Monday, 30 December 2024

 

Date:
December 19, 2024
Source:
Optica
Summary:
Researchers developed a laser-based artificial neuron that fully emulates the functions, dynamics and information processing of a biological graded neuron, which could lead to new breakthroughs in advanced computing. With a processing speed a billion times faster than nature, chip-based laser neuron could help advance AI tasks such as pattern recognition and sequence prediction.

Researchers have developed a laser-based artificial neuron that fully emulates the functions, dynamics and information processing of a biological graded neuron. With a signal processing speed of 10 GBaud -- a billion times faster than its biological counterparts -- the new laser graded neuron could lead to breakthroughs in fields like artificial intelligence and other types of advanced computing.



The body contains various types of nerve cells, including graded neurons that encode information through continuous changes in membrane potential, allowing subtle and precise signal processing. In contrast, biological spiking neurons transmit information using all-or-none action potentials, creating a more binary form of communication.

"Our laser graded neuron overcomes the speed limitations of current photonic versions of spiking neurons and has the potential for even faster operation," said research team leader Chaoran Huang from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. "By leveraging its neuron-like nonlinear dynamics and fast processing, we built a reservoir computing system that demonstrates exceptional performance in AI tasks such as pattern recognition and sequence prediction."

In Optica, Optica Publishing Group's journal for high-impact research, the researchers report that their chip-based quantum-dot laser graded neuron can achieve a signal processing speed of 10 GBaud. They used this speed to process data from 100 million heartbeats or 34.7 million handwritten digital images in just one second.

"Our technology could accelerate AI decision-making in time-critical applications while maintaining high accuracy," said Huang. "We hope the integration of our technology into edge computing devices -- which process data near its source -- will facilitate faster and smarter AI systems that better serve real-world applications with reduced energy consumption in the future."

Faster laser neurons

Laser-based artificial neurons, which can respond to input signals in a way that mimics the behavior of biological neurons, are being explored as a way to significantly enhance computing thanks to their ultrafast data processing speeds and low energy consumption. However, most of the ones developed so far have been photonic spiking neurons. These artificial neurons have a limited response speed, can suffer from information loss and require additional laser sources and modulators.

The speed limitation of photonic spiking neurons comes from the fact that they typically work by injecting input pulses into the gain section of the laser. This causes a delay that limits how fast the neuron can respond. For the laser graded neuron, the researchers used a different approach by injecting radio frequency signals into the quantum dot laser's saturable absorption section, which avoids this delay. They also designed high-speed radio frequency pads for the saturable absorption section to produce a faster, simpler and more energy-efficient system.

"With powerful memory effects and excellent information processing capabilities, a single laser graded neuron can behave like a small neural network," said Huang. "Therefore, even a single laser graded neuron without additional complex connections can perform machine learning tasks with high performance."

High-speed reservoir computing

To further demonstrate the capabilities of their laser graded neuron, the researchers used it to make a reservoir computing system. This computational method uses a particular type of network known as a reservoir to process time-dependent data like that used for speech recognition and weather prediction. The neuron-like nonlinear dynamics and fast processing speed of the laser graded neuron make it ideal for supporting high-speed reservoir computing.

In tests, the resulting reservoir computing system exhibited excellent pattern recognition and sequence prediction, particularly long-term prediction, across various AI applications with high processing speed. For example, it processed 100 million heartbeats per second and detected arrhythmic patterns with an average accuracy of 98.4%.

"In this work, we used a single laser graded neuron, but we believe that cascading multiple laser graded neurons will further unlock their potential, just as the brain has billions of neurons working together in networks," said Huang. "We are working to improve the processing speed of our laser graded neuron while also developing a deep reservoir computing architecture that incorporates cascaded laser graded neurons."


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Saturday, 28 December 2024

Taking a cue from lightning, eco-friendly reactor converts air and water into ammonia

 

Producing enough ammonia to feed the world comes with a large carbon footprint

Date:
December 24, 2024
Source:
University at Buffalo
Summary:
Taking inspiration from how nature --including lightning -- produces ammonia, a team has developed a reactor that produces the chemical commodity from nitrogen in the air and water, without any carbon footprint.

There's a good chance you owe your existence to the Haber-Bosch process.



This industrial chemical reaction between hydrogen and nitrogen produces ammonia, the key ingredient to synthetic fertilizers that supply much of the world's food supply and enabled the population explosion of the last century.

