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Finding runaway stars to help map dark matter in the Milky Way

Hypervelocity stars have, since the 1920s, been an important tool that allows astronomers to study the properties of the Milky Way galaxy, such as its gravitational potential and the distribution of matter. Now astronomers from China have made a large-volume search for hypervelocity stars by utilizing a special class of stars known for their distinct, regular, predictable pulsation behavior that makes them useful as distance indicators.

Their research is published in The Astrophysical Journal.

The escape velocity of any planet, star or galaxy is the velocity required for a mass, leaving the object’s surface, to coast completely and exactly out of the planet’s gravitational well, going to infinity. Earth’s escape velocity is 11.2 kilometers per second (km/s).

Searching for light dark matter by tracking its direction with quantum sensors

Dark matter is an elusive type of matter that does not emit, absorb or reflect light, interacting very weakly with ordinary matter. These characteristics make it impossible to detect using conventional technologies used by physicists to study matter particles.

As it has never been observed before, the exact composition of dark matter remains unknown. One proposed theory is that this elusive type of matter is comprised of light particles with very small masses, below 1 eV (electronvolt), which behave more like waves than particles.

Researchers at the University of Tokyo and Chuo University recently explored the possibility of searching for sub-GeV dark matter using quantum sensors, advanced systems that rely on quantum mechanical effects to detect extremely weak signals.

Chrono-Immune Neuropathy During PD-1 Blockade: A Report of a Fatal Case and Hypothesis on Circadian Modulation of Neurotoxicity

Immune checkpoint inhibitors can cause a wide spectrum of immune-related adverse events, including rare but severe neurological complications. This report describes a fatal case of progressive immune-mediated neuropathy in a melanoma patient treated with PD-1 blockade, in whom worsening neuropathic pain and functional decline coincided with irregular, non-aligned timing of immunotherapy infusions. PET-CT imaging, MRI, and laboratory testing excluded metastatic, infectious, metabolic, and paraneoplastic causes. Longitudinal evaluation revealed fluctuations in inflammatory indices, including neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and systemic immune-inflammation index (SII), with peaks occurring shortly after late-afternoon infusions. Earlier infusions were associated with fewer symptoms.

Regulatory T cell stability determines the efficiency of bile duct regeneration during cholangitis

Kimura and Wong et al. have demonstrated how Tregs influence bile duct response to liver injury. Combinational immunotherapy that increases Treg number and stability is required for a more efficient bile duct repair program.

A molecular gatekeeper that controls protein synthesis

Current smoking was linked to a higher risk for all-cause dementia, especially vascular dementia, with the strongest effects seen in those younger than 85 years and women. It was not significantly associated with the risk for Alzheimer’s dementia. Former smoking was associated with an increased risk for vascular dementia only in men, particularly those younger than 85 years.

Current smoking is associated with an elevated risk for all-cause dementia, particularly vascular dementia, with the strongest associations seen in participants younger than 85 years.

Parkinson Disease SNCA Risk Variants Are Associated With Higher Asymmetric Putamen Dopaminergic Dysfunction

This study assessed the endophenotypic potential of striatal dopamine transporter uptake in carriers of Parkinson disease–associated SNCA genetic risk variants.

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to investigate the endophenotypic potential of striatal dopamine transporter (DAT) uptake in carriers of Parkinson disease (PD)–associated SNCA genetic risk variants. MethodsWe analyzed 381 patients with de novo PD from the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI). The genotype of previously identified PD-related SNCA risk variants was extracted and used to compute an individual PD-specific SNCA genetic risk score (GRS). Striatal DAT uptake was quantified using 123 I‐FP‐CIT SPECT and assessed at baseline and 24-month follow-up. Mixed models were applied to explore the relationship between striatal 123 I‐FP‐CIT SPECT specific binding ratios (SBRs) and PD SNCA risk variants.

‘Don’t use them’: Tanning beds triple skin cancer risk, study finds

When Heidi Tarr was a teenager, she used a tanning bed several times a week with her friends because they all wanted to glow like a celebrity.

“It was just the thing to do—everyone wanted that nice, dark, tan skin,” the 49-year-old market researcher told AFP via video call from Chicago.

Then one day in her 30s, Tarr noticed a strange mole on her back.

Butyrolactol A enhances caspofungin efficacy via flippase inhibition in drug-resistant fungi

Chen et al. identify the natural product butyrolactol A as an inhibitor of the phospholipid flippase Apt1-Cdc50, which it locks in a nonfunctional state. By disrupting membrane homeostasis and enhancing drug uptake, butyrolactol A restores echinocandin efficacy against intrinsically resistant fungal pathogens, including Cryptococcus and Candida auris.

How Dad’s Fitness May Be Packaged and Passed Down in Sperm RNA

We tend to emphasize the maternal role in development: an egg cell is enormous compared to a sperm cell, and a mother gestates the embryo. But a growing body of research suggests that sperm cells carry more than just genetic information.

Research into how a father’s choices — such as diet, exercise, stress, nicotine use — may transfer traits to his children has become impossible to ignore.

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