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Category: health

Retinal vascular fingerprints predict incident stroke: findings from the UK Biobank cohort study

Objective To investigate the associations between a comprehensive set of retinal vascular parameters and incident stroke to unveil new associations and explore its predictive power for stroke risk.

Methods Retinal vascular parameters were extracted from the UK Biobank fundus images using the Retina-based Microvascular Health Assessment System. We used Cox regression analysis, adjusted for traditional risk factors, to examine the associations, with false discovery rate adjustment for multiple comparisons. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to assess their predictive values.

Results During a median follow-up of 12.5 years, 749 incident strokes occurred among 45 161 participants. The analysis identified 29 significant parameters associated with stroke risk, with a notable dominance of density parameters (over half).

Sinus MCs are enriched in burn pit–exposed military veterans with CRS and in mice exposed to environmental combustion-related compounds

Address correspondence to: Taylor A. Doherty, UCSD, 9,500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093–0635, USA. Phone: 858.822.7563; Email: tdoherty@health.ucsd.edu.

Find articles by Wang, X. in: | Google Scholar

¹VA San Diego Healthcare System, La Jolla, California, USA.

How understanding bioenergetics can help our brain health

‘Practices that reduce perceived threat – mindfulness, social support, time in nature, deliberate recovery periods – are not indulgences. They are forms of energetic repair.’

The energy systems in our brains are implicated in how clearly we think, how resilient we feel, and how well we adapt to uncertainty. Understanding them can help us better care for our bodies as we age.

In this sharp and insightful essay, Hannah Critchlow takes you through the many ways in which our brains generate and use energy, and offers some helpful recommendations for looking after your brain health. Read or listen now.

In an era preoccupied with cognitive enhancement and artificial minds, it is worth remembering that intelligence depends on sustaining delicate energetic equilibria. To care for our bodies, our relationships and our environment is, in a literal sense, to care for the energy that makes thought possible.

The evolutionary merger that gave rise to mitochondria offers a final lesson. Complexity and intelligence did not emerge from domination but from partnership. Within us, ancient bacteria still labour – not as servants but as collaborators. Every thought we have, every spark of imagination, is powered by this quiet cooperation at the cellular level. Intelligence, in any form, is a partnership with energy itself.

One takeaway is that a brain fit for the 21st century may be one that understands – and respects – its bioenergetic foundations.

Continue reading “How understanding bioenergetics can help our brain health” | >

Memory T Cells in Respiratory Virus Infections: Protective Potential and Persistent Vulnerabilities

Respiratory virus infections, such as those caused by influenza viruses, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and coronaviruses, pose a significant global health burden. While the immune system’s adaptive components, including memory T cells, are critical for recognizing and combating these pathogens, recurrent infections and variable disease outcomes persist. Memory T cells are a key element of long-term immunity, capable of responding swiftly upon re-exposure to pathogens. They play diverse roles, including cross-reactivity to conserved viral epitopes and modulation of inflammatory responses. However, the protective efficacy of these cells is influenced by several factors, including viral evolution, host age, and immune system dynamics.

Gut microbiome is associated with recurrence-free survival in patients with resected high-risk melanoma receiving adjuvant immune checkpoint blockade

Respiratory virus infections, such as those caused by influenza viruses, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and coronaviruses, pose a significant global health burden. While the immune system’s adaptive components, including memory T cells, are critical for recognizing and combating these pathogens, recurrent infections and variable disease outcomes persist. Memory T cells are a key element of long-term immunity, capable of responding swiftly upon re-exposure to pathogens. They play diverse roles, including cross-reactivity to conserved viral epitopes and modulation of inflammatory responses. However, the protective efficacy of these cells is influenced by several factors, including viral evolution, host age, and immune system dynamics. This review explores the dichotomy of memory T cells in respiratory virus infections: their potential to confer robust protection and the limitations that allow for breakthrough infections. Understanding the underlying mechanisms governing the formation, maintenance, and functional deployment of memory T cells in respiratory mucosa is critical for improving immunological interventions. We highlight recent advances in vaccine strategies aimed at bolstering T cell-mediated immunity and discuss the challenges posed by viral immune evasion. Addressing these gaps in knowledge is pivotal for designing effective therapeutics and vaccines to mitigate the global burden of respiratory viruses.

