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Compounds responsible for the aroma of cannabis and many other plants may offer a surprising new way to relieve chronic pain. Researchers found that several cannabis-derived terpenes significantly reduced pain in mouse models of fibromyalgia and post-surgical pain, with one terpene, geraniol, showing especially strong effects. Unlike THC, these compounds are not associated with psychoactive effects, making them a potentially attractive alternative for pain treatment.

Scientists have discovered that a gene normally considered a DNA-protecting "good guy" can become dangerous when cells make too much of it. The gene, EXO1, acts like molecular scissors that help repair DNA, but when overproduced it starts cutting DNA it shouldn't, creating damage linked to cancer.

The obesity treatment landscape is changing fast, with GLP-1 drugs opening the door to more effective care than ever before. Experts now envision a future where medications, minimally invasive procedures, surgery, and precision medicine work together to deliver better long-term results.

Eating five servings of fruits and vegetables may not be enough if you're missing foods rich in flavanols, a group of compounds linked to better heart health. Researchers found that choices like blackberries, plums, apples, broad beans, cherries, and green tea can dramatically increase flavanol intake.

A newly identified molecule called OLE helped restore the brain’s immune cells to a more protective state in Alzheimer’s models. The treatment reduced toxic plaque buildup and improved memory, raising hopes for a new therapeutic approach.

After tumultuous Fable 5 takedown, scientists fear AI safety rules could reshape open research

Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling is increasingly recognized as a central regulator in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD). PD is a chronic neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc), driven by a complex interplay of mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, and neuroinflammation. While basal MAPK activity is essential for neuroprotection and neuronal growth, its overactivation,...

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by a prolonged asymptomatic phase before cognitive decline emerges, yet the mechanisms driving symptom onset remain unclear. Here, we hypothesized that the transition from asymptomatic to symptomatic disease is linked to dysfunction of brain-immune communication. Retrograde neuronal tracing in the 5xFAD mouse model of amyloidosis reveals reduced brain-spleen connectivity at advanced disease stages. To probe the functional role of the brain-spleen axis in...

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a heterogeneous neurodevelopmental condition. Studies of postmortem ASD brain tissue have revealed convergent molecular changes across the cortex. Whether these features are reflected in cell-type-specific epigenetic signatures is unknown. Here, we present a single-cell analysis of DNA methylation (DNAm) coupled with transcriptomics in ASD. Using snmCT-seq, we profiled DNAm and transcript levels from over 60,000 nuclei derived from the prefrontal cortex of 49...

Whether aging arises primarily from the progressive accumulation of molecular damage (error-based theories) or from regulated, development-related processes (programmatic theories) has been debated for more than a century. This question is central to aging research and shapes our conceptual understanding of aging. Although the existence of a dedicated aging program and the evolutionary advantage of aging remains controversial, the possibility that aging confers adaptive benefits at the species...

Cardiac aging is a fundamental contributor to heart failure, arrhythmias, impaired stress tolerance, and reduced cardiovascular resilience in the elderly. While intrinsic myocardial aging has been widely examined, the systemic mechanisms driving age-related cardiac decline are not fully understood. Circulating extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as key mediators of intercellular and inter-organ communication, transferring proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids that modify the phenotypes of...

CONCLUSIONS: Black older adults without caregivers had the worst observed EOL care quality. Caregiver presence was associated with narrower but persistent racial differences, suggesting structural factors that may attenuate the benefits of caregiving for Black older adults. Policy interventions designed to provide culturally responsive support to minority caregivers may help reduce racial disparities in EOL care quality.

NAT10 is the sole eukaryotic acetyltransferase that catalyzes N4-acetylcytidine (ac⁴C) modification of RNA. While dysregulation of NAT10 is associated with cancer and premature aging syndromes, the requirement for its acetyltransferase activity and how NAT10 coordinates catalysis and RNA binding remain poorly understood. Here, we report single particle cryo-electron microscopy structures of eukaryotic (Chaetomium thermophilum) NAT10 in complex with a designer cytidine-CoA cofactor-based ligand...

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by early-onset cognitive decline, includes two major pathologic types: FTD-Tau and FTD-TDP. Coiled-coil-helix-coiled-coil-helix domain containing 10 (CHCHD10) encodes a mitochondrial protein, and the CHCHD10^(V57E) variant is a novel mutation clinically identified in FTD patients. The role of CHCHD10 mutants in the pathogenesis of FTD-TDP has been largely reported. However, whether CHCHD10 variants impact the FTD-tau...

Aging is increasingly viewed as an organism-wide process marked by systemic decline and multimorbidity. This Review frames immunosenescence as a context-dependent mediator, amplifier, or consequence of multi-organ dysfunction, integrating niche-centered mechanisms, bidirectional immune-organ interactions, innate-adaptive remodeling, immune-tissue axes, and multidimensional biomarkers. We also highlight current limitations, including context heterogeneity and unresolved causality, and discuss...

Lipid metabolism is closely related to aging, and its disorders can lead to obesity, insulin resistance, cardiovascular diseases, and various other conditions. The accumulation of lipids caused by increased lipid synthesis is key in the development of obesity, but the molecular mechanisms of increased lipid synthesis remain to be thoroughly studied, especially in the context of aging. In this work, we used in vivo and in vitro models to demonstrate that the long noncoding RNA Lncbate1...

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CONCLUSION: Cumulative heat exposure poses a significant risk to older adults' mental health, but community-based preventive health services can serve as vital institutional adaptation capital to buffer this risk. Prioritizing targeted health education to bridge the knowledge-action gap, alongside continuous health records monitoring in resource-constrained rural and middle regions, offers an equitable strategy for enhancing climate resilience in aging societies.

CONCLUSION: Health policies developed by the Ministry of Health that take into account the factors associated with healthcare access among older adults are crucial to improving service usage in this sociodemographic. This study presents empirical evidence that can help the Ministry of Health build effective access initiatives for older adults. In this sense, health policies that focus on criteria such as health status and health literacy may help to reduce obstacles to healthcare access and...

Dysregulation of RNA m⁶A modification has been implicated in Alzheimer's disease (AD), but the molecular mechanisms remain largely unclear. Here, we identified the presence of m⁶A on mitochondria-encoded messenger RNAs (mt-mRNAs) in the brain, with elevated levels correlated with amyloid-β (Aβ) deposition. Under physiological conditions, cytosolic m⁶A-modified mt-Nd4 is recognized and degraded by the m⁶A reader protein YTHDF2, thereby preventing aberrant activation of the RIG-I-MAVS innate...