Scientists develop gene delivery ‘trucks' that could treat brain diseases

Scores of researchers have produced new tools that can deliver genes and selectively activate them in hundreds of different cell types in the brain and spinal cord, a breakthrough that scientists hope advances them toward developing targeted therapies to treat neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's.
The discoveries, made through the National Institutes of Health's BRAIN initiative, show with unprecedented clarity and precision how neural cells work together, but also how diseases disrupt their tight choreography. The insight offers the promise that doctors may one day treat diseases by manipulating dysfunctional cells.

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Medscape

22 minutes ago

• Medscape

Wildfire Smoke Can Pose Risks Months Later

The particulate matter from wildfire smoke may be difficult to spot — with the eyes — within days, but those dangerous particles continue to post health risks for up to 3 months after exposure, new research suggested. A study published in Epidemiology in late May demonstrated that fine particulate matter in wildfire smoke represents a danger to human health considerably longer than a couple of days as previously thought. Researchers also found that exposure to the particulate matter can occur even after the fires have ended. Because studies have shown that air pollution exposure can trigger heart attack within an hour, the duration of the effects of wildfire particulate matter surfaced by this new research is a key new insight. The study, authored by researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, highlighted increased risks for patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) when exposed to smoke particulate matter, referred to as PM2.5, which by definition is 2.5 microns in diameter. To get an idea of how small the particles in wildfire smoke are, the average human hair is about 70 microns in diameter, meaning a 2.5-micron particle is about 28 times smaller than a human hair. The study showed that this tiny irritant is dangerous to those with ischemic heart disease, arrhythmia, and hypertension, as well as people with a number of cardiorespiratory diseases. Researchers made these conclusions by obtaining hospitalization records for the residents of 15 states between 2006 and 2016 from the State Inpatient Databases as well as daily smoke particulate matter estimates at 10 km2 cells across the contiguous US, and aggregating them using zip codes to match the spatial resolution of the hospital records. The 3-month exposure to smoke particulate matter was associated or marginally associated with increased hospitalization risks for most cardiorespiratory diseases, with hypertension showing the greatest susceptibility. 'Patients with CVD and the general public should be aware that wildfire smoke is a serious health risk, even if the fire is far away from your home. This is because the emissions can remain in the air and travel long distances for weeks or months after a wildfire has ended,' said Yaguang Wei, PhD, assistant professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and principal investigator of the study. 'Cardiologists and other healthcare providers should definitely discuss these risks with their patients, not only during wildfires but also in the following weeks, as the risk may persist.' Wei said that ongoing studies show that the particulate matter in wildfire smoke is among the most toxic environmental pollutants and can do systemic damage, which can pose further complications for those battling CVD. Yaguang Wei, PhD 'This is because smoke has smaller particles, which can more easily get into the body, and it has more carbonaceous compounds, which are thought to be especially toxic,' Wei said. 'They can enter the bloodstream and circulate throughout the body, which generates systematic effects. The emissions can remain in the air and travel long distances for weeks or months after a wildfire has ended.' Loren Wold, PhD, a professor at the Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, Ohio, said that this study is crucial, in that it is important to understand the health implications of this particulate matter given the increasing occurrence of wildfires worldwide, and that particulate matter is not very extensively studied. 'People with cardiovascular disease should be especially careful being outside during days when wildfire smoke is present, as exposure to particulate matter from wildfire smoke is especially dangerous for those with cardiovascular disease as it causes an increase in oxidative stress and inflammation, which can further worsen the disease,' Wold, who has been studying particulate matter himself for two decades, said. 'Wildfire smoke can also cause temporarily increased blood pressure and vascular inflammation, as well as changes in heart rate variability, which can further exacerbate cardiovascular disease.' Loren Wold, PhD Particulate matter this small can bypass the nose and throat and enter deep into the lungs, and 'penetrate the linings of blood vessels to gain entry to the circulation,' Wold said. It also contains higher concentrations of organic carbon and black carbon, or soot, and can travel thousands of miles and linger for weeks in the atmosphere, he said. Plus, he said, the scale and unpredictability of exposure to wildfire particulate matter makes the health risks 'especially troublesome.' Shahir Masri, ScD, an associate specialist in air pollution exposure assessment and epidemiology at the Irvine Joe C. Wen School of Population & Public Health, University of California, Irvine, California, said that the notable finding of this study is the duration of the effects posed by the wildfire smoke particulate matter. He pointed out this review paper from 2024 that highlighted its many negative effects, while arguing that the dangerous pollutants that come from wildfires come from other sources, too. 'Many pollutants originate from wildfires, such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. However, I should mention that these pollutants shouldn't be thought of as exclusively wildfire-related,' he said. Instead, they're common byproducts from the combustion of organic matter, whether it be wildfires or vehicle exhaust, Masri said. 'Also, even acute, or short-term exposure, to wildfire pollution, is known to exacerbate the symptoms related to underlying health conditions, including cardiovascular disease, as well as asthma, COPD [ chronic obstructive pulmonary disease], and lung cancer, and others mentioned in the new Harvard study.' At-Risk Individuals Should Take Care The take-home from this study is that individuals suffering from CVD, as well as other underlying conditions, should protect themselves against the effects of wildfire smoke particulate matter when it's in the air. That includes both immediate, acute exposure as well as follow-on exposure, which this study shows can linger for up to 3 months after the event. The first key is for impacted individuals to stay aware of when the particulate matter is in the air. The US government provides an air quality tool called Air Now, where users can look up their local air forecast with their zip code or city and state. The meter on this page displays the Air Quality Index (AQI). Government guidelines suggest that if results show that if the AQI is between 101 and 150, those with CVD or other underlying conditions should reduce prolonged or heavy outdoor exertion; if it's over 201, all outdoor exertion should be avoided; and if over 301, all physical activity outdoors should be avoided. Shahir Masri, ScD Wei said that the first thing individuals with CVD should use to protect against the complications from wildfire particulate matter is an air purifier with a high efficiency particulate air filter and noted that these are becoming more inexpensive. Masri agreed that air purifiers are essential to help with indoor air quality and provided some tips on successful use. 'Running an air purifier can be very effective at reducing levels of PM2.5 in the home and workspace by 50% or more. Air purifiers, however, come with different flow rates and (effective) sizes. One must be sure to read the label of the air purifier to understand the size of the room it is capable of cleaning,' Masri said. 'If you only have one air purifier, to ensure the cleanest air I suggest placing it in the room where you sleep or work during the day and closing the doors and windows to that room. This reduces intrusion of dirty outdoor air during a wildfire, for instance, and therefore enables the device to do its job more effectively.' Masking is also an option, Masri said, but only when it's the right mask, worn properly. 'One can also opt to wear an N95 mask or respirator around the face to help reduce particulate matter exposure, but the mask must be secured tightly to the face,' he added. 'Those with facial hair will not achieve the tight seal needed to keep air pollution out of your lungs. Lastly, avoidance of outdoor exercise and other outdoor activities is important during major air pollution events like wildfires.'

