Serious stuff! Poland has become a transit country from the West to the Ukraine.
Thursday, August 31, 2023
Why is China's Xi Jinping Skipping the G20 Summit? with Palki Sharma
G20 Summit without Russia and China? This is then more like a G7 Summit. 😊 Except for Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, South Korea.
In a First, Scientists Fully Wipe a Cell's Memory Before Turning It Into a Stem Cell
Good news!
"... Now an international team of researchers has gone one better: finding a new way of wiping a cell's memory clean so it can be better reprogrammed as a stem cell. ...
The new method, called transient-naive-treatment (TNT) reprogramming, mimics the reset of a cell's epigenome that happens in very early embryonic development, before and after an embryo implants itself in the uterus wall.
In a series of cell experiments, the researchers showed that TNT reprogramming "effectively erases epigenetic memory", particularly in densely packed regions of DNA – but without deleting other important information imprinted on the genome.
As a result, the reprogrammed cells better resembled embryonic-like stem cells in their function and on a molecular level. ..."
"In a groundbreaking study published today in Nature, Australian scientists have resolved a long-standing problem in regenerative medicine. ... the team developed a new method to reprogram human cells to better mimic embryonic stem cells, with significant implications for biomedical and therapeutic uses. ...
“However, a persistent problem with the conventional reprograming process is that iPS [induced pluripotent stem] cells can retain an epigenetic memory of their original somatic state, as well as other epigenetic abnormalities,” ... “This can create functional differences between the iPS cells and the ES cells they’re supposed to imitate, and specialised cells subsequently derived from them, which limits their use,”. ..."
From the abstract:
"Cells undergo a major epigenome reconfiguration when reprogrammed to human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPS cells). However, the epigenomes of hiPS cells and human embryonic stem (hES) cells differ significantly, which affects hiPS cell function. These differences include epigenetic memory and aberrations that emerge during reprogramming, for which the mechanisms remain unknown. Here we characterized the persistence and emergence of these epigenetic differences by performing genome-wide DNA methylation profiling throughout primed and naive reprogramming of human somatic cells to hiPS cells. We found that reprogramming-induced epigenetic aberrations emerge midway through primed reprogramming, whereas DNA demethylation begins early in naive reprogramming. Using this knowledge, we developed a transient-naive-treatment (TNT) reprogramming strategy that emulates the embryonic epigenetic reset. We show that the epigenetic memory in hiPS cells is concentrated in cell of origin-dependent repressive chromatin marked by H3K9me3, lamin-B1 and aberrant CpH methylation. TNT reprogramming reconfigures these domains to a hES cell-like state and does not disrupt genomic imprinting. Using an isogenic system, we demonstrate that TNT reprogramming can correct the transposable element overexpression and differential gene expression seen in conventional hiPS cells, and that TNT-reprogrammed hiPS and hES cells show similar differentiation efficiencies. Moreover, TNT reprogramming enhances the differentiation of hiPS cells derived from multiple cell types. Thus, TNT reprogramming corrects epigenetic memory and aberrations, producing hiPS cells that are molecularly and functionally more similar to hES cells than conventional hiPS cells. We foresee TNT reprogramming becoming a new standard for biomedical and therapeutic applications and providing a novel system for studying epigenetic memory."
Caution: This is a very long article!
In a First, Scientists Fully Wipe a Cell's Memory Before Turning It Into a Stem Cell : ScienceAlertFig. 1: Distinct trajectories of DNA methylation change during human naive and primed reprogramming.
Israeli soldier murdered in terror ramming was from the Ukraine
What an irony! History is full of surprises (positive & negative)!
"Sergeant Maxim Mulchanov, a lone soldier from Ukraine was the soldier murdered in Thursday’s terror attack at the Maccabim checkpoint, according to the family and an IDF confirmation.
His parents released a statement to The Jerusalem Post via Chabad Rebbetzin Miriam Moskovitz of their local Chabad house in Kharkiv, Ukraine, saying “he was a very honest and very open person, always out to help.
"Just a year ago, he helped a child who needed a bone marrow transplant in Germany. They did a whole procedure. ..."
"Just a year ago, he helped a child who needed a bone marrow transplant in Germany. They did a whole procedure. ..."
Why Andrew Mellon Was the Best Treasury Secretary the US Has Ever Had by Lawrence Reed
Recommendable! Trump was not the first rich businessman active in politics!
74-year-old Wisconsin female teacher faces over 600 years in prison after being convicted of 25 counts sexual abuse on 14-year-old boy
Welcome to the age of Me Too! One of negative sides of gender equality!
"... Anne N. Nelson-Koch was convicted on all 25 counts connected to repeated sexual assaults on a minor. The trial took three days, and the jury deliberated for just hours and returned with a guilty verdict. ..."
Animal Weight Watchers at the London Zoo
How many animal were overweight?
"They’re among the 14,000 animals who had their vital stats taken at the London Zoo’s annual weigh-in this week.
The exercise provides essential data—and overwhelming cuteness, The Evening Standard reports. And naturally, when residents range from 5 milligram leaf cutter ants to a 1,653 pound giraffe, tactics vary. ..."
"... Keepers at the conservation zoo spend hours throughout the year recording the heights and weights of all the animals, and the annual weigh-in is a chance to ensure the information they have collated is accurate and up to date. ..."
From tallest giraffe to tiniest tadpole: London Zoo conducts annual weigh-in The annual weigh-in is a chance for keepers at the conservation zoo in London to ensure they hold accurate information on their 14,000 animals.
Over-the-counter opioid overdose antidote Narcan to hit U.S. stores next week, drugmaker says
Good news! May it safe as many lives as possible!
"The first over-the-counter naloxone, a drug used to reverse opioid overdose, will be available in retail stores and online as soon as next week, its manufacturer said Wednesday.
