.23
Intellectual
The Intellectual
Follow the cutting-edge progress and master the latest developments
Hand in one hand, major scientific news for the week
Written by Wang Shuo Oil Mai Cai Kanamycin
Editor | Youqi
● ● ●
Exercise may protect the brain capacity of the elderly
Image source: pixabay
Many benefits of exercise have been known to everyone, such as preventing obesity, improving mood, etc. An article published on April 13 in Neurology (Neurology) revealed that there is also a connection between exercise and brain capacity.
Researchers conducted research on brain gray matter volume, BMI level, insulin level, and exercise status on 134 elderly people over 65 years old who have no cognitive problems, and found that the average volume of brain gray matter in those elderly people who are willing to exercise is greater than that of elderly people who do not like to exercise. The average volume of gray matter in the brain of elderly people who exercise more is 550,000 cubic millimeters, which is 10,000 cubic millimeters more than those who don’t like to exercise. At the same time, these elderly people have lower BMI levels and lower blood insulin levels. The researchers also observed the brain regions that affect Alzheimer's disease and found the same phenomenon. However, the mechanism behind how exercise protects brain capacity is still unclear, and current research only shows relevance.
► Article link:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.00000000000200270
Ultrasonic technology brings new breakthroughs to non-invasive tumor treatment
Image source: pixabay
Various cancers, including liver cancer , have not yet completely overcome medical problems. Researchers at the University of Michigan in the United States have recently brought new breakthroughs in tumor treatment. They used tissue resection (Histotripsy) to continuously attack liver tumors in mice. This therapy is a non-invasive technology that uses ultrasound. uses the mechanical action of bubble cloud to destroy tumor tissue. The entire process is non-invasive, and the probability of tumor recurrence and metastasis is extremely low.
Researchers performed tissue resection on tumors with a maximum diameter of more than 5mm in the liver of mice in the experimental group. They found that after 50%-75% of the parts were treated, the remaining parts could be eliminated by the mice's immune system, and 81% of the tested mice did not recur or metastasis. Intrahepatic metastasis occurred without exception in the control group. This technology brings new hope to tumor treatment, but whether it can be used in clinical practice remains to be further studied.
► Article link:
https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14071612
Graphene can "hear" the sound of bacteria?
Image source: pixabay
Long-term use of an antibiotic may bring certain resistance. This is mainly because after repeated contact with the antibiotics of pathogenic microorganism, the sensitivity to the drug decreases or even disappears, resulting in the reduction or ineffectiveness of the drug.So is there any way to judge the resistance of microorganism ? A study published by researchers at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands in "Nature Nanotechnology" (Nature Nanotechnology) can determine whether bacteria are resistant to antibiotics by capturing the sounds of bacteria.
This study uses drum made of ultra-thin bilayer graphene. When bacteria attach to their surface, their own biological processes produce nanoscale random oscillations on the surface of the graphene drum. These nanoscale "beats" can be converted into sound tracks, so can detect and hear the sound of individual bacteria. The results of the experiment show that this extremely small vibration mainly comes from the flagella of the bacteria. When the bacteria develop resistance, the vibration will continue at the same level, and conversely, the vibration will weaken until it disappears. And because of the high sensitivity of graphene drums, this phenomenon can be detected with just one battery. This study is of great significance to antibiotic resistance detection and is expected to be rapidly tested in clinical practice.
► Article link:
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-022-01111-6.
New Coronavirus patients lost part of their sense of smell, which was not directly caused by the virus
Image source: pixabay
During the COVID-19 pandemic, some patients encountered functional disorders of loss of sense of smell. However, the conclusions are unclear about the causes of such symptoms. Recently, the Journal of American Medical Association - Neurology (JAMA Neurology) published a study. Through autopsy on 23 patients with COVID-19, it was found that the cause of loss of smell may be due to the immune inflammation caused by COVID-19 and the senses, causing it to fail.
Through a survey on the damage to olfactory tissue and the infection of SARS-CoV-2 in 23 patients with COVID-19 deaths, 9 of them completely or partially lost their sense of smell, and the degree of damage to olfactory tissue in was not directly related to the severity of COVID-19 infection. study found that loss of olfactory function is not caused by direct damage to the virus, but because olfactory epithelial cells are infected with SARS-CoV-2, causing immune inflammation and causing neuronal damage to , reducing the number of axons that can be used to send signals to the brain, resulting in dysfunction of the olfactory bulb. This research results not only help everyone further understand the new crown, but also provide new ideas for the treatment of functional disorders such as olfactory and taste loss caused by the new crown (such as anti-inflammatory drugs) .
► Article link:
doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2022.0154
5
No need to poke the nose, the new device can quickly detect the new coronavirus by blowing air
Image source: arstechnica.com U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Recently, it urgently authorized , the first new coronavirus detection device based on respiratory samples, . The device is only the size of a suitcase and does not require a nasal swab or pharyngeal swab to collect samples. The person to be tested can blow air through a disposable straw under the guidance of technicians. Using gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) can quickly detect whether the expiratory samples of the subjects contain 5 volatile organic compounds related to the new coronavirus infection. Once these five markers are detected, the instrument will show a positive result, and the entire detection process takes less than three minutes. This new coronavirus breath detector was developed by InspectIR. According to the previous test results of of 2409 subjects under test (including symptomatic, asymptomatic and untouched population), the detection sensitivity of is 91.2%, the accuracy of negative samples is 99%, and the probability of false negatives is very low.FDA proposes that the test results of this instrument cannot be used as the only criterion for disease diagnosis and patient management. The positive test results need to be further confirmed by nucleic acid test , and the negative results must be judged based on the recent contact history, disease history and COVID-19 related symptoms. ml5
► Article link:
https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-authorizes-first-covid-19-diagnostic-test-using-breath-samples
6
water bearworm can ride snails "Long-distance" Travel
temporal commonly known as water bear insect (Water Bear). The existence of temporal tummy can be observed all over the world, and there are as many as 1,300 species. Because they are very small in size, most of them do not exceed 1 mm, and they can only move for a short distance by themselves. A recent study published in the "Scientific Report" (Scientific Report) shows that slow-step animals will carry snails for "long-distance travel".
In the experiment, the researchers prepared three containers. The first container only placed temporal animals, the second container placed temporal animals and snails living in the temporal animals habitat, and the third container placed temporal animals, snails and moss (slow-step animal living environment) . On the third day, the number of temporal animals left in the place and migrated and their deaths were counted. They found that the living temporal animals left their original position only in an environment with snails but without moss, and thus they believed that the temporal animals were "transported" to the distance by passing snails. Some temporal animals die after exposure to snail mucus, but as long as one member survives the migration, a new population can be established in the new habitat through asexual breeding .
► Article link:
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-08265-2
plate editing | ginger duck