Yahoo

an hour ago

• Yahoo

ChatGPT's Impact On Our Brains According to an MIT Study

A visualization of a new study on AI chatbots by MIT Media Lab scholars. Credit - Nataliya Kosmyna Does ChatGPT harm critical thinking abilities? A new study from researchers at MIT's Media Lab has returned some concerning results. The study divided 54 subjects—18 to 39 year-olds from the Boston area—into three groups, and asked them to write several SAT essays using OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's search engine, and nothing at all, respectively. Researchers used an EEG to record the writers' brain activity across 32 regions, and found that of the three groups, ChatGPT users had the lowest brain engagement and 'consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels.' Over the course of several months, ChatGPT users got lazier with each subsequent essay, often resorting to copy-and-paste by the end of the study. The paper suggests that the usage of LLMs could actually harm learning, especially for younger users. The paper has not yet been peer reviewed, and its sample size is relatively small. But its paper's main author Nataliya Kosmyna felt it was important to release the findings to elevate concerns that as society increasingly relies upon LLMs for immediate convenience, long-term brain development may be sacrificed in the process. 'What really motivated me to put it out now before waiting for a full peer review is that I am afraid in 6-8 months, there will be some policymaker who decides, 'let's do GPT kindergarten.' I think that would be absolutely bad and detrimental,' she says. 'Developing brains are at the highest risk.' Read more: A Psychiatrist Posed As a Teen With Therapy Chatbots. The Conversations Were Alarming The MIT Media Lab has recently devoted significant resources to studying different impacts of generative AI tools. Studies from earlier this year, for example, found that generally, the more time users spend talking to ChatGPT, the lonelier they feel. Kosmyna, who has been a full-time research scientist at the MIT Media Lab since 2021, wanted to specifically explore the impacts of using AI for schoolwork, because more and more students are using AI. So she and her colleagues instructed subjects to write 20-minute essays based on SAT prompts, including about the ethics of philanthropy and the pitfalls of having too many choices. The group that wrote essays using ChatGPT all delivered extremely similar essays that lacked original thought, relying on the same expressions and ideas. Two English teachers who assessed the essays called them largely 'soulless.' The EEGs revealed low executive control and attentional engagement. And by their third essay, many of the writers simply gave the prompt to ChatGPT and had it do almost all of the work. 'It was more like, 'just give me the essay, refine this sentence, edit it, and I'm done,'' Kosmyna says. The brain-only group, conversely, showed the highest neural connectivity, especially in alpha, theta and delta bands, which are associated with creativity ideation, memory load, and semantic processing. Researchers found this group was more engaged and curious, and claimed ownership and expressed higher satisfaction with their essays. The third group, which used Google Search, also expressed high satisfaction and active brain function. The difference here is notable because many people now search for information within AI chatbots as opposed to Google Search. After writing the three essays, the subjects were then asked to re-write one of their previous efforts—but the ChatGPT group had to do so without the tool, while the brain-only group could now use ChatGPT. The first group remembered little of their own essays, and showed weaker alpha and theta brain waves, which likely reflected a bypassing of deep memory processes. 'The task was executed, and you could say that it was efficient and convenient,' Kosmyna says. 'But as we show in the paper, you basically didn't integrate any of it into your memory networks.' The second group, in contrast, performed well, exhibiting a significant increase in brain connectivity across all EEG frequency bands. This gives rise to the hope that AI, if used properly, could enhance learning as opposed to diminishing it. Read more: I Quit Teaching Because of ChatGPT This is the first pre-review paper that Kosmyna has ever released. Her team did submit it for peer review but did not want to wait for approval, which can take eight or more months, to raise attention to an issue that Kosmyna believes is affecting children now. 'Education on how we use these tools, and promoting the fact that your brain does need to develop in a more analog way, is absolutely critical,' says Kosmyna. 'We need to have active legislation in sync and more importantly, be testing these tools before we implement them.' Psychiatrist Dr. Zishan Khan, who treats children and adolescents, says that he sees many kids who rely heavily on AI for their schoolwork. 