The medicine, with the brand name Narcan, will have a suggested retail price of $44.99 per carton of two doses, maker Emergent BioSolutions said in a news release. It will be available initially in stores and online from retailers including Walgreens, Rite Aid, Walmart and CVS. ..."
Major progress towards Israel-Japan free trade agreement
Good news! Japan is lagging behind South Korea and China! 😊 As they say, history waits for no one to get it on.
"... Diplomatic sources estimate that in an optimistic scenario a first draft agreement could be presented by the second half of 2024 and signed in 2025. Sources says that the Japanese government's speeded up motivation to reach an agreement with Israel stems from last year's signing of an FTA between Israel and South Korea and an FTA between Israel and China, which is in advanced stages of negotiations prior to signing. The Japanese government is concerned that these agreements and the accompanying cancellation of customs duties could harm Israeli imports from Japan. ..."
New bioink promotes growth & regeneration of 3D-printed muscle tissue
Good news! A Body builder out of a 3D printer? What say you Arnold Schwarzenegger?
"... Now, researchers from the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation (TIBI) in Los Angeles have come up with a novel, improved bioink to enhance 3D-printed skeletal muscle constructs and overcome the limitations of autologous transfer. ...
The bioink is composed of a biocompatible gelatin-based hydrogel called gelatin methacryloyl (GeIMA), myoblast cells, and PLGA microparticles coated with IGF-1 designed to slowly release the hormone as the particles degraded. ..."
To mimic myogenesis, the researchers relied on a key ingredient in their specially formulated bioink: insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), a hormone with a molecular structure similar to insulin that, along with growth hormone, is vital for normal bone and tissue growth and development.
"The TIBI approach utilizes 3D bioprinting with a bioink composed of GelMA (a biocompatible gelatin-based hydrogel), myoblast cells, and microparticles engineered for sustained delivery of IGF-1.
IGF-1 promotes muscle regeneration and repair when present for at least ten days. To provide sustained release of IGF-1 for several days, the researchers used a microfluidic system to fabricate uniformly sized microparticles which were coated with IGF-1. The IGF-1 was gradually released from the surface of the microparticles as the particles degraded.
One week after the muscle constructs were created with the new bioink, the researchers observed enhanced myoblast alignment, fusion, and differentiation into myotubes, which were also shown to grow and elongate significantly more than constructs without a sustained release of IGF-1. Interestingly, ten days after bioprinting, the muscle tissue constructs having sustained release of IGF-1 began to contract spontaneously. ..."
From the abstract:
"Several microfabrication technologies have been used to engineer native-like skeletal muscle tissues. However, the successful development of muscle remains a significant challenge in the tissue engineering field. Muscle tissue engineering aims to combine muscle precursor cells aligned within a highly organized 3D structure and biological factors crucial to support cell differentiation and maturation into functional myotubes and myofibers. In this study, the use of 3D bioprinting is proposed for the fabrication of muscle tissues using gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) incorporating sustained insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1)-releasing microparticles and myoblast cells. This study hypothesizes that functional and mature myotubes will be obtained more efficiently using a bioink that can release IGF-1 sustainably for in vitro muscle engineering. Synthesized microfluidic-assisted polymeric microparticles demonstrate successful adsorption of IGF-1 and sustained release of IGF-1 at physiological pH for at least 21 days. Incorporating the IGF-1-releasing microparticles in the GelMA bioink assisted in promoting the alignment of myoblasts and differentiation into myotubes. Furthermore, the myotubes show spontaneous contraction in the muscle constructs bioprinted with IGF-1-releasing bioink. The proposed bioprinting strategy aims to improve the development of new therapies applied to the regeneration and maturation of muscle tissues."
"Several microfabrication technologies have been used to engineer native-like skeletal muscle tissues. However, the successful development of muscle remains a significant challenge in the tissue engineering field. Muscle tissue engineering aims to combine muscle precursor cells aligned within a highly organized 3D structure and biological factors crucial to support cell differentiation and maturation into functional myotubes and myofibers. In this study, the use of 3D bioprinting is proposed for the fabrication of muscle tissues using gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) incorporating sustained insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1)-releasing microparticles and myoblast cells. This study hypothesizes that functional and mature myotubes will be obtained more efficiently using a bioink that can release IGF-1 sustainably for in vitro muscle engineering. Synthesized microfluidic-assisted polymeric microparticles demonstrate successful adsorption of IGF-1 and sustained release of IGF-1 at physiological pH for at least 21 days. Incorporating the IGF-1-releasing microparticles in the GelMA bioink assisted in promoting the alignment of myoblasts and differentiation into myotubes. Furthermore, the myotubes show spontaneous contraction in the muscle constructs bioprinted with IGF-1-releasing bioink. The proposed bioprinting strategy aims to improve the development of new therapies applied to the regeneration and maturation of muscle tissues."
Enhanced Maturation of 3D Bioprinted Skeletal Muscle Tissue Constructs Encapsulating Soluble Factor-Releasing Microparticles (open access)
Fig. 1 Schematic illustration of the soluble factor releasing bioink.
Aging impairs the neurovascular interface in the heart
Recommendable!
"... In a new Science study, researchers demonstrate that aging or “senescent” blood vessels release a protein called semaphorin-3A, which inhibits the growth of nerve cells in cardiac muscle tissue.
The release of semaphorin-3A is “nerve-wracking” for the aging heart ... A healthy heart can independently control its own rhythm, but reduced nerve density causes it to beat irregularly. The lack of nerves also impairs the heart’s ability to function effectively under stress, since it can no longer respond as well to signals from the brain telling it to pump faster and supply more oxygen. ..." (Source)
From the editor's summary and abstract:
"Editor’s summary
Changes in innervation of the heart can contribute to arrhythmias, and the risk of arrhythmias greatly increases with age. Wagner et al. uncovered a mechanism connecting these two phenomena. The authors studied young and aging mice and demonstrated that innervation of the heart decreases with age. Age-related accumulation of senescent cells promotes the release of semaphorin-3A, which reduces the density of neuronal axons in the heart. At the same time, aging is associated with a decrease in a microRNA that counteracts the effects of semaphorin-3A, further tipping the balance toward decreased innervation. These age-related losses in innervation could be reversed by treating the mice with senolytic drugs, suggesting a potential therapeutic approach. ...