It may also threaten the existence of future generations. The process consumes about 2% of the world's total energy supply, and the hydrogen required for the reaction mostly comes from fossil fuels.

Taking inspiration from how nature -- including lightning -- produces ammonia, a team led by the University at Buffalo has developed a reactor that produces the chemical commodity from nitrogen in the air and water, without any carbon footprint.

This plasma-electrochemical reactor, described in a study published by the Journal of the American Chemical Society, can sustain a high ammonia production rate of approximately 1 gram per day for over 1,000 hours at room temperature, and does so directly from air.

The researchers say this is a significant advance toward green ammonia synthesis at an industrially competitive production rate and reaction stability.

"Ammonia is often considered the chemical that feeds the world, but we also have to face the realization that the Haber-Bosch process has not been modernized since its invention 100 years ago. It still uses a high-temperature, high-pressure processing, and generates a large carbon footprint, making it unsustainable for the long term," says the study's corresponding author, Chris Li, PhD, assistant professor of chemistry in the UB College of Arts and Sciences. "Our process only requires air and water, and can be powered by renewable electricity."

Mimicking nature's nitrogen cycle

Nature has its own way of producing fertilizer.

In nitrogen fixation, the electrical energy of a lightning strike breaks up nitrogen molecules in the atmosphere to form different nitrogen oxide species. After falling down as rainwater, nitrogen oxides are converted into ammonia by bacteria in the soil, supplying plants with nutrients.

In the UB-led team's two-step reactor, the role of lightning is replaced with plasma and the role of bacteria replaced by a catalyst of copper-palladium.

"Our plasma reactor converts humidified air into nitrogen oxide fragments, which are then placed in an electrochemical reactor that uses the copper-palladium catalyst to convert them into ammonia," Li says.

Crucially, the catalyst is able to adsorb and stabilize the numerous nitrogen dioxide intermediates created by the plasma reactor. The team's graph theory algorithm identified that most the nitrogen oxide compounds have to cycle through nitric oxide or amine as an intermediate step before becoming ammonia. This allowed the team to intelligently design a catalyst that binds favorably with those two compounds.

"When plasma energy or a lightning strike activates nitrogen, you generate a soup of nitrogen oxide compounds. To simultaneously convert, in our case, up to eight different chemical compounds into ammonia is incredibly difficult," says Xiaoli Ge, the study's first author and a postdoctoral researcher in Li's lab. "Graph theory essentially allows us to map out all the different reaction paths and then identify a bottleneck chemical. We then optimize our electrochemical reactor to stabilize the bottleneck chemical, so that all the different intermediates will be selectively conferred into ammonia."

Scaling up

Li's team is currently in the process of scaling up their reactor and are exploring both a startup and partnerships with industry to help commercialize it. UB's Technology Transfer Office has filed a patent application on the reactor and methods for its use.

Over half the world's ammonia is produced by four countries -- China, the United States, Russia and India -- while many developing countries are unable to produce their own. While the Haber-Bosch process must be conducted on a large scale in a centralized power plant, Li says their system can be done at a much smaller scale.

"You can imagine our reactors in something like a medium-sized shipping container with solar panels on the roof. This can then be placed anywhere in the world and generate ammonia on demand for that region," he says. "That's a very exciting advantage of our system, and it will allow us to produce ammonia for underdeveloped region with limited access to the Haber-Bosch process."


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Friday, 27 December 2024

Sleep apnea linked to changes in the brain

 

Date:
December 18, 2024
Source:
American Academy of Neurology
Summary:
People with breathing problems during sleep may have a larger hippocampus, the area of the brain responsible for memory and thinking, according to a new study. The study, which included mostly Latino people, also found that those with lower oxygen levels during sleep had changes in the deep parts of the brain, the white matter, a common finding of decreased brain health that develops with age.

People with breathing problems during sleep may have a larger hippocampus, the area of the brain responsible for memory and thinking, according to a study published in the December 18, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study, which included mostly Latino people, also found that those with lower oxygen levels during sleep had changes in the deep parts of the brain, the white matter, a common finding of decreased brain health that develops with age.



Sleep disordered breathing is a range of conditions that cause abnormal breathing during sleep including snoring and obstructive sleep apnea. Obstructive sleep apnea is when a person stops breathing five or more times per hour. When breathing stops, it can lower oxygen levels, affecting the brain.

