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Category: evolution – Page 8

An international team of researchers has made significant progress in understanding how gene expression is regulated across the human genome. In a recent study, they conducted a comprehensive analysis of cis-regulatory elements (CREs)—DNA sequences that control gene transcription. This research provides valuable insights into how CREs drive cell-specific gene expression and how mutations in these regions can impact health and contribute to disease.

CREs, such as enhancers and promoters, play a critical role in determining when and where genes are activated or silenced. Although their importance is well known, analyzing their activity on a large scale has been a longstanding challenge.

“The human genome contains a myriad of CREs, and mutations in these regions are thought to play a major role in human diseases and evolution,” explained Dr. Fumitaka Inoue, one of the co-first authors of the study. “However, it has been very difficult to comprehensively quantify their activity across the genome.”

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Patients suffering from diseased and injured organs are often treated with transplanted organs, and this treatment has been in use for over 50 years. In 1955, the kidney became the first entire organ to be replaced in a human, when Murray transplanted this organ between identical twins. Several years later, Murray performed an allogeneic kidney transplant from a non-genetically identical patient into another. This transplant, which overcame the immunologic barrier, marked a new era in medicine and opened the door for use of transplantation as a means of therapy for different organ systems.

As modern medicine increases the human lifespan, the aging population grows, and the need for donor organs grows with it, because aging organs are generally more prone to failure. However, there is now a critical shortage of donor organs, and many patients in need of organs will die while waiting for transplants. In addition, even if an organ becomes available, rejection of organs is still a major problem in transplant patients despite improvements in the methods used for immunosuppression following the transplant procedure. Even if rejection does not occur, the need for lifelong use of immunosuppressive medications leads to a number of complications in these patients.

These problems have led physicians and scientists to look to new fields for alternatives to organ transplantation. In the 1960s, a natural evolution occurred in which researchers began to combine new devices and materials sciences with cell biology, and a new field that is now termed tissue engineering was born. As more scientists from different fields came together with the common goal of tissue replacement, the field of tissue engineering became more formally established. Tissue engineering is now defined as an interdisciplinary field which applies the principles of engineering and life sciences towards the development of biological substitutes that aim to maintain, restore or improve tissue function.

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In a study published in the Astrophysical Journal, a team of researchers led by Kristen McQuinn, a scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute and an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the Rutgers University-New Brunswick School of Arts and Sciences, has reported finding that Leo P, a small galaxy and a distant neighbor of the Milky Way, “reignited,” reactivating during a significant period on the timeline of the universe, producing stars when many other small galaxies didn’t.

By studying galaxies early in their formation and in different environments, astronomers said they may gain a deeper understanding of the universe’s origins and the fundamental processes that shape it.

McQuinn and other members of the research team studied Leo P through NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, a space-based apparatus that features a large, segmented mirror and an expansive sunshield, both of which enable it to capture detailed images of distant celestial objects.

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At Argonne National Laboratory, scientists have leveraged the Frontier supercomputer to create an unprecedented simulation of the universe, encompassing a span of 10 billion light years and incorporating complex physics models.

This monumental achievement allows for new insights into galaxy formation and cosmic evolution, showcasing the profound capabilities of exascale computing.

Breakthrough in Universe Simulation.

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The utility of left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) as a therapy for stroke prevention in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (AFib) is the focus of a State-of-the-Art Review published Jan. 8 in JACC: Clinical Electrophysiology.

Jalaj Garg, MBBS, FACC, et al., discuss the procedure’s journey to becoming a mainstream approach for stroke prevention, advancements in LAAO devices over the past two decades, and domains requiring additional scientific inquiry. The authors describe the LAA as an “important therapeutic target” in treating patients with AFib, as the LAA is “the most common site for thrombus formation and an important source of non-pulmonary vein triggers.” They outline the anatomy, physiology and clinical relevance of the LAA along with the evolution of LAA exclusion techniques and devices overtime.

Acknowledging the major advancements in LAAO device technology and clinical benefits, the authors note the ACC, American Heart Association and Heart Rhythm Society have “updated recommendations to Class 2a in patients with moderate to high risk for stroke or contraindications to long-term [oral anticoagulation (OAC)], with weak recommendations (Class 2b) in patients with moderate to high risk for stroke or reasonable to continue long-term OAC.”

