News by Subject Chemistry & Physics

New research led by Spanish scientists suggest that the altered glycosylation could determine that the Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) is processed by the amyloidogenic (pathological) pathway, giving rise to the production of the beta-amyloid, a small protein with a tendency to cluster forming the amyloid plaques characteristic of Alzheimer's disease.

A team of researchers from LSU Health New Orleans Neuroscience Center of Excellence and the University of Copenhagen provides the first evidence that patients with ocular hypertension may exhibit superior antioxidant protection that promotes resistance to the elevated intraocular pressure associated with glaucoma.

A Rutgers-led team has created a smart drug delivery system that reduces inflammation in damaged nervous tissues and may help treat spinal cord injuries and other neurological disorders. The system, which uses extremely thin biomaterials implanted in the body, also protects nerve fibers (axons) that connect nerve cells in injured neural tissues, according to a study in the journal Advanced Materials.

University of Guelph researchers are the first to discover that adolescents react differently to e-cigarette vapour than adults.

The astrocytic glial cell has the unique ability to form scar tissue around damaged neurons. The presence of scar tissue is associated with inhibitory effects on the regrowth of mature neurons that are damaged by spinal cord injury. Recent evidence suggests, however, that these inhibitory effects are reversible, and in new work, Temple and Penn scientists show that astrocytic glial cells can in fact play a major role in facilitating neuron repair.

In 2018, Tian Lab at UC Davis Health developed dLight1, a single fluorescent protein-based biosensor. This sensor allows high resolution, real-time imaging of the spatial and temporal release of dopamine in live animals. Now, the team expanded the color spectrum of dLight1 to YdLight1 and RdLight1. The increased light penetration and imaging depth of these variants provide enhanced dopamine signal quality allowing researchers to optically dissect dopamine's release and model its effects on neural circuits.

Scientists at Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology, Korea, show that it is possible to distinguish between left-handed and right-handed people by noninvasively monitoring just their brain activity during passive tactile stimulation. These results are key in haptic research (the study of sensory systems) and have various important implications for brain-computer interfaces, augmented reality, and even artificial intelligence.

Penn Medicine researchers have solved a decades old mystery around a key molecule fueling the power plant of cells that could be exploited to find new ways to treat diseases, from neurodegenerative disorders to cancer.