“Anti-tangle” molecule could aid search for new dementia treatments, say scientists

Scientists at Bath have found a way of blocking the protein tangles that are associated with dementia diseases
Photo Credit: NCI

Scientists have identified a molecule that can prevent tangling of a brain protein that is linked to diseases such as Parkinson’s. The findings may provide insights into new ways of treating or diagnosing the early stages of dementia.

Alpha-synuclein, a protein found in brain cells, is commonly associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's, a debilitating neurological disorder affecting millions worldwide.

Like all proteins, it is made up of a long strand of molecules called amino acids. When it’s made, this strand folds in on itself to form a complex but precise 3D shape, made up of sub-structures and loops.

In healthy individuals, alpha-synuclein interacts with cell membranes where it plays a role in how brain cells (neurons) communicate with each other, but as a person ages, the 3D shape of the protein can malformed, or “misfolded”, causing it to start sticking together to form toxic clumps in the brain.

Over time these clumps continue to stack, forming fibers that can interfere with the protein’s normal role, eventually killing brain cells, contributing to the development of Parkinson's and related dementia diseases.

Plants on Ash Dumps Experience Nutrient Deficiency

Scientists studied two ash dumps in the Middle Urals.
Photo Credit: From the personal archive of Anna Betekhtina

Many nutrients, especially nitrogen, are not available to plants on ash dumps, biologists from the Ural Federal University and the Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IPAE UB RAS) have found out. Despite the fact that nitrogen accumulates in the soil of ash dumps as a result of overgrowth, its availability to plants is very low. This situation is unique, because usually the nitrogen content in the soil is directly related to nitrogen content in plants. The description of chemical analysis of plants and soils of ash dumps scientists published in the journal "Ecology". 

"Nitrogen is one of the most important elements of plant nutrition, and its availability determines the productivity of plant communities. At various natural sites, a single pattern has been shown: when the nitrogen content in the soil increases, its amount in plants also increases. Such dynamics is described in many works of Russian and foreign scientists. However, our results turned out to be quite different. The results obtained on other natural objects cannot be transferred to technogenic landscapes, such as ash dumps", explains Anna Betekhtina, senior researcher of the Laboratory of Restorative Ecology at UrFU.

Two-decade monitoring of M87 unveils a precessing jet connecting to a spinning black hole

Schematic representation of the tilted accretion disk model. The black hole spin axis is assumed to align vertically. The jet direction stands almost perpendicular to the disk plane. The misalignment between the black hole spin axis and disk rotation axis triggers the precession of disk and jet.
Illustration Credit: Yuzhu Cui et al. (2023), Intouchable Lab@Openverse and Zhejiang Lab.

In a tale of cosmic patience spanning more than two decades, it has been discovered that the nearby radio galaxy M87, located 55 million light-years from the Earth and harboring a black hole 6.5 billion times more massive than the Sun, exhibits an oscillating jet. This investigation found the jet swinging up and down with an amplitude of about 10 degrees.

The international collaboration team consisting of researchers from 45 institutions around the world, including Dr. Satoko Sawada-Satoh of Osaka Metropolitan University’s Graduate School of Science, analyzed data observed from 2000 to 2022. They unveiled a recurring 11-year cycle in the precessing motion of the jet base, as predicted by Einstein’s general relativity. This work successfully linked the dynamics of the jet with the central supermassive black hole, offering evidence for the existence of M87’s black hole spin.

Noninvasive, ultrasound-based brain biopsy is feasible

Graduate student Lu Xu wears a device designed by engineers, at Washington University in St. Louis, that targets ultrasound waves to precise spots in the brain. Such targeting is the first step in a sonobiopsy, a noninvasive technique invented by Washington University researchers that uses ultrasound and microbubbles to release biomolecules from brain tumors. The biomolecules then can be collected via a blood draw, analyzed and used to inform treatment decisions. Xu is part of a research team that demonstrated that sonobiopsy is safe and feasible for use in people.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Hong Chen

The blood-brain barrier, the body’s way of shielding sensitive brain tissue from viruses, toxins and other harmful substances in the blood, can pose a problem for physicians caring for patients with suspected brain diseases such as cancer. Molecular and genetic information would be invaluable for confirming a diagnosis and guiding treatment decisions, but such molecules are normally confined to the brain by the barrier. Neurosurgeons routinely perform surgical brain biopsies to obtain this data on brain tumors, but such procedures carry risks and are not feasible for all tumors or for many other kinds of brain diseases.