Abstract
Aging is a major risk factor for impaired cardiovascular health. Because the aging myocardium is characterized by microcirculatory dysfunction, and because nerves align with vessels, we assessed the impact of aging on the cardiac neurovascular interface. We report that aging reduces nerve density in the ventricle and dysregulates vascular-derived neuroregulatory genes. Aging down-regulates microRNA 145 (miR-145) and derepresses the neurorepulsive factor semaphorin-3A. miR-145 deletion, which increased Sema3a expression or endothelial Sema3a overexpression, reduced axon density, mimicking the aged-heart phenotype. Removal of senescent cells, which accumulated with chronological age in parallel to the decline in nerve density, rescued age-induced denervation, reversed Sema3a expression, preserved heart rate patterns, and reduced electrical instability. These data suggest that senescence-mediated regulation of nerve density contributes to age-associated cardiac dysfunction."
Wednesday, August 30, 2023
How Europe is Funding Putin's War with Palki Sharma
Recommendable! Russian LNG is in high demand in Europe!
Poll Reveals Global Perception of India and Modi with Palki Sharma
Recommendable! It appears a lot of Europeans did not yet get the message about the new and rising superpower of India.
Ukraine bricht durch Russlands Hauptverteidigungslinie | BILD Lagezentrum
Eine sehr empfehlenswerte Episode! Erfolge der Ukrainer! Bravo an die BILD! Exzellente Berichterstattung zum Russisch-Ukrainischen Krieg seit vielen Monaten!
‘Thermometer’ molecule confirmed on exoplanet WASP-31b for the first time
Amazing stuff!
"Chromium hydride (CrH), a molecule that’s relatively rare and particularly sensitive to temperature, is useful as a “thermometer for stars,” ... because it’s abundant only in a narrow range between 1,200-2,000 degrees Kelvin. ...
In our solar system, the only detected occurrence of this molecule is in sunspots, ... the sun is too hot (around 6,000 K on the surface) and all other objects are too cool. ..."
From the abstract:
"Exoplanet atmosphere studies are often enriched by synergies with brown dwarf analogs. However, many key molecules commonly seen in brown dwarfs have yet to be confirmed in exoplanet atmospheres. An important example is chromium hydride (CrH), which is often used to probe atmospheric temperatures and classify brown dwarfs into spectral types. Recently, tentative evidence for CrH was reported in the low-resolution transmission spectrum of the hot Jupiter WASP-31b. Here, we presenthigh spectral resolution observations of WASP-31b's transmission spectrum from GRACES/Gemini North and UVES/Very Large Telescope. We detect CrH at 5.6σ confidence, representing the first metal hydride detection in an exoplanet atmosphere at high spectral resolution. Our findings constitute a critical step in understanding the role of metal hydrides in exoplanet atmospheres."
ExoGemS Detection of a Metal Hydride in an Exoplanet Atmosphere at High Spectral Resolution (open access)
Figure 4. The original (top) and filtered CrH template (bottom). The wavelength range use, chosen because of the relatively strong CrH lines with minimal telluric contamination, is highlighted in purple.
Marijuana and hallucinogen use, binge drinking, reach historic highs among adults 35-50 in the U.S.
Perhaps this is just story enriched with alarmism and hysteria to fill the summer slump! Or should we be concerned!
Is this just some testing and sampling by young adults or is there more to it?
How much of this increase can be attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic? How much of it is temporary?
Will the U.S. become a nation of addicts?
"Americans, from college to middle age, have a newfound taste for drugs, and are smoking marijuana and taking psychedelics at unprecedented rates.
That’s according to the Monitoring the Future survey, which has tracked, among other topics, American substance use since the mid-1970s. The latest figures for MTF’s adult cohort, reported in the New Scientist, indicate that roughly a quarter of adults aged 35-50, and almost half of adults aged 19-30, said they had used marijuana in the past 12 months. About 4% of older adults, and 8% of younger adults, reported past-year use of psychedelics like LSD and MDMA. ..."
"... While binge drinking has generally declined for the past 10 years among younger adults, adults aged 35 to 50 in 2022 reported the highest prevalence of binge drinking ever recorded for this age group, which also represents a significant past-year, five-year and 10-year increase. ...
For example, 44% of young adults reported using marijuana in the past year, more than 1 in 10 reported using marijuana almost every day, and more than 1 in 5 have vaped marijuana. Nicotine vaping has nearly doubled in this age group since it was first measured in 2017 (from 14% to 24% in 2022). Hallucinogen use has more than doubled in 10 years, now at 8% in 2022 (compared to 3% in 2012).
Among midlife adults aged 35 to 50, marijuana and hallucinogen use have also been increasing. In the past year, 28% have used marijuana and 4% have used hallucinogens. Nearly 30% of adults reported having five or more drinks in a row in the past two weeks. ...
Hallucinogen use: Among adults aged 19 to 30, 8% reported past-year use of hallucinogens, significantly higher than five years ago (5% in 2017) and 10 years ago (3% in 2012). ...
Hallucinogen use: Among adults aged 19 to 30, 8% reported past-year use of hallucinogens, significantly higher than five years ago (5% in 2017) and 10 years ago (3% in 2012). ...
The study also showed that past-year use of cigarettes, sedatives and nonmedical use of opioid medications (narcotics other than heroin) showed a 10-year decline for both adult age groups. Reports of past-year amphetamine use continued a 10-year decrease among 19-to-30-year-olds and a 10-year increase among 35-to-50-year-olds. ..."
