Lifeboat Foundation

Human longevity records may be broken in the next few decades, a new modeling study suggests.

Alzheimer’s disease is a very common illness that affects older people worldwide, and it is one of the main causes of dementia. Researchers have been working for more than twenty years to find out what causes Alzheimer’s, but they have not yet discovered the exact reason, and there is no cure for the disease.

A commercial spaceflight in May will take a Carnegie Mellon-designed rover, named Iris, to the lunar surface.

In a recent study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, researchers assessed the impact of consuming unprocessed, minimally processed (UMP), and ultra-processed foods (UPFs) on diet quality.

Study: Intakes of unprocessed and minimally processed and ultra-processed food are associated with diet-quality in female and male health professionals in the United States: a prospective analysis.Image Credit: Parilov/Shutterstock.com

A recent study published in the journal Algal Research summarized the existing knowledge on bioactive compounds in green seaweeds and Ulva spp., focusing on its application as a future superfood.

Seaweeds are macroalgae, colonizing brackish water bodies and seas, and are classified into brown, green, and red algae. Research suggests that seaweeds are enriched with bioactive compounds with therapeutic potential. Seaweeds are also good sources of nutrients, antioxidants, and dietary fiber and have a low caloric value.

Ulva lactuca, a green alga, is a source of carotenoids, ulvan (a polysaccharide), proteins, minerals, vitamin C, and dietary fibers. In the present study, the authors discussed the chemistry and applications of bioactive compounds of green seaweeds, mainly focusing on U. lactuca and emphasizing its application as a superfood.

The real move at play here, by so called AI Ethics clowns, is a complete shut down of Ai, and AI research. That IS their end goal — end game. See if can really turn it off 6 months. ha! Ok, how about 2 more years! etc… etc…

Ya publicly tipped your hand.

An open letter published today calls for “all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4.”

Continue reading “The Open Letter on AI Doesn’t Go Far Enough” »

Baby mice can regenerate damaged hair cells — and now that we know how they do it, maybe we can, too in order to reverse hearing loss.

Huntington’s disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disease caused by a CAG repeat expansion in the Huntingtin (HTT) gene. The resulting polyglutamine (polyQ) tract alters the function of the HTT protein. Although HTT is expressed in different tissues, the medium spiny projection neurons (MSNs) in the striatum are particularly vulnerable in HD. Thus, we sought to define the proteome of human HD patient–derived MSNs. We differentiated HD72 induced pluripotent stem cells and isogenic controls into MSNs and carried out quantitative proteomic analysis. Using data-dependent acquisitions with FAIMS for label-free quantification on the Orbitrap Lumos mass spectrometer, we identified 6,323 proteins with at least two unique peptides. Of these, 901 proteins were altered significantly more in the HD72-MSNs than in isogenic controls. Functional enrichment analysis of upregulated proteins demonstrated extracellular matrix and DNA signaling (DNA replication pathway, double-strand break repair, G1/S transition) with the highest significance. Conversely, processes associated with the downregulated proteins included neurogenesis-axogenesis, the brain-derived neurotrophic factor-signaling pathway, Ephrin-A: EphA pathway, regulation of synaptic plasticity, triglyceride homeostasis cholesterol, plasmid lipoprotein particle immune response, interferon-γ signaling, immune system major histocompatibility complex, lipid metabolism and cellular response to stimulus. Moreover, proteins involved in the formation and maintenance of axons, dendrites, and synapses (e.g., Septin protein members) were dysregulated in HD72-MSNs. Importantly, lipid metabolism pathways were altered, and using quantitative image, we found analysis that lipid droplets accumulated in the HD72-MSN, suggesting a deficit in the turnover of lipids possibly through lipophagy. Our proteomics analysis of HD72-MSNs identified relevant pathways that are altered in MSNs and confirm current and new therapeutic targets for HD.

Improving the seasonal influenza vaccine and public health specialists’ ability to predict pandemic potential in new flu strains may be possible, due to new findings from scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The key is the stability of a viral protein that gains entry into human cells. The findings were published today in Science Advances.

“We found that the protein flu viruses use to enter cells, hemagglutinin, needs to be relatively stable and resistant to acid in an effective H3N2 flu vaccine,” said senior and co-corresponding author Charles Russell, Ph.D., St. Jude Department of Infectious Diseases. “We found a mutation in hemagglutinin that makes the virus grow better in eggs also causes a mismatch in the vaccine. The mutation makes the virus unstable and makes it look less human-like.”

The H3N2 virus is a subtype of Influenza A and is one of the culprits behind the seasonal flu. Many flu vaccines are made by growing the virus in chicken eggs, but the virus can gain mutations during that process. Some of those changes, like the one uncovered by the St. Jude group, make the vaccine less effective in generating the ideal immune response. At the same time, other mutations have more beneficial impacts.