B cell deficiency limits exercise capacity by remodeling liver glutamate metabolism

Now online! B cells regulate exercise capacity through immune-independent liver-muscle metabolic signaling, and B cell deficiency limits muscle performance. Mechanistically, B cell-secreted TGF-β1 increases hepatic glutamine-to-glutamate conversion, raising glutamate in blood and muscle. This promotes muscle calcium signaling and mitochondrial function, positively regulating exercise capacity.

How nanomedicine gets inside your cells and treats you from the inside out

Canadians swallow millions of pills every day to treat common health issues like high blood pressure, high cholesterol and Type II diabetes, but scientists are working at the molecular level to turn patients’ cells into pharmacies.

Nanotechnology, where atoms and molecules are manipulated on a tiny scale—a billion times smaller than a meter—is already incorporated into everyday products like sunscreen, waterproof clothing and smartphones.

In nanomedicine, it’s being used to prompt RNA to make protein-based drugs to treat diseases. Now we can fine-tune protein production by dialing it up or down, creating personalized medicine on an invisible scale.

People who consume ultra-processed foods have worse muscle health, study suggests

Researchers found that a diet high in ultra-processed foods is associated with higher amounts of fat stored inside thigh muscles, regardless of calorie or fat intake, physical activity or sociodemographic factors in a population at risk for knee osteoarthritis. Results of the study were published in Radiology. Higher amounts of intramuscular fat in the thigh could potentially increase the risk for knee osteoarthritis.

Ultra-processed foods usually have longer shelf lives and can be highly appealing and convenient. They contain a combination of sugar, fat, salt and carbohydrates which affect the brain’s reward system, making it hard to stop eating.

These foods include breakfast cereals, margarines/spreads, packaged snacks, hot dogs, soft drinks and energy drinks, candies and desserts, frozen pizzas, ready-to-eat meals, mass-produced packaged breads and buns, which all include synthesized ingredients.

Epigenetic biomarkers in neurodegenerative diseases: from molecular signatures to therapeutic targets

Epigenetic molecular signatures as biomarkers in neurodegenerative diseases.

Integration of multiomic data is driving the development of cell-type-resolved reference atlases and molecular signatures of neurodegeneration.

Next-generation epigenetic editors are enabling causal interrogation of disease associated marks, revealing disease driving and potentially modifiable epigenetic mechanisms.

Altered chromatin architecture and global epigenomic dysregulation are emerging hallmarks of neurodegenerative diseases, detectable not only in the brain but also in peripheral biofluids.

Peripheral chromatin accessibility and conformation signatures are emerging as clinically actionable biomarkers for early diagnosis, prognosis, and stratification.

Circulating DNA (hydroxy-)methylation profiles offer new avenues for noninvasive biomarker discovery for neurodegenerative diseases, but low yield and sensitivity in detecting neuronal signals remain key challenges. sciencenewshighlights ScienceMission https://sciencemission.com/Epigenetic-biomarkers-in-ND

Continue reading “Epigenetic biomarkers in neurodegenerative diseases: from molecular signatures to therapeutic targets” | >

Novel Opioid Offers Potent Pain Relief Without Classic Side Effects

Researchers have discovered a novel synthetic opioid that provided potent pain relief in preclinical models without many of the dangerous side effects that limit current opioid therapies.

The compound, N-desethyl-fluornitrazene (DFNZ), produced strong analgesia in rodents without causing respiratory depression, tolerance, or other indicators of potential addiction, reported the researchers, led by Michael Michaelides, PhD, with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

“Opioid pain medications are essential for medical purposes, but can lead to addiction and overdose. Developing a highly effective pain medication without these drawbacks would have enormous public health benefits,” NIDA Director Nora D. Volkow, MD, said in a news release.

A novel mu-opioid receptor agonist showed strong analgesia without respiratory depression, tolerance, or significant addiction signals in animal models.

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