"Some studies have found sleep problems and lower oxygen levels during sleep have been linked to brain shrinkage while others have found a link to brain growth," said study author Alberto R. Ramos, MD, of the University of Miami and Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology. "Both brain shrinkage and brain growth can harm memory and thinking by disrupting normal brain functions, increasing the risk of cognitive decline and dementia. Our study looked at Latino people, who have a higher risk of dementia when compared to non-Latino white people."

The study involved 2,667 Latino people with an average age of 68.

At the start of the study, each participant was given a take-home sleep test that measured how often they stopped breathing, called apneas, and how often they had slow or shallow breathing, called hypopneas.

They were divided into three groups: those who had fewer than five sleep disruptions per hour, or no sleep problems; those with five to 15 disruptions, mild sleep problems; and those with more than 15, moderate to severe sleep problems. Of the total participants, 56% had no sleep problems, 28% had mild sleep problems and 16% had moderate to severe sleep problems.

Researchers also measured oxygen levels in the bloodstream during sleep.

Ten years later, participants had brain scans to measure brain volume and white matter hyperintensities, areas in the white matter where the brain tissue has been damaged.

After adjusting for factors such as age, sex, high blood pressure and whether a participant had insurance, they found that people in the group with the most sleep problems had 0.24 cubic centimeters (cm3) greater brain volume in the hippocampus than those with no sleep problems.

They also found that for each additional sleep disruption, there was a 0.006 cm3 increase of brain volume in the hippocampus. Researchers found lower oxygen during sleep was also associated with increased hippocampal volume as well as increased white matter hyperintensities.

"Our findings highlight the complex relationships between sleep health and brain aging and show there is a need for longer studies that follow people beginning in middle age or earlier," Ramos said. "A clear understanding of how brain volume is affected by sleep apnea and other sleep disorders is essential so people can receive early and effective treatment, especially in people who may be at higher risk for dementia."

A limitation of the study was that it only included Latino adults, so results may not be the same for other populations.

The study was supported by the National Institute on Aging.


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Thursday, 26 December 2024

New scan method unveils lung function secrets

 

Date:
December 25, 2024
Source:
Newcastle University
Summary:
A new method of scanning lungs is able to show in real time how air moves in and out of the lungs as people take a breath in patients with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and patients who have received a lung transplant. It enables experts to see the functioning of transplanted lungs and could enable medics to identify sooner any decline in lung function.

A new method of scanning lungs is able to show the effects of treatment on lung function in real time and enable experts to see the functioning of transplanted lungs.



This could enable medics to identify sooner any decline in lung function.

The scan method has enabled the team, led by researchers at Newcastle University, UK, to see how air moves in and out of the lungs as people take a breath in patients with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and patients who have received a lung transplant.

Publishing two complementary papers in Radiology and JHLT Open, the team explain how they use a special gas, called perfluoropropane, that can be seen on an MRI scanner. The gas can be safely breathed in and out by patients, and then scans taken to look at where in the lungs the gas has reached.

The project lead, Professor Pete Thelwallis Professor of Magnetic Resonance Physics and Director of the Centre for In Vivo Imaging at Newcastle University. He said; "Our scans show where there is patchy ventilation in patients with lung disease, and show us which parts of the lung improve with treatment. For example, when we scan a patient as they use their asthma medication, we can see how much of their lungs and which parts of their lung are better able to move air in and out with each breath."

Using the new scanning method, the team are able to reveal the parts of the lung that air doesn't reach properly during breathing. By measuring how much of the lung is well-ventilated and how much is poorly ventilated, experts can make an assessment of the effects of a patient's respiratory disease, and they can locate and visualise the lung regions with ventilation defects.

Demonstrating that the scans work in patients with asthma or COPD, the team comprising experts from across Universities and NHS Trusts in Newcastle and Sheffield publish the first paper in Radiology.

The new scanning technique allows the team to quantify the degree of improvement in ventilation when patients have a treatment, in this case a widely used inhaler, the bronchodilator, salbutamol. This shows that the imaging methods could be valuable in clinical trials of new treatments of lung disease.

