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    Category Biology/Biotechnology

    A good Vitamin D status can Protect against Cancer

    June 12, 2020, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Fig. 1
    Vitamin D signaling. Production of vitamin D3 and its metabolites 25(OH)D3 and 1,25(OH)2D3 (A). VDR (green) binds accessible genomic DNA in complex with a partner protein (RXR or others, blue) (B). VDR’s DNA binding is supported by the pioneer factors PU.1, CEBPA and/or GABPA. The genomic region that can be influenced by 1,25(OH)2D3 (via binding to VDR) is restricted by CTCF proteins defining left and right TAD borders. Schematic representation of a Voronoi tessellation [55] displaying five TAD classes of the most prominently enriched biological processes (C). The most relevant attributes are the number of persistent and transient VDR sites and were chosen for the x and y axis, respectively.

    A good vitamin D status is beneficial both in cancer prevention and in the prognosis of sever...

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    Repetitive Negative Thinking linked to Dementia Risk

    June 10, 2020, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Amyloid beta in brain

    Persistently engaging in negative thinking patterns may raise the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, finds a new UCL-led study.

    In the study of people aged over 55, published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia, researchers found ‘repetitive negative thinking’ (RNT) is linked to subsequent cognitive decline as well as the deposition of harmful brain proteins linked to Alzheimer’s.

    The researchers say RNT should now be further investigated as a potential risk factor for dementia, and psychological tools, such as mindfulness or meditation, should be studied to see if these could reduce dementia risk.

    Lead author Dr Natalie Marchant (UCL Psychiatry) said: “Depression and anxiety in mid-life and old age are already known to be risk factors for dementia...

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    Engineers put Tens of Thousands of Artificial Brain Synapses on a Single chip

    June 10, 2020, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology, Physics, Technology/Electronics

    The new chip (top left) is patterned with tens of thousands of artificial synapses, or “memristors,” made with a silver-copper alloy. When each memristor is stimulated with a specific voltage corresponding to a pixel and shade in a gray-scale image (in this case, a Captain America shield), the new chip reproduced the same crisp image, more reliably than chips fabricated with memristors of different materials.
    Image courtesy of the researchers

    The design could advance the development of small, portable AI devices. MIT engineers have designed a “brain-on-a-chip,” smaller than a piece of confetti, that is made from tens of thousands of artificial brain synapses known as memristors — silicon-based components that mimic the information-transmitting synapses in the human brain.

    The res...

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    Drug researcher develops ‘Fat Burning’ Molecule

    June 10, 2020, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Schematic showing key energy production pathways. Metabolites colour-coded by fold change of WD + BAM15 compared with WD, scale of twofold positive (red) to twofold negative (blue).

    Scientists have recently identified a small mitochondrial uncoupler, named BAM15, that decreases the body fat mass of mice without affecting food intake and muscle mass or increasing body temperature.

    Obesity affects more than 40 percent of adults in the United States and 13 percent of the global population. With obesity comes a variety of other interconnected diseases including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and fatty liver disease, which makes the disease one of the most difficult — and most crucial — to treat.

    “Obesity is the biggest health problem in the United States...

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