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GIGABYTE Control Center vulnerable to arbitrary file write flaw

The GIGABYTE Control Center is vulnerable to an arbitrary file-write flaw that could allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to access files on vulnerable hosts.

The hardware maker says that successful exploitation could potentially lead to code execution on the underlying system, privilege escalation, and a denial-of-service condition.

The GIGABYTE Control Center (GCC), which comes pre-installed on all the company’s laptops and motherboards, is GIGABYTE’s all-in-one Windows utility that lets users manage and configure their hardware.

Cisco source code stolen in Trivy-linked dev environment breach

Cisco has suffered a cyberattack after threat actors used stolen credentials from the recent Trivy supply chain attack to breach its internal development environment and steal source code belonging to the company and its customers.

A source, who asked to remain anonymous, told BleepingComputer that Cisco’s Unified Intelligence Center, CSIRT, and EOC teams contained the breach involving a malicious “GitHub Action plugin” from the recent Trivy compromise.

The attackers used the malicious GitHub Action to steal credentials and data from the company’s build and development environment, impacting dozens of devices, including some developer and lab workstations.

A Startup Has Been Quietly Pitching Cloned Human Bodies to Transfer Your Brain Into

That hasn’t stopped some from exploring the idea as part of a secretive effort to realize an alternative to anti-aging tech that sounds like it was ripped straight out of a dystopian science fiction novel. A billionaire-backed stealth startup, called R3 Bio, recently announced that it was raising money to develop non-sentient monkey “organ sacks,” as Wired reported last week, an eyebrow-raising alternative to animal testing. Such structures would contain all typical organs excluding the brain, ultimately serving as a source for donor organs and tissues.

But according to a sprawling followup investigation by MIT Technology Review, R3 Bio’s founders secretly have a far more ambitious goal in mind: creating entire “brainless clones” of the human body that aging or ill individuals could one day transplant their brain into. One advantage of not developing the brain in the donor bodies, albeit a ghoulish one: such a brain-free clone would neatly circumvent certain moral conundrums over the concept.

Still, to call the idea ethically fraught would be a vast understatement. Despite an insider likening a pitch they heard from R3’s founder, John Schloendorn, to a “close encounter of the third kind” with “Dr. Strangelove” in an interview with Tech Review, the company has since distanced itself from the idea of brainless human clones.

Bile acid and steroid signatures tied to extreme longevity

Centenarians often live to 100+ due to a combination of protective genetic factors, which account for up to 50%, and healthy lifestyles, such as plant-forward diets, regular, natural movement and strong social connections. While these “agers” often possess unique immune system signatures, understanding the metabolic signs of healthy aging is not yet fully understood.

In a new study from Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, researchers have discovered that centenarians have a distinct blood metabolite pattern that is not just an extension of normal aging. In particular, they show uniquely higher levels of certain primary and secondary bile acids and preserved levels of several steroids, patterns that diverge from the typical age trends seen in non-centenarians and that are linked to lower death risk. The study is published in the journal GeroScience.

“Our study points to measurable chemical fingerprints in the blood that are associated with living a very long and healthy life. If we can understand those fingerprints, we may identify biological pathways that could contribute to protecting people from age-related decline,” explains corresponding author Stefano Monti, Ph.D., professor of medicine at the school.

Programmable DNA shell scaffolds for directional membrane budding

Membrane budding plays pivotal roles in cellular processes, but a fully artificial system mimicking natural budding processes remains elusive. Here, the authors report a DNA origami-based membrane budding system that recapitulates key aspects of clathrin-mediated endocytosis without relying on components of cellular budding machineries.

Epigenetic and transcriptomic impacts of ethanol vary by brain region and extent of exposure

New in eNeuro from Periandri et al: Systematically comparing brain markers affected by brief versus long-term exposure to alcohol in mice unveils shared and different mechanisms that may inform alcohol use disorder treatment development.

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Epigenetic and transcriptional mechanisms are key contributors to alcohol use disorder (AUD). However, a better understanding of the specific genes, transcripts, and chromatin marks affected is necessary to inform novel pharmacotherapies. Here, we systematically investigate the genome-wide epigenetic and transcriptomic effects of ethanol across key brain regions relevant to AUD and assess how these outcomes differ between acute and chronic exposure in male C57BL/6J mice. We show that alcohol-derived acetate contributes to histone acetylation in the brain in response to acute or chronic exposure, with a broader and more robust effect following repeated exposure. Further, we find that chromatin and transcriptomic changes elicited by acute or chronic ethanol exposure are predominantly specific to brain region, and observe more robust dysregulation of gene and transcript expression following acute exposure. We show that ethanol-induced transcriptional changes are paradigm-dependent in some brain regions, most strikingly in the ventral hippocampus. Overall, our results systematically illuminate and compare key epigenetic and transcriptomic outcomes linked to acute and chronic ethanol exposure, which will guide the development of future therapeutic interventions.

Significance Statement This is the first study to systematically investigate epigenetic and transcriptomic changes following acute or chronic exposure to alcohol, focusing on key regions previously linked to substance use disorders. We show the molecular impact of alcohol varies among brain regions and in part depends on the extent of alcohol exposure. Our results provide unprecedented detail on how alcohol affects transcriptional regulation in the brain, which in turn will inform the development of needed novel therapeutic interventions for alcohol use disorder.

Retroperitoneal fibrosis

Retroperitoneal fibrosis is a rare immune-mediated disease characterised by a periaortoiliac fibro-inflammatory tissue that often encases neighbouring structures (eg, ureters). Idiopathic retroperitoneal fibrosis can be isolated or part of IgG4-related disease, whereas secondary forms recognise different aetiologies, such as histiocytosis, malignancies, and infections. Idiopathic retroperitoneal fibrosis has a multifactorial origin, with genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors being main contributors.

Study uncovers internal cell ‘trade winds’ that drive movement and repair

Scientists at Oregon Health & Science University have uncovered a previously unknown system of internal “trade winds” that help cells rapidly move essential proteins to the front of the cell, reshaping how researchers understand cell migration, cancer spread and wound healing.

The discovery, published in Nature Communications, reshapes what researchers thought they knew about how cells direct proteins to the right place at the right time.

For decades, biology textbooks have taught that free-floating proteins inside cells move mainly by diffusion, drifting randomly until they happen to reach their destination. But the new study shows that cells don’t leave this to chance. Instead, they create targeted streams of fluid that push essential proteins toward the cell’s leading edge, where movement and repair begin.

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