Tumors can destroy the blood vessels of muscles even when the muscles are nowhere close to the tumor. That is the key finding of a new study that my colleagues and I recently published in the journal Nature Cancer.
Muscle loss in cancer patients is a major health problem, but the exact causes of how precisely tumors affect muscles remain an active area of research.
Scientists in my lab were curious whether one explanation for the muscle loss in cancer patients could be that the cancer impairs the blood vessels that are necessary to supply nutrients and oxygen to muscles. Healthy blood vessels ensure that blood containing oxygen and nutrients is transported from the heart to all tissues and organs in the body, and then circulates back to the heart. Unhealthy blood vessels lose the ability to circulate sufficient blood and develop leaks, with nutrients seeping into the tissue prematurely and thereby cutting off the supply of nutrients to tissues that are further downstream.
Potential treatments for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other neurodegenerative diseases may already be out there in the form of drugs prescribed for other conditions. A team of researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Stanford University and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) are using artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) to try to find them.
Clinical trials for new drugs can take up to 5–7 years, so repurposing existing drugs is one of the best ways to deliver treatments quickly. AI/ML can make it even faster. By analyzing long-term electronic health records (EHRs) of patients with ALS, the team can identify drugs — or combinations of drugs — prescribed for other conditions that may influence the progression of the disease. The drugs’ “off-target” effects may not only affect patient survival but also provide insight into how neurodegenerative diseases work and inform better therapies.
“If you talk to any ALS caregiver, you will be moved because the disease has such a grim prognosis, so being able to do something is tremendously motivating,” said Priyadip Ray, a staff scientist in LLNL’s Computational Engineering Division (CED) who leads the effort.
Tesla’s launch of a robo-taxi network marks the beginning of a significant transportation disruption that will transform mobility, economy, geopolitics, and urban landscapes with the widespread adoption of electric autonomous vehicles ## ## Questions to inspire discussion.
Transportation Revolution.
🚗 Q: How will Tesla’s Robotaxi network impact transportation? A: Tesla’s Robotaxi network in Austin, Texas marks the ignition point for transportation disruption, with multiple companies competing to provide taxi rides without human drivers, potentially capturing 80–90% market share in 10–15 years.
🛢️ Q: What industries will be disrupted by autonomous electric vehicles? A: Autonomous electric vehicles will disrupt the oil and agriculture industries, as vehicles are the number one users of crude oil, and corn is the top agricultural product in the US, used to produce ethanol for gasoline.
🌆 Q: How will urban planning change with the rise of autonomous vehicles? A: Cities will repurpose parking spaces for retail, living areas, and solar panels, transforming urban planning and enabling new forms of transportation, including drones and aircraft.
Environmental Impact.
A new wearable wristband could significantly improve diabetes management by continuously tracking not only glucose but also other chemical and cardiovascular signals that influence disease progression and overall health. The technology was published in Nature Biomedical Engineering.
The flexible wristband consists of a microneedle array that painlessly samples interstitial fluid under the skin to measure glucose, lactate and alcohol in real time using three different enzymes embedded within the tiny needles. Designed for easy replacement, the microneedle array can be swapped out to tailor wear periods. This reduces the risk of allergic reactions or infection while supporting longer-term use.
Simultaneously, the wristband uses an ultrasonic sensor array to measure blood pressure and arterial stiffness, while ECG sensors measure heart rate directly from wrist pulses. These physiological signals are key indicators of cardiovascular risk, which is often elevated in people with diabetes but is rarely monitored continuously outside of a clinical setting.
Even-aged forest management is geared towards timber production with ecosystem health as a lesser consideration. This creates a dichotomy where forests are treated either as plantations or reserves. Uneven-aged management can bring compromise to conflicting land uses by reducing ecosystem impacts while still allowing timber extraction. Whereas selection forestry focuses on which trees are taken, retention forestry focuses on protecting features that will remain after logging. These biological legacies provide ecosystem continuity.
Retained trees are often chosen based on their habitat value. Snags and living trees that are diseased, damaged, or dying provide cavities, decaying wood, and other microhabitats for a diversity of biota. Defects that make high-quality habitat trees tend to cause the collapse of large and old trees, so it’s important to designate healthy recruitment trees for the future. Retention forestry that focuses only on habitat trees may be inconsistent with the goals of long-term carbon storage and ecosystem resilience.
An article just published in Forest Ecology and Management explores the idea of “exceptional trees” and why we might consider choosing a subset of the most robust trees for permanent retention in managed forests. We present methods for precisely estimating aboveground biomass across the landscape and assess the contribution of exceptional trees to biomass and productivity. Our study focuses on Sequoia sempervirens (redwood) in California’s Demonstration State Forests.
Researchers are gaining a deeper appreciation for the critical role the gastrointestinal (GI) tract plays in maintaining overall health. Beyond its primary responsibilities in digestion, the GI system contributes to the production of hormones, immune cells, and neurotransmitters that influence brain function and emotional well-being.
Because of this, the GI tract contains a wide array of biomarkers that are valuable for diagnosing, tracking, and managing disease—from short-chain fatty acids associated with metabolic syndrome to cytokines linked to inflammation.
However, current technologies fall short when it comes to capturing this biochemical information directly from the GI tract. Existing methods, such as fecal sampling and tissue biopsies, are often invasive, costly, and unable to deliver continuous or comprehensive real-time data throughout the length of the digestive system.