Appetite for mind-altering substances is booming among US adults Rates of cannabis and psychedelic use among adults in the US reached record highs in 2022, part of a decade-long upswing in the use of mind-altering drugs
Communist Party of China squeezes Hong Kong activists in exile by interrogating Hong Kong relatives
Bad news! When will the Chinese people finally end the rule of the communist party!
The Communist Party of China has gravely violated the Hong Kong Basic Law of 1997 by annexing and occupying Hong Kong several years ago!
"Hong Kong authorities have been detaining and questioning family members of democracy activists living in exile, adopting tactics considered a hallmark of the Chinese Communist Party.
National security officers in recent weeks have taken in Hong Kong-based relatives of several activists, questioning them for hours. The activists are among a list of eight subject to bounties of up to 1 million Hong Kong dollars ($127,550) per person. Police say the activists violated national security by lobbying for sanctions against local officials. ..."
Japan is allowing people to drive drunk while supervised inside a driving school on a driving course
I toast my next Sake to that! A good excuse to have a drink! 😊
Does drunk driving get any safer than that? 😊
"Police in Japan have implemented an unusual strategy in order to prevent drunk driving: encouraging people to consume alcohol and then letting them loose on a driving course.
The initiative is part of an awareness campaign organized by the Chikushino Police Department in Fukuoka, southwest Japan, after three children were killed by a drunk driver on a local bridge in August 2006.
The latest edition was held at the Chikushino Automobile School in Chikushino City on August 22. In total, 10 people took part, including a 77-year-old. ...
“The purpose of this hands-on event was to allow drivers to experience for themselves the difference between driving before and after drinking and to get a sense of how dangerous drunk driving can be,” the police spokesperson said. ..."
Der jugendliche Aiwanger steht am Pranger
In der Bananenrepublik D. tobt mal wieder ein Sturm im Wasserglas!
Im Sommerloch wurde was gefunden, dass die Medien aufbauschen können und wollen.
Wer hat nicht als Jugendlicher mal großen Unsinn gemacht? Aus Fehlern wird gelernt!
Wie sagte Jesus in einer seiner berühmtesten Lehren: "Wer von euch ohne Sünde ist, werfe als Erster einen Stein auf sie."
Can I get a mug shot too?
Would that be nice! Can I get it without committing a crime first?
Caution: Satire!
ESA - Webb captures a cosmic Whirlpool
Awesome!
The Phantom Galaxy, formally known as M74, is a kind of spiral galaxy known as a "grand design spiral." This means that it has well-defined spiral arms, visibly winding out from the center in the newly released images.
U.S. Senate Minority Leader McConnell (age 81) appears to freeze again at press conference
Welcome again to the age of gerontocracy!
This man is irresponsible and reckless not to retire! Set an example please!!!
It's bad enough to have a senile, demented and corrupt 46th President!
How about term limits for wannabe lifelong career politicians. An important reform awaiting Western democracies!
Scientists used a vibrating capsule to assess people’s gut sensitivities and understand how the brain interprets these signals
My gut instinct tells me that the approach taken seems to be a little primitive, but the results are interesting!
"Our organs constantly communicate a multitude of complex signals to the brain to keep the body functioning. Scientists have been puzzled by how the brain interprets and controls those signals since interoception, the process of sensing signals from the internal organs, is still poorly understood. In a study published in Nature Communications, researchers from the Laureate Institute for Brain Research (LIBR) reported a novel tool for measuring the gut-brain connection. Such a tool could help researchers identify response patterns in healthy and diseased populations. ..."
From the abstract:
"Understanding the neural processes governing the human gut-brain connection has been challenging due to the inaccessibility of the body’s interior. Here, we investigated neural responses to gastrointestinal sensation using a minimally invasive mechanosensory probe by quantifying brain, stomach, and perceptual responses following the ingestion of a vibrating capsule. Participants successfully perceived capsule stimulation under two vibration conditions (normal and enhanced), as evidenced by above chance accuracy scores. Perceptual accuracy improved significantly during the enhanced relative to normal stimulation, which was associated with faster stimulation detection and reduced reaction time variability. Capsule stimulation induced late neural responses in parieto-occipital electrodes near the midline. Moreover, these ‘gastric evoked potentials’ showed intensity-dependent increases in amplitude and were significantly correlated with perceptual accuracy. Our results replicated in a separate experiment, and abdominal X-ray imaging localized most capsule stimulations to the gastroduodenal segments. Combined with our prior observation that a Bayesian model is capable of estimating computational parameters of gut-brain mechanosensation, these findings highlight a unique form of enterically-focused sensory monitoring within the human brain, with implications for understanding gut feelings and gut-brain interactions in healthy and clinical populations."
Fig. 2: Parieto-occipital event-related potential (ERP) indicators of gut sensation during vibratory gut stimulation and their association with perceptual accuracy measures during normal and enhanced stimulation in n = 40 biologically independent samples.
Sweden during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Liberty won over draconian lockdowns!
It looks like the Scandinavian countries overall did fairly well when measured by excess death!
"During the pandemic, it seemed like the world was watching and worrying about Sweden, because my home country chose to stay open during the crisis. Many people warned that it was a reckless experiment that would end in disaster, and some people think Swedes came to regret this policy. ...
In the end, Sweden did better than other countries when it comes to school results and economic performance. That was to be expected as Sweden was one of few countries where schools and workplaces remained open. More surprisingly, Sweden also did better than most western countries on health outcomes. ...
Remarkably, Sweden had one of the lowest excess mortality rates during the three pandemic years 2020–22 – less than half of America’s."
In the end, Sweden did better than other countries when it comes to school results and economic performance. That was to be expected as Sweden was one of few countries where schools and workplaces remained open. More surprisingly, Sweden also did better than most western countries on health outcomes. ...
Remarkably, Sweden had one of the lowest excess mortality rates during the three pandemic years 2020–22 – less than half of America’s."
