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Adult Brain Structure Is Not Fixed: Scientists Discover Depression Treatment Increases Brain Connectivity

Most scientists believe that the structure of the adult brain is generally rigid and incapable of rapid changes. However, new research has now revealed that this is not true. In a new study, German scientists have shown that in-patient treatment for depression can lead to an increase in brain connectivity. Moreover, those individuals who respond well to this treatment show a greater increase in connectivity than those who don’t.

Presenting the work at the European College for Neuropsychopharmacology Congress in Vienna, lead researcher, Professor Jonathan Repple said:

“This means that the brain structure of patients with serious clinical depression is not as fixed as we thought, and we can improve brain structure within a short time frame, around 6 weeks. We found that if this treatment leads to an increase in brain connectivity, it is also effective in tackling depression symptoms. This gives hope to patients who believe nothing can change and they have to live with a disease forever, because it is “set in stone” in their brain.”

Will People Be Able To Regrow Organs?

Will humans be able to grow replacement organs? LyGenesis aims to prove it can be done.

LyGenesis is a biomedical company hoping to deliver a technology that will allow patients to grow functioning organs. If successful the company’s cell therapies will disrupt organ transplantation allowing patients to grow their own. Instead of surgery, a person will do what some amphibians and reptiles do today when they lose a limb or tail.

The company is using the inherent nature of lymph nodes and their evolutionary function, turning them into rapid bioreactors. Our lymph nodes already do this when they produce infection-fighting T-cells. But LyGenesis’ therapies turn donated organ cells into biofactories that can become a source for producing viable organs in multiple patients. The only minimally invasive procedure involved is the engrafting of the cells into a patient’s lymph nodes to begin the process of organ development.

IIT Madras collaborates with NASA JPL to study microbes aboard ISS

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has announced a collaborative study with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the research hub of central US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), to study the impact of microorganisms aboard the International Space Station. Observations from the research project will help create medical solutions to aid astronauts in long term human missions in space.

Explaining the observations, Karthik Raman, assistant professor at the department of biotechnology, IIT Madras, said that the collection of microbes, which includes a variety of bacteria and fungi, have occurred over time due to the astronauts that have been aboard the ISS over the past decades.

“Even though the ISS is a highly sterile environment, these microbes can play a big role in the way human presence in a space environment works — which our research work sought to highlight,” Raman said.

Study: Cancer-causing gas leaking from CA stoves, pipes

Gas stoves in California homes are leaking cancer-causing benzene, researchers found in a new study published on Thursday, though they say more research is needed to understand how many homes have leaks.

In the study, published in Environmental Science and Technology on Thursday, researchers also estimated that over 4 tons of benzene per year are being leaked into the atmosphere from outdoor pipes that deliver the gas to buildings around California — the equivalent to the benzene emissions from nearly 60,000 vehicles. And those emissions are unaccounted for by the state.

The researchers collected samples of gas from 159 homes in different regions of California and measured to see what types of gases were being emitted into homes when stoves were off. They found that all of the samples they tested had hazardous air pollutants, like benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX), all of which can have adverse health effects in humans with chronic exposure or acute exposure in larger amounts.

Dr Anna Laura Ross PhD — Science Division, WHO — Harnessing Power Of Science & Innovation For All

Harnessing The Power Of Science & Innovation For All — Dr. Anna Laura Ross, Ph.D., Unit Head for Emerging Technologies, Research Prioritization and Support, Science Division, WHO.

Dr. Anna Laura Ross, Ph.D. is the Unit Head for Emerging Technologies, Research Prioritization and Support, in the World Health Organization (WHO) Science Division (https://www.who.int/our-work/science-division), located in Geneva, as well as the Head of the WHO Science Council Secretariat.

Previously at WHO, Dr Ross served as Strategy Technical Manager at Unitaid, their global health initiative that works with partners to bring about innovations to prevent, diagnose and treat major diseases in low-and middle-income countries, with an emphasis on tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV/AIDS and its deadly co-infections, providing strategic and technical support for Unitaid’s strategy, and working to identify the priorities areas for intervention to accelerate innovation for global health.

Dr. Ross has over fifteen years of experience in global health. Her areas of interest are in the field of HIV biomedical research, scientific program coordination, implementation research, and global health policy.

Prior to joining WHO, Dr. Ross served as Head of International Affairs and Scientific Relations at the National Agency for Research on AIDS and Viral Hepatitis (ANRS) in Paris, France.

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A high-resolution, wearable electrotactile rendering device that virtualizes the sense of touch

A collaborative research team co-led by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has developed a wearable tactile rendering system, which can mimic the sensation of touch with high spatial resolution and a rapid response rate.

The team demonstrated its application potential in a braille display, adding the sense of touch in the metaverse for functions such as virtual reality shopping and gaming, and potentially facilitating the work of astronauts, deep-sea divers and others who need to wear thick gloves.

“We can hear and see our families over a long distance via phones and cameras, but we still cannot feel or hug them. We are physically isolated by space and time, especially during this long-lasting pandemic,” said Dr. Yang Zhengbao, Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering of CityU, who co-led the study.