Physicists in Scotland discovered a pear-shaped nucleus that may prove time travel is impossible…  

A New CRISPR Tool Flips Genes On and Off Like a Light Switch

Hidden Network of Enzymes Accounts for Loss of Brain Synapses in Alzheimer’s

The need for sleep goes far beyond simply replenishing our energy levels every 12 hours. Our brains actually change states when we sleep to clear away the toxic byproducts of neural activity left behind during the day.

Weirdly enough, research on mice has revealed the same process starts to occur in brains that are chronically sleep-deprived too - except it’s kicked into hyperdrive.

Researchers have found that persistently poor sleep causes the brain to clear a significant amount of neurons and synaptic connections, and recovering sleep might not be able to reverse the damage.

Ted-Ed: What is schizophrenia? - Anees Bahji

https://neurosciencenews.com/cognition-amyloid-neurodegeneration-15370/Objective subtle cognitive difficulties predict amyloid accumulation and neurodegeneration

What changes in the brain are caused by Alzheimer’s disease? How do these changes differ from those observed in the normal ageing process? Researchers from the CNRS, the École pratique des hautes études (EPHE) and the University of Valencia (Spain) explored these questions by analysing over 4,000 MRI scans of healthy and diseased brains using the “volBrain” platform. Their models, published in the March 8, 2019 edition of Scientific Reports, reveal an early atrophy of the amygdala and hippocampus at age 40 in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer’s disease is characterised by changes in the brain, some of which can be measured in the patient using biomarkers such as the size of different areas of the brain. Studying these biomarkers has shown that certain brain structures shrink in the presence of Alzheimer’s well before the first signs of dementia appear. Key questions remained however: when and how did changes in these biomarkers differ between a healthy subject and one with Alzheimer’s, for example?

To answer these questions, researchers at the Laboratoire bordelais de recherche en informatique (LaBRI) (CNRS/Bordeaux INP/Université de Bordeaux), at the Aquitaine Institute for Cognitive and Integrative Neuroscience (CNRS/Université de Bordeaux/EPHE) and the University of Valencia (Spain) created a model which traces brain changes and activity over an entire life span using a massive set of over 4,000 MRI scans processed with the volBrain1 platform. Prior to this, scientists did not have images covering every period of an Alzheimer patient’s life. Researchers suggested modelling the changes generally seen in the volumes of different structures using a vast quantity of samples in order to pinpoint where healthy brains diverged from diseased ones over time.

Based on MRI scans from 2,944 healthy control subjects between the ages of 9 months to 94 years old, the team developed a ‘normal’ model of average brain changes, which they compared to a pathological model based on MRIs from 1,385 Alzheimer’s patients aged over 55 and 1,877 young control subjects. Their results show an early divergence between the pathological models and the normal trajectory of ageing of the hippocampus before age 40, and of the amygdala around age 40. Both of these structures suffer atrophy in the presence of Alzheimer’s disease. Also evident is an early enlargement, in patients with the disease, of an internal cavity in the brain known as the lateral ventricle. This enlargement is part of the ageing process in normal subjects too, however, thus limiting the pertinence of this measurement in subjects of an advanced age, and reaffirming the usefulness of studying bio:markers across an entire life span.

Native California medicinal plant may hold promise for treating Alzheimer’s

The medicinal powers of aspirin, digitalis, and the anti-malarial artemisinin all come from plants. A Salk Institute discovery of a potent neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory chemical in a native California shrub may lead to a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease based on a compound found in nature. The research appears in the February 2019 issue of the journal Redox Biology.

“Alzheimer’s disease is a leading cause of death in the United States,” says Senior Staff Scientist Pamela Maher, a member of Salk’s Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory, run by Professor David Schubert. “And because age is a major risk factor, researchers are looking at ways to counter aging’s effects on the brain. Our identification of sterubin as a potent neuroprotective component of a native California plant called Yerba santa (Eriodictyon californicum) is a promising step in that direction.”

