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Chemistry in Pictures: Glowing with pride

“It looks like a tiny solar system. But instead of planets, it’s a snapshot of my research journey in the lab,” says Sadiya Tanga, a chemistry graduate student at Ashoka University. Tanga’s work has focused on a type of drug molecule called proteolysis-targeting chimeras, or PROTACs for short. PROTACs have two active ends, one that grabs a target protein and another that grabs a molecular flag that tells the cell to break down the whole assembly as waste. “Each glowing flask and sphere holds a different compound I worked hard to design and synthesize,” Tanga says. “The colors you see are from parts of the molecules that shine under UV light.”

Neuroimaging Biomarkers of Disease Progression and Cognitive Change in Patients With Retinal Vasculopathy With Cerebral Leukoencephalopathy

The official journal of the Guarantors of Brain. Provides researchers and clinicians with original contributions in neurology by publishing a wide range of original studies in neurological science, in addition to practical clinical articles.

Scientists discover hidden brain cells that may stop Alzheimer’s tau buildup

Scientists have uncovered a surprising new role for little-known brain cells called tanycytes that may influence the development of Alzheimer’s disease. These specialized cells appear to help remove toxic tau protein from the brain by transporting it from the cerebrospinal fluid into the bloodstream. When tanycytes become damaged or dysfunctional, tau can accumulate in the brain, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s.

Circulating MALAT1 in Preeclampsia and Association With Cardiometabolic Risk

RESEARCH ARTICLE: Circulating MALAT1 in Preeclampsia and Association With Cardiometabolic Risk @tovelekva

BACKGROUND: Preeclampsia is a hypertensive disorder affecting 2% to 8% of pregnancies. Women with a history of preeclampsia have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. The long noncoding RNA MALAT1 is shown to regulate inflammatory responses linked to cardiovascular disease. MALAT1 is decreased in preeclampsia placentas and may have a cis-regulatory function on neighboring RNAs. METHODS: Expression of MALAT1, NEAT1, mascRNA, SCYL1, and FRMD8 was assessed in peripheral blood mononuclear cells, and MALAT1 in plasma and extracellular vesicles, at 22 to 24 and 36 to 38 weeks of gestation in healthy (n=214) and preeclampsia (n=37) women from the STORK cohort study (STORe barn og Komplikasjoner, translated as Large Babies and Complications) and at 5-year follow-up in women with and without history of preeclampsia (n=29; n=271).

Transhumanism: the future or the world’s most dangerous idea?

For centuries we treated technology as a tool, and now a new movement insists it is becoming the future of the human species itself.

Transhumanists like Harari and Kurzweil predict the merger of humans and machines, even the rise of a “digital God.” But critics fear this proposed future, calling transhumanism “the world’s most dangerous idea.”

Is the future one where technology is not merely a source of innovation but the basis for a new account of what it is to be human, or are claims of eternal life and new forms of intelligence just fanciful nonsense?

Joining the debate are transhumanist pioneer Zoltan Istvan, physicist and consciousness researcher Àlex Gómez-Marín, philosopher of mind Susan Schneider, and Softmax co-founder Adam Goldstein.

Tap the link now to watch the full debate.

We have for centuries sought technological progress. But now some are making the radical claim that technology is the future of the human race. ‘Effective accelerationists’ have won high-profile Silicon Valley support and claim we should accelerate technology to.

Continue reading “Transhumanism: the future or the world’s most dangerous idea?” | >

Recent pandemic viruses jumped to humans without prior adaptation, study finds

A new University of California San Diego study published in Cell challenges a long-standing assumption about how animal viruses become capable of sparking human epidemics and pandemics. Using a phylogenetic, genome-wide analysis across multiple viral families, researchers report that most zoonotic viruses—infectious pathogens that spread from animals to humans, including the cause of COVID-19—do not show evidence of special evolutionary adaptation before spilling over into humans.

“This work has direct relevance to the ongoing controversy around COVID-19 origins,” said Joel Wertheim, Ph.D., senior author and professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health at UC San Diego School of Medicine.

“From an evolutionary perspective, we find no evidence that SARS-CoV-2 was shaped by selection in a laboratory or prolonged evolution in an intermediate host prior to its emergence. That absence of evidence is exactly what we would expect from a natural zoonotic event—and it represents another nail in the coffin for theories invoking laboratory manipulation.”

Present state and future of screening for atrial fibrillation: a state-of-the-art review

AFib AF

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia and is a leading cause of stroke and heart failure yet often remains undiagnosed. Screening has been proposed to identify asymptomatic AF and initiate preventive treatment, but evidence for reduction in hard clinical endpoints such as stroke and heart failure remains inconclusive. In this state-of-the-art review, we critically examine major AF screening trials across opportunistic, systematic and consumer-driven strategies, focusing on design features, population selection, monitoring strategies and outcomes. Variability in trial design, particularly in randomisation timing, participation rates and intensity of monitoring, significantly affects both AF detection and clinical outcomes. Systematic screening shows promise, but many trials were underpowered for hard outcomes.

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