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One of the major challenges in modern biogerontology is understanding the accumulation of molecular damage and the manifestation of phenotypic heterogeneity during aging. Notably, genomic instability caused by impaired DNA damage repair along with telomere attrition are primary drivers of aging. However, how these aging-related characteristics differ in individuals who age healthily without developing major age-associated diseases remains unclear. Here, whole genome sequencing (WGS) was...

Reproductive aging is an emerging global health concern, projected to become the third most significant health issue in the near future, according to the World Health Organization. This complex process is driven by molecular and cellular changes, including alterations in DNA, RNA, and protein expression. Among non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been increasingly recognized for their regulatory roles in spermatogenesis and their potential contributions to aging and...

Water droplets, acting as natural bioreactors and optical whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) resonators, hold the potential for laser-assisted analysis. However, water/aqueous droplet lasers can only survive in air with a limited lifespan (<100 s) due to rapid evaporation, restricting their applications in bioreactions. To address this challenge, we introduce laser-emitting aqueous bioreactors (LEABs) in fluorocarbon oils. These LEABs enable stable laser emission and extend a droplet lifespan over...

The plant immune system utilizes nucleotide-binding/leucine-rich repeat (NLR) proteins to detect pathogen virulence factors (effectors) inside host cells and transduce recognition to rapid defense. In dicotyledenous plants, pathogen activated Toll-like/interleukin-1 receptor-containing NLRs (TNLs) establish a signaling network of enhanced susceptibility 1 (EDS1)-family dimers with RPW8-type coiled-coil (CC(R)) domain NLRs (RNLs) to stimulate transcriptional reprogramming leading to host cell...

Israeli government tries to discredit science underlying the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification

Functional gene programs play a wide range of roles in health and disease by orchestrating transcriptional coregulation to govern cell identity. Understanding these intricate gene programs is essential for unraveling the complexities of biological systems; however, deciphering them remains a significant challenge. Recent advancements in single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and spatial transcriptomics (ST) technologies have empowered the comprehensive characterization of gene programs at both...

Proteomic profiling of Alzheimer disease (AD) brains has identified numerous understudied proteins, including midkine (MDK), that are highly upregulated and correlated with amyloid-β (Aβ) from the early disease stage but their roles in disease progression are not fully understood. Here, we present that MDK attenuates Aβ assembly and influences amyloid formation in the 5xFAD amyloidosis mouse model. MDK protein mitigates fibril formation of both Aβ40 and Aβ42 peptides according to thioflavin T...

Presynaptic terminals can be located far from the neuronal cell body and are thought to independently regulate protein and organelle turnover. Autophagy is a critical process for maintaining proteostasis, and its synaptic dysregulation is associated with neurodegenerative diseases. In this work, we report a soma-centered mechanism that regulates autophagy-controlled protein turnover at distant presynaptic terminals in Drosophila. We show that a central component of this system is Rab39, whose...

Parkinson's disease (PD), a progressive neurodegenerative disorder, presents complex motor symptoms and lacks effective disease-modifying treatments. Here we show that integrating artificial intelligence (AI) with optogenetic intervention, termed optoRET, modulating c-RET (REarranged during Transfection) signalling, enables task-independent behavioural assessments and therapeutic benefits in freely moving male AAV-hA53T mice. Utilising a 3D pose estimation technique, we developed tree-based AI...

The choroid plexus (ChP) is implicated in inflammation and supports the clearance of waste byproducts, particularly those related to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. Increases in ChP volume have been associated with older age and cognitive decline in both clinical and healthy cohorts. However, the clearance of waste products in the brain is also related to sleep, and sleep quality may contribute to ChP dysfunction and cognitive decline. In the present work, it was therefore hypothesized...

Black older adults experience worse brain and cognitive aging than White older adults, on average. Racially patterned psychosocial stressors may contribute to these disparities. Maintaining white matter health is important for cognitive aging, particularly among Black older adults, and it is uniquely vulnerable to stress. Examining associations between racial discrimination and white matter may elucidate mechanisms of disparities. A sample of Black older adults in the Washington Heights-Inwood...

Air pollution, a leading environmental health risk, claims millions of lives yearly, impacting health across the lifespan. Despite widespread acknowledgement of air pollution-related disease burdens, eliminating air pollution remains challenging. Many regions are reliant on fossil fuels or biomass for basic survival, and developed economies striving to reduce air pollution face persistent barriers. Climate change complicates intervention efforts, as rising temperatures and extreme weather (for...