Smells like AI Spirit
By KIM BELLARD
There are so many exciting developments in artificial intelligence (AI) these days that one almost becomes numb to them. Then along comes something that makes me think, hmm, I didn’t see that coming.
For example, AI can now smell.
Strictly speaking, that’s not quite true, at least not in the way humans and other creatures smell. There’s no olfactory organ, like our nose or a snake’s tongue. What AI has been trained to do is to look at a molecular structure and predict what it would smell like.
If you’re wondering (as I certainly did when I heard AI could smell), AI has also starte...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 6, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Tech AI Diagnosis diagnosis automation Kim Bellard Smell Source Type: blogs
PU.1 Inhibition to Reduce Microglial Inflammation in the Aging Brain
Researchers here report on a drug discovery effort targeting PU.1, a gene implicated in increased inflammation of microglia in the brain. Microglia are innate immune cells of the central nervous system. Like macrophages in the rest of the body, they react to the damage and dysfunction of aging with increased inflammatory behavior, a maladaptive response that worsens pathology. Chronic, unresolved inflammation is clearly disruptive to tissue function wherever it occurs in the body. In the brain, chronic inflammation is a well-studied feature of conditions such as Alzheimer's disease. A greater population of inflammatory mic...
Source: Fight Aging! - September 6, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
The California End of Life Option Act
Time to face the elephant in the room. (Source: Depth-First)
Source: Depth-First - September 6, 2023 Category: Chemistry Authors: Richard L. Apodaca Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, September 4th 2023
In conclusion, although the contribution of CRF to GrimAgeAccel and FitAgeAccel is relatively low compared to lifestyle-related factors such as smoking, the results suggest that the maintenance of CRF is associated with delayed biological ageing in older men.
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Release of Acetylcholine is Necessary for the Aging Brain to Compensate for a Lack of Neurogenesis
https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2023/09/release-of-acetylcholine-is-necessary-for-the-aging-brain-to-compensate-for-a-lack-of-neurogenesis/
Neurogenesis is the process by which new neurons are created by neural stem c...
Source: Fight Aging! - September 3, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Transferring the Naked Mole Rat Hyaluronan Synthase 2 Gene Into Mice Reduces Cancer Incidence, Extends Life
Naked mole rats live far longer than similarly sized mammals, and are near immune to cancer. One of the mechanisms of cancer resistance involves the production of a different form of high molecular weight hyaluronan, and much more of it, improving the anti-cancer mechanism of contact inhibition. In addition, other mechanisms derived from changes in hyaluronan may affect life span through improved cellular function, but this is less well explored. Researchers here take the naked mole-rat version of the gene for high molecular weight hyoluronan, hyaluronan synthase 2, and put it into mice. The result is less cancer, improved...
Source: Fight Aging! - August 31, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Just Saying "No" to Adjuvant Temozolomide
Discovering that the medicine cabinet for my terminal disease was filled with fluff. (Source: Depth-First)
Source: Depth-First - August 31, 2023 Category: Chemistry Authors: Richard L. Apodaca Source Type: blogs
Wanted: Division of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Biological Chemistry Branch Chief
We’re seeking a highly qualified scientist to serve as a branch chief in our Division of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Biological Chemistry (PPBC). This is a newly created position for the Division as it reorganizes into three branches. Applicants should have significant interest and experience in the scientific areas managed by the Division, which will continue to encompass all the existing research portfolios and will generally be arranged into branches covering physiology and clinical sciences, biochemistry and molecular pharmacology, and chemistry and chemical biology. For a listing of the current scientifi...
Source: NIGMS Feedback Loop Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - August 30, 2023 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Job Announcements Source Type: blogs
Bridging the Representation Gap in Biomedical Research
“We hope that students come out of our program feeling like they’re part of a community. Many of us feel inadequate or struggle in some way during graduate school—it can be a challenging time. I want to build a community that our students can always come back to for support,” says Elana Ehrlich, Ph.D., the co-director of the Bridges to the Doctorate Research Training Program (B2D) at Towson University in Towson, Maryland, alongside Michelle Snyder, Ph.D..
