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Category: neuroscience – Page 510

The technology has significantly progressed in the past 50 years.

Earlier this month, we reported that Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos-backed foundations (Gates Frontier and Bezos Expeditions) joined other companies.

A fifty year history.

1, 2, 3

Finally, Peter Thiel, a billionaire cofounder of PayPal, invested last year in an older BCI startup called Utah’s Blackrock Neurotech that has announced it hopes to apply for Food and Drug Administration approval soon. What is behind this popular rush to support BCI firms?

Continue reading “Billionaires are investing in brain-computer-interface systems. Here’s why” | >

The deadly brain cancer is no longer a mystery.

Glioblastoma is one of the most dangerous cancer types affecting the human brain and spinal cord. Over 240,000 people lose their lives because of nervous system cancer annually, and in most of these cases, the leading cause of death is glioblastoma.

Its tumors spread fast and induce highly painful seizures and headaches. What’s worse is that there is no known 100 percent effective cure for this disease. US president Joe Biden’s eldest son Beau Biden and late American actor Robert Forster were also among the many victims of glioblastoma.

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𝐀𝐥𝐳𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞

One of the main features of Alzheimer’s disease is that the β-amyloid peptide, a molecule found inside neurons that has many diverse functions, begins to fold incorrectly and accumulates. This process, which ends up causing neuronal death, is linked to a series of other cellular alterations, making it difficult to determine whether they are the cause or the consequence. An example is the case of the deregulation of a type of dynorphin.

Dynorphins are the body’s own opioid peptides, which play a key role in many brain pathways. They are located in different areas of the brain, such as the hippocampus, amygdala or hypothalamus, and are involved in memory processes, emotion control, stress and pain, and among other processes. In addition, several studies have shown their involvement in epilepsy, stroke, addictions, depression and schizophrenia.

Now, in a study published in the Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal, a research group led by Àlex Perálvarez-Marín, researcher in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the UAB Institut de Neurociències, has studied from computer models and which interactions may exist between β-amyloid peptide and big dynorphin, to determine its role in β-amyloid accumulation.

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𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐢𝐥𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐢𝐧𝐣𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬

𝙎𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣𝙫𝙤𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙘𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙧𝙚𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙧𝙪𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚, 𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙥𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙤𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙥𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙚𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙤𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙪𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙤𝙧 𝙙𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙨. 𝙈𝙞𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙜𝙡𝙞𝙖, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣’𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙞𝙢𝙢𝙪𝙣𝙚 𝙘𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙨, 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙞𝙚𝙨, 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙘 𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙪𝙚.

Studies exploring the neural processes involved in cell regeneration are of crucial importance, as they could pave the way towards the development of more effective treatments for many pathologies associated with the mutations or deterioration of cells. Microglia, the brain’s resident immune cells, become active in response to pathologies, sometimes leading to chronic inflammation and the scarring of tissue.

Cell regeneration mechanisms thus regulate the reactivity of different glial cells, including microglia, preventing further damage and promoting recovery. While many past studies have explored the processes involved in inflammation, many questions about how the brain can successfully recover after injuries or pathologies remain unanswered.

Researchers at LMU Munich, Helmholtz Zentrum Munich, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität (JGU), and other institutes in Germany have recently carried out a study on zebrafish aimed at better understanding the processes underpinning brain regeneration in both animals and humans. Their findings, published in Nature Neuroscience, unveiled a microglial state characterized by the accumulation of lipid droplets and TDP-43+, a RNA-binding protein, which delayed or prevented post-injury brain regeneration.

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It was once thought that inflammation and immune responses in the brain were limited; that is was a so-called immune privileged organ. But there is increasing evidence to the contrary. New research has shown that immune cells called mucosal-associated invariant T cells (MAITs) can serve critical roles in the brain that reduce the levels of damaging reactive oxygen species, which prevents neuroinflammation, and protects learning and memory. The findings have been reported in Nature Immunology.

In this study, researchers genetically engineered mice so MAITs would no longer be produced. These mice were compared to a normal group and mice and while cognitive function was the same in both groups to start with, difference appeared as the mice approached middle age. The MAIT-deficient mice had difficulty forming new memories.

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But even junk has hidden treasures. Studies found variations in these unsequenced regions were intricately involved in human health, from aging to conditions like cancer and developmental disorders like autism. In 2022, a landmark study finally resolved the genomic unknown, completely sequencing the remaining eight percent of undeciphered DNA remaining.

Now, scientists are discovering that some genetic sequences encode proteins that lack any obvious ancestors, what geneticists call orphan genes. Some of these orphan genes, the researchers surmise, arose spontaneously as we evolved, unlike others that we inherited from our primate ancestors. In a paper published Tuesday in the journal Cell Reports, researchers in Ireland and Greece found around 155 of these smaller versions of DNA sequences called open reading frames (or ORF) make microproteins potentially important to a healthy cell’s growth or connected to an assortment of ailments like muscular dystrophy and retinitis pigmentosa, a rare genetic disease affecting the eyes.

“This is, I think, the first study looking at the specific evolutionary origins of these small ORFs and their microproteins,” Nikolaos Vakirlis, a scientist at the Biomedical Sciences Research Center “Alexander Fleming” in Greece and first author of the paper, tells Inverse. It’s an origin, he says, that’s been mired in much question and mystery.

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Researchers at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience have discovered that the energy management of inhibitory brain cells is different than that of excitatory cells in our brain. Why is that the case and what is the link with multiple sclerosis?

Brain cells are connected to each other by , the parts of the neuron that transmit electrical signals. To do this efficiently, axons are wrapped in myelin, a lipid-rich material which increases the speed at which electrical pulses are conducted. The importance of myelin becomes apparent in diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS), where myelin is broken down, which has detrimental effects on .

As a result of myelin loss, the conduction of is disrupted, which also means that the energy costs of this process become much higher.

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It has been shown in epidemiological studies that the immediate postnatal period has a significant influence on the development of our microbiota. A change in postnatal microbiota has long-term implications on neurocognitive outcomes and mental health. Currently, little is known about the molecular mechanisms underlying critical windows of microbial influence.

About the Study

A recent Brain, Behavior, and Immunity study investigated the role of the early-life gut microbiota in determining neurodevelopmental outcomes. The current study used a mouse model to evaluate the long-term impact of gut microbial disruption during the critical windows of development.

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