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Genome analysis shows how decades of lab cultivation turned C. botulinum, the canned food killer, into a potent tool for medicine and the beauty industry

Scientists have discovered how to turn a protein that normally fuels cancer growth into a weapon against it. By activating PPARD in immune cells, researchers made them better at burning fat and attacking tumors, slowing or stopping cancer growth in laboratory experiments. The approach showed promise against colorectal, breast, and ovarian cancers, as well as melanoma.

Judge says Congress must decide whether to extend a pause on reorganization and relocations

Scientists have uncovered a hidden biological mechanism that helps explain how exercise can reverse some of the damage caused by muscle aging. The key is a gene called DEAF1, which becomes overactive with age and interferes with the muscles’ ability to clear damaged proteins and repair themselves. Exercise can help restore this balance, allowing older muscles to rebuild and regain strength, although the benefits may diminish when the system becomes too disrupted.

Even under general anesthesia, the human brain can analyze language, recognize different types of words, and predict what comes next in a story, according to a surprising discovery by Baylor researchers. The findings challenge our understanding of consciousness and suggest that the unconscious brain is far more capable than scientists previously realized.

Eating late at night could be putting your liver at risk, according to a large study led by Oregon Health & Science University. Researchers analyzed data from nearly 200,000 people and found that those who regularly ate after dinner or around bedtime had a 20% to 30% higher risk of liver disease, including fatty liver disease and cirrhosis.

Scientists have discovered that unusually small cancer cells carrying extra chromosomes can be far more aggressive than larger ones, growing faster, spreading more readily, and resisting common treatments. The surprising finding could help explain why some tumors are especially dangerous and provide a new way to predict cancer outcomes.

A rare examination of an Alzheimer’s patient’s brain revealed that regions cleared of amyloid plaques had remarkably little of the harmful tau buildup associated with memory loss, while neighboring areas showed extensive damage. The discovery suggests that removing amyloid may have lasting protective effects and could help slow Alzheimer’s progression, especially when treatment begins early.

Here, we conduct a large meta-analysis of DNA methylation across multiple cortical brain regions, in relation to increasing burden of Lewy body pathology. Utilizing a dataset of 1205 samples (832 unique donors), we identify 24 false discovery rate significant differentially methylated loci associated with Lewy body pathology, with loci located in UBASH3B and PTAFR, and an intergenic locus passing the genome-wide significance threshold. Ontological enrichment analysis highlights several...

Cognitive reserve theory posits that compensatory mechanisms during aging stave off cognitive decline and lower risk for Alzheimer's disease. Here, in a screen for hippocampal dentate granule cell (DGC) synapse loss-induced factors in mice, we identified a secreted phospholipase, Pla2g2f, whose expression increases in DGCs during aging and is associated with cognitive resilience in humans. Pla2g2f deletion in DGCs exacerbates aging-associated pathophysiological changes, including synapse loss,...

Population-based studies on the relation between polygenic longevity scores (PGLSs) and specific brain regions on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are few. We aimed to investigate this relationship in a population of 70-year-olds from Gothenburg, Sweden (N = 675). We constructed two PGLSs (one with and one without the APOE locus) using longevity GWAS summary statistics. MRI outcomes included total grey matter, white matter (WM), WM hyperintensities (WMHs), subcortical volumes, small vessel...

Cognitive reserve theory posits that compensatory mechanisms during aging stave off cognitive decline and lower risk for Alzheimer's disease. Here, in a screen for hippocampal dentate granule cell (DGC) synapse loss-induced factors in mice, we identified a secreted phospholipase, Pla2g2f, whose expression increases in DGCs during aging and is associated with cognitive resilience in humans. Pla2g2f deletion in DGCs exacerbates aging-associated pathophysiological changes, including synapse loss,...

Oxidative stress resistance is an important trait that contributes to the long lifespan of Drosophila melanogaster, but its epigenetic inheritance via transgenerational transmission has been poorly studied. In this study, using reciprocal crosses between normal-lifespan (NLS) and long-lifespan (LLS) lines, we investigated the transgenerational inheritance of paraquat-induced oxidative stress resistance across the parental, F(1), and F(2) generations, assessing survival, locomotor performance,...

Age-related changes in hepatocyte ploidy, binucleation, proliferative activity, and senescence-associated cell-cycle arrest may jointly influence liver regenerative capacity, but these features are usually evaluated separately. We developed two composite indices and examined their behavior in a long-term rat model of chronic circadian disruption. Male Wistar rats were assigned to control lighting, constant illumination (dark deprivation; DD), or constant illumination with melatonin (DD +...

Metabolic homeostasis and female reproductive health are governed by tightly coupled regulatory systems, yet their reciprocal interactions have often been investigated in isolation. In this Review, we synthesize current epidemiological, mechanistic and clinical evidence to propose an integrated framework in which dynamic, bidirectional crosstalk between key metabolic organs and endocrine mediators constitutes a central determinant of female reproductive function across the life course. We...

Aging-associated intestinal dysfunction is characterized by impaired epithelial homeostasis, excessive intestinal stem cell (ISC) proliferation, and progressive barrier deterioration. Although oxidative stress is widely recognized as a major driver of intestinal aging, the mechanisms linking redox imbalance to ISC dysregulation remain incompletely understood. In this study, we investigated the effects of dietary chlorogenic acid (CGA) treatment using Drosophila models of physiological aging,...

APOE4 is the strongest genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer's disease, yet the cellular mechanisms linking APOE variants to disease risk remain unclear. We previously found that APOE4 expression causes lipid droplet accumulation in oligodendrocytes, reducing myelination, but the underlying mechanisms were unknown. Using a genome-wide CRISPR screen and assay for transposase-accessible chromatin (ATAC) sequencing in human-induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived oligodendrocytes, we...

Gamma oscillations are fundamental for cognitive processing, but the cellular and circuit dynamics that generate them remain poorly defined. Establishing a method for simultaneous calcium imaging and electrocorticography recordings in awake mice, we found that spontaneous gamma oscillations are accompanied by dynamic transitions between parvalbumin (PV) interneuron states. Rather than acting as a uniformly synchronized population, PV interneurons showed sequential recruitment, transient...

CONCLUSIONS: Self-reported gait speed and grip strength measures demonstrated limited validity compared with objective assessments in older adults with mild frailty and should be used cautiously as substitutes for measuring weakness and slowness in this population. Trial Registration: ISRCTN Registry: ISRCTN54268283.