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have developed an anatomically precise technique called sonobiopsy that uses ultrasound and microbubbles to disrupt the barrier temporarily and allow RNA, DNA and proteins from the brain to spill out into the blood, where they can be detected and analyzed. The researchers developed and previously tested the technique in animals. In a new study, available online in the journal NPJ Precision Oncology, they showed that the technique is feasible and safe for use in people, and could open the door to noninvasive biopsies for suspected brain tumors and other brain diseases.

Important additional driver of insect decline identified

The grape wood borer (Chlorophorus varius) is one of over 33,000 insect species in Germany. The development of the insect biomass depends significantly on weather conditions, as a study published in "Nature" in 2023 shows.
Photo Credit: Didier Descouens
(CC BY-SA 3.0)

Combinations of unfavorable weather conditions over several years can cause a decline in insect biomass. This is shown by a study published in "Nature" with TUD being involved.

Insects react sensitively when temperature and precipitation deviate from the long-term average. In an unusually dry and warm winter, their survival probabilities are reduced; in a wet and cold spring, hatching success is impaired. A cool, wet summer hampers bumblebees and other flying insects from reproducing and foraging.

If several such weather anomalies occur in combination and over several years, this can lead to a decline in insect biomass on a large scale and in the long term. This is shown in a new report in the journal Nature.

According to the report, weather conditions and accumulations of unfavorable weather anomalies in the course of climate change can be important drivers of global insect decline. Only insect populations with a large number of individuals, as found in sufficiently large and high-quality habitats, appear to be able to survive under such adverse conditions.

Saturated fat may interfere with creating memories in aged brain

The study in cell cultures found the omega-3 fatty acid DHA, found in fish and a common supplement, may help protect the brain from an unhealthy diet’s effects by curbing fat-induced inflammation at the cellular source.
Photo Credit: Leohoho

New research hints at a few ways fatty foods affect cells in the brain, a finding that could help explain the link between a high-fat diet and impaired memory – especially as we age.

The Ohio State University study in cell cultures found the omega-3 fatty acid DHA may help protect the brain from an unhealthy diet’s effects by curbing fat-induced inflammation at the cellular source. 

Separate experiments using brain tissue from aging mice showed a high-fat diet may lead specific brain cells to overdo cell-signaling management in a way that interferes with the creation of new memories. 

The same lab found in an earlier study in aging rats that a diet of highly processed ingredients led to a strong inflammatory response in the brain that was accompanied by behavioral signs of memory loss – and that DHA supplementation prevented those problems. 

“The cool thing about this paper is that for the first time, we’re really starting to tease these things apart by cell type,” said senior author Ruth Barrientos, an investigator in Ohio State’s Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research and associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral health and neuroscience in the College of Medicine. 

Tree rings reveal a new kind of earthquake threat to the Pacific Northwest

Price Lake, in the eastern Olympic Mountains, formed when the Saddle Mountain fault impounded a stream and flooded the forest. Lead author Bryan Black and his team of divers collected the samples using an underwater hydraulic chainsaw.
Photo Credit: Bryan Black

In February, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake shook the Turkey-Syria border, followed by one nearly as large nine hours later. Shallow faults less than 18 miles beneath the surface buckled and ruptured, causing violent focused quakes that leveled thousands of buildings and killed tens of thousands.

Similar shallow faults ruptured about 1,000 years ago in the Puget Lowlands in western Washington, according to new University of Arizona-led research. Tree rings helped pinpoint that the seismic event occurred in late A.D. 923 or early 924. Their findings mean that a repeat event has the potential to again shake the region that is now home to over 4 million people, including Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia. The results were published in the journal Science Advances.

