Lifeboat Foundation

From marigolds to human babies, most complex organisms start as a single-celled embryo. In his new book, Ben Stanger explores what our humble origins could teach us about health and disease.

By Clare Wilson

Contact Lens Health Week will be observed Aug. 21–25, which makes this a good time to learn more about contact lenses and whether they might be right for you.

Eyeglasses can be fun and fashionable. And they’re a safe and effective way to provide vision correction for most people. Contact lenses also can provide a safe and effective way to correct your vision, and more than 45 million people in the U.S. wear contact lenses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

If you’re considering switching to contact lenses, here are some things you should consider.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), one of the largest institutes in the National Institutes of Health (NIH), part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), conducts and supports basic and applied research to better understand, treat, and ultimately prevent infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases. The Bacterial Pathogenesis and Antimicrobial Resistance Unit (chief John Dekker) in the Laboratory of Clinical Immunology and Microbiology in the Division of Intramural Research (DIR) within NIAID seeks candidates for a postdoctoral fellowship position in microbial genomics.

This position will offer a unique opportunity to work at the intersection of pathogen genomics, systems biology, and clinical infectious diseases. The lab uses a variety of genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, imaging, and molecular approaches to study bacterial pathogens and antimicrobial resistance, with a focus on intra-host evolution in the context of infection. Access to state-of-the-art short-and long-read sequencing, metabolomics, optical, and computational resources is available. See more information about the Bacterial Pathogenesis and Antimicrobial Resistance Unit under chief John P. Dekker and an example of their recent work.

Older adults with more severe behavioral symptoms, including agitation, aggression, and disinhibition, are more likely to become divorced than those with less severe symptoms. However, increasing stages of dementia are associated with a low likelihood of divorce. These are some of the conclusions of a new study published August 16 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Joan Monin of the Yale School of Public Health and colleagues.

In recent years, divorce has been on the rise among older adults. Moreover, dementia can be difficult for married couples for many reasons, including the introduction of caregiving burden, loss of intimacy, and financial strain.

In a new study, researchers analyzed data from 37 NIA/NIH Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers (ADRCs) across the US. The final study included 263 married or living-as–married couples who were divorced or separated during their follow up period at an ADRC, as well as 1,238 age-matched controls.

Researchers at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at NIH, Bethesda, have discovered a potential breakthrough for people with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), marked by extreme exhaustion, post-exertional malaise and cognitive issues.

In a paper, “WASF3 disrupts mitochondrial respiration and may mediate exercise intolerance in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome,” published in PNAS, the team details the influence of increased WASF3 proteins on the assembly of mitochondrial proteins, hampering energy production.

The study focused on a woman (S1) who experienced severe long-term fatigue. Measuring her muscles for phosphocreatine regeneration after exercise revealed a significant delay in mitochondrial ATP synthesis capacity. This discovery was followed up with a cell assay which found increased phospho-activation of an enzyme in a signaling pathway (MPAK).

A new study led by University of Maryland physicists sheds light on the cellular processes that regulate genes. Published in the journal Science Advances, the paper explains how the dynamics of a polymer called chromatin—the structure into which DNA is packaged—regulate gene expression.

Through the use of machine learning and statistical algorithms, a research team led by Physics Professor Arpita Upadhyaya and National Institutes of Health Senior Investigator Gordon Hager discovered that chromatin can switch between a lower and higher mobility state within seconds. The team found that the extent to which chromatin moves inside cells is an overlooked but important process, with the lower mobility state being linked to gene expression.

Notably, transcription factors (TFs)—proteins that bind specific DNA sequences within the chromatin polymer and turn genes on or off—exhibit the same mobility as that of the piece of chromatin they are bound to. In their study, the researchers analyzed a group of TFs called nuclear receptors, which are targeted by drugs that treat a variety of diseases and conditions.

Google DeepMind researchers have finally found a way to make life coaching even worse: infuse it with generative AI.

According to internal documents obtained by The New York Times reports, Google and the Google-owned DeepMind AI lab are working with “generative AI to perform at least 21 different types of personal and professional tasks.” And among those tasks, apparently, is an effort to use generative AI to build a “life advice” tool. You know, because an inhuman AI model knows everything there is to know about navigating the complexities of mortal human existence.

As the NYT points out, the news of the effort notably comes months after AI safety experts at Google said, back in just December, that users of AI systems could suffer “diminished health and well-being” and a “loss of agency” as the result of taking AI-spun life advice. The Google chatbot Bard, meanwhile, is barred from providing legal, financial, or medical advice to its users.

In a recent pre-print study posted to the medRxiv* server, researchers conducted a comprehensive genome-wide association study (GWAS) to elucidate the genetic architecture of circulating retinol, identify its potential causal relationships with various clinical phenotypes, and evaluate its therapeutic or nutritional implications.

Study: Genetic influences on circulating retinol and its relationship to human health. Image Credit: SciePro/Shutterstock.com.

*Important notice: medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.

What if we could identify the earliest warning signs of cardiovascular disease from a simple saliva sample? Scientists think they have found a way to do so. Gum inflammation leads to periodontitis, which is linked with cardiovascular disease.

The team used a simple oral rinse to see if levels of white blood cells —an indicator of gum inflammation —in the saliva of healthy adults could be linked to warning signs for cardiovascular disease. they found that high levels correlated with compromised flow-mediated dilation, an early indicator of poor arterial health.

“Even in young healthy adults, low levels of oral inflammatory load may have an impact on cardiovascular health—one of the leading causes of death in North America,” said Dr. Trevor King of Mount Royal University, corresponding author of the study published in Frontiers in Oral Health.