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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 3, 2024 at 8:24am

Researchers identify new coding mechanism that transfers information from perception to memory

Our memories are rich in detail: we can vividly recall the color of our home, the layout of our kitchen, or the front of our favorite café. How the brain encodes this information has long puzzled neuroscientists.

In a new study, researchers identified a neural coding mechanism that allows the transfer of information back and forth between perceptual regions to memory areas of the brain. The results are published in Nature Neuroscience.

The researchers found that memory-related brain areas encode the world like a 'photographic negative' in space. And that 'negative' is part of the mechanics that move information in and out of memory, and between perceptual and memory systems.

In a series of experiments, participants were tested on perception and memory while their brain activity was recorded using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner. The team identified an opposing push-pull like coding mechanism, which governs the interaction between perceptual and memory areas in the brain.

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 3, 2024 at 7:26am

Closing in on the ultimate quest to regenerate insulin in pancreatic stem cells

Researchers are zeroing in on the ultimate quest to regenerate insulin in pancreatic stem cells and replace the need for regular insulin injections.

researchers have demonstrated in an article published in Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy that newly made insulin cells can respond to glucose and produce insulin following stimulation with two approved drugs in as little as 48 hours.

Further, they confirmed this pathway of awakening the insulin-producing cells is viable in age groups from 7 to 61, providing much-needed insights into the mechanisms underlying the regeneration of beta cells.

Using pancreatic cells derived from a child and adult type 1 diabetic donors, and from a non-diabetic person, a research  team demonstrated how insulin-producing cells that are destroyed in people with type 1 diabetes can be regenerated into glucose sensing and functionally secreting insulin cells. In this latest study by the Human Epigenetics team, they show small molecule inhibitors that are currently used for rare cancers and approved  can rapidly return insulin production in pancreatic cells destroyed by diabetes. While current pharmaceutical options for diabetes treatment help control blood glucose levels they do not prevent, stop or reverse the destruction of insulin-secreting cells.

The novel therapeutic approach holds the potential to become the first disease modifying treatment for type 1 diabetes by facilitating glucose responsive insulin production by harnessing the patient's remaining pancreatic cells, thereby enabling people living with diabetes to potentially achieve independence from round-the-clock insulin injections.

This disease-modifying treatment also represents a promising solution for the significant number of people living with insulin dependent diabetes, who account for 30% of those with type 2 diabetes.

 Keith Al-Hasani et al, EZH2 inhibitors promote β-like cell regeneration in young and adult type 1 diabetes donors, Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41392-023-01707-x

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 2, 2024 at 9:43am

Disorders, diseases associated with childlessness identified

Mental-behavioral disorders, congenital anomalies, and endocrine-nutritional-metabolic disorders are most strongly associated with childlessness, according to a study published online Dec. 18 in Nature Human Behaviour.

Researchers examined 1,035,928 men born in 1956 to 1968 and women born in 1956 to 1973 in Finland and 1,509,092 born in Sweden to the completion of their reproductive lifespan in 2018. Using a population and matched-pair case-control design of siblings discordant for childlessness (71,524 full sisters and 77,622 full brothers), sociodemographic and reproductive information was associated with 414 diseases across 16 categories.

The researchers found the associations were strongest for mental-behavioral disorders (especially among men), congenital anomalies, and endocrine-nutritional-metabolic disorders (strongest among women). New associations were identified for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The associations were dependent on age at onset; singlehood and education were mediators of the associations.

Researchers have comprehensively described the associations between different diseases, particularly those with onset prior to the peak reproductive age, and the chance of being childless over a lifetime. 

 Aoxing Liu et al, Evidence from Finland and Sweden on the relationship between early-life diseases and lifetime childlessness in men and women, Nature Human Behaviour (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41562-023-01763-x

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 30, 2023 at 10:02am

Food-as-medicine programs are gaining popularity, with variations like produce prescription programs and medically tailored meals. The current study may hint that a short-term intervention diet is insufficient in creating clinically measurable change and that longer-term food and nutrition security is required.

