Aggregator
The rat’s tale
Science, Volume 385, Issue 6715, Page 1281-1281, September 2024.
Model citizens
Science, Volume 385, Issue 6715, Page 1282-1282, September 2024.
Doomsday may be delayed at Antarctica’s most vulnerable glacier
Thwaites collaboration finds glacier has stabilized somewhat—in the short term
News at a glance: Long-lasting HIV prevention, a new neutrino detector, and rescuing scientists
The latest in science and policy
Australian officials cancel plan to cut research at major natural history museum
Effort to “reimagine” South Australia Museum had drawn extensive opposition
Conservationists are waging a global war on island rats
Ambitious eradication plans aim to protect vulnerable seabirds and other wildlife
The interplay between probiotics and host autophagy: mechanisms of action and emerging insights
Autophagy, a lysosome-dependent protein degradation mechanism, is a highly conserved catabolic process seen in all eukaryotes. This cell protection system, which is present in all tissues and functions at a basic level, can be up- or downregulated in response to various stresses. A disruption in the natural route of the autophagy process is frequently followed by an interruption in the inherent operation of the body's cells and organs. Probiotics are live bacteria that protect the host through...
Cardiovascular health, measured using Life's Essential 8, is associated with reduced dementia risk among older men and women
CONCLUSION: While longitudinal studies with repeated measures of CVH are needed to confirm these findings, improving CVH, measured by the LE8 metric, may be a promising dementia prevention strategy.
The common <em>Sting1 HAQ, AQ</em> alleles rescue CD4 T cellpenia, restore T-regs, and prevent <em>SAVI (N153S</em>) inflammatory disease in mice
The significance of STING1 gene in tissue inflammation and cancer immunotherapy has been increasingly recognized. Intriguingly, common human STING1 alleles R71H-G230A-R293Q (HAQ) and G230A-R293Q (AQ) are carried by ~60% of East Asians and ~40% of Africans, respectively. Here, we examine the modulatory effects of HAQ, AQ alleles on STING-associated vasculopathy with onset in infancy (SAVI), an autosomal dominant, fatal inflammatory disease caused by gain-of-function human STING1 mutations. CD4 T...
Spatiotemporal formation of a single liquid-like condensate and amyloid fibrils of α-synuclein by optical trapping at solution surface
Liquid-like protein condensates have recently attracted much attention due to their critical roles in biological phenomena. They typically show high fluidity and reversibility for exhibiting biological functions, while occasionally serving as sites for the formation of amyloid fibrils. To comprehend the properties of protein condensates that underlie biological function and pathogenesis, it is crucial to study them at the single-condensate level; however, this is currently challenging due to a...
Cardiovascular risk of dementia is associated with brain-behaviour changes in cognitively healthy, middle-aged individuals
Alzheimer's Disease (AD) neuropathology start decades before clinical manifestations, but whether risk factors are associated with early cognitive and brain changes in midlife remains poorly understood. We examined whether AD risk factors were associated with cognition and functional connectivity (FC) between the Locus Coeruleus (LC) and hippocampus - two key brain structures in AD neuropathology - cross-sectionally and longitudinally in cognitively healthy midlife individuals....
In vivo DNA replication dynamics unveil aging-dependent replication stress
The genome duplication program is affected by multiple factors in vivo, including developmental cues, genotoxic stress, and aging. Here, we monitored DNA replication initiation dynamics in regenerating livers of young and old mice after partial hepatectomy to investigate the impact of aging. In young mice, the origin firing sites were well defined; the majority were located 10-50 kb upstream or downstream of expressed genes, and their position on the genome was conserved in human cells. Old mice...
A cellular identity crisis? Plasticity changes during aging and rejuvenation
Cellular plasticity in adult multicellular organisms is a protective mechanism that allows certain tissues to regenerate in response to injury. Considering that aging involves exposure to repeated injuries over a lifetime, it is conceivable that cell identity itself is more malleable-and potentially erroneous-with age. In this review, we summarize and critically discuss the available evidence that cells undergo age-related shifts in identity, with an emphasis on those that contribute to...
Micronuclear battery based on a coalescent energy transducer
Micronuclear batteries harness energy from the radioactive decay of radioisotopes to generate electricity on a small scale, typically in the nanowatt or microwatt range^(1,2). Contrary to chemical batteries, the longevity of a micronuclear battery is tied to the half-life of the used radioisotope, enabling operational lifetimes that can span several decades³. Furthermore, the radioactive decay remains unaffected by environmental factors such as temperature, pressure and magnetic fields, making...
Advanced CMOS manufacturing of superconducting qubits on 300 mm wafers
The development of superconducting qubit technology has shown great potential for the construction of practical quantum computers^(1,2). As the complexity of quantum processors continues to grow, the need for stringent fabrication tolerances becomes increasingly critical³. Utilizing advanced industrial fabrication processes could facilitate the necessary level of fabrication control to support the continued scaling of quantum processors. However, at present, these industrial processes are not...
Physical activity from the perspective of older adults: a convergent mixed-method study
CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first to use this mixed-methods design to examine factors influencing physical activity levels among older adults living in rental apartments with community hosts. The integrated result reveals convergence for findings on motivation and physical capability but divergence on psychological capability, opportunity, and previous physical activity. The findings underscore a complex interplay of factors influencing older adults' physical activity levels and indicate...
Integrating amyloid and tau imaging with proteomics and genomics in Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disease and is characterized by the aggregation of β-amyloid (Aβ) and tau in the brain. Breakthroughs in disease-modifying treatments targeting Aβ bring new hope for the management of AD. But to effectively modify and someday even prevent AD, a better understanding is needed of the biological mechanisms that underlie and link Aβ and tau in AD. Developments of high-throughput omics, including genomics, proteomics, and transcriptomics,...
AI-driven innovations in Alzheimer's disease: Integrating early diagnosis, personalized treatment, and prognostic modelling
Alzheimer's disease (AD) presents a significant challenge in neurodegenerative research and clinical practice due to its complex etiology and progressive nature. The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into the diagnosis, treatment, and prognostic modelling of AD holds promising potential to transform the landscape of dementia care. This review explores recent advancements in AI applications across various stages of AD management. In early diagnosis, AI-enhanced neuroimaging techniques,...
Synergistic association of Aβ and tau pathology with cortical neurophysiology and cognitive decline in asymptomatic older adults
Animal and computational models of Alzheimer's disease (AD) indicate that early amyloid-β (Aβ) deposits drive neurons into a hyperactive regime, and that subsequent tau depositions manifest an opposite, suppressive effect as behavioral deficits emerge. Here we report analogous changes in macroscopic oscillatory neurophysiology in the human brain. We used positron emission tomography and task-free magnetoencephalography to test the effects of Aβ and tau deposition on cortical neurophysiology in...
A cell-autonomous role for border-associated macrophages in ApoE4 neurovascular dysfunction and susceptibility to white matter injury
Apolipoprotein E4 (ApoE4), the strongest genetic risk factor for sporadic Alzheimer's disease, is also a risk factor for microvascular pathologies leading to cognitive impairment, particularly subcortical white matter injury. These effects have been attributed to alterations in the regulation of the brain blood supply, but the cellular source of ApoE4 and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In mice expressing human ApoE3 or ApoE4, we report that border-associated macrophages (BAMs),...