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Archive for the ‘biotech/medical’ category: Page 603

Jun 3, 2023

AI Sheds New Light on the ‘Code of Life’

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, chemistry, robotics/AI

USC Dornsife researchers employ artificial intelligence to unveil the intricate world of DNA structure and chemistry, enabling unprecedented insights into gene regulation and disease.

Jun 3, 2023

Revolution in Physics: First-Ever X-Ray of a Single Atom Captured

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, quantum physics

Atom for the first time. Using a pioneering technique known as synchrotron X-ray scanning tunneling microscopy (SX-STM), the team was able to identify and characterize individual atoms, opening new possibilities in environmental, medical, and quantum research.

A team of scientists from Ohio University, Argonne National Laboratory, the University of Illinois-Chicago, and others, led by Ohio University Professor of Physics, and Argonne National Laboratory scientist, Saw Wai Hla, has taken the world’s first X-ray SIGNAL (or SIGNATURE) of just one atom. This groundbreaking achievement was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, and could revolutionize the way scientists detect materials.

Jun 3, 2023

Scientists reveal new details of cellular process that prevents spread of cancer

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension

Researchers have for the first time characterized a unique molecular mechanism of the early stages of programmed cell death or apoptosis, a process which plays a crucial role in prevention of cancer.

The study, which is published June 2, 2023 in Science Advances, was led by Dr. Luke Clifton at the STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source (ISIS) in Oxfordshire, alongside co-lead Professor Gerhard Gröbner at the University of Umeå and partners at the European Spallation Source in Sweden. It is the most recent in a series of research collaborations by this team, investigating the responsible for apoptosis.

Apoptosis is essential for human life, and its disruption can cause to grow and not respond to cancer treatment. In , it is regulated by two proteins with opposing roles known as Bax and Bcl-2.

Jun 2, 2023

Revolutionary therapy clears girl’s incurable cancer

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Year 2022 face_with_colon_three


New way of altering DNA is used to engineer an “exciting”, experimental therapy for a 13-year-old girl.

Jun 2, 2023

‘They’re everywhere’: microplastics in oceans, air and human body

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, materials

Year 2022 o.o!!!


From ocean depths to mountain peaks, humans have littered the planet with tiny shards of plastic. We have even absorbed these microplastics into our bodies—with uncertain implications.

Images of plastic pollution have become familiar: a turtle suffocated by a shopping bag, washed up on beaches, or the monstrous “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” of floating detritus.

Continue reading “‘They’re everywhere’: microplastics in oceans, air and human body” »

Jun 2, 2023

No one has done AR or VR well. Can Apple?

Posted by in categories: augmented reality, biotech/medical, information science, virtual reality

On Monday, Apple is more than likely going to reveal its long-awaited augmented or mixed reality Reality Pro headset during the keynote of its annual WWDC developer conference in California. It’s an announcement that has been tipped or teased for years now, and reporting on the topic has suggested that at various times, the project has been subject to delays, internal skepticism and debate, technical challenges and more. Leaving anything within Apple’s sphere of influence aside, the world’s overall attitude toward AR and VR has shifted considerably — from optimism, to skepticism.

Part of that trajectory is just the natural progression of any major tech hype cycle, and you could easily argue that the time to make the most significant impact in any such cycle is after the spike of undue optimism and energy has subsided. But in the case of AR and VR, we’ve actually already seen some of the tech giants with the deepest pockets take their best shots and come up wanting — not for lack of trying, but because of limitations in terms of what’s possible even at the bleeding edge of available tech. Some of those limits might actually be endemic to AR and VR, too, because of variances in the human side of the equation required to make mixed reality magic happen.

The virtual elephant in the room is, of course, Meta. The name itself pretty much sums up the situation: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg read a bad book and decided that VR was the inevitable end state of human endeavor — the mobile moment he essentially missed out on, but even bigger and better. Zuckerberg grew enamored by his delusion, first acquiring crowdfunded VR darling Oculus, then eventually commandeering the sobriquet for a shared virtual universe from the dystopian predictions of a better book and renaming all of Facebook after it.

Jun 2, 2023

Philosophy Portal: Brain in a Vat

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience, transhumanism

Imagine a world where every conceivable facet of your reality is nothing more than sensory experience devoid of any real meaning; And that your emotions, organs, and even your closest relationships were nothing but pleasurable impulses being transmitted directly into your brain.

This is the hypothesis posited by the Brain in a Vat theory. If an evil scientist (or rich transhumanist, whichever you prefer) were to take your brain, submerge it in a jar or vat of nutrients, in theory, you could be force fed the information you process on a daily basis.

If your neurons were connected to some type of hardware and/or software that could continuously provide the necessary stimuli, you’d be ripe for this process.

Jun 2, 2023

Study examines how DNA damage is repaired by antioxidant enzymes

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, chemistry

A typical human cell is metabolically active, roaring with chemical reactions that convert nutrients into energy and useful products that sustain life. These reactions also create reactive oxygen species, dangerous by-products like hydrogen peroxide which damage the building blocks of DNA in the same way oxygen and water corrode metal and form rust. Similar to how buildings collapse from the cumulative effect of rust, reactive oxygen species threaten a genome’s integrity.

Cells are thought to delicately balance their energy needs and avoid damaging DNA by containing outside the nucleus and within the cytoplasm and mitochondria. Antioxidant enzymes are deployed to mop up at their source before they reach DNA, a defensive strategy that protects the roughly 3 billion nucleotides from suffering potentially catastrophic mutations. If DNA damage occurs anyway, cells pause momentarily and carry out repairs, synthesizing new building blocks and filling in the gaps.

Despite the central role of in maintaining genome integrity, there has been no systematic, unbiased study on how metabolic perturbations affect the DNA damage and repair process. This is particularly important for diseases like cancer, characterized by their ability to hijack metabolic processes for unfettered growth.

Jun 1, 2023

NLRP12 as a new drug target for infection, inflammation and hemolytic diseases

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Infections and other diseases can cause red blood cells to rupture, releasing the oxygen-binding molecule hemoglobin, which breaks down into heme. Free heme can cause significant inflammation and organ damage, leading to morbidity and mortality.

Researchers from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital discovered NLRP12, an innate immune pattern recognition receptor, to be the key molecule responsible for inducing inflammatory cell death and pathology in response to heme combined with other cellular damage or infection. The finding provides a new potential drug target to prevent morbidity in certain illnesses. The research was published today in Cell.

Many infectious and , including malaria or SARS-CoV-2 virus infections and sickle cell disease, cause to break apart and spill their contents. The process, hemolysis, releases the hemoglobin. In the bloodstream, hemoglobin then breaks down into a substance called heme.

Jun 1, 2023

Are the olfactory responses of patients in a coma or vegetative state signs of consciousness?

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Severe brain injuries or head traumas in humans can lead to various stages of so-called disorders of consciousness (DoC). These are states in which consciousness is either partly or entirely absent, such as a coma; unresponsive wakefulness syndrome, also known as a vegetative state; and minimally conscious state.

Accurately evaluating who have lost consciousness is of crucial importance, as it allows doctors to determine what treatments to administer and how to facilitate the re-emergence of consciousness. Typically, to clinically evaluate consciousness, doctors observe the behavior of patients in response to , such as sounds or images.

For instance, while patients in a are awake but continue to be unresponsive to , patients with MCS exhibit some behaviors that indicate that they are conscious. So far, most methods to assess the consciousness level of patients rely on sounds or , yet olfactory stimuli could potentially prove useful too.

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