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    Category Health/Medical

    ‘Jumping Genes’ help Stabilize DNA Folding Patterns

    January 26, 2020, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Fig. 2
    Contribution of TEs to the conservation landscape of human and mouse loops. a Flowchart describing the methodology used to annotate loop orthology. b Venn diagram representing the various classes of chromatin loops based on their orthology and bar plots showing the contribution of REs to anchor CTCFs of each class of loops. c Age distribution and age of individual TEs that contribute loop anchor CTCF sites (black dots for orthologous loops; gold dots for non-orthologous loops) (left), total contribution to loop anchor CTCF sites (middle), distribution of orthologous and non-orthologous loops (right) derived from the top 13 TE subfamilies in mouse and d humans. Estimated primate/rodent divergence time (82 million years ago) is from Meredith et al. [47]. e Contact maps representing a conse...
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    Researchers Regrow Damaged Nerves with Polymer and Protein

    January 25, 2020, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    We’re the first to show a nerve guide without any cells was able to bridge a large, 2-inch gap between the nerve stump and its target muscle,” said senior author Kacey Marra, Ph.D., professor of plastic surgery at Pitt and core faculty at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine. “Our guide was comparable to, and in some ways better than, a nerve graft.” 

    University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers have created a biodegradable nerve guide – a polymer tube – filled with growth-promoting protein that can regenerate long sections of damaged nerves, without the need for transplanting stem cells or a donor nerve.

    So far, the technology has been tested in monkeys, and the results of those experiments appeared today in Science Translational Medicine.

    “We’...

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    Integrating Micro Chips for Electronic Skin

    January 25, 2020, Categories  Technology/Electronics, Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Flexible electronic skin equipped with an array of giant magneto resistance sensors and complex electronics circuit designed and developed for sensing distribution of magnetic field. Photo: Masaya Kondo

    Researchers present the first fully integrated flexible electronics made of magnetic sensors and organic circuits which opens the path towards the development of electronic skin. Human skin is a fascinating and multifunctional organ with unique properties originating from its flexible and compliant nature. It allows for interfacing with external physical environment through numerous receptors interconnected with the nervous system. Scientists have been trying to transfer these features to artificial skin for a long time, aiming at robotic applications...

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    Solving a Biological Puzzle: How Stress causes Gray Hair

    January 24, 2020, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Scientists uncover link between the nervous system and stem cells that regenerate pigment. Scientists have found evidence to support long-standing anecdotes that stress causes hair graying. Researchers found that in mice, the type of nerve involved in the fight-or-flight response causes permanent damage to the pigment-regenerating stem cells in the hair follicle. The findings advance knowledge of how stress impacts the body, and are a first step toward blocking its negative effects.

    The study, published in Nature, advances scientists’ knowledge of how stress can impact the body...

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