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How research hospitals are meeting the world’s health challenges
Ancient viral DNA helps human embryos develop
Author Correction: Prophylactic TNF blockade uncouples efficacy and toxicity in dual CTLA-4 and PD-1 immunotherapy
Aging puts Leydig cells in a tough spot
Will your study change the world? This AI tool predicts the impact of your research
Six journal rejections and a major rethink: why I’m happy to admit to my research failures, and you should too
AI is dreaming up millions of new materials. Are they any good?
Trees of the Amazon are becoming even mightier
Wildfire smoke is charring your wine. This microbe could help
Bacteria already living on grapes can break down smoky chemicals that wreck flavor
AI reveals vast ‘ghost forests’ along U.S. coast
Machine learning method counts nearly 12 million dead trees, many likely killed by rising seas
Prehistoric camel art pointed to precious water sources in the Arabian Desert
Hunter-gatherers may have used the engravings to find water 12,000 years ago
‘Thrilled’ Indonesian scientists celebrate return of fossil trove from the Netherlands
The items to be returned, which include Java Man, were collected during the colonial era
Impact of senescent fibroblasts secretome in ovarian cancer dissemination
Aging is a significant risk factor in ovarian cancers, which remains one of the most lethal gynecological malignancies. Over 50 % of ovarian cancer cases occur in women aged 65 and older. During aging, senescent cells progressively accumulate in various tissues, contributing to structural and inflammatory changes in the tumor microenvironment. While recent studies have underscored the role of the senescent mesothelial cells in facilitating cancer cell dissemination, the contribution of senescent...
Stabilizing dual-phased perovskite towards high performance photovoltaics with enhanced batch stability and consistency
Fabricating high-performance perovskite solar cells (PSCs) with solution processing is conducive to low-cost commercial production, it is therefore rather critical to stabilize perovskite in both solution and solid phases. For this purpose, the speed-up ageing of perovskite solution in air was systematically studied and its severe spontaneous degradation was observed. To address this issue, we introduce 4-(trifluoromethyl) phenylhydrazine (TFPH) to modify the perovskite solution, which presents...
A centenarian single nucleotide polymorphism in collagen gene COL25A1 promotes longevity in C. elegans
Before human genome sequencing, a genome-wide study of sibling centenarian pairs identified a longevity-associated locus on chromosome 4. Here, we mapped the genes in this locus and identified a collagen gene, COL25A1. Introducing an SNP linked to longevity that changes a serine predicted to be phosphorylated to leucine in COL25A1, into col-99, the C. elegans ortholog, extended lifespan. These col-99(gk694263[S106L]) SNP-mutants exhibited enhanced innate immune-related transcriptional responses,...
Contribution of leukocyte telomere length to cardiovascular disease onset from genome-wide cross-trait analysis
Telomere shortening is a well-established marker of cellular aging and genomic instability. While the relationship between leukocyte telomere length and cardiovascular diseases has long been of interest, their genetic interplay remains incompletely understood. In this study, we observe substantial genetic overlap beyond genome-wide correlations and identify a potential causal relationship between leukocyte telomere length and coronary artery disease. Specifically, we discover 248 pleiotropic...
Aging: the wound that never starts healing
Aging is a complex biological process leading to functional decline and disease susceptibility. This article proposes that chronic activation of tissue damage response mechanisms drives aging, with aged organs exhibiting features similar to those seen after acute injury, such as histolysis, inflammation, immune cell infiltration, accumulation of lipid droplets, and induction of cellular senescence. The overlap between injury and aging phenotypes is supported by evidence that interventions...
Diabetes reshapes pancreatic cancer-associated endothelial niche by accelerating senescence
Approximately half of pancreatic cancer patients present with comorbid diabetes. Diabetes is correlated with adverse prognostic outcomes in pancreatic cancer patients, but the underlying mechanism remains elusive. Here, we demonstrate that the cancer-associated endothelial niche is reshaped in the diabetic pancreatic tumor microenvironment and enhances the tumor-promoting capacity. Senescent endothelial cells expand in the diabetic tumor microenvironment and produce a potential...
Biliverdin reductase A is a major determinant of protective NRF2 signaling
Biliverdin reductase A (BVRA), the terminal enzyme in heme catabolism, generates the neuroprotective and lipophilic antioxidant bilirubin. Here, we identify a nonenzymatic role for BVRA in redox regulation. Through phylogenetic, genetic, biochemical, and enzymatic assays, we found that BVRA exerts critical nonenzymatic antioxidant activity. Transcriptomic analyses further revealed that BVRA physically and genetically interacts with nuclear factor erythroid-derived factor-like 2 (NRF2), a major...
Aging Increases Short, Inverted Repeat-Mediated Genomic Instability In Vivo
Genomic instability is a hallmark of aging and cancer. A key contributor to genomic instability includes alternative DNA structures, such as cruciform-forming inverted repeats (IRs). Short IRs (< 100 bps) are abundant in the human genome, mutagenic, and enriched at mutation hotspots in human cancer genomes. Using an innovative mutation-reporter mouse model, we showed that short IRs are mutagenic in vivo. Further, we found that aging exacerbates IR-induced genomic instability, as evidenced by...