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Scientists discovered the secret of DNA’s X shape

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Scientists discovered the secret of DNA's X shape
Scientists discovered the secret of DNA’s X shape. Scientists have managed to unravel the mystery of why DNA looks like the letter X, and say that this shape is primarily due to the presence of a protein called shogoshin, which means “guardian spirit” in Japanese.

Scientists discovered the secret of DNA’s X shape

DNA is the biological code of all life on Earth. All living things contain genetic information in the form of DNA code, and as shown in school books, DNA looks like the letter X.

Now scientists at the Netherlands Cancer Institute have come up with a potential answer to why DNA is shaped.

Benjamin Rowland, head of the research group of the study, said in a statement: “It seems that we have uncovered a universal mechanism by which cells determine the shape of their DNA.”

This shape is primarily due to the presence of a protein called shugoshin, which means “guardian spirit” in Japanese.

Our body is constantly working and each cell divides to create two new cells. Meanwhile, chromosomes carry DNA in the nucleus of cells. In this way, the DNA of each cell is copied and then distributed equally among the new cells.

The study highlights that during this process, cells form compact bundles in the process of copying their DNA.

In this process, cells join the two copies in half until they divide, Rowland says. Under the microscope, such a bundle looks like an X, as can be seen in all biology textbooks.

During cell division, the cohesin rings that hold the cells together open and release two arms of DNA, and due to the presence of a protein called shogoshin (SGO1), these rings are joined together in the middle of the DNA.

Cohesin is a protein complex that regulates the separation of sister chromatids during cell division, both mitosis, and meiosis.

The researchers explain the complex biological process that works to create the X-like shape of DNA: Shogoshin uses a molecular key that fits precisely into a keyhole in the cohesin. By doing this, it locks the cohesin loops. Because shogoshin works in the center of the chromosomes, it only locks the loops there, giving the chromosomes an X shape.

Read More: The discovery of the heaviest element in history in an exoplanet

Researchers say this new discovery could help us learn more about how our cells work.

The results of this research have been published in the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.

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Is blood type related to heart disease?

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Is blood type related to heart disease?

Medical researchers say blood type is linked to heart disease and health problems like blood clotting, but it’s only one piece of the heart health puzzle. So is blood type related to heart disease?

Is blood type related to heart disease?

What blood type you have may not occur to you until you try to donate blood or when you are in the hospital. But did you know that your blood type may also play a role in the likelihood of certain health problems such as blood clotting?

New research suggests that blood type may matter more than we thought and could help assess the risk of certain diseases. But like all other issues affecting health, it is necessary to have a complete picture in this regard.

In this regard, it is not only genetic factors such as blood type that are influential, but also daily plans, nutrition, stress management, and many other issues that have an impact and role in overall health, including heart health.

New research shows that people with blood type A, B, or AB are more likely to have a heart attack or heart failure than people with blood type O. One reason for this increased likelihood may be related to inflammation in the body of people with these blood types.

آیا نوع گروه خونی با بیماری‌های قلبی مرتبط است؟

People with type O blood have a slightly lower risk of developing heart disease and blood clots but may be more vulnerable to bleeding disorders.

Read More: Strange visual symptoms in Alzheimer’s patients

Other research also suggests that people with blood type AB may be at greater risk for cognitive impairment than people with blood type O. Cognitive deficits include things like trouble remembering, concentrating, or making decisions.

آیا نوع گروه خونی با بیماری‌های قلبی مرتبط است؟

Should we change our lifestyle based on blood type?

Although research shows that blood type can affect the risk of heart disease, other important factors such as nutrition, exercise, or even the level of pollution in the living environment play an important role in determining heart health.

Researchers say that people, regardless of their blood type, should have a heart-healthy diet that reduces inflammation in order to maintain their heart health.

Further research may determine more definitive ways to treat based on blood type, but taking all factors into account, a patient with good cholesterol levels and blood type A may benefit from daily aspirin, but this medication may It is not necessary for such a person with blood type O.

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Strange visual symptoms in Alzheimer’s patients

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Alzheimer

Alzheimer’s is commonly known as a memory-robbing disease that initially presents with symptoms of forgetfulness, difficulty remembering new events, and increased confusion. However, some people may experience a lesser-known early warning sign.

 Strange visual symptoms in Alzheimer’s patients

Alzheimer’s may go undiagnosed for years if a person only goes to their eye doctor because so few people know about it.

According to the Daily Mail, doctors conducted the first large-scale international study, led by the University of California, San Francisco, on the phenomenon known as posterior cortical atrophy (PCA). For this study, researchers looked at the medical records of more than 1,000 patients with posterior cortical atrophy in 16 different countries.

Visual-spatial symptoms of posterior cortical atrophy affect patients about five or six years earlier than patients with the more common type of Alzheimer’s.

While the exact number of people with posterior cortical atrophy is unknown, researchers estimate that this type may account for up to 10 percent of Alzheimer’s cases, putting the number of Americans with the disease at nearly 700,000.

Posterior cortical atrophy is a specific subtype of Alzheimer’s disease, and not all Alzheimer’s patients experience these symptoms, which include difficulty reading and doing math, using everyday objects, judging distances, and recognizing faces. Memory problems may become more apparent as the disease progresses.

