Category Biology/Biotechnology

STIMO study participant David Mzee is now able to take a few steps of his own. He was totally paraplegic after a sports accident.
Credit: EPFL / Jean-Baptiste Mignardot

Targeted neurotechnology restores walking in humans with spinal cord injury. Three paraplegics who sustained cervical spinal cord injuries many years ago are now able to walk with the aid of crutches or a walker thanks to new rehabilitation protocols that combine targeted electrical stimulation of the lumbar spinal cord and weight-assisted therapy.

This latest study, called STIMO (STImulation Movement Overground), establishes a new therapeutic framework to improve recovery from spinal cord injury. All patients involved in the study recovered voluntary control of leg muscles that had been paralyzed for many years...

Aggregated alpha-synuclein in the neurons of the appendix.
Credit: Courtesy of Viviane Labrie | Van Andel Research Institute

Appendix acts as a reservoir for disease-associated proteins; appendectomy lowers the risk of developing Parkinson’s. Removing the appendix early in life reduces the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease by 19 to 25%, according to the largest and most comprehensive study of its kind, published today in Science Translational Medicine.

The findings also solidify the role of the gut and immune system in the genesis of the disease, and reveal that the appendix acts as a major reservoir for abnormally folded alpha-synuclein proteins, which are closely linked to Parkinson’s onset and progression.

“Our results point to the appendix as a site of origin for Parkinson’s and pr...

The superior fascicle of the anterior talofibular ligament (1) is an intra-articular non-isometric structure, that is, it relaxes when the foot is on dorsal flexion and it stresses when in plantar flexion. The interior fascicle of the anterior talofibular ligament (2), together with the calcaneofibular ligament (3) and arciform fibbers that unify them, create the new lateral fibulotalocalcanean complex. This is an extra-articular and isometric structure, that is, it is always tense and stabilizes the ankle in any foot position. Credit: University of Barcelona

Researchers describe a new ligament in the lateral side of the ankle. The ligament complex would explain chronic pain after an ankle sprain...

Summary of the pathways impacted by chronic BP3 treatment in liver and WAT in obese mouse models. BP3 enhances FGF/FGFR signaling and downstream activation of Akt and IL6/Stat3 that lead to the inhibition of gluconeogenesis, through Ppargc1a/G6pc downregulation. The parallel activation of Akt and Stat3 results in an inhibition of Ppargc1b and/or Srebf1, key regulators of downstream lipogenic enzymes, thus leading to the inhibition of de novo lipogenesis and TG synthesis.

To the great surprise of cancer researchers, a protein they investigated for its possible role in cancer turned out to be a powerful regulator of metabolism...