Use in lung transplants

A further study, published in JHLT Open, examined patients who had previously received a lung transplant for very severe lung disease at the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. It demonstrates how the team further developed the imaging method to provide lung function measurements which could be used to better support lung transplant recipients in the future. The sensitivity of the measurement means medics can spot early changes in lung function allowing them to identify lung problems earlier and so provide better care for patients.

In research studies, the team scanned transplant recipients' lungs over multiple breaths in and out, collecting MRI pictures that show how the air containing the gas reached different areas of the lung. The team scanned those who either had normal lung function or who were experiencing chronic rejection after lung transplant, which is a common issue in lung transplant recipients as their immune system attacks the donor lungs. In those with chronic rejection, the scans showed poorer movement of air to the edges of the lungs, most likely due to damage in the very small breathing tubes (airways) in the lung, a feature typical of chronic rejection also known as chronic lung allograft dysfunction.

Professor Andrew Fisher, Professor of Respiratory Transplant Medicine at Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Newcastle University, UK, co-author of the study said; "We hope this new type of scan might allow us to see changes in the transplant lungs earlier and before signs of damage are present in the usual blowing tests. This would allow any treatment to be started earlier and help protect the transplanted lungs from further damage."

The team say there is potential for this scan method to be used in the clinical management of lung transplant recipients and other lung diseases in the future, bringing a sensitive measurement that may spot early changes in lung function that enable better management of these conditions.


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Tuesday, 24 December 2024

Breakthrough study reveals how assisted reproduction affects placenta and child's growth

 

Date:
December 20, 2024
Source:
University of Helsinki
Summary:
Researchers have studied placental genes to explore how Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) affects a child's development. Differences showed up between pregnancies from frozen and fresh embryo transfers in the placentas. Changes were also observed in the function of a gene associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Approximately one in six couples trying to have a child experiences infertility. Each year, over five percent of children in Finland are born with the help of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART), and to date, over ten million children worldwide have been conceived using these techniques.



Although ART-conceived children are generally healthy, a slightly increased risk of growth disturbances as well as cardiovascular, metabolic, and neurodevelopmental disorders has been observed. The underlying causes of the risks, and whether they result from the ART procedures or parental subfertility, are unknown.

To understand the molecular mechanisms behind ART-associated risks, researchers from the University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital have examined newborns and placentas from 80 ART and 77 spontaneous pregnancies. When the placentas were compared, they considered different ART methods as well as the children´s sex for the first time.

The placenta has proven to be an extremely fascinating organ which connects the mother and the fetus, mediates environmental effects on the fetus and influences fetal development.

"The placenta offers a unique window into the very early developmental stages, which are otherwise difficult to study in human," says Associate Professor Nina Kaminen-Ahola, the leader of the study in the University of Helsinki.

Frozen embryo transfer resembles natural pregnancy

Genome-wide placental gene function and DNA methylation, the most well-known epigenetic mark involved in gene regulation, were examined. Also, potential connections between the observed changes and the placental weight as well as newborns' weight and height were studied.

One of the most interesting findings concerned the two commonly used ART methods, fresh and frozen embryo transfer. In the fresh embryo transfer, the IVF-fertilized embryo is transferred directly from the culture dish into the uterus, while in the frozen embryo transfer the embryo is frozen for a varying period before the transfer.

Several studies have discovered that placentas and children from fresh embryo transfer are smaller on average compared to those from frozen embryo transfer. This was also the case in the current study. Particularly, it was seen that the observed changes related to metabolism and growth were specific only to placentas from fresh embryo transfers.

"Almost all placentas from frozen embryo transfers had been transferred into the uterus during the mother's natural cycle, rather than during an artificial hormone surge as in the case with fresh embryo transfers. Consequently, the onset of pregnancy in these cases resemble more spontaneous pregnancies," explains Pauliina Auvinen, the doctoral researcher on the project.

Altered gene is linked to obesity and diabetes

In addition, the researchers identified altered function of a gene called DLK1. The expression of this gene was reduced in both ART placentas and in placentas from pregnancies of subfertile couples who had applied for fertilization treatment but who got pregnant spontaneously.

The DLK1 gene regulates metabolism and has been associated previously with obesity and type 2 diabetes. Additionally, it can have a role in maternal physiological adaptations to pregnancy.

According to a previous mouse study, Dlk1 is essential for proper maternal fasting response during pregnancy, enabling the switch to using fat for energy resource and thereby securing fetal growth. Silencing of Dlk1 was also associated with the offspring's lower birth weight.