The Towson B2D is one of several NIGMS-supported B2Ds, which are dedicated to developing a diverse pool of well-trained biomedical scientists who will transiti...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - August 30, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Being a Scientist Training Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, August 28th 2023
In conclusion, we identified 20 genes with significant evolutionary signals unique to long-lived species, which provided new insight into the lifespan extension of mammals and might bring new strategies to extend human lifespan.
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Trials of Xenotransplantation of Pig Organs into Humans Continue
https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2023/08/trials-of-xenotransplantation-of-pig-organs-into-humans-continue/
Researchers have genetically engineered pigs to overcome the known barriers to transplantation of pig organs into humans, and have reached the stage of conducting transplants i...
Source: Fight Aging! - August 27, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
It Is Hard To Pass Up Cold Hard Cash.
This appeared last week:
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/pharmacies-to-charge-for-blood-pressure-checks-and-medication-deliveries-amid-profits-squeeze/news-story/8a55bf5db1ee38903d44a1b1b6312596
Pharmacies to charge for blood pressure
checks and medication deliveries amid profits squeeze
By Natasha Robinson Health
Editor
9:00PM August 16, 2023
Chemists will begin (Source: Australian Health Information Technology)
Source: Australian Health Information Technology - August 24, 2023 Category: Information Technology Authors: Dr David G More MB PhD Source Type: blogs
Towards the Regrowth of Lost Sensory Hair Cells in the Inner Ear
Age-related deafness arises from some combination of (a) the loss of sensory hair cells in the inner ear, and (b) the loss of connections between those cells and the brain. There is some disagreement in the literature as to which of these mechanisms is the most relevant, but most recent efforts in the field are focused on trying to coerce the body into producing new hair cells. If that production of new hair cells in the inner ear follows the normal developmental processes, then it might solve both of the above mentioned issues, providing both cells and connections to the brain.
Today's research materials illustrate...
Source: Fight Aging! - August 23, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
Up Your Game With NIH Kahoot! Quizzes
NIH is now a premium partner with Kahoot! Credit: NIGMS.
We’re excited to announce our new partnership with Kahoot! Although we aren’t new Kahoot! gamers, we’ve recently partnered with them to provide you quizzes from across the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in a single place. “Reaching young people to teach them about biomedical science and inspire them to pursue careers in science is critically important to ensuring a diverse and vibrant biomedical research enterprise,” says NIGMS Director Jon Lorsch, Ph.D. “Our partnership with Kahoot! expands NIH’s STEM offerings, providing educators with free, in...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - August 23, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: STEM Education Source Type: blogs
The Next Pandemic May Be an AI one
By KIM BELLARD
Since the early days of the pandemic, conspiracy theorists have charged that COVID was a manufactured bioweapon, either deliberately leaked or the result of an inadvertent lab leak. There’s been no evidence to support these speculations, but, alas, that is not to say that such bioweapons aren’t truly an existential threat. And artificial intelligence (AI) may make the threat even worse.
Last week the Department of Defense issued its first ever Biodefense Posture Review. It “recognizes that expanding biological threats, enabled by advances in life sciences and biotechnology, are among the ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 23, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Health Policy AI Bioterrorism ChatGPT COVID Department of Defense Kim Bellard Source Type: blogs
Reviewing the Aging of the Adrenal Gland
The smaller organs of the body tend to receive less attention from scientists in the field of aging research. There is a lot of ground to cover and only so many research groups. Attention is first given to better studied tissues with proven, direct connections to better studied diseases and causes of mortality. This includes the larger organs such as heart, lungs, liver, and so forth. Chemical factories and cell factories such as the adrenal gland and thymus are clearly important in aging, but indirect effects spread across many different age-related conditions are, it seems, more difficult to study and more difficult to o...
Source: Fight Aging! - August 22, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
The Mitochondrial Permeability Transition Pore and Loss of Mitochondrial Membrane Potential in Aging
This open access review paper discusses what is known of the role of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore in the age-related decrease of mitochondrial membrane potential. This measure is a lens through which one can view the growing dysfunction of mitochondria with advancing age. Every cell contains hundreds of mitochondria, producing chemical energy store molecules, ATP, to power cellular processes. Reduced rates of ATP production lead to cell and tissue dysfunction. This is thought to be an important contribution to degenerative aging, though exactly how it arises from causative mechanisms, such as mitochondria...
Source: Fight Aging! - August 22, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