The ancient quake was either the result of all the shallow faults in the region rupturing together to produce an estimated 7.8-magnitude earthquake or – like in Turkey and Syria – twin quakes that occurred back-to-back with estimated magnitudes of 7.5 and 7.3, researchers found. Shallow faults typically result in more violent and focused shaking than earthquakes generated from other geological configurations.

How the Heart Starts Beating

Researchers were surprised to discover that heart cells in developing zebrafish abruptly start beating all at once, and quickly become regular. Here, heart cells are labeled with green fluorescent protein, which becomes brighter when calcium levels spike during each heartbeat.
Image Credit: Bill Jia

Becoming a full-fledged organism out of a handful of cells, complete with functioning tissues and organs, is a messy yet highly synchronized process that requires cells to organize themselves in a precise manner and begin working together.

This process is especially dramatic in the heart, where static cells must start beating in perfect unison.

Now, a cross-school collaboration led by researchers at Harvard Medical School and Harvard University has provided a glimpse into exactly how cells in the heart start beating.

In a study conducted in zebrafish, the team discovered that heart cells start beating suddenly and all at once as calcium levels and electrical signals increase. Moreover, each heart cell has the ability to beat on its own, without a pacemaker, and the heartbeat can start in different places, the researchers discovered. The findings are published Sep. 27 in Nature.

Extreme Weight Loss: Star Sheds Unexpected Amounts of Mass Just Before Going Supernova

Artist's conception of pre-explosion mass loss by the progenitor star of SN 2023ixf. In the year prior to going supernova the red supergiant star now known as SN 2023ixf shed an unexpected amount of mass equivalent to the mass of the Sun. This artist's conception illustrates what the final stages of mass loss might have looked like before the star exploded. 
Illustration Credit: Melissa Weiss/CfA

A newly discovered nearby supernova whose star ejected up to a full solar mass of material in the year prior to its explosion is challenging the standard theory of stellar evolution. The new observations are giving astronomers insight into what happens in the final year prior to a star’s death and explosion.

SN 2023ixf is a new Type II supernova discovered in May 2023 by amateur astronomer Kōichi Itagaki of Yamagata, Japan shortly after its progenitor, or origin star, exploded. Located about 20 million light-years away in the Pinwheel Galaxy, SN 2023ixf's proximity to Earth, the supernova's extreme brightness, and its young age make it a treasure trove of observable data for scientists studying the death of massive stars in supernova explosions.

Type II or core-collapse supernovae occur when red supergiant stars at least eight times, and up to about 25 times the mass of the Sun, collapse under their own weight and explode. While SN 2023ixf fits the Type II description, follow-up multi-wavelength observations led by astronomers at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA), and using a wide range of CfA's telescopes, have revealed new and unexpected behavior.

Tiny CRISPR tool could help shred viruses

Model of a minimal CRISPR-Cas13bt3 molecule generated with a cryo-electron microscope. The RNA to be recognized and cleaved is colored in light blue, while the scissor is formed by the magenta and cyan colored domains. The two loops for controlling the CRISPR-Cas13bt3 are shown in green and red.
 Illustration Credit: Courtesy of the Yang Gao lab/Rice University

Small and precise: These are the ideal characteristics for CRISPR systems, the Nobel-prize winning technology used to edit nucleic acids like RNA and DNA.

Rice University scientists have described in detail the three-dimensional structure of one of the smallest known CRISPR-Cas13 systems used to shred or modify RNA and employed their findings to further engineer the tool to improve its precision. According to a study published in Nature Communications, the molecule works differently than other proteins in the same family.

“There are different types of CRISPR systems, and the one our research was focused on for this study is called CRISPR-Cas13bt3,” said Yang Gao, an assistant professor of biosciences and Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas Scholar who helped lead the study. “The unique thing about it is that it is very small. Usually, these types of molecules contain roughly 1200 amino acids, while this one only has about 700, so that’s already an advantage.”