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MRI reveals cerebrospinal fluid shifts after mild brain injury

Researchers at University of Tsukuba have found that cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) microdynamic motion shows region-specific alterations after mild traumatic brain injury (TBI). Using a specialized magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique, the team noninvasively visualized these CSF changes, which have been difficult to quantify with conventional imaging. The approach is expected to advance the understanding of the relationship between post-traumatic brain conditions and cognitive function. The study is published in Frontiers in Neuroscience.

The brain contains cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which protects neural tissue and helps clear metabolic waste. Rather than being static, CSF exhibits continuous subtle motion, and this motion is thought to be closely linked to brain health. However, little has been known about how CSF motion is altered after a mild head injury.

The researchers employed a specialized magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique known as intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) MRI to evaluate CSF microdynamic motion through the incoherent movement of water molecules. The results showed that, after mild traumatic brain injury (TBI), CSF motion increased in some brain regions and decreased in others.

T cells secrete DNA to boost the immune system’s cancer-fighting ability

Activated immune cells secrete tiny capsules bearing DNA that can enter other immune and tumor cells to stimulate the body’s defense systems, according to a study led by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine. The discovery extends the scientific understanding of the immune system, identifies a new strategy for boosting immunity against cancers and potentially offers a new tool for delivering genetic payloads to other cells.

Most animal cells secrete tiny capsules known as extracellular vesicles—nanoscale, membrane-bound particles—whose cargo can include proteins, snippets of DNA and other molecules. In the new study, published April 30 in Cancer Cell, the researchers discovered that vesicles secreted by activated T cells —major weapons of the immune system—carry DNA that enters immune cells and nearby tumor cells to enhance the immune response against the tumor. Preclinical experiments showed that this vesicle-associated DNA could be useful therapeutically, boosting T cell attacks against tumors that otherwise evoke little or no immune response.

“These findings reveal a natural mechanism for treating immunologically silent tumors and other diseases that stem from insufficient immune surveillance,” said study co-senior author Dr. David Lyden, the Stavros S. Niarchos Professor in Pediatric Cardiology and a member of the Gale and Ira Drukier Institute for Children’s Health and the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine.

NO-independent inflammatory response by iNOS

The finding challenges a longstanding assumption in immunology: that iNOS controls immune cell behaviour primarily through nitric oxide production. The study shows that the physical shape of iNOS – stabilised by its cofactor, tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) – is what drives the interaction with IRG1, independently of whether iNOS is producing nitric oxide at all.

The researchers used co-immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry to confirm that iNOS is a direct binding partner of IRG1 in living cells, with computational modelling and molecular dynamics simulations used to predict and validate the structure of the interaction. Surface plasmon resonance confirmed that the binding is stable and high-affinity in both mouse and human models, and that it does not occur with the related protein eNOS – pointing to a specific, evolutionarily conserved function.

In cells lacking iNOS, IRG1 produced more than 15 times more itaconate compared with normal cells following immune stimulation. Critically, iNOS mutants unable to produce nitric oxide still suppressed IRG1 – what mattered was whether iNOS could adopt the correct shape, determined by BH4 binding. Disrupting that binding abolished the effect entirely.

The work also showed that in the absence of iNOS, IRG1 associated with a different set of partner proteins involved in glycolysis and cell metabolism – suggesting iNOS effectively sequesters IRG1 away from those roles, with wider consequences for how immune cells manage energy during inflammation.

A protein long understood to drive inflammation by producing nitric oxide has a second, previously unknown role – it physically binds to another key protein inside cells to directly modulate the immune response. The discovery, published in Nature Metabolism, could open new routes to treating conditions such as cardiovascular disease, arthritis, Crohn’s and other inflammatory diseases.

When the immune system detects infection or injury, it triggers inflammation to fight back. That response is essential, but it must be carefully controlled. If it runs too hard for too long, it causes the tissue damage that underlies many chronic diseases. Understanding the molecular switches that regulate inflammation – and finding new ways to target them – is one of the biggest challenges in modern medicine.

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Epilepsy ‘brain blips’ can be predicted a full second early with neuron-level probes

Epilepsy is best known for seizures, but many people with the condition also experience much more frequent and subtler disruptions. These brief bursts of abnormal brain activity, called interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs), can happen thousands of times a day, interfering with attention, memory, language, and sleep.

Scientists at UC San Francisco have discovered that these “brain blips” are not random events, as had been believed. Rather, they unfold in a predictable pattern that can be detected a full second before they occur — raising new possibilities to ward them off altogether.

