsibility.

Bostrom notes that there are existential risks associated with the transition to the machine intelligence era, such as the possibility of an underlying superintelligence that overrides human civilization with its own value structures. In addition, there is the question of how to ensure that conscious digital minds are treated well. However, if we succeed in ensuring the well-being of artificial intelligence, we could have vastly better tools for dealing with everything from diseases to poverty.

Continue reading “The intelligence explosion: Nick Bostrom on the future of AI” | >

The makers noticed that the processing time with GPT-4 was much longer than GPT-3 and made Ameca appear less responsive with her facial expressions.

In December 2021, we brought to you the ‘world’s most advanced humanoid robot’. Ameca, born of a UK-based company Engineered Arts, displayed a multitude of human-like expressions in August 2022. Now, the developers behind Ameca have released a new video in which the bot can be seen exhibiting its polyglot-like qualities — speaking several languages including Japanese, German, Chinese, French, British, and American English.

Engineered Arts.

Continue reading “Researchers train ‘world’s most advanced humanoid robot’ Ameca on GPT-4, finds her less responsive” | >

Like the better-known prostate-specific antigen (PSA), prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) is a biomarker that can tell physicians much about a patient’s metastatic prostate cancer. PSMA is a protein on the cell surface of most prostate cancers; scanning for it with positron emission tomography (PET) can indicate where in the body prostate cancer has spread, and it can be targeted with a newly approved radioactive therapy. In 15%–20% of patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer, however, PSMA production stops at advanced stages of the disease.

In a new study in the journal Nature Cancer, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists shed new light on the mechanism that raises and lowers PSMA expression in prostate cancer cells. The findings may help physicians select PSMA-targeting therapies for specific patients.

It has long been known that the androgen receptor (AR)—a structure that triggers in response to the hormone androgen—controls the production of PSMA in prostate cancer cells. In the Nature Cancer study, researchers led by Dana-Farber’s Himisha Beltran, MD, and Martin Bakht, Ph.D., found that PSMA expression is lower in liver metastases than in other parts of the body, regardless of expression of the .

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The circadian system of the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7,942 relies on a three-protein nanomachine (KaiA, KaiB, and KaiC) that undergoes an oscillatory phosphorylation cycle with a period of ~24 h. This core oscillator can be reconstituted in vitro and is used to study the molecular mechanisms of circadian timekeeping and entrainment. Previous studies showed that two key metabolic changes that occur in cells during the transition into darkness, changes in the ATP/ADP ratio and redox status of the quinone pool, are cues that entrain the circadian clock. By changing the ATP/ADP ratio or adding oxidized quinone, one can shift the phase of the phosphorylation cycle of the core oscillator in vitro. However, the in vitro oscillator cannot explain gene expression patterns because the simple mixture lacks the output components that connect the clock to genes. Recently, a high-throughput in vitro system termed the in vitro clock (IVC) that contains both the core oscillator and the output components was developed. Here, we used IVC reactions and performed massively parallel experiments to study entrainment, the synchronization of the clock with the environment, in the presence of output components. Our results indicate that the IVC better explains the in vivo clock-resetting phenotypes of wild-type and mutant strains and that the output components are deeply engaged with the core oscillator, affecting the way input signals entrain the core pacemaker. These findings blur the line between input and output pathways and support our previous demonstration that key output components are fundamental parts of the clock.

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Anyone wonder why he might end up serving a longer sentence than Elizabeth Holmes?

Former Theranos executive Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani will be heading to prison later this month after an appeals court rejected his bid to remain free while he contests his conviction for carrying out a blood-testing hoax with his former boss and lover, Elizabeth Holmes.

KTVU delivers the best in-depth reports, interviews and breaking news coverage in the San Francisco Bay Area and California.

Continue reading “Ex-Theranos executive headed to prison after losing appeal” | >

https://youtu.be/1ACYU63J_58

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Welcome to Futureunity, where we explore the fascinating world of science, technology, and the universe! From the inner workings of the human body to the outer reaches of space, we delve into the latest and most interesting discoveries that are shaping our world. Whether you’re a science buff or just looking for some mind-blowing facts, we’ve got you covered. Join us as we uncover the mysteries of the world around us and discover new frontiers in the fields of science and technology. Get ready for a journey that’s both educational and entertaining!

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c Department of Chemical Biology, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361,005, China.

The concept of xeno-nucleic acids (XNAs) was first proposed in 2009 in a theoretical paper, referring to additional types of nucleic acids, whose sugar moieties would differ from those in DNA and RNA. However, with the rising popularity of XNAs, the definition of XNAs has been extended to unnatural nucleic acids with chemically modified sugar, nucleobase, or phosphate moieties that are distinct from those found in DNA and RNA. The discovery and engineering of both polymerases and reverse transcriptases to synthesize, replicate and evolve a diverse range of XNAs has attracted significant attention and has enabled the discovery of XNA ligands (aptamers) and XNA catalysts (XNAzymes) as well as the synthesis of XNA nanostructures with potential as novel therapeutics. The field of XNAs continues to grow rapidly towards realizing the potential of XNAs in biotechnology and molecular medicine. This themed issue unites a collection of articles attesting to the rapid progress in the field.

One of the key advantages of XNAs is their generally enhanced resistance to nuclease degradation. This biostability, the affinity and specificity towards a target, and the general lack of immunogenicity of modified nucleic acids are critical for their potential application as therapeutics. Modified sugar moieties such as 2′-modified analogs, conformationally locked analogs, and threose-replaced analogs in particular contribute to the increased biological stability of XNAs against enzymatic degradation. Replacing the phosphodiester linkages with charge-neutral backbones including peptide-like backbones and triazole-linked backbones offers further opportunities to tune the stability, conformation and physicochemical properties of XNAs and enhance the affinity to their targets.

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