Native California tribes, which dubbed the plant “holy herb” in Spanish, have long used Yerba santa for its medicinal properties. Devotees brew its leaves to treat respiratory ailments, fever and headaches; and mash it into a poultice for wounds, sore muscles and rheumatism.

To identify natural compounds that might reverse neurological disease symptoms, Maher applied a screening technique used in drug discovery to a commercial library of 400 plant extracts with known pharmacological properties. The lab had previously used this approach to identify other chemicals (called flavonoids) from plants that have anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties.

Through the screen, the lab identified a molecule called sterubin as Yerba santa’s most active component. The researchers tested sterubin and other plant extracts for their impact on energy depletion in mouse nerve cells, as well as other age-associated neurotoxicity and survival pathways directly related to the reduced energy metabolism, accumulation of misfolded, aggregated proteins and inflammation seen in Alzheimer’s. Sterubin had a potent anti-inflammatory impact on brain cells known as microglia. It was also an effective iron remover—potentially beneficial because iron can contribute to nerve cell damage in aging and neurodegenerative diseases. Overall, the compound was effective against multiple inducers of cell death in the nerve cells, according to Maher.

“This is a compound that was known but ignored,” Maher says. “Not only did sterubin turn out to be much more active than the other flavonoids in Yerba santa in our assays, it appears as good as, if not better than, other flavonoids we have studied.”

The first attempt in the United States to use a gene-editing tool called CRISPR against cancer seems safe in the three patients who have had it so far, but it’s too soon to know if it will improve survival, doctors reported Wednesday.

Three patients with advanced cancers, treated at the University of Pennsylvania in the first U.S. clinical study of gene editing, have had no serious side effects so far — a reassuring sign that the revolutionary technology can safely be used in humans.

Two of the patients treated at Penn have an incurable bone marrow cancer called multiple myeloma, while the third has a soft tissue cancer called sarcoma. Their cancers overproduce a protein called NY-ESO-1.

The doctors were able to take immune system cells from the patients’ blood and alter them genetically to help them recognize and fight cancer, with minimal and manageable side effects.

I read about this awhile ago in a book.

People who receive organ donations go through personality changes and characteristic similar to those of the donor. 

 In a study, a patient received a heart transplant from a man who was killed by gunshot to the face, and the organ recipient then reported to have dreams of seeing hot flashes of light directly on his face.

In another case, Claire Sylvia, a heart transplant recipient who received the organ from an 18-year-old male that died in a motorcycle accident, reported having a craving for beer and chicken nuggets after the surgery.

She also began to have reoccurring dreams about a man named ‘Tim L.’ Upon searching the obituaries, Sylvia found out her donor’s name was Tim and that he loved all of the food that she craved

SOURCE

These cases may support the cell memory theory. But as someone who wants to study the human consciousness, I have this one question.

First large-scale study of universal screening for autism raises questions about accuracy

Micronutrients affect gut bacteria associated with ADHD in small but promising study

First time in the U.S. a clinical trial about to start this fall will use the inside-the-body gene-editing technique CRISPR to try to cure illness. Doctors hope to use the cutting-edge technique to cure a type of inherited form of blindness called Leber congenital amaurosis.

Leber congenital amaurosis is an eye disorder that primarily affects the retina, which is the specialized tissue at the back of the eye that detects light and color. People with this disorder typically have severe visual impairment beginning in infancy. The visual impairment tends to be stable, although it may worsen very slowly over time.

The experimental treatment aims to supply kids and adults with a healthy version of the gene they lack, using a tool that cuts or “edits” DNA in a specific spot. It’s intended as a one-time treatment that permanently alters the person’s native DNA.

Two companies, Editas Medicine and Allergan, will test this in up to 18 people around the United States, including Massachusetts Eye and Ear in Boston, starting this fall.

Leber congenital amaurosis is the most common cause of inherited childhood blindness, occurring in about 2 to 3 of every 100,000 births.