More information: Joseph Doyle et al, Effect of an Intensive Food-as-Medicine Program on Health and Health Care Use, JAMA Internal Medicine (2023). DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2023.6670

Deborah Grady, Food for Thought—Include Controls in Policy Evaluations, JAMA Internal Medicine (2023). DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2023.6659

Part 3

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 30, 2023 at 10:02am

Access to the program did increase engagement with preventive health care. More dietitian visits, active prescription drug orders, and self-reported improved diets were noted in the treatment group. These increases did not result in improved glycemic control compared to usual care with food insecurity.

No significant differences between treatment and control were observed in cholesterol, triglycerides, fasting glucose, or blood pressure at six or 12 months. It is unclear why a healthy and secure diet and increased access to medical professionals had no effect on any of these measures in the study.

The study seems to show that the damage caused by prolonged food insecurity is not easily reversible. It also suggests that any effort to assist people struggling with food insecurity and diabetes cannot be helped by diet alone.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, people who experience food and nutrition insecurity are two to three times more likely to have diabetes than people who do not. Healthy eating is essential for managing blood sugar levels and can help prevent type 2 diabetes.

Nutritious foods can be expensive or difficult to find for individuals living below the poverty level, often leaving them dependent on calories from highly processed food sources. For people who already have diabetes, buying healthy foods can compete with health care expenses for medicines, devices, and supplies, creating a dire "treat" or "eat" scenario.

While the study found no significant short-term improvements in the subjects recruited for the study, the problem of food and nutrition insecurity is rising along with a rise in diet-related chronic diseases.
Part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 30, 2023 at 10:02am

Food-as-Medicine study finds no improvements in type 2 diabetes patients

Recent research has found that an intensive food-as-medicine program showed no improvement in glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes and food insecurity.

In their paper, "Effect of an Intensive Food-as-Medicine Program on Health and Health Care Use—A Randomized Clinical Trial," published in JAMA Internal Medicine, a research team details a randomized clinical trial  of 349 type 2 diabetes patients with previous food insecurity to assess if short-term access to healthy food options could improve glycemic control and influence health care usage.

The study targeted patients with type 2 diabetes and elevated HbA1c levels, providing intensive support and food supplies. Subjects in the treatment group (n=170) were given groceries for 10 healthy meals per week for the household, dietitian consultations, nurse evaluations, health coaching, and diabetes education for one year with a one-year follow-up. A control group (n=179) did not receive any of the benefits of the treatment program for the first six months. Hemoglobin A1C (HbA1c) tests six months into the program showed substantial declines in both the treatment (1.5%) and control (1.3%) groups, resulting in no significant difference between groups. This might indicate that factors beyond the program contributed to the lower blood sugar levels, though what these factors might be is unclear.

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 29, 2023 at 12:46pm

Other methods of translating brain signals into language require invasive surgeries to implant electrodes or bulky, expensive MRI machines, making them impractical for daily use – and they often need to use eye-tracking to convert brain signals into word-level chunks.

When a person's eyes dart from one word to another, it's reasonable to assume that their brain takes a short break between processing each word. Raw EEG wave translation into words – without eye tracking to indicate the corresponding word target – is harder.

Brain waves from different people don't all represent breaks between words quite the same way, making it a challenge to teach AI how to interpret individual thoughts.

After extensive training, DeWave's encoder turns EEG waves into a code that can then be matched to specific words based on how close they are to entries in DeWave's 'codebook'.

"It is the first to incorporate discrete encoding techniques in the brain-to-text translation process, introducing an innovative approach to neural decoding," explain the researchers.

The integration with large language models is also opening new frontiers in neuroscience and AI.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.14030

Part 2

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 29, 2023 at 12:45pm

AI Translates Thoughts Directly From Brainwaves – Without Implants

A world-first, non-invasive AI system can turn silent thoughts into text while only requiring users to wear a snug-fitting cap.

Researchers who developed the technology, called DeWave, tested the process using data from more than two dozen subjects.

