GENIO italiano Giuseppe Cotellessa

Two Billion People Have a Brain Parasite – Here's Why Many Haven't Noticed /  Due miliardi di persone hanno un parassita del cervello: ecco perché molti non se ne sono accorti Segnalato dal Dott. Giuseppe Cotellessa /  Reported by Dr. Giuseppe Cotellessa More than two billion people are  infected  with a brain parasite spread by cats and contaminated meat, but most will never show symptoms. A new discovery from the University of Virginia School of Medicine explains why, and that finding could have important implications for brain infections, neurodegenerative diseases and autoimmune disorders. The UVA researchers found that the parasite,  Toxoplasma gondii,  is kept in check by brain defenders called microglia. These microglia release a unique immune molecule, IL-1a, that recruits immune cells from the blood to control the parasite in the brain, the scientists discovered. This process works so well that very few people develop symptomatic toxoplasmosis, the disease the parasit

New Approach Simultaneously Measures EEG and fMRI Connectomes. The procedure of the ENEA patent RM2012A000637 is very useful in this application. /  Il nuovo approccio misura simultaneamente i connettomi EEG e fMRI. Il procediemtno del brevetto ENEA RM2012A000637 è molto utile in questa applicazione. Segnalato dal Dott. Giuseppe Cotellessa / Reported by Dr. Giuseppe Cotellessa New research demonstrates how two vastly different methods of measuring brain activity can provide meaningful data on brain networks simultaneously. Functional magnetic resonance imaging and electroencephalography are used to provide information on very different aspects of neural communication between brain areas. fMRI captures very slow aspects of this communication based on neurons' energy expenditure, whereas EEG directly measures neurons' rapid communication in real time from the electrical signals of the brain. Researchers from the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology have develope

  How Aggressive Breast Tumors and Mitochondrial Mutations Are Linked  /  Come sono collegati tumori al seno aggressivi e mutazioni mitocondriali Segnalato dal Dott. giuseppe Cotellessa / Reported by Dr. Giuseppe Cotellessa A new weapon in the battle against breast cancer may be on its way. Researchers from the Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have identified a mechanism through which mitochondria control tumor aggressiveness. The team says they’ve developed a treatment that inhibits cancer progression and can prolong life when tested in mice. The TSRI laboratory of associate professor Brunhilde H. Felding, Ph.D., studies cancer, especially the mechanisms that control metastasis. Past research suggested that mutations affecting mitochondria, which are key to energy production in cells, strongly influence whether a tumor becomes aggressive, but the mechanism was not clear. “We decided to investigate a specific protein complex, called mitochondrial complex I, that critically determines

Tumors Instruct T Cells to Produce Steroids and Turn Themselves Off /  I tumori chiedono alle cellule T di produrre steroidi e di spegnersi Segnalato dal Dott. Giuseppe Cotellessa / Reported by Dr. Giuseppe Cotellessa Six years ago,  researchers noticed  that in the wake of a cleared infection, T cells produced a steroid to slow from “full ahead” to “standby.” At the time, the T cells themselves were observed to be in control of their engine order telegraph. It was suspected, however, that cancer, too, might reposition the telegraph’s handle. That suspicion has just been confirmed. A new study from researchers representing the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the University of Cambridge, and MRC Cancer Unit demonstrates that tumors somehow signal T cells to produce immunosuppressive steroids, effectively taking control of the immune system’s anticancer flagship. By inducing T cells to cut their engines, tumors can escape the immune system. The finding recently appeared in  Nature Communicati

Cryo-EM Captures CRISPR-Cas9 Base Editor in Action /   Cryo-EM acquisisce l'editor di base CRISPR-Cas9 in azione Segnalato dal Dott. Giuseppe Cotellessa / Reported by Dr. Giuseppe Cotellessa The 3D structure of a base editor, comprised of the Cas9 protein (white and gray), which binds to a DNA target (teal and blue helix) complementary to the RNA guide (purple), and the deaminase proteins (red and pink), which switch out one nucleotide for another. /   La struttura 3D di un editor di base, composta dalla proteina Cas9 (bianca e grigia), che si lega a un bersaglio del DNA (alzavola verde ed elica blu) complementare alla guida dell'RNA (viola) e alle proteine deaminasi (rossa e rosa), che scambia un nucleotide per un altro.  [UC Berkeley image by Gavin Knott and Audrone Lapinaite] CRISPR-Cas9’s ability to cut and edit DNA have long been the focus of the genome editing story. But CRISPR-Cas–guided base editors, that specifically correct a common class of base substitutions without

Risvegliati microbi intrappolati 100 milioni di anni fa sul fondo del mare /  Awakened microbes trapped 100 million years ago on the seabed Segnalato dal Dott. Giuseppe Cotellessa /  Reported by Dr. Giuseppe Cotellessa Un gruppo internazionale di ricercatori ha risvegliato con successo minuscoli microbi dormienti da oltre 100 milioni di anni che erano intrappolati in una zona apparentemente senza vita del fondo del mare.   I microbi sono in grado di sopravvivere in condizioni inospitali al di sotto del fondale dell’Oceano Pacifico? Un team di scienziati giapponesi e americani ha condotto uno studio per verificare se i microbi sono in grado di sopravvivere ad una profondità inferiore a quelle del fondale oceanico. «Volevamo sapere per quanto tempo i microbi possono restare in vita in una condizione critica in cui il cibo scarseggia, quasi vicino allo zero» , scrive il dott.  Yuki Morono  microbiologo presso l'Agenzia giapponese per la scienza e la tecnologia marina-terrestre (Jamst