Lifeboat Foundation

Scientists at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified potential new biomarkers that could indicate how someone diagnosed with metastatic melanoma will respond to immunotherapy treatment.

The researchers found when T cells are activated, they release a protein called CXCL13, which helps attract more B cells and T cells to the tumor site. The B cells then show the T cells specific parts of the tumor, which leads to increased activation of the T cells and their ability to fight the cancer. This cooperation between T cells and B cells was associated with improved survival in patients diagnosed with metastatic melanoma who were treated with immunotherapy, but not for those who received targeted therapy (e.g., MEK inhibitors).

These findings could help guide new strategies to improve the effectiveness of melanoma cancer treatments. The research is published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology.

USDA found Neuralink to be in compliance with animal safety and welfare standards after an isolated incident of using an unapproved sealant to close a monkey’s skull in a surgery triggered an investigation. FDA granted a request to begin testing it’s implant device in humans.

July 19 (Reuters) — The head of the U.S. agency responsible for animal welfare has told lawmakers that it did not find any violations of animal research rules at Elon Musk’s Neuralink beyond a 2019 incident the brain implant company had already reported.

Officials with the Department of Agriculture (USDA) conducted a “focused” inspection in response to a complaint about the company’s handling of animal experiments, but identified no compliance breaches, the agency’s secretary Thomas Vilsack wrote to Congressman Earl Blumenauer in a July 14 letter reviewed by Reuters.

Continue reading “Regulator says found no animal welfare breaches at Musk firm beyond 2019 incident” »

Griffith University researchers have played a key role in using DNA “origami” templates to control the way viruses are assembled.

The global team behind the research, titled “DNA-origami-directed virus capsid polymorphism,” published in Nature Nanotechnology, developed a way to direct the assembly of virus capsids—the protein shell of viruses—at physiological conditions in a precise and programmable manner.

Dr. Frank Sainsbury and Dr. Donna McNeale from the Griffith Institute for Drug Discovery were part of the research team and said forcing viruses to assemble onto DNA folded into different shapes “like origami” was a question that this project answered.

More than a quarter of all stroke victims develop a bizarre disorder -; they lose conscious awareness of half of all that their eyes perceive.

After a stroke in the brain’s right half, for example, a person might eat only what’s on the right side of the plate because they’re unaware of the other half. The person may see only the right half of a photo and ignore a person on their left side.

Surprisingly, though, such stroke victims can emotionally react to the entire photo or scene. Their brains seem to be taking it all in, but these people are consciously aware of only half the world.

Everyone knows that 2 + 2 = 4, but why do we have arithmetic in the first place, and why is it true? Researchers at the University of Canterbury have recently answered these questions by “reverse engineering” arithmetic from a psychological perspective. To do this, they considered all possible ways that quantities could be combined, and proved (for the first time in mathematical terms) that addition and multiplication are the simplest.

Their proof is based on four assumptions —principles of perceptual organization—that shape how we and other animals experience the world. These assumptions eliminate all possibilities except arithmetic, like how a sculptor’s work reveals a statue hidden in a block of stone.

Monotonicity is the idea of “things changing in the same direction,” and helps us keep track of our place in the world, so that when we approach an object it looms larger but smaller when we move away. Convexity is grounded in intuitions of betweenness. For example, the four corners of a football pitch define the playing field even without boundary lines connecting them. Continuity describes the smoothness with which objects seem to move in space and time. Isomorphism is the idea of sameness or analogy. It’s what allows us to recognize that a cat is more similar to a dog than it is to a rock.

A new type of particle called the strange pentaquark has been found using the Large Hadron Collider. The particle could help researchers catalogue the states of exotic matter and figure out how fundamental particles stick together.

By Leah Crane

While gate model quantum computing holds immense promise for tomorrow, quantum annealing systems are solving complex optimization problems for enterprises today.

Blood clots can be deadly medical emergencies that can form in different parts of your body. Learn the warning signs that you might have one.

Akash Ingale, was admitted to Fortis Hospital, Vashi, diagnosed with the unusual combination of Myasthenia Gravis and Thymoma. Myasthenia Gravis is a chronic autoimmune neuromuscular disease causing muscle weakness, typically affecting older individuals, making it rare in young patients like Akash. Moreover, the presence of Thymoma in conjunction with Myasthenia Gravis is even rarer, occurring in only 10–12% of cases. For the past eight months, Akash faced significant mobility challenges, severely impacting his quality of life. Managing the conditions required him to be on multiple drug regimens, including steroids and immunosuppressants, further affecting his well-being.

In this video, Dr Prriya Eshpuniyani, Consultant-Thoracic OncoSurgeon Fortis Hospital, Vashi, Navi Mumbai talks about case history, challenges, prognosis.