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Archive for the ‘genetics’ category: Page 200

Jul 7, 2022

The impact of digital media on children’s intelligence while controlling for genetic differences in cognition and socioeconomic background

Posted by in categories: education, genetics, habitats, neuroscience

Video games seem to be a unique type of digital activity. Empirically, the cognitive benefits of video games have support from multiple observational and experimental studies23,24,25. Their benefits to intelligence and school performance make intuitive sense and are aligned with theories of active learning and the power of deliberate practice26,27. There is also a parallel line of evidence from the literature on cognitive training intervention apps28,29, which can be considered a special (lab developed) category of video games and seem to challenge some of the same cognitive processes. Though, like for other digital activities, there are contradictory findings for video games, some with no effects30,31 and negative effects32,33.

The contradictions among studies on screen time and cognition are likely due to limitations of cross-sectional designs, relatively small sample sizes, and, most critically, failures to control for genetic predispositions and socio-economic context10. Although studies account for some confounding effects, very few have accounted for socioeconomic status and none have accounted for genetic effects. This matters because intelligence, educational attainment, and other cognitive abilities are all highly heritable9,34. If these genetic predispositions are not accounted for, they will confound the potential impact of screen time on the intelligence of children. For example, children with a certain genetic background might be more prone to watch TV and, independently, have learning issues. Their genetic background might also modify the impact over time of watching TV. Genetic differences are a major confounder in many psychological and social phenomena35,36, but until recently this has been hard to account for because single genetic variants have very small effects. Socioeconomic status (SES) could also be a strong moderator of screen time in children37. For example, children in lower SES might be in a less functional home environment that makes them more prone to watch TV as an escape strategy, and, independently, the less functional home environment creates learning issues. Although SES is commonly assumed to represent a purely environmental factor, half of the effect of SES on educational achievement is probably genetically mediated38,39—which emphasizes the need for genetically informed studies on screen time.

Here, we estimated the impact of different types of screen time on the change in the intelligence of children in a large, longitudinal sample, while accounting for the critical confounding influences of genetic and socioeconomic backgrounds. In specific, we had a strong expectation that time spent playing video games would have a positive effect on intelligence, and were interested in contrasting it against other screen time types. Our sample came from the ABCD study (http://abcdstudy.org) and consisted of 9,855 participants aged 9–10 years old at baseline and 5,169 of these followed up two years later.

Jul 6, 2022

Harvard Researchers Have Solved a Perplexing Cancer Mystery

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, economics, genetics

For many years, the human genome was seen as a book of life, with passages of remarkable eloquence and economy of expression intermingled with long stretches of nonsense. The readable areas carried the instructions for producing cell proteins; the other regions, which accounted for around 90% of the overall genome, were disregarded as junk DNA

DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is a molecule composed of two long strands of nucleotides that coil around each other to form a double helix. It is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms that carries genetic instructions for development, functioning, growth, and reproduction. Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA. Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (where it is called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the mitochondria (where it is called mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA).

Jul 6, 2022

Beyond a CRISPR treatment’s encouraging results, some scientists see a need for more data on risk

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

What happens when you CRISPR people?

Few questions generated more contentious discussion in biotech in the mid-2010s, as researchers and executives debated the relative merits of preclinical studies that pointed both to the new gene-editing tool’s potential to cure numerous diseases and its potential to cause unintended genetic damage.

Jul 5, 2022

Synthetic memory circuits for stable cell reprogramming in plants

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

Transcriptional activity in plants is controlled with a programmable gene circuit.

Jul 3, 2022

Brainwashing & Mind Control

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, genetics, neuroscience

The CCP


Use my link http://www.audible.com/isaac or text “ISAAC” to 500–500 to get a free book including a copy of George Orwell’s “1984” and a 30-day free trial of Audible.
We often worry about the possibility of a civilization developing methods of brainwashing to indoctrinate its population and turning into a totalitarian dictatorship. We will examine both existing and possible future methods and technologies for mind control, such as neuro-hacking and genetic programming, as well as the possible defenses against such brainwashing or conditioning and implications it has for civilization.

