Lifeboat Foundation

The promising results led to improved not only cognitive function but also brain connectivity.

An Inserm team at the Lille Neuroscience & Cognition laboratory is working with scientists at Lausanne University Hospital to evaluate the effectiveness of GnRH injection therapy in enhancing cognitive functions in a small group of Down syndrome patients, according to a press release published on Eurekalert.

Down syndrome is the most common chromosomal condition in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one in every 6,000 babies born in the U.S. has Down syndrome. It causes various symptoms, such as deterioration in cognitive capacity.

Summary: Fentanyl exposure produces specific EEG signatures in the brain. The findings also revealed the drug impairs people’s breathing four minutes before noticeable changes in alertness.

Source: Mass General.

Fentanyl is used to supplement sedation and to relieve severe pain during and after surgery, but it’s also one of the deadliest drugs of the opioid epidemic.

Summary: A new study reveals a genetic link between Alzheimer’s disease and several gut-related disorders. Researchers report Alzheimer’s patients and those with intestinal disorders have specific genes in common. The findings add to the evidence the gut-brain axis may play a role in the development of neurodegenerative disorders.

Source: Edith Cowan University.

People with gut disorders may be at greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease (AD).

Summary: Study reveals a novel mechanism in locus coeruleus neurons caused by the loss of the GPT2 mitochondrial enzyme that is implicated in the development and progression of neurodegenerative diseases.

Source: Brown University.

The locus coeruleus is among the first brain regions to degenerate in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, physicians and scientists have known. But why this area is so vulnerable is less understood.

Summary: Researchers created a form of artificial vision for a blind woman with the aid of a brain implant position in the visual cortex. The results pave the way for the creation of visual brain prosthetics to help the blind to regain sight.

Source: KNAW

Newly published research details how a team of scientists from the University Miguel Hernández (Spain), the Netherlands Institute of Neuroscience (Netherlands) and the John A. Moran Eye Center at the University of Utah (USA) successfully created a form of artificial vision for a blind woman using a brain implant.

Summary: Researchers have developed a cornea implant from the collagen protein of pig skin. The implant restored the vision of 20 people with diseased corneas. The new implant could be a viable alternative to human cornea transplantation.

Source: Linkoping University.

Researchers and entrepreneurs have developed an implant made of collagen protein from pig’s skin, which resembles the human cornea. In a pilot study, the implant restored vision to 20 people with diseased corneas, most of whom were blind prior to receiving the implant.

Summary: A 20-minute session of non-invasive brain stimulation over four days helps to improve both working and long-term memory in those aged 65 and older.

Source: Boston University.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, an estimated 6.5 million Americans aged 65 and older are living with Alzheimer’s in 2022. That figure is predicted to nearly double by 2050.

Electrical activity in neurons is highly energy demanding and accompanied by rises in cytosolic Ca²⁺. Cytosolic Ca²⁺, in turn, secures energy supply by pushing mitochondrial metabolism either through augmented NADH transfer into mitochondria via the malate aspartate shuttle (MAS) or via direct activation of dehydrogenases of the TCA cycle after passing into the matrix through the mitochondrial Ca²⁺ uniporter (MCU). Another Ca²⁺-sensitive booster of mitochondrial ATP synthesis is the glycerol-3-phosphate shuttle (G3PS) whose role in neuronal energy supply has remained elusive. Essential components of G3PS are expressed in hippocampal neurons. Single neuron metabolic measurements in primary hippocampal cultures derived from rat pups of either sex reveal only moderate, if any, constitutive activity of G3PS. However, during electrical activity neurons fully rely on G3PS when MAS and MCU are unavailable. Under these conditions, G3PS is required for appropriate action potential firing. Accordingly, G3PS safeguards metabolic flexibility of neurons to cope with energy demands of electrical signaling.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT:

Ca²⁺ ions are known to provide a link between the energy-demanding electrical activity and an adequate ATP supply in neurons. To do so, Ca²⁺ acts both, from outside and inside of the mitochondrial inner membrane. Neuronal function critically depend on this regulation and its defects are often found in various neurological disorders. Although interest in neuronal metabolism increases, many aspects thereof have remained unresolved. In particular, a Ca²⁺-sensitive NADH shuttling system, the glycerol-3-phosphate shuttle, has been largely ignored with respect to its function in neurons. Our results demonstrate that this shuttle is functional in hippocampal neurons and safeguards ATP supply and appropriate action potential firing when malate aspartate shuttle and mitochondrial Ca²⁺ uniporter are unavailable, thereby ensuring neuronal metabolic flexibility.

A team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, working with a pair of colleagues from the Harbin Institute of Technology, has developed a tiny actuated gearbox that can be used to give very tiny robots more power. In their paper published in the journal Science Robotics, the group describes how their gearbox works and the power improvements observed in several types of tiny robots.

Over the past several years, scientists have been working toward the development of tiny robots that can be injected into the human body to carry out medical procedures. The hope is that such robots can be sent to find and destroy cancerous tumors, for example. Such tiny robots are too small to carry their own power plant; thus, they must be manipulated using an external magnetic field. Unfortunately, as the robots grow ever tinier, their power diminishes as they have too little mass. In this new effort, the researchers have found a way to increase the power of the tiny robots using a tiny gearbox that helps them become stronger.

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