Meta took down over 7,700 of fake accounts linked to massive Chinese propaganda campaign and blocked thousands of Russian malicious website domains
Wow! What is the Communist Party of China up to?
"Meta has shared details about a massive network of fake accounts that attempted to spread pro-China propaganda on its platform. The company said the takedowns were linked to “individuals associated with Chinese law enforcement” who operated similar fake accounts on dozens of other platforms.
While the company regularly shares updates on its takedowns of fake accounts engaged in widespread manipulation, Meta’s security security researchers said the latest effort was particularly notable for the size and scope of the operation. In all, Meta took down 7,704 Facebook accounts, 954 Pages, 15 Groups and 15 Instagram accounts, making it one of the largest networks of fake accounts the company has ever uncovered. ..."
"Russia: We also blocked thousands of malicious website domains as well as attempts to run fake accounts and Pages on our platforms connected to the Russian operation known as Doppelganger that we first disrupted a year ago. This operation was focused on mimicking websites of mainstream news outlets and government entities to post fake articles aimed at weakening support for Ukraine. It has now expanded beyond initially targeting France, Germany and Ukraine to also include the US and Israel. This is the largest and the most aggressively-persistent Russian-origin operation we’ve taken down since 2017. In addition to new threat research, we’re also publishing our enforcement and policy recommendations for addressing the abuse of the global domain name registration system. "
Gabon coup attempt: Military officers say they have taken power
Another military coup in one of the francophone countries of West Africa after Niger!
Tuesday, August 29, 2023
Talks Fail Between Egypt & Ethiopia Over Dam on the Nile with Palki Sharma
How serious will this get? Water wars?
Ukraine war deaths climb dramatically, US officials say
Caution: Dramatic images. The horrors of war. Wife of a soldier became a soldier herself after her husband was killed in action. When will the megalomaniac and war criminal Putin the Terrible be indicted!
How a rare childhood cancer affecting muscle cells is reversed back to muscle cells
Good news! Cancer is history (soon)! Seems to be a very clever approach!
"... Rhabdomyosarcoma, also called RMS, is a rare childhood cancer that forms in muscle tissue. RMS cells start off as ordinary myoblasts—undifferentiated cells that eventually give rise to skeletal muscle. But if the differentiation process goes awry, these myoblasts never transform into full-fledged muscle cells capable of contracting and relaxing. Instead, they multiply out of control, creating devastating tumors.
Molecular biologists wanted to see if they could reverse this process, hopefully converting cancerous cells back into normal tissue. Using a new genetic screening technique, they identify a protein called NF-Y, which plays a key role in the biology of RMS cells. And when the researchers used CRISPR gene editing to inactivate NF-Y, something astonishing happened: The cells stopped multiplying, lost their cancerous attributes, and began differentiating into regular muscle cells. ...
"
"... This newfound relationship between NF-Y and RMS may set off the chain reaction needed to bring differentiation therapy to patients. And the mission doesn’t stop at RMS. The technology could be applicable to other cancer types. If so, scientists may someday work out how to turn other tumors into healthy cells. ...
Previously, ... team succeeded in transforming Ewing sarcoma cells into healthy tissue cells. ..."
Previously, ... team succeeded in transforming Ewing sarcoma cells into healthy tissue cells. ..."
From the significance and abstract:
"Significance
Rhabdomyosarcoma is a lethal pediatric cancer for which new therapies are needed. In this study, we developed a high-throughput genetic screening method to identify genes that cause rhabdomyosarcoma cells to differentiate into normal muscle. We used this platform to discover the protein NF-Y as an important molecule that contributes to rhabdomyosarcoma biology. CRISPR-based genetic targeting of NF-Y converts rhabdomyosarcoma cells into differentiated muscle, and we reveal the mechanism by which this occurs. Since many forms of human sarcoma exhibit a defect in cell differentiation, the methodology described here might have broad relevance for the investigation of these tumors. In addition, our findings suggest that NF-Y could serve as a molecular target for the development of differentiation therapy in rhabdomyosarcoma.
Abstract
Recurrent chromosomal rearrangements found in rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) produce the PAX3–FOXO1 fusion protein, which is an oncogenic driver and a dependency in this disease. One important function of PAX3–FOXO1 is to arrest myogenic differentiation, which is linked to the ability of RMS cells to gain an unlimited proliferation potential. Here, we developed a phenotypic screening strategy for identifying factors that collaborate with PAX3–FOXO1 to block myo-differentiation in RMS. Unlike most genes evaluated in our screen, we found that loss of any of the three subunits of the Nuclear Factor Y (NF-Y) complex leads to a myo-differentiation phenotype that resembles the effect of inactivating PAX3–FOXO1. While the transcriptomes of NF-Y- and PAX3–FOXO1-deficient RMS cells bear remarkable similarity to one another, we found that these two transcription factors occupy nonoverlapping sites along the genome: NF-Y preferentially occupies promoters, whereas PAX3–FOXO1 primarily binds to distal enhancers. By integrating multiple functional approaches, we map the PAX3 promoter as the point of intersection between these two regulators. We show that NF-Y occupies CCAAT motifs present upstream of PAX3 to function as a transcriptional activator of PAX3–FOXO1 expression in RMS. These findings reveal a critical upstream role of NF-Y in the oncogenic PAX3–FOXO1 pathway, highlighting how a broadly essential transcription factor can perform tumor-specific roles in governing cellular state."
Myo-differentiation reporter screen reveals NF-Y as an activator of PAX3–FOXO1 in rhabdomyosarcoma (no public access)
The cartoon model above illustrates RMS cells’ transformation to healthy muscle cells. When NF-Y is depleted from the cells, the cancer stops multiplying and starts to take on typical muscle features and functions. The microscopy images on the bottom row capture real cells before and after this transformation.
3M pays $6 billion to end suits over US troops' earplugs
$6 billion for earplugs! Will this be the end of 3M?
