Johnson & Johnson pulled its baby powder from the North American market in 2020 after talc came under increased scrutiny due to suspected carcinogens. The World Health Organization’s cancer agency on Friday classified talc as “probably carcinogenic” to humans. However, an outside expert warned that the announcement should not be misinterpreted as a “smoking gun.” … Read more
Source: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Neurological disorders, such as trauma, stroke, epilepsy, and various neurodegenerative diseases, often result in permanent loss of neurons, leading to significant impairment in brain function. Current treatment options are limited, largely due to the challenge of replacing lost neurons. Direct neuronal reprogramming, a complex procedure that changes the function of one … Read more
Schematic of the python-inspired device, placed between tendon and bone, significantly improves standard rotator cuff repair. Credit: Iden Kurtaliaj/Columbia Engineering When most people think of pythons, they visualize the enormous snake constricting and swallowing its victims whole. But did you know that pythons initially hold their prey with their sharp, backward-curving teeth? Medical researchers have … Read more
Memories are stored through the interaction of two proteins: a structural protein, KIBRA (green), which acts as a persistent synaptic label, and a synapse-strengthening enzyme, protein kinase Mzeta (red). Drugs that disrupt memory-maintaining interaction (other colors) erase pre-recorded long-term and distant memories. Credit: Changchi Hsieh, Ph.D. Whether it’s our first visit to a zoo or … Read more
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 public domain Years after questions were raised about their integrity, two of the University of Minnesota’s most prominent scientific discoveries have been retracted in the space of one week: one that offered hope for the therapeutic potential of stem cells and the other that offered a promising path to treating Alzheimer’s disease. The … Read more
Composite image of fluorescently labeled nuclei in each cell of five different C. elegans, captured in the Advanced Light Microscopy Unit at the CRG. Credit: Jeremy Vicencio, Nadia Halidi/Centro de Regulación Genómica Why do some people live longer than others? The genes in our DNA sequence are important and help prevent disease or maintain general … Read more
Trade-off between dependence on WM and gathering information from the external world. a Our implicit measure of working memory (WM) use: Copying each object requires its identity and location information (attribute) to be held in memory. Counting successful pick-ups (i.e., identity feature used) and placements (i.e., location feature used) between model fixations provided a measure … Read more
Cartoon summary of experiential age-related DNA methylation programs delineating longevity versus malignancy among T cells. Credit: Nature aging (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s43587-024-00649-5 While most cell types experience functional decline after years of proliferation and replication, T cells can proliferate seemingly indefinitely and without damage. Scientists from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the University of Minnesota … Read more
Credit: Cell host and microbe (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2024.05.008 A team of UC Davis Health researchers has discovered that a commonly used anti-inflammatory drug, mesalamine, can replace the work of good bacteria in fighting the nasty fungus Candida albicans in the intestines. C. albicans, or candida, is known to cause fungal infections. In some cases it … Read more