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A study conducted in Brazil and reported in an article published in Molecular Psychiatry suggests that schizophrenia may be associated with alterations in the vascularization of certain brain regions. Researchers at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), D’Or Research and Education Institute (IDOR) and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) found a link between astrocytes (central nervous system cells) from patients with schizophrenia and formation of narrow blood vessels.

Schizophrenia is a severe multifactorial mental health disorder affecting around 1% of the world population. Common symptoms include loss of contact with reality (psychosis), hallucinations (hearing voices, for example), delusions or delirium, disorganized motor behavior, loss of motivation and cognitive impairment.

In the study, the researchers focused on the role of astrocytes in development of the disease. These glial cells are housekeepers of the central nervous system and important to its defense. They are the central elements of the neurovascular units that integrate neural circuitry with local blood flow and provide neurons with metabolic support.

Michael Levin is an American developmental and synthetic biologist at Tufts University. His research interests include: bioelectrical signals by which cells communicate to serve the dynamic anatomical needs of the organism during development, regeneration, and cancer suppression; basal cognition and intelligence in diverse unconventional substrates; and top-down control of form and function across scales in biology.

Join us as we discuss.
- Bioelectricity.
- Regeneration.
- The future in medicine.
- The act of free will and more.

Continue reading “Rekindi #29 — Bioelectricity, Regeneration, Cancer Suppression & Xenobots — with Michael Levin” »

Summary: A newly developed machine learning model can predict the words a person is about to speak based on their neural activity recorded by a minimally invasive neuroprosthetic device.

Source: HSE

Researchers from HSE University and the Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry have developed a machine learning model that can predict the word about to be uttered by a subject based on their neural activity recorded with a small set of minimally invasive electrodes.

Researchers say a new CRISPR gene editing therapy may help treat heart disease. The scientists also found evidence the therapy can help repair damaged tissue immediately after a heart attack.

There are around 42,900 new bowel cancer cases in the UK every year Experts have hailed “remarkable” new research which shows that giving chemotherapy before surgery for early-stage bowel cancer cuts the chance of the disease coming back by 28%. The study, funded by Cancer Research UK, suggests at least 5,000 patients in the UK every year could benefit from a tweak to how they receive chemotherapy.

Researchers from the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Technion—Israel Institute of Technology have presented the first experimental observation of Cherenkov radiation confined in two dimensions. The results represent a new record in electron-radiation coupling strength, revealing the quantum properties of the radiation.

Cherenkov radiation is a unique physical phenomenon, which for many years has been used in medical imaging and in particle detection applications, as well as in laser-driven electron accelerators. The breakthrough achieved by the Technion researchers links this phenomenon to future photonic quantum computing applications and free-electron quantum light sources.

The study, which was published in Physical Review X, was headed by Ph.D. students Yuval Adiv and Shai Tsesses from the Technion, together with Hao Hu from the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore (today professor at Nanjing university in China). It was supervised by Prof. Ido Kaminer and Prof. Guy Bartal of the Technion, in collaboration with colleagues from China: Prof. Hongsheng Chen, and Prof. Xiao Lin from Zhejiang University.

The horrors of HBO’s latest hit are based on real-world nightmares. Here’s what a Cordyceps apocalypse might look like in reality.

Talk Title: Human Age Reversal through Mitochondrial Transplantation.

Tom Benson, CEO at Mitrix Bio, presents at Investing in the Age of Longevity 2022. In his talk, Tom outlines the effect of mitochondria on aging, and how mitochondrial transplantation can be used for age reversal. Showcasing how Mitrix Bio is pioneering the application of this technique, Tom also presents the company’s roadmap for clinical trials and commercialisation of its platform.

Continue reading “Investing in the Age of Longevity 2022 — Tom Benson — Mitrix Bio” »

Our ability to learn, move, and sense our world comes from the neurons in our brain. This information moves through our brain between neurons that are linked together by tens of trillions of tiny structures called synapses. Although tiny, synapses are not simple and must be precisely organized to function properly. Indeed, diseases like autism and Alzheimer’s are increasingly linked to defects in the organization and number of these tiny structures. Now researchers at Thomas Jefferson University have found a new way in which synapses organization is controlled, which could eventually lead to better treatments for neurological diseases.

Researchers who study how synapses grow and are lost have long focused on a molecule called PSD-95, which helps create and maintain the scaffolding around which a synapse is built. A new paper, publishing in Nature Neuroscience October 19th, reveals that a second protein interacts with PSD-95 and enables adaptive changes, such as changes in sensation, to be translated into changes in the synaptic scaffold, changing the amount of PSD-95 at the synapse.

“We can’t see or learn or talk without synapses working properly,” says senior author Matthew Dalva, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Neuroscience at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University and the Farber Institute of Neuroscience at Jefferson and leader of the Theme Team for Synapse Biology. “We need a better understanding of how the brain works normally in order to develop a better sense of where to intervene to stop or cure diseases of the brain. It’s important to understand how these molecules interact.”