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“This is one of the only triple systems where we can tell a story this detailed about how it evolved,” said Dr. Emily Leiner.

What can fast-spinning stars known as “blue lurkers” teach us about star formation and evolution? This is what a recent study being presented at the 245th American Astronomical Society meeting hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated the potential processes responsible for how an unusually fast-spinning blue lurker-white dwarf star within the open star cluster M67 could have evolved into what we see today. This study has the potential to help researchers better understand the formation and evolution of stars throughout the cosmos and what mysterious behavior they can exhibit.

Located approximately 2,800 light-years from Earth, M67 is estimated to be between 3.2 and 5 billion years old. While the exact number of stars within M67 remains up for debate, astronomers used NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to identify this blue lurker as being part of a triple star system with the appearance of our Sun. However, it’s the unique spin rate of this star that grabbed the attention of astronomers, who postulate that it gathered material from one of the two other stars, resulting in a spin rate of four days. For context, Sun-like stars typically take approximately 30 days to complete one orbit.

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“The detected CO2 signal from the first study is tiny, and so it required careful statistical analysis to ensure that it is real,” said Dr. Kazumasa Ohno.

Can exoplanets have metal-rich atmospheres? This is what a recent study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters hopes to address as a team of international researchers investigated a new type of exoplanet that continues to display differences from planets within our own solar system. This study has the potential to help researchers use new methods for characterizing exoplanets while gaining greater insight into planetary formation and evolution throughout the universe.

For the study, which was led by Dr. Everett Schlawin from the University of Arizona, the researchers used data obtained from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to analyze the atmosphere of GJ 1,214 b, which was discovered in 2009, located approximately 48 light-years from Earth, and has long been hypothesized to be a Neptune-like exoplanet. However, this recent data reveals the atmosphere of GJ 1,214 b contains a metal-rich atmosphere, also known as high metallicity, along with high amounts of hazes, indicating a high carbon dioxide (CO2) content. This suggests that instead of a Neptune-like exoplanet, that GJ 1,214 b is more of a super-Venus exoplanet, which is astounding since its orbital period is only 1.6 days, whereas the orbital period of Venus is 225 days.

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Astronomers have released a set of more than a million simulated images showcasing the cosmos as NASA’s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will see it. This preview will help scientists explore Roman’s myriad science goals.

“We used a supercomputer to create a synthetic universe and simulated billions of years of evolution, tracing every photon’s path all the way from each cosmic object to Roman’s detectors,” said Michael Troxel, an associate professor of physics at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, who led the simulation campaign. “This is the largest, deepest, most realistic synthetic survey of a mock universe available today.”

The project, called OpenUniverse, relied on the now-retired Theta supercomputer at the DOE’s (Department of Energy’s) Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois. In just nine days, the supercomputer accomplished a process that would take over 6,000 years on a typical computer.

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“We initially expected the carbon-to-oxygen ratio in the planet might be similar to the disk,” said Dr. Chih-Chun “Dino” Hsu. “But, instead, we found the carbon, relative to oxygen, in the planet was much lower than the ratio in the disk.”

What is the official process of planetary formation and evolution and is this process uniform for all planetary bodies throughout the universe? This is what a recent study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated a young exoplanet still forming within its protoplanetary disk that could offer clues into the secrets behind planetary formation and evolution. Additionally, it holds the potential to provide greater complexity with longstanding planetary formation models, which have traditionally presented simple scenarios for planetary formation and evolution.

For the study, the researchers used the W. M. Keck Observatory to observe PDS 70b, which is a gas giant planet approximately three Jupiter masses and located 369 light-years from Earth. What makes PDS 70b interesting for astronomers is its age, as it’s estimated to be approximately 5 million years old, meaning it is still gathering material from the system’s disk, also known as accretion.

Using Keck, the researchers analyzed the light spectra of PDS 70b’s atmosphere to ascertain its carbon-to-oxygen ration and compared this data to the carbon-oxygen ratio of the protoplanetary disk that PDS 70b resides. In the end, the researchers found that PDS 70b carbon-to-oxygen ratio was lower than the surrounding disk, which challenges previous notions of planetary formation models, and the methods used to build those models.

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