Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog – Page 6

UC Davis Health is pleased to announce that Neurosurgeon David Brandman and his team at UC Davis Neuroprosthetics Lab were selected for a 2025 Top Ten Clinical Research Achievement Award. The Clinical Research Forum presents this award to honor 10 outstanding clinical research studies published in peer-reviewed journals in the previous year. This year’s Top 10 Awards ceremony will be held on April 14 in Washington, D.C.

Brandman and his team are recognized for their groundbreaking work in developing a new brain-computer interface (BCI) that translates brain signals into speech with up to 97% accuracy — the most accurate system of its kind. Their work was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

“Our team is very honored that our study was selected among the nation’s best published clinical research studies. Our work demonstrates the most accurate speech neuroprosthesis (device) ever reported,” said Brandman, co-director of the Neuroprosthetics Lab. He is an assistant professor in the UC Davis Department of Neurological Surgery.

Read more | >

This is probably a repost, but cool anyways.

CSHL Professor Lloyd Trotman and his team have discovered that menadione kills prostate cancer cells in mice by depleting a lipid known as PIP. Their findings set the stage for pilot studies in human prostate cancer patients and point to a potential treatment target for myotubular myopathy, a rare and fatal disease diagnosed in infant boys.

Prostate cancer is a quiet killer. In most men, it’s treatable. However, in some cases, it resists all known therapies and turns extremely deadly. A new discovery at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) points to a potentially groundbreaking solution. CSHL Professor Lloyd Trotman’s lab has found that the pro-oxidant supplement menadione slows prostate cancer progression in mice. The supplement is a precursor to vitamin K, commonly found in leafy greens. The story begins more than two decades ago.

Read more | >

A professor at South Korea’s Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) has developed BeeVi, an eco-friendly toilet that uses human waste to generate electricity to power a building.

The BeeVi toilet, developed by Professor Cho Jae-weon, is equipped with a vacuum pump that sends human waste into an underground tank.

Read more | >

A team of researchers has unveiled an innovative additive that significantly enhances the lifespan and efficiency of lithium-air batteries. This advancement, announced on Feb. 10, potentially more than doubles the driving range of vehicles compared to those using traditional lithium-ion batteries. The research was spearheaded by Prof. Kwak Won-jin from the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), in collaboration with Prof. Seo Seong-eun from Ajou University and Prof. Chen Shuming from Oberlin College in the United States.

Lithium-air batteries, known for their high energy density, use lithium as the anode and oxygen from the air as the cathode, offering up to five times the capacity of conventional lithium-ion batteries. However, these batteries face challenges due to the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) during operation, which can degrade battery components and reduce efficiency. The newly developed additive, a ‘redox mediator’ named BAC, addresses these challenges by maintaining a consistent charging voltage level of 3.5V, even after exposure to singlet oxygen, a particularly reactive form of oxygen.

The redox mediator, although comprising only 5% of the battery electrolyte’s weight, plays a crucial role in determining the energy efficiency and lifespan of lithium-air batteries. By reducing the voltage required for charging, the BAC mediator enhances energy efficiency and minimizes battery overload, thereby extending its lifespan. Researcher Lee Hyun-wook, the first author of the study, explained, “We were able to develop such a redox mediator through a design method that analyzes the molecular stereostructure.”

Read more | >

How does a star’s activity influence exoplanet data obtained by scientists? This is what a recent study published in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series hopes to address as a team of researchers at University College London (UCL) investigated how stellar activity, specifically star spots, could be “contaminating” exoplanet data, specifically exoplanet atmospheric data. This study has the potential to help astronomers develop more efficient methods for studying exoplanets and their atmospheres, specifically with the number of confirmed exoplanets increasing regularly.

For the study, the researchers used NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to analyze data from 20 gas giant exoplanets ranging in size between Neptune-like and hot-Jupiter that transited their respective parent stars. To obtain a more complete dataset, the team observed the exoplanets from optical to near-infrared wavelengths. In the end, they discovered a broad range of “stellar contamination”, meaning stellar activity was influencing the exoplanet data, specifically regarding the atmospheric compositions and temperatures. For example, the results indicated that the number of specific molecules had errors as high as 6 orders of magnitude while temperatures had errors as high as 145 percent.

“Hotter, brighter regions (faculae) emit more light and so, for instance, if a planet passes in front of the hottest part of the star, this might lead researchers to over-estimate how large the planet is, as it will seem to block out more of the star’s light, or they might infer the planet is hotter than it is or has a denser atmosphere. The reverse is true if the planet passes in front of a cold starspot, making the planet appear ‘smaller’,” said Alexandra (Alex) Thompson, who is a PhD student in UCL’s Department of Physics & Astronomy and a co-author on the study.

Read more | >

Musa, A., Khan, S., Mujahid, M. et al. The shallow cognitive map hypothesis: A hippocampal framework for thought disorder in schizophrenia. Schizophr 8, 34 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41537-022-00247-7

Download citation.

Read more | >

Topical ABT-263 effectively reduced several senescence markers in aged skin, preparing it for improved wound healing. Researchers from Boston University’s School of Medicine have identified a promising treatment that could improve wound healing in aging skin. Their study, published in the journal Aging, reveals that the drug ABT-263 can significantly accelerate skin repair by eliminating old, damaged cells known as senescent cells.

Read more | >

From the press release.

Cyclarity Therapeutics is pleased to announce regulatory approval to begin its first-in-human clinical trial. The trial will be conducted at CMAX, one of Australia’s leading clinical research centers, in partnership with Monash University. This effort will be led by Dr. Stephen Nicholls of the Victorian Heart Institute (VHI), a distinguished leader in cardiovascular medicine. In addition to a traditional SAD/MAD phase 1 trial, the authorization includes an allowance to enroll 12 patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) to assess the safety of UDP-003 in individuals with plaque buildup, as well as to explore anecdotal evidence of efficacy. This represents a critical first step in evaluating the potential impact of our therapy in a population with high unmet need.

Read more | >

The distinct population of endothelial cells that line blood vessels in the insulin-producing “islets” of the human pancreas have been notoriously difficult to study, but Weill Cornell Medicine investigators have now succeeded in comprehensively detailing the unique characteristics of these cells.

The resulting atlas advances basic research on the biology of the pancreas and could lead to new treatment strategies for diabetes and other pancreatic diseases.

In the study, published in Nature Communications, the researchers devised a set of methods for rapidly isolating and profiling endothelial cells called ISECs (islet-specific endothelial cells) from donor pancreases.

Read more | >

Vimentin is a type III intermediate filament (IF) protein normally expressed in cells that develop into connective tissue, blood vessels, and lymphatic tissue (mesenchymal cells). Despite being widely studied, its role in tumor growth and progression remains unexplored.

A team of researchers at Queen Mary University of London have discovered how a small change in the vimentin protein can make more aggressive. The work is published in the journal eLife.

By modifying a specific amino acid cysteine to serine residue at position 328 in vimentin, they discovered that this mutation disrupted the protein’s interaction with the cell’s structural network. Remarkably, the mutated vimentin induced aggressive cancer-like behavior in breast cancer cells, including faster cell growth, migration, and invasion accompanied by reduced .

Read more | >