Category Biology/Biotechnology

New Molecules Reverse Memory Loss linked to Depression, Aging

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Novel Benzodiazepine-Like Ligands with Various Anxiolytic, Antidepressant, or Pro-Cognitive ProfilesMolecular Neuropsychiatry, 2019; 1 DOI: 10.1159/000496086

New therapeutic molecules developed at Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) show promise in reversing the memory loss linked to depression and aging.
These molecules not only rapidly improve symptoms, but remarkably, also appear to renew the underlying brain impairments causing memory loss in preclinical models.

“Currently there are no medications to treat cognitive symptoms such as memory loss that occur in depression, other mental illnesses and aging,” says Dr. Etienne Sibille, Deputy Director of the Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute at CAMH and lead scientist on the study.

What’s unique and p...

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Platelet ‘Decoys’ Outsmart both Clots and Cancer

Platelet decoys (pink), unlike normal platelets, are not activated by collagen fibers (gray), making them an attractive option for antithrombotic and cancer treatment. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University

Deactivated platelets offer a potential drug-free, reversible antiplatelet therapy. What do heart disease, stroke, sepsis, and cancer have in common, aside from being deadly diseases? They’re all linked to activated platelets. New research has created ‘decoy’ platelets that can both prevent blood clots and keep cancer from spreading.

Several antiplatelet drugs have been developed to combat platelet-related conditions, but their effects are not easily reversible, and patients taking these drugs are at risk of uncontrolled bleeding if injured...

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Role of Estrogen in controlling Type 2 Diabetes

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Dr. Guo (standing) with Wanbao Yang, a Ph.D. student in Guo’s lab at Texas A&M University. Yang was the second author of the study investigating the role of estrogen in control of glucose homeostasis. (Texas A&M AgriLife Research photo) Credit: Texas A&M AgriLife Research

The results of a recent study provide insights into the mechanism by which estrogen can decrease insulin resistance and the production of glucose, reducing incidences of Type 2 diabetes mellitus. The results of a recent Texas A&M University-led study provide insights into the mechanism by which estrogen can decrease insulin resistance and the production of glucose, reducing incidence of Type 2 diabetes mellitus.

The study, “Estrogen Improves Insulin Sensitivity and Suppresses Gluconeogenesis via the Transcription...

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Selfies to Self-Diagnosis: Algorithm ‘Amps Up’ Smartphones to Diagnose Disease


Images of a diagnostic assay are captured using a smartphone camera. Regions of interest are extracted and are converted to HSV (hue, saturation, value) space. After the conversion process, the standard pixel intensity analysis is applied to the saturation channel and the values are used to determine absorbance and concentration of the sample automatically.
Credit: Florida Atlantic University

Smartphones aren’t just for selfies anymore. A novel cell phone imaging algorithm can now analyze assays typically evaluated via spectroscopy, a powerful device used in scientific research. Researchers analyzed more than 10,000 images and found that their method consistently outperformed existing algorithms under a wide range of operating field conditions...

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