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Certain T cells can secrete cytokines that are normally part of the innate immune system, as researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology (Leibniz-HKI) and an international research team discovered. They have thus revealed several previously unknown properties of these immune cells that are relevant regarding both autoimmune diseases as well as fighting fungal infections. The study was published in Nature Immunology.

T cells belong to the adaptive immune system, which recognizes foreign antigens and specifically fights pathogens. Different T cells perform different functions in this process. So-called T helper cells secrete cytokines that attract other immune cells to the site of infection and trigger inflammation there. However, T helper cells can also counteract inflammation. Better understanding these mechanisms helps in the development of therapeutics against pathogens or autoimmune diseases.

“We found a cytokine in a subset of T helper cells, the Th17 cells, that was previously known to be part of the innate immune system,” explains study leader Christina Zielinski. She heads the Department of Infection Immunology at Leibniz-HKI and is a professor at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena. The cytokine, called IL-1α, is strongly pro-inflammatory. “It is a signal molecule for danger. Even the smallest amounts are enough to trigger fever,” Zielinski said. It is thought to be involved in autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis in children.

We’ve all seen Cyborgs in Hollywood blockbusters. But it turns out these fictional beings aren’t so far-fetched. In fact, this program features a true-to-life cyborg, who at four months of age, was the youngest American to be outfitted with a myoelectric hand. And at one ground-breaking engineering.
facility, engineers are developing biotechnologies that can even further enhance high-tech like this by giving mechanical prosthetics something incredible: the physical sensation of touch!

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Continue reading “Prosthetics, Telepathy & Robo-Implants: The Cyborg Revolution | Futurism & Robots Documentary (Ep 1)” »

Check out all the on-demand sessions from the Intelligent Security Summit here.

For years, encryption has played a core role in securing enterprise data. However, as quantum computers become more advanced, traditional encryption solutions and public-key cryptography (PKC) standards, which enterprise and consumer vendors rely on to secure their products, are at serious risk of decryption.

Today, IBM Institute for Business Value issued a new report titled Security in the Quantum Era, examining the reality of quantum risk and the need for enterprise adoption of quantum-safe capabilities to safeguard the integrity of critical applications and infrastructure as the risk of decryption increases.

UK Atomics, a subsidiary of the company applied to the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) for a GDA by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) and the Environment Agency (EA). This assessment aims to assess the safety, security, and environmental protection aspects of any nuclear power plant design that is intended to be deployed in the UK.

In May 2021, BEIS opened the GDA process to advanced nuclear technologies, including small modular reactors (SMRs). Successful completion of the GDA culminates in the issue of a Design Acceptance Confirmation from the ONR and a Statement of Design Acceptability from the EA. Rolls-Royce SMR was the first vendor to submit an application for a GDA of an SMR design. Its 470 MWe pressurised water reactor design was accepted for review in March 2022. In December, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy submitted a GDA entry application for its BWRX-300 SMR, and Holtec International has stated its intention to submit an application for its SMR-160 design.

UK Atomics molten salt reactor design uses unpressurised heavy water as a moderator, while the reactor is intended to burn nuclear waste while breeding new fuel from thorium. The company says, with an output of 100 MWt, it is small enough to allow for mass manufacturing and assembly line production.

This boy from Africa shows you anything is possible if you have the will, even if you have no money, training, or formal education. Imagine what this kid could do with more resources.

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Joby makes EVTOL vehicles intended for small trips like Austin to Houston. A year ago they were the first EVTOL company to complete a 150 mile all electric flight. Check out this video to see the engineering innvolved.

PCB boards, CNC machining, Sheet metal fabrication, Injection molding, and 3D printing ➡️ https://www.pcbway.com/

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A new privilege escalation vulnerability has been identified in the Linux kernel by researcher Davide Ornaghi. This vulnerability might enable a local attacker to execute code on vulnerable computers with elevated rights if the kernel is installed on those systems. Additionally, Davide published the proof-of-concept and the write-up. The vulnerability, which has been assigned the tracking number CVE-2023–0179, is a stack-based buffer overflow that exists in the Netfilter subsystem. An authorized attacker might exploit this issue to get elevated privileges as root if the attacker executed a program that had been carefully written for the purpose.

The Linux kernel has a framework known as netfilter that enables a variety of networking-related actions to be performed in the form of individualized handlers. This may be accomplished by filtering incoming network packets. Netfilter provides the functionality necessary for directing packets through a network and preventing packets from reaching sensitive locations within a network by offering a variety of functions and operations for packet filtering, network address translation, and port translation. [1] These features allow Netfilter to provide the functionality required for directing packets through a network.

Continue reading “A new privilege escalation vulnerability in the Linux kernel, enables a local attacker to execute malware on vulnerable systems” »

Cytokine mediated sustained inflammation increases the risk to develop different complex chronic inflammatory diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Recent studies highlighted the involvement of inflammation associated gene variants in m6A methylation. Moreover, long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) participate in the pathogenesis of inflammatory disorders and their function can be influenced by differential methylation. Here we describe the functional implication of LOC339803 lncRNA in the development of IBD. We found that allele-specific m6A methylation affects YTHDC1 mediated protein binding affinity. LOC339803-YTHDC1 interaction dictates chromatin localization of LOC339803 ultimately inducing IL1B and contributing to the development of intestinal inflammation. Our findings were confirmed using human intestinal biopsy samples from IBD and controls. Overall, our results support LOC339803 lncRNA as an important mediator of intestinal inflammation, presenting this lncRNA as a potential novel therapeutic target for the treatment of IBD.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

CRISPR/Cas9 technology-mediated genome editing has significantly improved the targeted inactivation of genes in vitro and in vivo in many organisms. In this study, we have reported a novel CRISPR-based vector system for conditional tissue-specific gene ablation in zebrafish. Specifically, the cardiac-specific cardiac myosins light chain 2 (cmlc2) promoter drives Cas9 expression to silence the neuropilin-1(nrp1) gene in cardiomyocytes in a heat-shock inducible manner. This vector system establishes a unique tool to regulate the gene knockout in both the developmental and adult stages and hence, widens the possibility of loss-of-function studies in zebrafish at different stages of development and adulthood. Using this approach, we investigated the role of neuropilin isoforms nrp1a and nrp1b in response to cardiac injury and regeneration in adult zebrafish hearts. We observed that both the isoforms (nrp1a and nrp1b) are upregulated after the cryoinjury. Interestingly, the nrp1b-knockout significantly altered heart regeneration and impaired cardiac function in the adult zebrafish, demonstrated by reduced heart rate (ECG), ejection fractions, and fractional shortening. In addition, we show that the knockdown of nrp1b but not nrp1a induces activation of the cardiac remodeling genes in response to cryoinjury. To our knowledge, this is the first study where we have reported a heat shock-mediated conditional knockdown of nrp1a and nrp1b isoforms using CRISPR/Cas9 technology in the cardiomyocyte in zebrafish, and furthermore have identified a crucial role for nrp1b isoform in zebrafish cardiac remodeling and eventually heart function in response to injury.

The authors have declared no competing interest.