Simply the smell of seafood can make those with an allergy to it violently ill—and therefore more likely to avoid it. The same avoidance behavior is exhibited by people who develop food poisoning after eating a certain meal.
Scientists have long known that the immune system played a key role in our reactions to allergens and pathogens in the environment, but it was unclear whether it played any role in prompting these types of behaviors towards allergic triggers.
According to Yale-led research published July 12 in the journal Nature, it turns out that the immune system plays a crucial role in changing our behaviors.
A national study, led by researchers at Tufts Medical Center, has found whole genome sequencing (WGS) to be nearly twice as effective as a targeted gene sequencing test at identifying abnormalities responsible for genetic disorders in newborns and infants. The Genomic Medicine in Ill Infants and Newborns (GEMINI) study did, however, find that time to results was longer when carrying out WGS, when compared with a commercially available targeted neonatal gene-sequencing test.
“More than half of the babies in our study had a genetic disorder that would have remained undetected at most hospitals across the country if not for genome sequencing technologies,” said Jonathan Davis, MD, chief of newborn medicine at Tufts Medical Center and co-principal investigator of the study. “Successfully diagnosing an infant’s genetic disorder as early as possible helps ensure they receive the best medical care. This study shows that WGS, while still imperfect, remains the gold standard for accurate diagnosis of genetic disorders in newborns and infants.”
A team at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado, has reported the successful implementation of a 400,000 pixel superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD) that they say will pave the way for the development of extremely light-sensitive large-format superconducting cameras. The camera will also prove invaluable for those doing medical research, where the ability to examine organs such as the brain without disturbing tissue is critical.
Superconducting detectors operate at very low temperatures and generate a minimum of excess noise, making them ideal for testing the non-local nature of reality, investigating dark matter, mapping the early universe, and performing quantum computation and communication. Previously there were no large-scale superconducting cameras – even the largest demonstrations have never exceeded 20 thousand pixels.
This was especially true for one of the most promising detector technologies, the superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD). These detectors have been demonstrated with system detection efficiencies of 98.0%, sub-3-ps timing jitter, sensitivity from the ultraviolet (250nm) to the mid-infrared (10um), and dark count rates below 6.2e-6 counts per second (cps), but despite more than two decades of development they have never achieved an array size larger than a kilopixel. Here, we report on the implementation and characterization of a 400,000 pixel SNSPD camera, a factor of 400 improvement over the previous state-of-the-art. The array spanned an area 4×2.5 mm with a 5x5um resolution, reached unity quantum efficiency at wavelengths of 370 nm and 635 nm, counted at a rate of 1.1e5 cps, and had a dark count rate of 1e-4 cps per detector (corresponding to 0.13 cps over the whole array).
Starting at 12:40 Liz asks what would your perfect virtual world be like. Not sure what my home world would be like, a Maldives island, an orbital ring colony perhaps. I think my main form of entertainment would be to adventure in the worlds people will create, and perhaps help build them. Someone will detail the 30 million worlds of A Galaxy Far Far Away and go play in it, someone will create a Star Trek Galaxy, D&D, Niven’s Known Space, Potter-verse, LOTR, and so on.
Only a handful of people in the entire world are aware of the work that is going on to increase the lifespan of #humans. Not just in terms of numbers, but also in terms of the quality of life. Most people today are unable to imagine living beyond 80–90, and they absolutely cannot imagine living an active life at 80–90 or beyond, to say nothing of living forever, and leading an active life forever.
But, the reality is that living forever is going to be a reality in the near future. You can catch up on what’s going on in the #longevity space at The Buying Time Podcast.
The Buying Time Podcast is brought to you by two people who are passionate about super-longevity. Sa…ra…va…nan (Saravanan Balakrishnan) is the founder and CEO of Amura Health (amura.ai), a #hospital on the cloud that helps people to beat many #chronic conditions. Liz Parrish is the CEO of BioViva Science, a fore runner in the space of bringing #gene therapy to super-longevity space.
Liz Parrish is a path-maker in the longevity space. She not only established BioViva Sciences, but has tried out her company’s gene #therapy. She is determined not to allow future generations to die of #diseases that plagued previous generations because she is convinced that every disease is curable. If there is no disease, why do you have to die?
In a groundbreaking study, researchers have unlocked a new frontier in the fight against aging and age-related diseases. The study, conducted by a team of scientists at Harvard Medical School, has published the first chemical approach to reprogram cells to a younger state. Previously, this was only achievable using a powerful gene therapy.
On July 12, 2023, researchers from Harvard Medical School, University of Maine and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) published a new research paper in Aging, titled, “Chemically induced reprogramming to reverse cellular aging.”
The team’s findings build upon the discovery that the expression of specific genes, called Yamanaka factors, could convert adult cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). This Nobel Prize-winning discovery raised the question of whether it might be possible to reverse cellular aging without causing cells to become too young and turn cancerous.
New research into the hormone somatostatin has the potential to change the general scientific consensus on how it influences Alzheimer’s and how the disease begins to develop in the brain.
Somatostatin plays a role in many parts of our body. In previous studies, the hormone was also thought to drive the production of the enzyme neprilysin, which can degrade amyloid beta, the protein that clumps together and damages neurons in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s.
The new study suggests that somatostatin actually influences amyloid-beta more directly, putting the brakes on the mechanisms by which the protein’s monomer (single molecule) form combines into an oligomer (multi-molecule) form.
In a groundbreaking study, researchers have unlocked a new frontier in the fight against aging and age-related diseases. The study, conducted by a team of scientists at Harvard Medical School, has published the first chemical approach to reprogram cells to a younger state. Previously, this was only achievable using a powerful gene therapy.
Researchers from Harvard Medical School, University of Maine and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) published a new research paper in Aging, titled, “Chemically induced reprogramming to reverse cellular aging.”
One of the main ways cells “talk” to each other to coordinate essential biological activities such as muscle contraction, hormone release, neuronal firing, digestion and immune activation is through calcium signaling.
Rice University scientists have used light-activated molecular machines to trigger intercellular calcium wave signals, revealing a powerful new strategy for controlling cellular activity, according to a new study published in Nature Nanotechnology. This technology could lead to improved treatments for people with heart problems, digestive issues and more.
“Most of the drugs developed up to this point use chemical binding forces to drive a specific signaling cascade in the body,” said Jacob Beckham, a chemistry graduate student and lead author on the study. “This is the first demonstration that, instead of chemical force, you can use mechanical force —induced, in this case, by single-molecule nanomachines—to do the same thing, which opens up a whole new chapter in drug design.”
