Lifeboat Foundation

Researchers asked U.S. regulators to pull some sunscreens from the market, including brands such as Coppertone, Banana Boat and Neutrogena, saying they’ve found evidence of a potential carcinogen.

Scientists petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to remove from sale all sunscreens containing the active ingredient octocrylene. Products made with the chemical may contain benzophenone, a suspected carcinogen that also can interfere with key hormones and reproductive organs, according to a group led by Craig Downs, executive director of the nonprofit Haereticus Environmental Laboratory that studies risks to health and the environment.

We combined a machine learning algorithm with knowledge gleaned from hundreds of biological experiments to develop a technique that allows biomedical researchers to figure out the functions of the proteins that turn genes on and off in cells, called transcription factors. This knowledge could make it easier to develop drugs for a wide range of diseases.

Early on during the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists who worked out the genetic code of the RNA molecules of cells in the lungs and intestines found that only a small group of cells in these organs were most vulnerable to being infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. That allowed researchers to focus on blocking the virus’s ability to enter these cells. Our technique could make it easier for researchers to find this kind of information.

The biological knowledge we work with comes from this kind of RNA sequencing, which gives researchers a snapshot of the hundreds of thousands of RNA molecules in a cell as they are being translated into proteins. A widely praised machine learning tool, the Seurat analysis platform, has helped researchers all across the world discover new cell populations in healthy and diseased organs. This machine learning tool processes data from single-cell RNA sequencing without any information ahead of time about how these genes function and relate to each other.

A new study shows that artificial intelligence networks based on human brain connectivity can perform cognitive tasks efficiently.

By examining MRI data from a large Open Science repository, researchers reconstructed a brain connectivity pattern, and applied it to an artificial neural network (ANN). An ANN is a computing system consisting of multiple input and output units, much like the biological brain. A team of researchers from The Neuro (Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital) and the Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute trained the ANN to perform a cognitive memory task and observed how it worked to complete the assignment.

This is a unique approach in two ways. Previous work on brain connectivity, also known as connectomics, focused on describing brain organization, without looking at how it actually performs computations and functions. Secondly, traditional ANNs have arbitrary structures that do not reflect how real brain networks are organized. By integrating brain connectomics into the construction of ANN architectures, researchers hoped to both learn how the wiring of the brain supports specific cognitive skills, and to derive novel design principles for artificial networks.

Probiotics help prevent some infections in this study.

However, relatively little is known about the mechanisms used by Listeria to cross the intestinal barrier. Understanding more about the way Listeria spreads around the body would allow us to consider strategies for preventing infection in high-risk populations.

At Purdue University in Indiana, USA, Professor Arun Bhunia, Dr Rishi Drolia and the team are researching the mechanisms of pathogenesis (development of disease) used by Listeria to enter the bloodstream.

Researchers from the group of Hans Clevers (Hubrecht Institute) corrected mutations that cause cystic fibrosis in cultured human stem cells. In collaboration with the UMC Utrecht and Oncode Institute, they used a technique called prime editing to replace the ‘faulty’ piece of DNA with a healthy piece. The study, published in Life Science Alliance on August 9 shows that prime editing is safer than the conventional CRISPR/Cas9 technique. “We have for the first time demonstrated that this technique really works and can be safely applied in human stem cells to correct cystic fibrosis.”

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is one of the most prevalent genetic diseases worldwide and has grave consequences for the patient. The mucus in the lungs, throat and intestines is sticky and thick, which causes blockages in organs. Although treatments are available to dilute the mucus and prevent inflammations, CF is not yet curable. However, a new study from the group of Hans Clevers (Hubrecht Institute) in collaboration with the UMC Utrecht and Oncode Institute offers new hope.

Correcting CF mutations

Continue reading “New CRISPR/Cas9 technique corrects cystic fibrosis in cultured human stem cells” »

Caffeinated coffee might be protective to overall health, but so is decaf. For example, a 2,019 systematic review published in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics aiming to “investigate the association of caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee consumption and all-cause mortality” found “similar inverse associations [between] caffeinated coffee and decaffeinated coffee [and all-cause mortality.]”

But is coffee healthy? And do coffee drinkers live longer than non-coffee drinkers?

At the turn of the 20th century, it was considered common knowledge that coffee was unhealthy—there were advertising claims that coffee drinking caused blindness and that “you can recover from any ordinary disease by discontinuing coffee.” And while that may obviously be untrue, there are continuing fears about whether coffee is actually healthy or not. Google receives 4,400 queries a month about” why coffee is bad for you” (for context, “why coffee is good for you” gets only 1,300 queries a month).

Continue reading “Do Coffee Drinkers Live Longer?” »

For several years, Lu’s lab has been working on ways to use DNA to store information such as memory of cellular events. In 2,014 he and Farzadfard developed a way to employ bacteria as a “genomic tape recorder,” engineering E. coli to store long-term memories of events such as a chemical exposure.

Technique for editing bacterial genomes can record interactions between cells, may offer a way to edit genes in the human microbiome.

Biological engineers at MIT

Continue reading “MIT Researchers Devised a Way To Program Memories Into Bacterial Cells” »

The possible impact of heavy peanut consumption by cancer patients on survival will need to be investigated in further population-based epidemiological studies.

Summary: A new study reports cancer patients who frequently eat peanuts may be at increased risk of their cancer spreading. Researchers found Peanut agglutinin (PNA), a carbohydrate-binding protein that enters blood circulation after a peanut is eaten, interacts with endothelial cells to produce cytokines. Some of the cytokines are recognized promoters of cancer metastasis.

Source: University of Liverpool

Continue reading “Frequent Peanut Consumption May Increase Cancer Spread in Patients” »

Not every vaccine-acquired antibody automatically allows you to jet off.

A patchwork of complicated cross-border travel rules is causing confusion | Graphic detail.