Kaminen-Ahola says that the silencing of DLK1 gene has also been linked to low birth weight in humans.

"The role of this gene in subfertility and the increasing metabolic disorders such as obesity and type 2 diabetes," needs to be further clarified.

More research needed

Despite the significant new results, more samples need to be collected to better understand the effects of the different fertility treatment methods, subfertility, and sex on the children´s development and health. In addition, understanding the long-term impact of ART requires long-term monitoring of the children.

"Based on the results, it will be possible to improve ART treatments and understand the causes of sub- and infertility. We are continuously collecting more samples, and we warmly thank all the families for participating in the epiART study," says Kaminen-Ahola.


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Monday, 23 December 2024

Can the heart heal itself? New study says it can

An international research team found evidence that heart muscle can regenerate after heart failure in some people with artificial hearts

Date:
December 20, 2024
Source:
University of Arizona Health Sciences
Summary:
Physician-scientists found that a subset of artificial heart patients can regenerate heart muscle, which may open the door to new ways to treat and perhaps someday cure heart failure.

A research team co-led by a physician-scientist at the University of Arizona College of Medicine -- Tucson's Sarver Heart Center found that a subset of artificial heart patients can regenerate heart muscle, which may open the door to new ways to treat and perhaps someday cure heart failure. The results were published in the journal Circulation.



According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heart failure affects nearly 7 million U.S. adults and is responsible for 14% of deaths per year. There is no cure for heart failure, though medications can slow its progression. The only treatment for advanced heart failure, other than a transplant, is pump replacement through an artificial heart, called a left ventricular assist device, which can help the heart pump blood.

"Skeletal muscle has a significant ability to regenerate after injury. If you're playing soccer and you tear a muscle, you need to rest it, and it heals," said Hesham Sadek, MD, PhD, director of the Sarver Heart Center and chief of the Division of Cardiology at the U of A College of Medicine -- Tucson's Department of Medicine. "When a heart muscle is injured, it doesn't grow back. We have nothing to reverse heart muscle loss."

Sadek led a collaboration between international experts to investigate whether heart muscles can regenerate. The study was funded through a grant awarded to Sadek by the Leducq Foundation Transatlantic Networks of Excellence Program, which brings together American and European investigators to tackle big problems.

The project began with tissue from artificial heart patients provided by colleagues at the University of Utah Health and School of Medicine led by Stavros Drakos, MD, PhD, a pioneer in left ventricular assist device-mediated recovery.

Jonas Frisén, MD, PhD, and Olaf Bergmann, MD, PhD, of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, led teams in Sweden and Germany and used their own innovative method of carbon dating human heart tissue to track whether these samples contained newly generated cells.

The investigators found that patients with artificial hearts regenerated muscle cells at more than six times the rate of healthy hearts.

"This is the strongest evidence we have, so far, that human heart muscle cells can actually regenerate, which really is exciting, because it solidifies the notion that there is an intrinsic capacity of the human heart to regenerate," Sadek said. "It also strongly supports the hypothesis that the inability of the heart muscle to 'rest' is a major driver of the heart's lost ability to regenerate shortly after birth. It may be possible to target the molecular pathways involved in cell division to enhance the heart's ability to regenerate."

Finding better ways to treat heart failure is a top priority for Sadek and the Sarver Heart Center. This study builds on Sadek's prior research into rest and heart muscle regeneration.

In 2011, Sadek published a paper in Science showing that while heart muscle cells actively divide in utero, they stop dividing shortly after birth to devote their energy to pumping blood through the body nonstop, with no time for breaks.

In 2014, he published evidence of cell division in patients with artificial hearts, hinting that their heart muscle cells might have been regenerating.

These findings, combined with other research teams' observations that a minority of artificial heart patients could have their devices removed after experiencing a reversal of symptoms, led him to wonder if the artificial heart provides cardiac muscles the equivalent of bedrest in a person recovering from a soccer injury.

"The pump pushes blood into the aorta, bypassing the heart," he said. "The heart is essentially resting."

Sadek's previous studies indicated that this rest might be beneficial for the heart muscle cells, but he needed to design an experiment to determine whether patients with artificial hearts were actually regenerating muscles.

"Irrefutable evidence of heart muscle regeneration has never been shown before in humans," he said. "This study provided direct evidence."

