The findings in this study demonstrate that reduced neurofilament light chain levels suggest decreased neuroaxonal damage associated with immune modulation, supporting its potential role in targeting inflammatory processes in CLN1 without fully halting disease progression.
Background and Objectives.
Milkweed has found a new strategy in its epic evolutionary battle with monarch butterflies: upgrading its toxins to outmaneuver the monarch’s resistance. In a new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers find that adding a small structural element containing nitrogen and sulfur to milkweed’s toxins circumvents monarchs’ ability to block them. The research sheds light on an underappreciated evolutionary tactic for plants: that not only can they increase their levels of toxicity, they can also structurally innovate to create new classes or subclasses of toxins.
“This structural innovation is a new axis for defining chemical toxins in the natural world,” said co-author Christophe Duplais, associate professor of entomology at Cornell AgriTech, in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS). “This very simple modification makes a huge difference in terms of its ecological effect, because now this molecule is toxic to the monarch.”
Milkweed and monarchs have coevolved over millions of years, each building defenses and counter-defenses. One such defense is the monarchs’ ability to block milkweed’s toxins, called cardenolides, from binding to their target enzyme in the monarch’s cells. Monarchs have even evolved to sequester the toxins in their wings, to poison birds that peck at them.
Physicist Jim Al-Khalili explores the incomprehensible scale of the universe. A cosmic journey into the laws of gravity, relativity, and the formation of supergalaxies. Discover how the largest structures shape our understanding of the cosmos itself.
Director: Tim Usborne.
Writers: Jim Al-Khalili, Tim Usborne.
Stars: Prof. Jim Al-Khalili (Physicist, Presenter)
Genre: Science Documentary, Physics, Cosmology.
Country: United Kingdom.
Language: English Also Known As: Secrets of Size: Going Big (BBC)
Release Date: 2022
Filming Location: United Kingdom / Various International Locations.
Synopsis:
In this second episode of the fascinating series Secrets of Size, Professor Jim Al-Khalili takes us on a cosmic journey into the immensity, exploring the largest scale of the universe.
We leave behind the quantum realm to focus on the forces that govern the largest structures: gravity and relativity. Al-Khalili explains how these laws shape the existence of galaxies, galaxy clusters, and the immense supergalaxies.
The episode reveals the incomprehensible scale of the cosmos, where time and space are distorted, and how the study of these giants allows us to understand the origin, evolution, and perhaps the ultimate destiny of the universe itself.
Biomedical engineers from Brown University have developed a new wound dressing material that releases antibiotic drugs only when harmful bacteria are present in a wound. In the new study, published in the journal Science Advances, the researchers show that the material could help rapidly clear wound infections to accelerate healing while reducing the unnecessary use of antibiotics—a major driver of antibiotic resistance and hard-to-treat “superbug” infections that claim tens of thousands of lives worldwide each year.
The new material is a smart hydrogel loaded with an antibiotic cargo that can be placed directly on a wound under a bandage. The hydrogel is sensitive to an enzyme produced by many different types of harmful bacteria.
When the enzyme is present, the hydrogel starts to degrade, releasing the antibiotics trapped inside. But when no harmful bacteria are present, the hydrogel stays intact, safely locking its antibiotic cargo away.
Small-molecule enhancement of METTL3 S-palmitoylation as a therapeutic strategy for osteoarthritis.
METTL3 undergoes S-palmitoylation, which promotes cytoplasmic phase separation to facilitate mRNA translation and maintain its stability. We identify a small molecule that enhances this modification, providing a mechanistic basis for a potential osteoarthritis therapy.
Facilitating precision therapy in Prostate Cancer…
https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI194949 Wael Y. Mansour & team discover ERG overexpression as a biomarker for identifying patients with prostate cancer who can benefit from PARPi-based radiosensitization, enhancing radiotherapy efficacy and reducing toxicity. The image: Samples of an ERG-positive PCa tumor following irradiation and PARP inhibition reveal a bystander effect; p53-binding protein 1 foci (red) in ERG-positive (green) and ERG-negative cells; nuclei (blue).
1Department of Radiotherapy and Radiooncology and.
2Mildred Scheel Cancer Career Center HaTriCS4, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
3Pharmacology and Experimental Oncology Unit, Cancer Biology Department, National Cancer Institute, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
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Up next, Sean Carroll explains the biggest ideas in the universe | Full Interview ► • Sean Carroll explains the biggest ideas in…
A century after the birth of quantum mechanics, physicists still argue about what the theory is really describing. Does the wave function represent something real, or just our knowledge? Why does “measurement” appear in the laws of nature at all?
Sean Carroll reveals how quantum mechanics solved one set of problems while creating a deeper one.
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