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Neutrophils manufacture schizophrenia-linked protein, according to new research

The most common white blood cells in your body—immune cells called neutrophils—can make a protein nobody knew they were making, Stanford Medicine investigators have discovered. That unexpected sighting joins a growing list of hints tying schizophrenia, a disorder of the brain, to events occurring elsewhere in our bodies. The findings are summarized in a paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

The newly noticed neutrophil nexus, as a source of the protein called C4A, links a long list of other observations that are somewhat puzzling when looked at in isolation: For example, large-scale population-genetic studies have identified C4A, already known to be produced mainly in the liver, as a pronounced risk factor in schizophrenia. People with schizophrenia tend to have increased numbers of neutrophils in their blood. And the most effective medication for schizophrenia inhibits neutrophils.

Schizophrenia affects one in every 100 persons globally almost without variation by geography or ethnicity. Its most noticeable symptoms are hallucinations, delusions and fixations. A fundamental feature of the disease is cognitive impairment: inability to think clearly, reduced working memory, disorganized thinking and behavior.

Researchers solve longstanding problem in measuring semiconductor defects

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories and Auburn University have developed a new method to more accurately detect atomic-scale defects in electronic materials, an advance that could help improve technologies ranging from electric vehicles to high-power electronics. The study, appearing in the Journal of Applied Physics, addresses a longstanding challenge in understanding what happens at the critical boundary where a semiconductor meets an insulating layer.

At this interface, microscopic defects can trap electrical charge and quietly reduce device performance, even when the device otherwise appears to function normally. These defects can limit efficiency, increase electrical losses, and reduce the performance of advanced semiconductor devices.

Scientists commonly study these defects by comparing how a device responds to slow and fast electrical signals. However, the technique depends on knowing a key device property, the insulator capacitance, with very high accuracy. Even tiny errors can produce misleading results, sometimes making it appear that far more defects exist than are actually present.

SIRT6 protein could protect against age-related breakdown in chromatin, possibly help reverse aging

Researchers at Bar-Ilan University have successfully restored youthful patterns of DNA organization in the livers of old mice, reversing key molecular features associated with aging. The study, published in Nature Communications, identifies the protein SIRT6 as a powerful protector against age-related breakdown in chromatin, the complex system that packages DNA and controls how genes are switched on and off.

The findings suggest that aging is not simply a passive process of wear and tear, but may be driven in part by reversible changes in the way DNA is organized inside cells.

DNA inside cells is tightly folded and packaged into chromatin, a structure that acts like a biological control system for gene activity. Using advanced tools to study DNA organization and gene activity, the researchers examined multiple molecular changes in the livers of young and old mice. What they discovered was dramatic: aging disrupts chromatin architecture in the liver, causing inflammatory pathways to become overactive while weakening the metabolic programs that define healthy liver tissue.

Pronounced Neuroplasticity in the Primary Visual Cortex of the Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel During Hibernation

Hibernating animals can show neuroplasticity throughout the hibernation season. In ground squirrels, decreased dendritic arborization in the hippocampus, somatosensory cortex, and thalamus during deep hibernation (“torpor”) suggests that this neuroplasticity is a brain-wide phenomenon. However, the degree to which neuroplasticity occurs in the visual system is not clear. While transient retinal changes have been reported during torpor, neuroplasticity beyond the retina remains unknown. Here, we characterized hibernation-related neuroplasticity in the primary visual cortex (V1), the first cortical area to receive visual information, in the thirteen-lined ground squirrel (Ictidomys tridecemlineatus). We compared neuronal morphology in Golgi-stained samples from male and female hibernating or non-hibernating squirrels. For the hibernating squirrels, brain tissue was sampled during two different epochs: torpor and inter-torpor arousal. Dendritic arborization decreased during torpor in V1 layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons, manifesting as decreases in dendritic length, number, and complexity. These changes fully reversed during inter-torpor arousal, indicating that on average dendritic arbors grew by 0.75 mm (65%) over ∼1.5 hours. No morphological differences between hibernating and non-hibernating squirrels were apparent when compared 6 months after the hibernation season. We also found no neuroplastic changes in V1 layer 4 spiny stellate neurons, unlike in this cell type the somatosensory cortex. Together, this revealed, for the first time, hibernation-related neuroplasticity in V1 in support of a brain-wide mechanism but with area-specific differences. The speed and magnitude of this naturally occurring neuroplasticity could make ground squirrel V1 a powerful translational model system for conditions requiring neuroplasticity, such as recovery from stroke.

Significance Statement This study is the first demonstration of pronounced hibernation-related neuroplasticity in the primary visual cortex of ground squirrels. Layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons in the primary visual cortex (V1) reduced arborization during torpor. Within 1.5 hours after arousal from torpor, the arborization reversed to non-hibernation levels. The extent and speed of this naturally occurring neuroplasticity could make the relatively well-understood V1 of ground squirrels a powerful translational model system. Complementing insights on neuroplasticity in V1 during development, it has the potential to be leveraged for the study of treatment mechanisms and conditions requiring neuroplasticity, ranging from neurodegeneration to recovery after stroke.

Busseiron and the formation of a discipline in Japanese physics

The middle of the twentieth century was a period of significant scientific advancement, particularly in the realm of physics. Within this rapidly changing landscape, academic disciplines emerged and evolved to keep pace with scientific discoveries. The new subdiscipline of solid-state physics gained prominence in the United States, but it was later subsumed by the broader category of condensed matter physics.

In Japan, however, physics research since the 1940s has included a unique branch called Busseiron—a discipline concerning the study of matter that has no direct English equivalent but that has remained in use nonetheless.

A new article by Hiroto Kono in Isis: A Journal of the History of Science Society explores the historical formation of Busseiron and how it was shaped by its specific national context.

Consistency check casts doubt on evolving dark energy

Cosmologists have long struggled to determine whether the universe’s accelerating expansion is being driven by a simple cosmological constant, or whether dark energy’s influence is evolving over time. In a new analysis published in Physical Review D, Samsuzzaman Afroz and Suvodip Mukherjee at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, have identified a subtle impact on the inference of the nature of dark energy, due to a tiny mismatch between a fundamental cosmological distance relation and two key datasets used to measure the properties of dark energy.

The result casts fresh doubt on the robustness of the recent claims that dark energy could be evolving over time—perhaps bringing us a step closer to solving one of cosmology’s most enduring challenges.

Tritium-infused graphene could sharpen the hunt for neutrino mass

While neutrinos are some of the most abundant particles in the universe, they remain among the least understood. One of the biggest puzzles is their mass: although experiments have shown that neutrinos must have some mass, pinning down exactly how much has proven extraordinarily difficult.

Now, a team of physicists led by Valentina Tozzini of the Institute of Nanoscience in Pisa have published new theoretical calculations in Physical Review C, suggesting that tritium-infused graphene could give future experiments a decisive edge in measuring neutrino masses with unprecedented precision.

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