The researchers used a high-resolution technology recently adapted for humans that can record the activity of individual neurons. They tracked more than 1,000 neurons in four patients undergoing surgery for epilepsy.

XXP instrument back online, marking a key milestone in high-energy upgrade to SLAC’s X-ray laser

XPP, the X-ray Pump Probe instrument at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), is back online and welcoming researchers after a complete rebuild. The overhaul has readied XPP for the significant increase in X-ray output expected from the ongoing high-energy upgrade to LCLS at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. LCLS is a pioneering X-ray free-electron laser facility used by scientists around the world to capture ultrafast snapshots of natural processes.

“Completing the XPP rebuild on-time and on-budget is a key milestone for the high-energy upgrade effort, and we’re thrilled that the instrument is back to supporting researchers from around the world,” said John Hogan, project director for the LCLS high-energy upgrade. “This was a huge team effort, involving partners across SLAC’s engineering, science and project teams.”

Since its 2010 debut, XPP has enabled groundbreaking research across materials science—from quantum information storage to material dynamics across timescales—as well as studies in chemistry, physics and bioscience. Researchers have leveraged XPP to pioneer X-ray optics technologies, including cavity-based X-ray oscillators that are shaping future X-ray free-electron laser facilities.

Superconducting quantum circuit simulates proton tunneling phenomenon in chemical systems

Researchers at Yale, Google, and the University of California-Santa Barbara have created a device that simulates the quantum “tunneling” behavior of protons that occurs in chemistry, a process so common it occurs in everything from photosynthesis to the formation of human DNA.

The advance has the potential to aid researchers across a variety of disciplines, including the development of new solar fuels, pharmaceuticals, and materials. It is described in a new study in the journal PRX Quantum.

Quantum tunneling is a mechanism by which particles, such as electrons or protons, pass through an energy barrier they should not have sufficient energy to cross.

Gene circuits reshape DNA folding and affect how genes are expressed, study finds

When a gene is turned on in a cell, it creates a ripple effect along the DNA strand, changing the physical structure of the strand. A new study by MIT researchers, appearing in Science, shows that these ripples can stimulate or suppress neighboring genes. These effects, which result from the winding or unwinding of neighboring DNA, are determined by the order of genes along a strand of DNA. Genes upstream of the active gene are usually turned up, while those downstream are inhibited.

The new findings offer guidance that could make it easier to control the output of synthetic gene circuits. By altering the relative ordering and arrangement of genes (gene syntax), researchers could create circuits that synergize to maximize their output, or that alternate the output of two different genes.

“This is really exciting because we can coordinate gene expression in ways that just weren’t possible before,” says Katie Galloway, an assistant professor of chemical engineering at MIT. “Syntax will be really useful for dynamic circuits. Now we have the ability to select not only the biochemistry of circuits, but also the physical design to support dynamics.”

Why Doctors Say OpenEvidence Is A ‘Game Changer’

What is Open Evidence? It is a chatbot specialized for doctors to use to help speed up their work. 50 percent of all American doctors so far are signed up for it.

Chatbots, when utilized properly have great potential to help in the field.

From oncology to cardiology, AI platform OpenEvidence is helping physicians keep pace with medical breakthroughs while focusing on their patients. The software is used by around half of all American doctors, and is proving a game changer for physicians.
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Groove Quantum Demonstrates 18-Qubit Spin Processor and Secures Funding

PRESS RELEASE — Groove Quantum today announced it has raised €16 million in combined funding and demonstrated an 18-qubit semiconductor spin-qubit processor, the largest of its kind ever built. The result marks a step beyond small-scale laboratory prototypes toward a quantum processor architecture designed for large-scale integration. The combined funding consists of €10 million in equity and €6 million in grants. The equity seed round is co-led by Innovation Industries, a leading European deep tech fund, and 55 North, the world’s largest pure-play quantum fund, with participation from Verve Ventures and the European Innovation Council Fund. Additional funding is provided by grants from the EIC Accelerator programme and JU Chips Act funding programme further underscores institutional confidence in Groove’s approach.

Groove will use the capital to scale qubit count exponentially and to begin manufacturing its processors at established semiconductor foundries.

Quantum computers create a fundamentally new way of computing. This opens the door to solving complex challenges that would take today’s most powerful supercomputers impractically long to address, like the discovery of new medicines, and the design of advanced materials for renewable energy – challenges that are highly important and have a profoundly positive impact on humanity.

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