Next, Sadek wants to figure out why only about 25% of patients are "responders" to artificial hearts, meaning that their cardiac muscle regenerates.

"It's not clear why some patients respond and some don't, but it's very clear that the ones who respond have the ability to regenerate heart muscle," he said. "The exciting part now is to determine how we can make everyone a responder, because if you can, you can essentially cure heart failure. The beauty of this is that a mechanical heart is not a therapy we hope to deliver to our patients in the future -- these devices are tried and true, and we've been using them for years."


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Saturday, 21 December 2024

Poor vascular health accelerates brain aging

 

Date:
December 20, 2024
Source:
Karolinska Institutet
Summary:
Using an AI tool, researchers have analyzed brain images from 70-year-olds and estimated their brains' biological age. They found that factors detrimental to vascular health, such as inflammation and high glucose levels, are associated with an older-looking brain, while healthy lifestyles were linked to brains with a younger appearance.

Using an AI tool, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have analysed brain images from 70-year-olds and estimated their brains' biological age. They found that factors detrimental to vascular health, such as inflammation and high glucose levels, are associated with an older-looking brain, while healthy lifestyles were linked to brains with a younger appearance. The results are presented in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association.



Every year, over 20,000 people in Sweden develop some form of dementia, with Alzheimer's disease accounting for approximately two-thirds of cases. However, the speed at which the brain ages is affected by various risk and health factors.

"Despite the recent introduction of new Alzheimer's drugs, they will not work for everyone with dementia, so we want to study what can boost the brain's resilience against pathological ageing processes" says the study's lead author Anna Marseglia, researcher at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet.

AI-derived brain age

The study involved 739 cognitively healthy 70-year-olds, 389 of whom were female, recruited from Gothenburg's H70 cohort in Sweden. The researchers took MRI scans of their brains and then estimated the age of the resulting brain images using their own AI-based algorithm.

"The algorithm is both accurate and robust, yet easy to use," says principal investigator Eric Westman, professor of Neurogeriatrics at the same department. "It's a research tool that still needs further evaluation, but our aim is for it also to be of clinical use in the future, such as in dementia investigations."

The brain images were complemented with blood samples for measuring lipids, glucose, and inflammation. The participants also carried out cognitive testing. Data on lifestyle factors such as exercise and medical conditions were also available.

Brains with an older appearance

The AI tool estimated the brain age for both sexes to be on average 71 years. The researchers then looked at the "brain age gap" by subtracting the participants' estimated biological brain age from their chronological age.

The researchers found that diabetes, stroke, cerebral small vessel disease, and inflammation were linked to brains with an older appearance, whereas a healthy lifestyle involving regular exercise could be linked to brains of a younger appearance.

"A take-home from the study is that factors that adversely affect the blood vessels can also be related to older-looking brains, which shows how important it is to keep your blood vessels healthy, to protect your brain, by making sure, for instance, that your blood glucose level is kept stable," says Anna Marseglia.

Studies of sex differences next

The brains of women and men seem to differ in terms of factors linked to older- and younger-looking brains, meaning that women and men may differ in how they build resilience, a phenomenon that the researchers now plan to investigate by looking not only at biological determinants such as hormones but also at sociocultural influences.

"Next year, we'll launch a study to understand how social health -- including social engagement, connectedness, and support -- in middle and older age, along with sleep and stress, influence brain resilience, with a focus on women's health factors," says Anna Marseglia.

The study was primarily supported by grants from the Centre for Innovative Medicine, Forte, the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Brain Foundation, the Swedish Alzheimer's Foundation, the Swedish Dementia Foundations, the David and Astrid Hagelén Foundation, StratNeuro, the Foundation for Geriatric Diseases at Karolinska Institutet, the Loo and Hans Osterman Foundation for Medical Research, the Gamla Tjänarinnor Foundation and the Collaboratory on Research Definitions for Reserve and Resilience in Cognitive Aging and Dementia. No researcher from Karolinska Institutet has reported a conflict of interest, while co-author Silke Kern has declared ties with Roche, Geras Solutions, Optoceutics, Eli Lilly, Biogen and Bioarctic.


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Animals as architects of Earth: First global study reveals their surprising impact

  From beaver dams to termite mounds, research uncovers the extraordinary role of animals in shaping our planet Date: February 17, 2025 Sour...