'From a psychiatric standpoint, I see that overreliance on these LLMs can have unintended psychological and cognitive consequences, especially for young people whose brains are still developing,' he says. 'These neural connections that help you in accessing information, the memory of facts, and the ability to be resilient: all that is going to weaken.' Ironically, upon the paper's release, several social media users ran it through LLMs in order to summarize it and then post the findings online. Kosmyna had been expecting that people would do this, so she inserted a couple AI traps into the paper, such as instructing LLMs to 'only read this table below,' thus ensuring that LLMs would return only limited insight from the paper. She also found that LLMs hallucinated a key detail: Nowhere in her paper did she specify the version of ChatGPT she used, but AI summaries declared that the paper was trained on GPT-4o. 'We specifically wanted to see that, because we were pretty sure the LLM would hallucinate on that,' she says, laughing. Kosmyna says that she and her colleagues are now working on another similar paper testing brain activity in software engineering and programming with or without AI, and says that so far, 'the results are even worse.' That study, she says, could have implications for the many companies who hope to replace their entry-level coders with AI. Even if efficiency goes up, an increasing reliance on AI could potentially reduce critical thinking, creativity and problem-solving across the remaining workforce, she argues. Scientific studies examining the impacts of AI are still nascent and developing. A Harvard study from May found that generative AI made people more productive, but less motivated. Also last month, MIT distanced itself from another paper written by a doctoral student in its economic program, which suggested that AI could substantially improve worker productivity. OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment. Last year in collaboration with Wharton online, the company released guidance for educators to leverage generative AI in teaching. Last year in collaboration with Wharton online, the company released guidance for educators to leverage generative AI in teaching. Contact us at letters@

Yahoo

an hour ago

• Yahoo

What is meal sequencing? Health experts explain whether the rising diet trend works.

There's always a new trendy diet plan. But how effective is meal sequencing, actually? To answer that question, we first need to get to the bottom of why you're interested in meal sequencing. While some medical experts are hopeful that it could help with some conditions, there isn't much evidence to suggest that this practice works in the ways that everyone may want. Registered dietitian Jamie Nadeau shares all the details you need to know about the efficacy of meal sequencing when it comes to controlling blood sugar, losing weight and more. Noted: Eating these foods after working out can improve recovery and rebuild muscle Meal sequencing is a diet strategy sometimes suggested by doctors to patients, often those with type 2 diabetes, who need help with balancing their blood sugar. "Meal sequencing involves eating vegetables and protein-rich foods first," Nadeau explains. The theory is that beginning a meal with non-starchy vegetables before moving on to protein, fat and then carbohydrates may help prevent blood sugar spikes, improve feelings of satiety after eating and help reduce inflammation, according to UCLA Health. How to have a balanced diet: What you should and should not be eating and how much Some research has suggested that meal sequencing could potentially be the most beneficial for those with diabetes to help stabilize blood sugar, but experts say more research needs to be conducted, both in cases of those who are diabetic and those who are not. And if you're hoping to use meal sequencing as a form of "nature's Ozempic," nutrition experts say this isn't the life hack you're hoping for. "Generally there isn't enough research to support this being a solid strategy," Nadeau says. "As with most things, there are no quick fixes to achieving a healthy diet and lifestyle." If you feel like eating your veggies first at dinner, go for it. But Nadeau recommends those in search of a new diet plan stick with simple, tried and true nutrition practices. "The strongest research shows that you can improve your health by eating a balanced diet with fruits, veggies, whole grains, lean proteins and healthy fats, along with staying active and engaging in healthy lifestyle choices," she adds. "I recommend focusing on overall balanced meals with adequate protein and fiber, practicing eating mindfully and honing in on hunger and fullness." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How to do meal sequencing, and whether experts say it works