Monday, August 28, 2023
IBM taps AI to translate COBOL code to Java
Good news! Bringing mainframe computers into the 21st century!
"COBOL, or Common Business Oriented Language, is one of the oldest programming languages in use, dating back to around 1959. It’s had surprising staying power; according to a 2022 survey, there’s over 800 billion lines of COBOL in use on production systems, up from an estimated 220 billion in 2017. ..."
Meta releases an AI model that can transcribe and translate close to 100 languages
Impressive! The renaissance of the Tower of Babel!
How Nvidia Built a Competitive Moat Around A.I. Chips
Impressive!
"Nvidia has established a dominant position in the AI chip market, accounting for over 70% of sales and holding a significant role in training generative AI models. This dominance has been achieved through early recognition of AI trends, tailoring chips for complex AI tasks, and developing key software for AI development. Nvidia's strategy also includes offering customers access to specialized computers, computing services, and other tools, effectively making it a one-stop shop for AI development. Despite competition from tech giants like Google, Amazon, Meta, and IBM, Nvidia's market position remains strong, with a recent projection of a 64% leap in quarterly revenue and a market capitalization surpassing $1 trillion, making it the world's most valuable chip maker." Last Week in AI
A Hidden phase Between Liquid And Solid May Have Been Found in 2d materials
Amazing stuff!
"Anything made out of plastic or glass is known as an amorphous material. Unlike many materials that freeze into crystalline solids, the atoms and molecules in amorphous materials never stack together to form crystals when cooled. In fact, although we commonly think of plastic and glass as “solids,” they instead remain in a state that is more accurately described as a supercooled liquid that flows extremely slowly. And although these “glassy dynamic” materials are ubiquitous in our daily lives, how they become rigid at the microscopic scale has long eluded scientists. ...
Specifically, using theory, computer simulations, and previous experiments, the scientists explained why the molecules in these materials, when cooled, remain disordered like a liquid until taking a sharp turn toward a solid-like state at a certain temperature called the onset temperature – effectively becoming so viscous that they barely move. This onset of rigidity – a previously unknown phase transition – is what separates supercooled from normal liquids. ...
Any supercooled liquid continuously jumps between multiple configurations of molecules, resulting in localized particle movements known as excitations. In their proposed theory ... treated the excitations in a 2D supercooled liquid as though they were defects in a crystalline solid. As the supercooled liquid’s temperature increased to the onset temperature, they propose that every instance of a bound pair of defects broke apart into an unbounded pair. At precisely this temperature, the unbinding of defects is what made the system lose its rigidity and begin to behave like a normal liquid. ..."
From the significance and the abstract:
"Significance
"Significance
The dynamics of glass formers exhibit dramatic slowdown below an onset temperature that delineates the high-temperature and supercooled regimes. For two-dimensional (2D) glass formers, we propose that the onset temperature is described by a Kosterlitz–Thouless transition driven by the elastic excitations underlying the relaxation mechanism for glassy dynamics. Analogous to dislocation-mediated melting in 2D solids, the excitations exist as a bound dipole–dipole state in the supercooled regime and as free dipoles above the onset temperature. The Kosterlitz–Thouless scenario explains the elastic behavior of 2D supercooled liquids at intermediate timescales and thus, the Mermin–Wagner fluctuations observed in experiments and simulations of 2D glass formers. The present work reveals the exotic nature of 2D glass formers relevant to systems under extreme confinement.
Abstract
Below the onset temperature To, the equilibrium relaxation time of most glass-forming liquids exhibits glassy dynamics characterized by a super-Arrhenius temperature dependence. In this supercooled regime, the relaxation dynamics also proceeds through localized elastic excitations corresponding to hopping events between inherent states, i.e., potential-energy-minimizing configurations of the liquid. Despite its importance in distinguishing the supercooled regime from the high-temperature regime, the microscopic origin of To is not yet known. Here, we construct a theory for the onset temperature in two dimensions and find that an inherent-state melting transition, described by the binding–unbinding transition of dipolar elastic excitations, delineates the supercooled regime from the high-temperature regime. The corresponding melting transition temperature is in good agreement with the onset temperature found in various two-dimensional (2D) atomistic models of glass formers and an experimental binary colloidal system confined to a water–air interface. Additionally, we find the predictions for the renormalized elastic moduli to agree with the experimentally observed values for the latter 2D colloidal system. We further discuss the predictions of our theory on the displacement and density correlations at supercooled conditions, which are consistent with observations of the Mermin–Wagner fluctuations in experiments and molecular simulations."
Scientists Theorize a Hidden Phase Transition Between Liquid and a Solid Improved understanding of glassy dynamics could help scientists explain why a liquid behaves like a solid, and develop useful new materials
Inherent-state melting and the onset of glassy dynamics in two-dimensional supercooled liquids (open access)
(Left) Above an onset temperature, a 2D material exhibits normal liquid behavior with all particles similarly mobile (yellow). (Right) Below that temperature, it becomes supercooled, with the onset of rigidity leading to just some mobile particles (yellow) amongst solid-like ‘frozen’ regions (blue).
Chinese scientists developed a 3D printed abrasion-resistant non-adhesion toilet bowl
Good news! The expected water savings might be phenomenal.
The Chinese invented paper and gun powder! Now it is time for a better toilet bowl! 😊👏
"... Researchers in China have developed a 3D-printed toilet bowl so remarkably slippery that even after heavy use, virtually nothing clings to it. This high-tech toilet could be huge for water conservation, drastically reducing the amount of water required for flushing. ...
They've designed a toilet surface that remains extraordinarily slippery even in the face of continuous abrasion because the entirety of the material repels all manner of organic matter, not just the surface. ...
They've designed a toilet surface that remains extraordinarily slippery even in the face of continuous abrasion because the entirety of the material repels all manner of organic matter, not just the surface. ...
