Lifeboat Foundation

Astronauts are at higher risk for developing mutations—possibly linked to spaceflight—that can increase the risk of developing cancer and heart disease during their lifetimes, according to a first-of-its kind study from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Mount Sinai study could lead to ongoing health monitoring of astronauts to assess possible health risks and prevent disease progression.

Health — operanewsapp.

“This shows that we must factor the gut microbiome into our understanding of how nanomaterials affect the immune system,” said the paper’s corresponding author Bengt Fadeel, professor at the Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet. “Our results are important for identifying the potential adverse effects of nanomaterial and mitigating or preventing such effects in new materials.”

ALSO READ: Researchers reveal tomatoes’ health benefits to gut microbes

Graphene is an extremely thin material, a million times thinner than a human hair. It comprises a single layer of carbon atoms and is stronger than steel yet flexible, transparent, and electrically conductive. This makes it extremely useful in a multitude of applications, including in “smart” textiles equipped with wearable electronics and as a component of composite materials, to enhance the strength and conductivity of existing materials.

You may have heard the phrase, “You are what you eat.” It’s no surprise that what you put into your body directly impacts how you feel and other aspects of your health, including cognitive function.

In fact, diets that contain certain amounts of minerals like sodium and potassium could have an effect on brain function, especially in older adults, according to a recent study published in Global Transitions.

Researchers from China found diets higher in sodium were associated with a higher risk of cognitive decline and poor and deteriorated memory. On the other hand, participants in the study who had more potassium intake in their diet were associated with higher cognitive function.

Over the last two decades, scientists have postulated several theories that has helped to explain how we acquire motor skills, and the decisions we make in order to execute motor skills to navigate our environment. Additionally, the advent of neuroimaging techniques, such as electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have contributed significantly to our understanding of movement by providing possible neural correlates and processes that underpin various types of motor function. However, techniques such as EEG and fMRI are highly susceptible to motion artifacts during recording, which limits the range of movements that can be performed during scanning. This limitation impacts on the translational value of such findings in real-world applications.

To overcome the limitations of traditional neuroimaging paradigms, second generation neuroimaging devices such as portable EEG and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), and non-invasive brain stimulation techniques such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) can be used to study a broader range of dynamic movements and central changes associated with physical exercise. Both EEG and fNIRS can be applied concurrently with a motor task or exercise to understand its associated central response, while the application of non-invasive brain stimulation can help to establish causality by experimentally-induced facilitation or inhibition of specific neural networks.

In this research topic, we aim to showcase recent advances in the use of neuroimaging and non-invasive brain stimulation techniques to understand motor control processes and central adaptations to exercise across the lifespan and disease conditions. Submissions that are Original Research, Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis, Literature review, Mini-review, Methods, and Perspective articles will be considered. Topics that cover, but not limited to, the following to domains are encouraged:

Rewriting Biology with Artificial Intelligence.

Ray Kurzweil.

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In a study examining the link between non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and brain dysfunction, scientists at the Roger Williams Institute of Hepatology, affiliated to King’s College London and the University of Lausanne, found an accumulation of fat in the liver causes a decrease in oxygen to the brain and inflammation to brain tissue—both of which have been proven to lead to the onset of severe brain diseases.

The paper appears in the Journal of Hepatology.

NAFLD affects approximately 25% of the population and more than 80% of morbidly obese people. Several studies have reported the negative effects of an unhealthy diet and obesity can have on brain function however this is believed to be the first study that clearly links NAFLD with brain deterioration and identifies a potential therapeutic target.

Electronic wearable patches have been devised to monitor various health conditions by noninvasively detecting biomolecules on the skin surface.

A new Nature Communications study discusses the development of novel skin patches capable of deep detection of biomolecules, which correlate better and more rapidly with physiological states. For example, the photoacoustic patch described by the researchers, who are engineers at the University of California San Diego, can produce a three-dimensional (3D) map of deep tissue hemoglobin.

Have you ever heard of the yeast Candida auris? If not, you are most likely not the only one since it hasn’t garnered much attention. Yet. That could change.

Candida auris’s story begins in 2009 when a Japanese woman in her 70s is admitted to the Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital. Her ear sometimes discharges something, and the doctors routinely use a cotton swab to collect samples of it. To determine what is causing the infection, they analyze the sample.

It turns out that a yeast, different from other known yeasts, is at play. We’ve all heard of baker’s yeast, a friendly microorganism used to make beer and bread. Candida auris and other Candida yeast species are extremely different; they cause serious and persistent infections that are difficult to treat with known antibiotics.