Participants read silently while wearing a cap that recorded their brain waves via electroencephalogram (EEG) and decoded them into text.

With further refinement, DeWave could help stroke and paralysis patients communicate and make it easier for people to direct machines like bionic arms or robots.

This research represents a pioneering effort in translating raw EEG waves directly into language, marking a significant breakthrough in the field.

Although DeWave only achieved just over 40 percent accuracy based on one of two sets of metrics in experiments conducted , this is a 3 percent improvement on the prior standard for thought translation from EEG recordings.

The goal of the researchers is to improve accuracy to around 90 percent, which is on par with conventional methods of language translation or speech recognition software.

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 29, 2023 at 12:41pm

Space Anemia: A Rocket Launch Might Cause Your Blood Cells to Burst
In the roughly eight minutes it takes to shoot a human being off the face of our planet and into orbit, their body encounters a crushing force of gravity like nothing felt on Earth.
Scientists working with the European Space Observatory's Large Diameter Centrifuge are now testing whether that massive launch can weaken the membranes of an astronaut's blood cells, putting them at risk of bursting.

If that turns out to be true, it could help explain why astronauts tend to suffer from 'space anemia'.

Studies show human bodies destroy about 54 percent more red blood cells traveling into space than they would normally on Earth, lowering the availability of iron transporters in the bloodstream.

Researchers think that is why astronauts often experience fatigue, weakness, or dizziness when they return back to normal gravity. Their blood cells are still readjusting from a life in microgravity.
Historically, space flight has exerted forces of gravity three to six times that of Earth's gravity.
Previous studies on mice have found that white blood cells may be destroyed under conditions of hypergravity, and hypergravity also shows signs of weakening the cells that form a barrier between the blood stream and the brain in mice.

The very inner surface of blood vessels, which help control cell survival, proliferation, death, and migration, show signs of stress from hypergravity.

Scientists still know surprisingly little about how changing gravity impacts the human body.

https://www.sciencealert.com/space-anemia-a-rocket-launch-might-cau...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 29, 2023 at 12:32pm

Gut Bacteria Contribute to Anorexia

Microbiomes transplanted from women with anorexia nervosa into mice enhanced symptoms of the eating disorder, such as rapid weight loss and reduced appetite.

Trillions of bacteria living in the human gut regulate the health of the body, but a disrupted microbiome can lead to a slew of diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis, and type 2 diabetes. Now, metagenomics researchers  have found that the gut microbiome could also contribute to the eating disorder anorexia nervosa, potentially by altering gene expression in the brain.

The researchers began by comparing stool samples from 70 healthy women and 77 women with anorexia. There were massive changes in the abundance of bacteria, including 27 bacteria that were elevated in anorexic participants and 43 that were depleted. They also found differences in the expression of bacterial genes and in the blood levels of bacterial metabolites, which can affect human physiology. For example, the anorexic group showed an increase in indole-3-propionic acid, which slows down the passage of food and reduces feelings of hunger.

Comparing bacteria, however, is not enough to pin down their effects. To test whether the microbiome directly affected symptoms, the team transplanted fecal samples from three anorexic and three healthy participants into mice lacking gut microbiomes. The mice were then put on restrictive diets to mimic anorexic eating patterns. Those with anorexic microbiomes experienced a quicker drop in weight and put weight back on more slowly, indicating that the anorexic microbiome was conducive to weight loss. 

This proves that there is a causal aspect to it. The team then analyzed gene expression in the mice. In mice with anorexic microbiomes, they found increased expression of the appetite suppressor genes Bdnf and Cartpt in the hypothalamus, the brain’s appetite control center. “Browning” genes that convert white fat that stores energy into brown fat that burns energy to heat the body were also upregulated in fat tissue. 

These changes may explain why the mice lost weight and struggled to regain it, providing a possible mechanism for how the microbiome seemingly intensifies anorexia symptoms. 

Y. Fan et al., “The gut microbiota contributes to the pathogenesis of anorexia nerv...,” Nat Microbiol, ISSN 2058-5276, 2023. 

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