Way back in 1953, Hemendra Nath Chatterjee first treated 186 patients with an “oral glucose-sodium electrolyte solution”. But it’s widely believed that “racism or the lack of a ‘scientific’ rationale prevented the widespread adoption of his work.” #IndiansInScience #LostTales
A novel virus, potentially fatal to whales and dolphins, has been discovered by researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi Health and Stranding Lab. Prior to its discovery in 10 whale and dolphin host species across the Pacific, the virus was found in only a single marine mammal worldwide, a Longman’s beaked whale stranded on Maui in 2010. The findings are published in Frontiers in Marine Science.
The discovery of beaked whale circovirus (BWCV) in whales and dolphins expands the knowledge of marine mammal species that can become infected with the disease. Circoviruses are DNA viruses that cause disease in birds, pigs and dogs, and in severe cases can become fatal.
“Our study found Cuvier’s beaked whales tested positive for BWCV in Saipan and American Samoa, nearly 4,000 miles away from the first discovered case,” said Kristi West, director of the UH Health and Stranding Lab. “The positive cases found outside of Hawaiʻi were surprising, and indicates that this virus is spread across the Central and Western Pacific and may have a global presence in marine mammals.”
The last few years have exceeded all expectations in terms of investment activity in longevity, but much more is needed to push the field forward. With more than 40 investments in the longevity field over the past three years, LongevityTech.fund is one of the world’s most active longevity investment funds. The fund’s wide-ranging investment portfolio includes companies like BrainKey, Gerostate Alpha and Occuity.
LongevityTech.fund is now accepting new investors for its second fund, with a target fund size of $50 million up to a maximum of $100 million USD.
Longevity. Technology: LongevityTech.fund has built an impressive company portfolio that has seen no failures to date, with one IPO (longevity biotech Genflow Biosciences) and one company (longevity risk management firm Vesttoo) recently becoming the fund’s first unicorn (valued at more than $1 billion). To learn more about his views on the longevity market, we spoke to serial entrepreneur and investor Petr Sramek, LongevityTech.fund’s co-founder and managing partner.
Health care integration has long been touted as a panacea for reining in health care costs and boosting quality of care.
But integrated health systems appear to be failing on both fronts, according to the results of a new nationwide study led by researchers at Harvard and the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).
Instead, the analysis finds marginally better care at significantly higher costs for patients seen in health systems, compared to those at independent practices or hospitals.
Cancer cells can shrink or super-size themselves to survive drug treatment or other challenges within their environment, researchers have discovered.
Scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, combined biochemical profiling technologies with mathematical analyses to reveal how genetic changes lead to differences in the size of cancer cells—and how these changes could be exploited by new treatments.
The researchers believe smaller cells could be more vulnerable to DNA-damaging agents like chemotherapy combined with targeted drugs, while larger cancer cells might respond better to immunotherapy.
The hypertension drug rilmenidine has been shown to slow down aging in worms, an effect that in humans could hypothetically help us live longer and keep us healthier in our latter years.
Rilmenidine was picked for this latest study because past research has shown it mimics the effects of caloric restriction on a cellular level. Reducing available energy while maintaining nutrition within the body has been shown to extend lifespans in several animal models.
Whether this translates to human biology, or is a potential risk to our health, is a topic of ongoing debate. Finding ways to achieve the same benefits without the costs of extreme calorie cutting could lead to new ways to improve health in old age.
A robot made from magnetic particles and gallium can easily change states — making it useful for a broad range of applications in medicine and manufacturing.
A new neuroimaging study showed that people suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) exhibited increased activation in the amygdala region of the brain when shown surprised and neutral facial expressions. The same phenomenon was observed in identical twins of these individuals who did not suffer from PTSD.
The study, which was published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, sheds new light on the neural mechanisms underlying the development of PTSD.
PTSD is a condition that develops in approximately 20% of individuals exposed to psychological trauma in their lifetime. It is defined by wide clusters of symptoms that include intrusive memories, negative alterations in mood, heightened levels of arousal, and other symptoms. Currently, there are many treatment options available for PTSD; however, for some patients, the treatments offered do not provide clinical relief.
Twelve-hour (12 h) ultradian rhythms are a well-known phenomenon in coastal marine organisms. While 12 h cycles are observed in human behavior and physiology, no study has measured 12 h rhythms in the human brain. Here, we identify 12 h rhythms in transcripts that either peak at sleep/wake transitions (approximately 9 AM/PM) or static times (approximately 3 PM/AM) in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a region involved in cognition. Subjects with schizophrenia (SZ) lose 12 h rhythms in genes associated with the unfolded protein response and neuronal structural maintenance. Moreover, genes involved in mitochondrial function and protein translation, which normally peak at sleep/wake transitions, peak instead at static times in SZ, suggesting suboptimal timing of these essential processes.
You can grasp a hand. You can also grasp a concept. One is literal. One is metaphorical. Our brains know the difference, but would we be able to understand the latter without the former?
Previous studies have suggested that our understanding of metaphors may be rooted in our bodily experience. Some functional MRI, o fMRI, brain imaging studies have indicated, for example, that when you hear a metaphor such as “she had a rough day,” regions of the brain associated with tactile experience are activated. If you hear, “he’s so sweet,” areas associated with taste are activated. And when you hear action verbs used in a metaphorical context, like “grasp a concept,” regions involved in motor perception and planning are activated.
A study by University of Arizona researcher Vicky Lai, published in the journal Brain Research, builds on this research by looking at when, exactly, different regions of the brain are activated in metaphor comprehension and what that tells us about the way we understand language.