The average age at which symptoms usually appear is 59 years, which is 6 years earlier than the average age at which Alzheimer’s disease is diagnosed.

These symptoms can affect people who have no other memory problems, leading some to think that the problems are not neurological. Vision loss is a side effect of the general aging process, and many adults in their 50s and 60s probably attribute vision problems to their aging and choose to use glasses instead of seeking medical care.

A lot of time may have passed before they finally see an ophthalmologist. Seeing abnormalities in the results of a person’s vision test, the ophthalmologist refers him to a neurologist to diagnose the problem.

The average time it takes from the first experience of unusual vision symptoms to the eventual correct diagnosis is less than four years.

Dr. Marianne Chapleau, one of the authors of the paper and a researcher in the Department of Neurology at the Center for Memory and Aging, says: We need more knowledge about posterior cortical atrophy so that it can be flagged by doctors.

Read More: Predicting Alzheimer’s with a wristband! 

Most patients see their optometrist when they experience visual symptoms and may be referred to an ophthalmologist who may also not recognize posterior cortical atrophy. We need better tools in clinical settings to identify these patients early and treat them.

In this study, researchers measured the levels of two hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease, tau and amyloid proteins. Amyloid-beta accumulates in the brain, forming deposits that are believed to cause inflammation in the body and disrupt communication between brain cells.

Meanwhile, tau normally helps stabilize the internal structure of nerve cells in the brain. But in Alzheimer’s, abnormal chemical changes cause tau to detach from nerve cells and reattach to other tau proteins, forming strands that eventually tangle.

People with posterior cortical atrophy had similar levels of tau and amyloid plaques in their brains as people with Alzheimer’s.

While there is no known cure, the common pathologies that Alzheimer’s and posterior cortical atrophy share mean that posterior cortical atrophy patients may benefit from participating in a clinical trial for one of several drugs in development.

“A better understanding of posterior cortical atrophy is critical both to improving patient care and to understanding the processes that lead to Alzheimer’s disease,” said Gil Rabinovici, MD, senior author of the study and director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.

He added: It is very important that doctors learn to recognize the syndrome so that patients can receive the correct diagnosis, counseling, and care.

From a scientific point of view, we really need to understand why Alzheimer’s specifically targets the visual parts of the brain rather than the memory. Our study showed that 60% of patients with posterior cortical atrophy were female, so a better understanding of why they seem more susceptible is an important area of future research.

Their research was published in the journal Lancet Neurology.

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Predicting Alzheimer’s with a wristband!

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Predicting Alzheimer's with a wristband!

Predicting Alzheimer’s with a wristband! Johns Hopkins University researchers have shown in a new study that Alzheimer’s can be diagnosed with a wristband.

Predicting Alzheimer’s with a wristband!

A wristband may soon be able to detect Alzheimer’s symptoms.

According to Science Daily, new research conducted at the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health (JHU) shows that monitoring daily activity patterns using a wristband may detect early warning signs of the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

Researchers analyzed movement data obtained from wristwatch devices called “Actigraph”. These data were obtained from 82 cognitively healthy older adults participating in a long-term aging study. Beta-amyloid accumulation was observed in the brains of some participants, which was examined by PETscan. Accumulation of amyloid beta protein in the brain is one of the main features of Alzheimer’s disease.

Using a sensitive statistical method, researchers found significant differences between this “amyloid positive” group and “amyloid negative” participants during daily activity periods at different time intervals.

Read More: What will be the future of cancer treatment?

“We need to replicate these findings in larger studies, but it’s interesting that we now see a similar difference between amyloid-positive and amyloid-negative older adults,” said Dr. Adam Spira, a professor in the Department of Mental Health at Johns Hopkins University. We have observed two different studies.

The results of this research show that maybe one day actigraphs can help to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease in the early stages before the onset of significant cognitive disorders.

In their new study, Spira and colleagues investigated the potential of actigraph monitoring in 82 people with an average age of about 76 years. To measure the brain amyloid of each participant, a PET scan was taken from their brain and each person wore the actigraph 24 hours a day for a week. The researchers found that the 25 amyloid-positive participants compared to the 57 amyloid-negative participants had higher average activity in the early afternoon between 1 and 3:30 p.m., and their diurnal changes in activity from 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. And it was less from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.

In more conservative analyses, some of these time windows were not statistically significant. Despite this, more activity and less variability in the afternoon reflect the researchers’ previous findings.

Scientists don’t know why amyloid accumulation causes differences in activity patterns during these specific times of day. They noted: Among people with Alzheimer’s disease, there is a special type of wandering and restlessness called “sunset syndrome” in which restlessness increases in the afternoon and early evening.

“It’s conceivable that this could be a preclinical symptom of sunset syndrome,” Spira said. At the same time, it is important to note that these findings represent averages in a small sample of older adults over a short period. We cannot predict whether a person will develop amyloid plaques based on how active they are.

Spira and his colleagues plan to conduct larger studies of this kind. Also, they hope to conduct longer-term studies to see if changes in daily activity patterns are associated not only with brain amyloid but with actual cognitive decline.

Such findings raise the possibility that older adults may one day, among other measures, use devices such as wristwatches that automatically track and analyze their sleep-wake activity. People who have unusual activity patterns can consult their doctor to further investigate the possibility of Alzheimer’s disease.

This research was published in “SLEEP” magazine.

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