by Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne The thalamus and thalamic reticular nucleus are situated at the heart of the mammalian brain and are known to play a key role in a wide range of functions, including the transmission of sensory information to the cortex and the transition between brain states such as sleep and wakefulness. Credit:...
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Ongoing study finds history of TBI likely worsens long COVID symptoms
by Nika Anschuetz, University of Denver Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain In January 2021, Ron Miller’s life upended. The then-39-year-old, who described his health at the time as perfectly fine, contracted COVID-19. Two years later, he’s unable to work as he still suffers from extreme fatigue and brain fog—a byproduct of his battle with long COVID. Ron’s...
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Allies or enemies of cancer: The dual fate of neutrophils
by University of GenevaCredit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Why do cancer immunotherapies work so extraordinarily well in a minority of patients, but fail in so many others? By analyzing the role of neutrophils, immune cells whose presence usually signals treatment failure, scientists from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), from Harvard Medical School, and from Ludwig Cancer Center...
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The role of lipids in blood cancer: New insights into uncharted territory
by University of Tsukuba Credit: Kateryna Kon/Shutterstock Cells contain diverse populations of molecules called lipids, which are organic fatty compounds. Lipid metabolism, the synthesis and breakdown of these lipids, plays a key role in regulating the composition and functions of cells and cell membranes. An enzyme known as ELOVL6 elongates chains of fatty acids and is...
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Novel drug shows promise for alleviating both heart failure and the sleep apnea associated with it
by University of Auckland P2X3-receptor antagonism improves cardiac function in chronic heart failure (CHF) rats. a Representative images of echocardiography in rats submitted to myocardial infarction (MI), before and after 7 weeks of treatment with vehicle or AF-130. Red arrows indicate diastolic ventricular diameter and yellow arrows indicate diastolic ventricular wall thickness. P2X3-receptor antagonism prevented...
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Scientists discover brain region linking short-term to long-term memory
by Rockefeller University Credit: Laboratory of Neural Dynamics and Cognition We have a pretty good idea of where memory starts and ends—short-term memories form in the hippocampus and, if the situation calls for it, stabilize into long-term memories in the cortex. But what happens along the winding path between short-term to long-term memory is a mystery....
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Study reveals a driver of brain cell damage in neurodegeneration
by Leah Eisenstadt, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard A section of brain from a mouse model of neurodegeneration, showing a control protein in green, Nptx2 in red, and glial cells in white. Boosting Nptx2 rescued synapses and reduced complement overactivity. Credit: Borislav Dejanovic Scientists have long known that the complement cascade, a set of immune...
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ChatGPT saved my dog’s life after vets couldn’t figure out diagnosis
Story by Brooke Steinberg • Monday Artificial intelligence really can do some things humans can’t. One man posted on Twitter that ChatGPT saved his dog’s life with a correct diagnosis after vets couldn’t figure out the problem. Twitter user @peakcooper, who goes by Cooper on the platform, wrote that his dog was diagnosed with a tick-borne disease and started treatment...
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T cells in human blood secrete a substance that affects blood pressure and inflammation
KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET Acetylcholine regulates blood flow, but the source of blood acetylcholine has been unclear. Now, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have discovered that certain T cells in human blood can produce acetylcholine, which may help regulate blood pressure and inflammation. The study, which is published in PNAS, also demonstrates a possible association between these immune cells in...
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New nanoparticles can perform gene-editing in the lungs
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY CAMBRIDGE, MA — Engineers at MIT and the University of Massachusetts Medical School have designed a new type of nanoparticle that can be administered to the lungs, where it can deliver messenger RNA encoding useful proteins. With further development, these particles could offer an inhalable treatment for cystic fibrosis and other...