The Abrasion-Resistant Super-Slippery Flush Toilet, also known by the apt shorthand ARSSFT, is a blend of plastic and hydrophobic sand grains meticulously 3D-printed. Through the employment of a selective laser sintering technique, researchers fashioned a self-supporting three-dimensional structure with a porous architecture that can be infused with lubricants.
The material was then bathed in silicon oil, which infiltrated through the pores. The oil's deep penetration into the material ensures that it stays embedded, creating an extraordinary shield against even the most obstinate substances. ...
While the researchers at Huazhong University of Science and Technology currently have no immediate plans to enter the toilet manufacturing industry, the implications of their creation are far-reaching. While the treated material may prove too expensive for household users, such a toilet could prove perfect for public restrooms that have a very high usage rate. ..."
From the abstract:
"Flush toilets waste a significant amount of water every day due to the unavoidable adhesions between human waste and the toilet surfaces. Super-slippery surfaces can repel complex fluids and various viscoelastic solids, however, are easily broken by mechanical abrasions. Herein, the fabrication of an abrasion-resistant super-slippery flush toilet (ARSFT) is reported using a selective laser sintering 3D printing technology. Unlike traditional super-slippery surfaces with limited thicknesses which can be easily worn away, the powder-sintered strategy endows the ARSFT not only with a self-supporting 3D complex shape but also with a porous structure that can accommodate considerable lubricants for an abrasion-resistant super-slippery property. As a result, the as-prepared ARSFT remains clean after contacting with various liquids such as milk, yogurt, highly sticky honey, and starch gel mixed congee, demonstrating excellent repellence to complex fluids. Besides liquids, the ARSFT exhibits a high resistance to sticky synthetic feces. Notably, even after being abraded to 1,000 cycles of abrasion using sandpaper, the ARSFT maintains its record-breaking super-slippery capability. The concept of the 3D-printed object with a superior abrasion-resistant slippery ability will improve the development of super-slippery materials and further save water consumption in the human society."
3D-printed toilet is so slippery that nothing can leave a mark You may never need to clean a toilet again, thanks to a new material that keeps the bowl free of any waste
MIT: Explained: The 1.5 C climate benchmark. Really!
It is very disturbing when an institution like MIT puts out such garbage!
Just the ad nauseam repeated 1.5 C are extremely dubious itself. What a pretension of precision! Just the concept of global average atmospheric temperatures is vague and imprecise. E.g. what about the temperature in the oceans?
Of course, 8 billion humans roaming the earth have some impact on the climate no matter what form of energy they produce.
"... These extreme weather events are mainly a consequence of climate change driven by humans’ continued burning of coal, oil, and natural gas. Climate scientists agree that extreme weather such as what people experienced this summer will likely grow more frequent and intense in the coming years unless something is done, on a persistent and planet-wide scale, to rein in global temperatures. ..."
A reliable reference??? The last Ice Age (The Little Ice Age) ended around 1830! Seems more like cherry picked or deliberately and falsely chosen.
"... The treaty did not define a particular preindustrial period, though scientists generally consider the years from 1850 to 1900 to be a reliable reference; this time predates humans’ use of fossil fuels and is also the earliest period when global observations of land and sea temperatures are available. During this period, the average global temperature, while swinging up and down in certain years, generally hovered around 13.5 degrees Celsius, or 56.3 degrees Fahrenheit. ..."
What a fool is Sergey Paltsev?
"... “There is nothing magical about the 1.5 number, other than that is an agreed aspirational target. ... What is known: The lower the target for an increase in temperature, the lower the risks of climate impacts.” ..."
Cracking the code that relates brain and behavior in C. elegans
When will we finally move on to more complex animals than C. elegans?
The nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans has been used as a model organism in research since the early 1960s.
Dümmer durch Kiffen: Cannabis schädigt das Gehirn
Wurde schon seit Jahrzehnten oft behauptet. Vielleicht ist doch was dran! Meistens wurde diese Behauptung als eine Art Abschreckung abgetan.
John Jay - The Forgotten Founding Father Documentary
Not sure I can recommend this video. It is way too long and it features way too many details.
Sunday, August 27, 2023
English for trippers: Dress a waitress on a mattress
Wait a bit! What are you waiting on? What about trespassing?
Transgender surgeries in the U.S. nearly tripled from 2016 to 2019 to about 13,000 driven by insurance policy changes introduced by former President Barack Obama
C'est chic! When will this mania subside?
Without reading a lot it is not clear whether the study authors mixed in their gender affirming surgeries other cosmetic surgeries not really related to transgender.
"... Only around 4,550 Americans sought such sex-change surgeries in 2016 — a number that shot up to more than 13,000 by 2019, according to a Columbia University study published Wednesday in JAMA Network Open. ...
The rise followed the number of procedures doubling at least twice before, between 2000 to 2005 and again from 2006 to 2011 ...
The study included breast and chest procedures, genital reconstructive procedures and other facial and cosmetic surgical procedures. It did not consider the use of puberty blockers or hormone treatments. ...
At the same time, the overall number of “health system encounters for gender identity disorder” rose from 12,855 in 2016 to 38,470 in 2020. ...
In total, researchers about 48,000 people underwent surgeries in the five-year span from 2016 through 2020. ...
Among the youngest patients, the most common surgeries were breast and chest procedures, with more than 3,000 preteens and teenagers undergoing the surgery over the course of the five years examined. ..."
From the key points and abstract:
"Key Points
- Question What are the temporal trends in gender-affirming surgery (GAS) in the US?
- Findings In this cohort study of 48 019 patients, GAS increased significantly, nearly tripling from 2016 to 2019. Breast and chest surgery was the most common class of procedures performed overall; genital reconstructive procedures were more common among older individuals.
- Meaning These findings suggest that there will be a greater need for clinicians knowledgeable in the care of transgender individuals with the requisite expertise to perform gender-affirming procedures.
Abstract
Importance While changes in federal and state laws mandating coverage of gender-affirming surgery (GAS) may have led to an increase in the number of annual cases, comprehensive data describing trends in both inpatient and outpatient procedures are limited.
