Summary: The blood-brain barrier (BBB) in carpenter ants isn’t just a protective boundary, but actively shapes ant behavior.
The BBB produces an enzyme called Juvenile hormone esterase (Jhe) that degrades the Juvenile Hormone (JH3), which promotes foraging behavior. The presence and degradation of JH3 by the BBB helps determine whether an ant becomes a forager or soldier.
Interestingly, similar mechanisms might influence mouse behavior, hinting at broader implications beyond ants.
Tiny dents on thin material produce photon-polarizing magnetic fields.
Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a technique that can produce polarized photons more easily and cheaply than existing methods. The technique.
Quantum communication uses photons to carry information, much as classical communication uses electrons. But while classical computers encode information by turning current… More.
Researchers at UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley have developed a brain-computer interface (BCI) that has enabled a woman with severe paralysis from a brainstem stroke to speak through a digital avatar.
It is the first time that either speech or facial expressions have been synthesized from brain signals. The system can also decode these signals into text at nearly 80 words per minute, a vast improvement over commercially available technology.
Disrupted connections between memory and appetite regulating brain circuits are directly proportional to body mass index (BMI), notably in patients who suffer from disordered or overeating that can lead to obesity, such as binge eating disorder (BED), according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Published today in Nature, the research notes that individuals who are obese have impaired connections between the dorsolateral hippocampus (dlHPC) and the lateral hypothalamus (LH), which may impact their ability to control or regulate emotional responses when anticipating rewarding meals or treats.
“These findings underscore that some individual’s brains can be fundamentally different in regions that increase the risk for obesity,” senior author, Casey Halpern, MD, an associate professor of Neurosurgery and Chief of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery at Penn Medicine and the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veterans Affairs Medical Center. “Conditions like disordered eating and obesity are a lot more complicated than simply managing self-control and eating healthier. What these individuals need is not more willpower, but the therapeutic equivalent of an electrician that can make right these connections inside their brain.”
The dlHPC is located in the region of the brain that processes memory, and the LH is in the region of the brain that is responsible for keeping the body in a stable state, called homeostasis. Previous research has found an association with loss of function in the human hippocampus in individuals with obesity and related disordered eating, like BED. However, outside of imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the role of the hippocampus has been difficult to study in humans with obesity and related eating disorders.
In findings with potentially important implications for cervical cancer screening, scientists at the Montefiore Einstein Cancer Center (MECC) have developed a test for detecting a type of cervical cancer that Pap tests often miss. The findings published online today in the JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
“Our novel test appears sensitive for detecting cervical adenocarcinoma [ADC]—which now accounts for up to 25% of cervical cancer cases—as well as its precursor lesions, adenocarcinoma in situ [AIS], that often develop into ADCs,” said Howard Strickler, M.D., M.P.H., co-senior and corresponding author of the JNCI paper and a member of MECC.
“Because ADCs are often missed by current screening methods, they have higher mortality rates than the more common cervical squamous cell cancer,” Dr. Strickler added. “Our goal is to catch the disease early, before it develops into cancer.” Dr. Strickler is also professor and head of the division of epidemiology and the Harold and Muriel Block Chair in Epidemiology and Population Health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
The ability to cure all disease slowly comes in view. ANI into Agi into ASI needs to be primary focus. Followed by genetics research, and lastly an extreme focus on Medical Nanobots. ASI will of cured most diseases by 2035–2040.
Fleets of advanced versions may one day be able to detect disease and then go about surgically treating it — without ever opening the skull.
Imagine talking to einstein or Stephen Hawking 😗😁.
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My favorite episode of the hit sci-fi/horror TV series Black Mirror is “Be Right Back,” which premiered 10 years ago now, and captured the alienating experience of a woman cloning her dead ex-boyfriend by using a service that analyzed his social media posts and texts to recreate his personality.
The episode seemed fantastical but just on the edge of plausible at the time in 2013 — after all, many of us were already leaving extensive digital communications trails back then with our smartphones and computers.
A study has linked the development in kids of any of food allergy, asthma, eczema and rhinitis to a common factor – an unbalanced gut microbiome.
Researchers have long been intrigued by the gut microbiome in the development of allergic diseases. But this Canadian study is unique in identifying a common origin in infancy across the four separate allergic diseases. As well, it explored the composition of gut bacteria in children before and following allergic sensitization.
As each allergic disease has a separate list of symptoms, they are usually studied on their own. “But when you look at what is going wrong at a cellular level, they actually have a lot in common,” notes Dr. Charisse Petersen, co-senior author and a researcher at BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute and BC Children’s Hospital.
Today’s retailers are faced with a clear opportunity for transformation. Consumer expectations are constantly evolving, challenging retailers to keep pace. A blend of online and in-person shopping forged during the pandemic persists, forcing retailers to deliver a highly personalized omnichannel experience. And retailers’ values are becoming as important to consumers as their products and services.
The pharmaceutical industry operates under one of the highest failure rates of any business sector. The success rate for drug candidates entering capital Phase 1 trials—the earliest type of clinical testing, which can take 6 to 7 years —is anywhere between 9% and 12%, depending on the year, with costs to bring a drug from discovery to market ranging from $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion, according to Science.