Category Health/Medical

Team builds First Living Robots that can Reproduce

Spontaneous kinematic self-replication. (A) Stem cells are removed from early-stage frog blastula, dissociated, and placed in a saline solution, where they cohere into spheres containing ∼3,000 cells. The spheres develop cilia on their outer surfaces after 3 d. When the resulting mature swarm is placed amid ∼60,000 dissociated stem cells in a 60-mm-diameter circular dish (B), their collective motion pushes some cells together into piles (C and D), which, if sufficiently large (at least 50 cells), develop into ciliated offspring (E) themselves capable of swimming, and, if provided additional dissociated stem cells (F), build additional offspring. In short, progenitors (p) build offspring (o), which then become progenitors...
Read More

Deleting Dysfunctional Cells Alleviates Diabetes

Targeting p21Cip1 highly expressing cells in adipose tissue alleviates insulin resistance in obesity

The discovery could lead to game-changing new treatments for metabolic diseases. Eliminating old, dysfunctional cells in human fat also alleviates signs of diabetes, researchers from UConn Health report. The discovery could lead to new treatments for Type 2 diabetes and other metabolic diseases.

The cells in your body are constantly renewing themselves, with older cells aging and dying as new ones are being born. But sometimes that process goes awry. Occasionally damaged cells linger. Called senescent cells, they hang around, acting as a bad influence on other cells nearby...

Read More

Biologists reveal how Obesity Damages the Skeletal Muscle Metabolism

Roles of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in skeletal muscle metabolism. Credit: The University of Hong Kong

A decline in metabolism and endurance of skeletal muscle is commonly observed in obese patients, but the underlying mechanism is not well-understood. A research team led by Dr. Chi Bun Chan, Assistant Professor from School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, the University of Hong Kong (HKU), uncovers a new mechanism to explain how obesity jeopardizes the functions of skeletal muscle and provides a potential treatment against the disease. The research findings have recently been published in the journal Autophagy.

Obesity is a metabolic disorder with increasing prevalence in modern society...

Read More

Quantum Brain Sensors could be crucial in Spotting Dementia after scientists find they can Track Brain Waves

Lead research author Aikaterini Gialopsou with magnetic shield where participant brain signal measurements are taken

New highly sensitive quantum sensors for the brain may in the future be able to identify brain diseases such as dementia, ALS and Parkinson’s, by spotting a slowing in the speed at which signals travel across the brain. The research findings from a paper led by University of Sussex quantum physicists are published in Scientific Reports journal.

The quantum scanners being developed by the scientists can detect the magnetic fields generated when neurons fire. Measuring moment-to-moment changes in the brain, they track the speed at which signals move across the brain...

Read More