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One-question screen may flag hoarding in Alzheimer’s and other dementias

Researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz have developed a simple, one-question screening tool that could help doctors quickly identify hoarding behaviors in patients with memory loss and other brain disorders. Early detection, they said, could lead to early intervention, helping to reduce safety risks, relieve caregiver stress and improve the quality of life for both patients and families.

The new tool was examined in a study published this month in The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences. The study was co-led by Peter Pressman, MD and Julia Schaffer, BA. The senior author is David Arciniegas, MD, professor of neurology at CU Anschutz.

“This was really born of shared observations in the memory clinic,” said Pressman, associate professor of neurology at Oregon Health & Science University who conducted the research while at CU Anschutz. “We noticed that hoarding was very common in these patients but it was not part of any screening protocols.”

Engineered protein markers read living brain gene activity in monkeys via blood

Gene therapy has been successfully used to treat a number of diseases, including immune deficiencies, hereditary blindness, hemophilia and, recently, Huntington’s disease, a fatal neurological disorder.

An advance reported in the journal Neuron adds to the technique’s growing track record of evidence supporting the view that it could unlock powerful, personalized therapies: Rice University bioengineer Jerzy Szablowski and collaborators in Vincent Costa’s lab at Emory University found that released markers of activity (RMAs) — engineered proteins designed to cross the blood-brain barrier and persist in the blood for hours at a time, providing a reliable and noninvasive way to get information about gene expression in the brain — work just as well in monkeys as they do in mice.

On the route from laboratory discovery to lifesaving treatment, large animal model studies are a critical part of the process. Most research never reaches this stage.

Natural Killer Cell Dysregulation During ALS Disease ProgressionA Gene Expression Analysis

Study finds that natural killer (NK) cells grow more dysregulated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) progression and exhibit increasing characteristics of type 2 polarization or immune exhaustion.

Background and Objectives.

Bioengineered neuronal ‘circuit board’ mimics conditions of the human brain

A new bioengineered neuronal circuit board “BioConNet” allows scientists to artificially engineer human brain-like wiring at scale and can be used to engineer any possible circuit. The fully programmable, open-source system allows generation of large-scale circuits, while maintaining the ability to focus on single connections between neurons.

This is a key advance in engineering human-like neural circuits as it allows for a new level of wiring complexity compared to previous systems. BioConNet allows scientists increased control over wiring in the culture compared to existing methods such as organoids and commercially available systems. The research is published in the journal Advanced Healthcare Materials.

“By combining engineering and neurobiology with the most recent stem cell culture techniques, we can now create human-specific, functional, large-scale complex neural circuits in the lab,” said senior author, Dr. Andrea Serio, Reader in Neural Tissue Engineering, Group Leader at the UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) at King’s and Senior Group Leader at the Crick.

High-Pressure Freezing EM Tomography of Entire Ribbon Synapses in the Retina

JNeurosci: Using advanced electron microscopy in rats, Zhang et al. captured 3D images of chemical synapses that perform visual computations in the retina. Their findings reveal how neural connections are structured for efficient visual signaling.

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In the retina, presynaptic active zones in photoreceptors and bipolar cells are distinguished by a plate-like “ribbon” linked to the plasma membrane (PM) and surrounded by dozens of synaptic vesicles (SVs) tethered to it. SVs at the base of the ribbon, closest to the PM, are thought to constitute the readily releasable vesicle pool (RRP), i.e., SVs primed to be released 1–2 ms following stimulation. The number of SVs in the RRP is a critical synaptic parameter that influences synaptic strength and varies with light levels to enable ribbon synapses to compute visual information. Physiological RRP measurements agree well with anatomical estimates obtained via electron microscopy (EM), although EM often employs chemical fixation, which causes exocytotic artifacts that may influence RRP size.

BREAKING: A Dark Mysterious Force Just Ripped Across the Milky Way

A viral post claimed that a mysterious force passed through the Milky Way without light or warning. But what are astronomers actually observing? In this video, we break down the real science behind high-velocity gas clouds, dark matter halos, and how our galaxy continues to evolve.

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction.
00:51 DISCOVERY
03:05 SCIENTIFIC IMPORTANCE & THEORIES
05:32 IMPLICATIONS & WHAT’S NEXT
08:15 Outro.
08:39 Enjoy.

MUSIC TITLE : Starlight Harmonies.

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Blood test predicts which bladder cancer patients may safely skip surgery

Circulating tumor DNA, or ctDNA, can predict metastatic risk in patients who receive bladder-sparing treatment for muscle-invasive bladder cancer, but it is not a good predictor of local recurrence within the bladder, according to new data presented today by Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers.

The study also showed that the absence of ctDNA predicted favorable outcomes, regardless of whether the patient’s bladder was removed or not. Circulating tumor DNA are tiny fragments of DNA left behind by cancer cells as they die off during treatment.

The study, which reports updated data from the phase 2 RETAIN-2 clinical trial, could be used to help guide treatment decisions for patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC), said first author Pooja Ghatalia, MD, an Associate Professor in the Department of Hematology/Oncology at Fox Chase. She conducted the study with senior author Daniel M. Geynisman, MD, Chief of the Division of Genitourinary Medical Oncology, and a number of other Fox Chase clinicians.

GATA-3 localization shapes lymphocyte function

Saikali et al. describe differential compartmentalization of GATA-3 in Th cell and ILC subsets. Changing it modifies functional characteristics of the cells. Importin-β mediates GATA-3’s nuclear import. The short half-life of nuclear GATA-3 necessitates continuous GATA-3 import to maintain Th2 cell function. GATA-3’s nuclear import is a critical rheostat of lymphocytes.

Distances and charges along the Orai1 nexus-TM3 interface control STIM1 binding and pore opening

Calcium influx through CRAC channels requires STIM1 binding to Orai1. Using crosslinking and mutagenesis, Söllner et al. show that widening the nexus-TM3 interface near the STIM1 coupling site is crucial for channel opening, while hydrophobicity and charges support signal transmission to the pore. Nexus-TM3 dynamics are vital for Orai1 function.

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