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Category: biotech/medical – Page 14

The first 25 years of SuperAger research show cognitive decline is not an inevitable part of aging

For 25 years, scientists at Northwestern Medicine have been studying individuals aged 80 and older—dubbed “SuperAgers”—to better understand what makes them tick.

These unique individuals, who show outstanding memory performance at a level consistent with individuals who are at least three decades younger, challenge the long-held belief that is an inevitable part of aging.

Over the quarter-century of research, the scientists have seen some notable lifestyle and personality differences between SuperAgers and those aging typically—such as being social and gregarious—but “it’s really what we’ve found in their brains that’s been so earth-shattering for us,” said Dr. Sandra Weintraub, a professor of psychiatry and and neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

AI model uses glucose spikes to reveal hidden diabetes risk before symptoms appear

Spread the love 19 11 To diagnose either type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes, clinicians typically rely on a lab value known as HbA1c. This test captures a person’s average blood glucose levels over the previous few months. But HbA1c cannot predict who is at highest risk of progressing from healthy to prediabetic, or from prediabetic to full-blown diabetes.

Computational framework sheds light on how the brain’s decision-making is impacted in psychiatric disorders

Scientists from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, working in collaboration with a team from the University of Texas at El Paso, have developed a novel computational framework for understanding how a region of the brain known as the striatum is involved in the everyday decisions we make and, importantly, how it might factor into impaired decision-making by individuals with psychiatric disorders like post-traumatic stress disorder and substance use disorder.

In a study published in Nature Communications, the team reported that modulating activity within the striosomal compartment—a neurochemically discrete area of the striatum—might be an important therapeutic strategy for promoting healthier in people with psychiatric disorders.

“Though it has been established that the striatum is clearly important for cost-benefit decision-making, the precise role of the striosomal compartment has remained elusive,” says Ki Goosens, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pharmacological Sciences and Psychiatry, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and co-lead author of the study.

The plant virus that trains your immune system to kill cancer

A virus from humble black-eyed peas is showing extraordinary promise in the fight against cancer. Unlike other plant viruses, the cowpea mosaic virus (CPMV) can awaken the human immune system and transform it into a cancer-fighting powerhouse, without infecting human cells. By comparing it to a similar, but ineffective, virus, researchers uncovered that CPMV uniquely triggers potent interferons and immune responses, making it a low-cost, plant-grown immunotherapy on the fast track toward clinical trials.

Genomics pioneer George Church earns first retraction for anti-aging gene therapy paper

A paper coauthored by geneticist George Church has been retracted following an internal review at a university where several coauthors are based.

The article appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2022. The work supports an anti-aging gene therapy developed by BioViva, a company for which Church serves as an adviser. The paper’s authors claim cytomegalovirus (CMV) can be a gene therapy vector for a treatment for “aging-associated decline” that can be inhaled or injected monthly.

The work has been cited 41 times, two of which are citations from corrections to the article, according to Clarivate’s Web of Science.

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