Continue reading “Brainwashing & Mind Control” »

Jul 3, 2022

Lithocholic Acid: A Gut Bacterial Metabolite That Extends Lifespan

Posted by in categories: genetics, life extension, neuroscience

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Continue reading “Lithocholic Acid: A Gut Bacterial Metabolite That Extends Lifespan” »

Jul 2, 2022

Study of Penn Patients with Decade-Long Leukemia Remissions after CAR T Cell Therapy Reveals New Details About Persistence of Personalized “Living Drug” Cells

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

PHILADELPHIA — In the summer of 2010, Bill Ludwig and Doug Olson were battling an insidious blood cancer called chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). They’d both received numerous treatments, and as remaining options became scarce, they volunteered to become the first participants in a clinical trial of an experimental therapy underway at the Abramson Cancer Center and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The treatment would eradicate their end-stage leukemia, generate headlines across the globe, and usher in a new era of highly personalized medicine. Called Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cells, these genetically modified tumor-targeting cells are a living drug made for each patient out of their own cells. Today, an analysis of these two patients published in Nature from the Penn researchers and colleagues from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia explains the longest persistence of CAR T cell therapy recorded to date against CLL, and shows that the CAR T cells remained detectable at least a decade after infusion, with sustained remission in both patients.

“This long-term remission is remarkable, and witnessing patients living cancer-free is a testament to the tremendous potency of this “living drug” that works effectively against cancer cells,” said first author J. Joseph Melenhorst, PhD, a research professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Penn. “Witnessing our patients respond well to this innovative cellular therapy makes all of our efforts so worthwhile. being able to give them more time to live and to spend it with loved ones.”

CLL, the first cancer in which CAR T cells were studied and used at Penn, is the most common type of leukemia in adults. While treatment of the disease has improved, it remains incurable with standard approaches. Eventually, patients can become resistant to most therapies, and many still die of their disease.

Jul 2, 2022

Dr Katcher’s E5 Experiment June 2022 Update | Review

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, life extension

Earlier I posted results. Those posts did not include info here concerning topical E5 human trials to start in a month or so and if the results are good they will start up a U.S. factory. So far, 3 treated rats have a 13% longer lifespan than the max for a lab rat and 3 of them are still alive.


In this video we report on the June 2022 update from Dr. Katcher’s experiment with E5, where he is testing to see how long the rats will stay alive if they are given an E5 injection every 90 days. The experiment appears to be coming to an end with only 3 treated rats still alive. But a new experiment has started as well as a human trial of E5 used topically being planned.

Continue reading “Dr Katcher’s E5 Experiment June 2022 Update | Review” »

Jul 2, 2022

UCI-led team discovers signaling molecule that potently stimulates hair growth

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

Irvine, Calif., June 30, 2022 — University of California, Irvine-led researchers have discovered that a signaling molecule called SCUBE3 potently stimulates hair growth and may offer a therapeutic treatment for androgenetic alopecia, a common form of hair loss in both women and men.

The study, published online today in Developmental Cell, determined the precise mechanism by which the dermal papilla cells – specialized signal-making fibroblasts at the bottom of each hair follicle – promote new growth. Although it’s well known that dermal papilla cells play a pivotal role in controlling hair growth, the genetic basis of the activating molecules involved has been poorly understood.

“At different times during the hair follicle life cycle, the very same dermal papilla cells can send signals that either keep follicles dormant or trigger new hair growth,” said Maksim Plikus, Ph.D., UCI professor of developmental & cell biology and the study’s corresponding author. “We revealed that the SCUBE3 signaling molecule, which dermal papilla cells produce naturally, is the messenger used to ‘tell’ the neighboring hair stem cells to start dividing, which heralds the onset of new hair growth.”

Jul 2, 2022

A Week At The Most Secretive Conference On Aging

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, life extension

One of the events hosted by the GRC this year was the conference called ‘Systemic Processes, Omics Approaches, and Biomarkers in Aging.” It was the inaugural Systems Aging Gordon Research Conference. Held in Newry, Maine, this event is not easy to get to. Many of the scientists on the East Coast of the US needed to spend half a day or more just to get there. There is a reason for this. Often, conferences that are organized in large metropolitan areas with easy access do not have the same level of “pressure cooking” and interactive networking just because many senior scientists tend to be distracted and often leave prematurely. But when they are put together in a remote location, it is not easy to leave and they have no choice but to interact with each other, share knowledge, and come up with new ideas and collaborations.

The level and impact of scientific conferences is often evaluated by the number and quality of the sponsors. And the GRC conference on Aging sported a number of high-profile sponsors including GRC itself, Carl Storm International Diversity Fellowship Program, National Institute on Aging, IOMICS Intelligent Analytics, Zymo Research, Kinexum, Insilico Medicine, Illumina, Aging journal, Impetus Grants, Infinita Life Science and VitaDAO.

With Vadim Gladyshev serving as chairman and Steve Horvath as vice-chairman, the conference set the stage for the field, paving the way for the development of interventions to delay and reverse aging. Vadim is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of Redox Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, while Steve is a professor of human genetics and biostatistics at the University of California — Los Angeles, and a senior scientist at Altos Labs. Both are world-renowned researchers, and spoke and led the discussions at the conference.