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Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel honored for developing optogenetics

Scientists have discovered that E-cadherin, a protein best known as the “glue” holding cells and tissues together, has a surprising second job: helping epithelial cells swallow nearby dead cells. Using live zebrafish and mouse embryos, researchers found that cells can dramatically reshape their lower surfaces to engulf cellular debris while keeping their upper surfaces stable, allowing protective barriers to remain sealed.

Researchers found that just 20 minutes of comfortable walking can rapidly stimulate the gut. Within one to two minutes after exercise, bowel sounds became stronger, more frequent, and lasted longer, suggesting increased intestinal movement. The boost was brief, fading within a few minutes, but it may help explain why walking can provide relief from constipation.

A UCLA study links faster brain aging to specific gut bacteria and chemical byproducts, with older-looking brains also associated with poorer memory, focus, and mood. The findings suggest that biological signs of brain aging may appear decades before obvious symptoms and could eventually make the gut a target for prevention.

High-dose vitamin B3 is showing intriguing early promise as an addition to standard glioblastoma treatment, with 82% of patients in a small trial remaining progression-free after six months. Researchers believe niacin may help revive immune cells suppressed by the cancer, but larger studies are still needed to confirm the benefit and safety.

Endosomal NHE6 (SLC9A6) and NHE9 (SLC9A9) transporters are essential for maintaining pH homeostasis within endosomes and their dysfunction has been linked to neurological and neurodegenerative disorders. NHE6 and NHE9 are widely considered to function as electroneutral exchangers that couple the export of protons to the import of sodium or potassium ions across cellular membranes, thereby forming the basis of proton leak pathways for internal pH balancing and fine-tuning. Among the 13 identified...

A vitamin D analog may help break down pancreatic cancer’s protective defenses, potentially making tumors more vulnerable to chemotherapy and immune attack. A small clinical trial found encouraging responses, especially in patients whose tumors had high levels of the vitamin D receptor.

A two-year randomized clinical trial involving 493 adults with overweight or obesity found that diet soft drinks were essentially as effective as water for long-term weight loss and weight maintenance. Participants drinking beverages sweetened with aspartame, acesulfame-K, or sucralose lost a similar amount of weight to those drinking water, while both groups also saw improvements in waist size, body composition, and several metabolic measures.

Scientists have identified an enzyme that may act as a natural defense against the worsening of fatty liver disease, which affects an estimated 100 million Americans. The enzyme, called UBE2N, helps liver cells clear away damaged mitochondria and break down fat, potentially preventing the inflammation, scarring, and cell damage associated with the more dangerous condition MASH.

The essential amino acid leucine can boost cellular energy production by protecting key proteins on mitochondria from being destroyed. The discovery reveals a new connection between nutrition and metabolism that could eventually lead to new approaches for metabolic disorders and cancer.

Scientists have linked a gut bacterial compound called ImP to greater Alzheimer’s risk, harmful brain protein buildup, and faster cognitive decline. The finding raises the possibility that reducing ImP in the blood could one day help slow or prevent dementia.

Vitamin C may do more than support the immune system. In a phase 2 trial of people with precancerous or low risk blood cancers, daily vitamin C did not slow abnormal cell growth, but it was linked to favorable changes in inflammation and fewer serious complications. An exploratory follow up also found fewer deaths among participants taking vitamin C than among those receiving placebo.

Transcription factor-based direct conversion of somatic cells represents an interesting avenue for generating induced neural stem cells (iNSCs) from peripheral blood without transit through a pluripotent stage. While this paradigm has been shown to be associated with epigenetic de-aging, the dynamics of this process have remained unclear. Here, we used overexpression of the two reprogramming factors SOX2 and cMYC to generate iNSCs from erythroid progenitors of donors ranging from neonatal to 101...

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with amyloid β (Aβ) accumulation, neuronal metabolic dysfunction, and structural degeneration. This study compares the neurotoxic effects of Aβ25-35 and Aβ1-42 in the rat cerebral cortex and hippocampus and evaluates the neuroprotective potential of proline rich peptide 1 (PRP-1). Amyloid peptides were administered bilaterally into the lateral ventricles, followed by intramuscular PRP-1 at 0.1 mg/kg once daily for three weeks, beginning 24 h after amyloid...

CONCLUSION: Repeated plantar electrical stimulation was associated with shortened early SEP latencies elicited by lower-limb nerve stimulation. No comparable latency shortening was observed in median nerve SEPs, suggesting that the observed changes were more prominent in lower-limb than in upper-limb somatosensory processing. These findings suggest that repeated plantar electrical stimulation may be associated with changes in the temporal characteristics of lower-limb somatosensory processing in...