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The breakthrough proof bringing mathematics closer to a grand unified theory
New transplant techniques keep organ donors’ hearts healthy—even after they stop beating
Strategies for preserving the heart after circulation stops could avoid ethical concerns and enable more transplants
‘Lazy’ authors? One in six scientific papers mischaracterize work they cite
New study of long-standing problem takes novel approach, asking cited authors to evaluate accuracy
A mushroom that escaped from kitchens could be harming North American wildlife
The golden oyster mushroom has gone rogue, displacing native fungi that live in dead trees
Majority of fruit fly immunity studies can be replicated, huge analysis finds
Verification of 50 years of data bolsters immunology research, but identifies “suspicious” papers that don’t hold up
Ancient human ancestor emerges from sunken Southeast Asian landmass
Submerged fossils are revealing long-held secrets from a region known as Sundaland
A genetically encoded selection for amyloid-β oligomer binders
Soluble amyloid-β oligomers (AβOs) are a hypothesized source of neurotoxicity in Alzheimer disease. Binding proteins that recognize these species may have high utility in diagnostic and therapeutic applications. However, identifying binders to AβOs directly generated from the aggregation cascade is challenging because of the short lifetime and low concentrations of oligomer populations. We report a strategy to detect binding to AβOs formed during Aβ42 aggregation using a genetically encoded...
Smart brain-zapping implants could revolutionize Parkinson's treatment
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Global collaboration is key to decoding Alzheimer's disease
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The Global Neurodegeneration Proteomics Consortium: biomarker and drug target discovery for common neurodegenerative diseases and aging
More than 57 million people globally suffer from neurodegenerative diseases, a figure expected to double every 20 years. Despite this growing burden, there are currently no cures, and treatment options remain limited due to disease heterogeneity, prolonged preclinical and prodromal phases, poor understanding of disease mechanisms, and diagnostic challenges. Identifying novel biomarkers is crucial for improving early detection, prognosis, staging and subtyping of these conditions....
APOE ε4 carriers share immune-related proteomic changes across neurodegenerative diseases
The APOE ε4 genetic variant is the strongest genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) and is increasingly being implicated in other neurodegenerative diseases. Using the Global Neurodegeneration Proteomics Consortium SomaScan dataset covering 1,346 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and 9,924 plasma samples, we used machine learning-based proteome profiling to identify an APOE ε4 proteomic signature shared across individuals with AD, frontotemporal dementia (FTD), Parkinson's disease...
Shared and disease-specific pathways in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases
Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs), such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD), exhibit distinct yet overlapping pathological mechanisms. Leveraging large-scale plasma proteomics data from the Global Neurodegeneration Proteomics Consortium, we analyzed 10,527 plasma samples (1,936 AD, 525 PD, 163 FTD, 1,638 dementia and 6,265 controls) to identify disease-specific and shared proteins across NDs. We identified 5,187 proteins significantly associated...
Time is encoded by methylation changes at clustered CpG sites
Age-dependent changes in DNA methylation allow chronological and biological age inference, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Using ultra-deep sequencing of >300 blood samples from healthy individuals, we show that age-dependent methylation changes occur regionally across clusters of CpG sites either stochastically or in a coordinated block-like manner. Deep learning of single-molecule patterns from two genomic loci predicts chronological age with a median accuracy of 1.36-1.7 years...
Killing wisely: precision senolytics in the age of frailty
Cellular senescence plays a dual role in tissue biology by promoting tumor suppression and wound healing when transient but driving inflammation, fibrosis, and age-related disease when persistent. The growing recognition that senescent cell clearance can reverse these pathologies has catalyzed efforts to develop therapeutics that preferentially kill senescent cells (also known as "senolytics"). However, clinical translation from bench to bedside remains challenging due to senescent state...
Scaling life as an interspecies hallmark of aging
Across species, the "pace of life"-encompassing development, reproduction, and senescence-varies widely, yet the molecular mechanisms that regulate these interspecies trajectories of aging remain elusive. Even among vertebrates, a 1000-fold difference in life span is observed between species, ranging from several months in the turquoise killifish to half a millennium in the Greenland shark. As a relatively "young" area of investigation, aging research lacks the unifying conceptual frameworks...
Activated GDF11/8 subforms predict cardiovascular events and mortality in humans
Circulating Growth Differentiation Factors 11 and 8 (GDF11/8) exist in both latent and active forms, and it is unclear if specific forms can predict disease outcomes. Our data suggest that a dual-specific aptamer selectively binds GDF11/8 after prodomain activation. In 11,609 patients at risk for future cardiovascular events, low dual-specific aptamer-detected GDF11/8 levels strongly predicted adverse outcomes, including cardiovascular events (HR = 0.43, p = 9.1 × 10⁻⁶³) and all-cause mortality...
Sirtuins and their role in ovarian aging-related fibrosis predisposing to ovarian cancer
The pursuit of understanding early genetic or protein markers for ovarian aging has garnered considerable attention in the realm of reproductive medicine. Sirtuins (SIRTs) are a group of proteins that are NAD^(+)-dependent, and thanks to their properties, they are able to change the acetylation profile of proteins and post-translationally modify their functions, too. Previous research provided evidence that SIRTs influence fibrosis levels in several organs. With regard to ovaries, fibrosis is...
Differentiation, ageing and leukaemia alter the metabolic profile of human bone marrow haematopoietic stem and progenitor cells
Metabolic cues are crucial for regulating haematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). However, the metabolic profile of human HSPCs remains poorly understood due to the limited number of cells and the scarcity of bone marrow samples. Here we present the integrated metabolome, lipidome and transcriptome of human adult HSPCs (lineage^(-), CD34^(+), CD38^(-)) upon differentiation, ageing and acute myeloid leukaemia. The combination of low-input targeted metabolomics with our newly optimized...
Disease burden, lifetime healthcare cost and long-term intervention impact projections among older adults in Singapore
Singapore's rapidly aging population and increasing healthcare demands highlight the need for projections to inform policy planning. Here we adapted a previously published dynamic Markov microsimulation model, the Future Elderly Model, to estimate disease trajectories and healthcare expenditure among adults aged 51 years and older in Singapore. The model simulated four long-term lifestyle interventions aligned with the Healthier SG program from 2020 to 2050. Our projections indicate an...
Proteomic aging signatures across mouse organs and life stages
Aging is associated with the accumulation of molecular damage, functional decline, increasing disease prevalence, and ultimately mortality. Although our system-wide understanding of aging has significantly progressed at the genomic and transcriptomic levels, the availability of large-scale proteomic datasets remains limited. To address this gap, we have conducted an unbiased quantitative proteomic analysis in male C57BL/6J mice, examining eight key organs (brain, heart, lung, liver, kidney,...