Objective To examine trends in inpatient and outpatient GAS procedures in the US and to explore the temporal trends in the types of GAS performed across age groups.
Design, Setting, and Participants This cohort study includes data from 2016 to 2020 in the Nationwide Ambulatory Surgery Sample and the National Inpatient Sample. Patients with diagnosis codes for gender identity disorder, transsexualism, or a personal history of sex reassignment were identified, and the performance of GAS, including breast and chest procedures, genital reconstructive procedures, and other facial and cosmetic surgical procedures, were identified.
Main Outcome Measures
Weighted estimates of the annual number of inpatient and outpatient procedures performed and the distribution of each class of procedure overall and by age were analyzed.
Results
A total of 48 019 patients who underwent GAS were identified, including 25 099 (52.3%) who were aged 19 to 30 years. The most common procedures were breast and chest procedures, which occurred in 27 187 patients (56.6%), followed by genital reconstruction (16 872 [35.1%]) and other facial and cosmetic procedures (6669 [13.9%]). The absolute number of GAS procedures rose from 4552 in 2016 to a peak of 13 011 in 2019 and then declined slightly to 12 818 in 2020. Overall, 25 099 patients (52.3%) were aged 19 to 30 years, 10 476 (21.8%) were aged 31 to 40, and 3678 (7.7%) were aged 12 to 18 years. When stratified by the type of procedure performed, breast and chest procedures made up a greater percentage of the surgical interventions in younger patients, while genital surgical procedures were greater in older patients.
Conclusions and Relevance
Performance of GAS has increased substantially in the US. Breast and chest surgery was the most common group of procedures performed. The number of genital surgical procedures performed increased with increasing age."
Performance of GAS has increased substantially in the US. Breast and chest surgery was the most common group of procedures performed. The number of genital surgical procedures performed increased with increasing age."
National Estimates of Gender-Affirming Surgery in the US (open access)
Figure 1. Gender-Affirming Surgical Procedures Performed by Year Stratified by Type
Study shows promise of gene therapy for alcohol use disorder with dramatic results
Good news!
"... The study in nonhuman primates showed that implanting a specific type of molecule that induces cell growth effectively resets the brain’s dopamine reward pathway in animals predisposed to heavy drinking. The gene therapy procedure involves brain surgery, and may be useful in the most severe cases of alcohol use disorder. ...
The implanted virus is not harmful and carries a gene that codes for the protein known as glial-derived neurotrophic factor, or GDNF. It was injected in a specific area of the brain of a group of rhesus macaque monkeys that voluntarily and heavily drink ethanol diluted in water. After four macaques underwent the procedure, researchers found their consumption dropped by more than 90% compared with a control group. ...
Veterinarians at the ONPRC used magnetic resonance imaging to guide the insertion of GDNF, using an adeno-associated virus in the ventral tegmental area of the brain. The adeno-associated virus is a single-stranded DNA virus that does not cause disease in its subject. The procedure is already used in adult patients with Parkinson’s disease and in children to treat a rare genetic disorder known as aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase deficiency that, among other symptoms, causes difficulty with movement. ..."
From the abstract:
"Alcohol use disorder (AUD) exacts enormous personal, social and economic costs globally. Return to alcohol use in treatment-seeking patients with AUD is common, engendered by a cycle of repeated abstinence-relapse episodes even with use of currently available pharmacotherapies. Repeated ethanol use induces dopaminergic signaling neuroadaptations in ventral tegmental area (VTA) neurons of the mesolimbic reward pathway, and sustained dysfunction of reward circuitry is associated with return to drinking behavior. We tested this hypothesis by infusing adeno-associated virus serotype 2 vector encoding human glial-derived neurotrophic factor (AAV2-hGDNF), a growth factor that enhances dopaminergic neuron function, into the VTA of four male rhesus monkeys, with another four receiving vehicle, following induction of chronic alcohol drinking. GDNF expression ablated the return to alcohol drinking behavior over a 12-month period of repeated abstinence–alcohol reintroduction challenges. This behavioral change was accompanied by neurophysiological modulations to dopamine signaling in the nucleus accumbens that countered the hypodopaminergic signaling state associated with chronic alcohol use, indicative of a therapeutic modulation of limbic circuits countering the effects of alcohol. These preclinical findings suggest gene therapy targeting relapse prevention may be a potential therapeutic strategy for AUD."
GDNF gene therapy for alcohol use disorder in male non-human primates (no public access)
Fig. 2: AAV2-hGDNF delivery to the VTA.
Golden Paintbrush Delisted From Endangered Species Act Due to Recovery
Extinction, deextinction. It is not a one way street! 😊
"... As the Endangered Species Act turns fifty years old, it has brought about a conservation success story in the Pacific Northwest. Prairies in Washington and Oregon are once again colored with the bright flowers of golden paintbrush. Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) finalized a rule to delist the previously rare plant from the Endangered Species Act (ESA) due to recovery. ..."
Cheap Lidar on a Chip Puts Self-Driving Cars in the Fast Lane
Good news!
"... We expect to be turning our creations into actual products and producing large numbers of samples for the automotive industry in 2025.
We are currently working on two different versions of our lidar: a long-range version intended to be mounted at the front of the car for use at highway speeds and a short-range version with a wider field of view to provide complete coverage all around the vehicle. The two sensors have different optical phased arrays in their photonic ICs, while sharing the same back-end signal processing.
We expect that relatively low-cost lidar sensors from some of our competitors, such as Cepton and Luminar, will begin showing up in some top-of-the line cars as early as next year. ..."
The authors’ lidar consists of two parts: a silicon photonic chip and a semiconductor chip [electron micrograph at left]. The latter contains the electronics that control the many photonic elements. A higher-magnification micrograph details the tiny copper bumps that are used to make the electrical connections between these two chips [right].
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