Scientists say they’ve created the first 3D-printed brain tissue where neurons network and “talk” to each other. The breakthrough could be an advance for studying neurological processes in the lab, say a team from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “This could be a hugely powerful model to help us understand how brain cells and parts of the brain communicate in humans,” said study lead author Su-Chun Zhang, a professor of neuroscience and neurology at UW–Madison’s Waisman Center. “It could change the way we look at stem cell biology, neuroscience and the pathogenesis of many neurological and psychiatric disorders,” he added in a university news release. Zhang’s team noted that researchers already have an organic model for brain research, called brain organoids. But organoids grow with much less cellular organization and inter-connective ability than the new 3D-printed tissue. With his lab’s new process, “we printed the cerebral cortex and the striatum, and what we found was quite striking,” Zhang said. “Even when we printed different cells belonging to different parts of the brain, they were still able to talk to each other in a very special and specific way.” Reporting Feb. 1 in the journal Cell Stem Cell, the Madison team said their 3-D printing technology has improved on prior attempts to create 3D-printed brain tissue. The Madison lab’s tissues include neurons created from stem cells, and…  read on >  read on >

Age-related macular degeneration can lead to vision loss in seniors, but new therapies have offered fresh hope for preserving eyesight later in life, eye experts say. These cutting-edge therapies benefit both the dry and wet types of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), says the American Society of Retina Specialists (ASRS). Eleven million people in the United States have AMD, with dry AMD affecting about 85% and wet AMD striking 15%. “Patients often tell me they are sure they will lose their vision because they have a family member who experienced vision loss from AMD, but with early diagnosis and treatment, we now have much more than hope to offer patients with wet or dry AMD,” ASRS Foundation President Dr. Judy Kim said in a news release. The macula is a round area at the center of the retina, which is the layer of light-sensitive cells at the back of the eyeball that capture images. People with AMD slowly begin to lose their central vision, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology. They can’t see fine details either up close or far away, but their peripheral vision remains normal. The AAO gives the example of looking at a clock with hands. People with AMD might see the clock’s numbers, but not the hands. Most patients have early or intermediate dry AMD, which can remain stable for a…  read on >  read on >

Unprovoked shark attacks increased slightly worldwide last year, but twice as many people died from shark bites as the year before, new data show. There were 69 unprovoked shark attacks in 2023, higher than the five-year average of 63 attacks per year, according to the University of Florida’s International Shark Attack File. Ten of the attacks in 2023 proved fatal, up from five the year before, researchers said. “This is within the range of the normal number of  bites, though the fatalities are a bit unnerving this year,” said Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Museum of Natural History’s shark research program. Australia suffered a disproportionate number of shark bite deaths, the researchers noted. The continent accounted for 22% of all attacks but made up 40% of fatalities. Other shark attack deaths occurred in the United States, the Bahamas, Egypt, Mexico and New Caledonia, researchers said. The United States had 36 unprovoked shark attacks, accounting for 52% of incidents worldwide. Of those, two attacks were fatal, one in California and another in Hawaii. As has been the case in previous years, Florida had more shark bites than any other state, with 16 attacks. Confirmed non-fatal bites also happened in Costa Rica, Colombia, Brazil, New Zealand, Seychelles, Turks and Caicos, Ecuador and South Africa. This annual report focuses primarily on unprovoked attacks, although the database documents all…  read on >  read on >

It’s known by the street name “gas station heroin,” but a new government report finds the highly addictive supplement Neptune’s Fix may also contain synthetic pot. The product has already been linked to seizures, brain swelling and hallucinations, researchers reported Thursday in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a publication of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC report centered on a 2023 investigation of 17 adults in New Jersey who had severe reactions after consuming Neptune’s Fix or similar products containing tianeptine. Thirteen were hospitalized in intensive care as a result. Tianeptine, an antidepressant that can act like an opioid, is sold as a dietary supplement at gas stations and convenience stores across the United States. It’s often marketed for pain relief, depression or anxiety. While not approved for use in the United States, it is approved for use in some European, Asian and Latin American countries.  In the CDC study, doctors in New Jersey tested six samples of Neptune’s Fix consumed by two of the patients. They discovered the presence of more than tianeptine: kavain, a substance used for anxiety, and two different types of synthetic pot were also detected in the test samples.  “It was a surprise to find those compounds in there at all,” senior study author Dr. Diane Calello, medical director of the New Jersey Poison Control Center, told NBC…  read on >  read on >

It might take a combination of treatments to rein in problem acne in teens and adults, updated guidelines from the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) suggest. The guidelines on the all-too-common condition (acne affects 85% of teens and many adults) haven’t undergone a revision since 2016. The 2024 updates include “discussion of new topical medications, which are directly applied to the skin, and systemic treatments, which are taken by mouth,” explained Dr. John Barbieri, co-chair of the AAD’s Acne Guideline Workgroup. The new updates are all evidence-based, with 18 recommendations in all. Four items fell under the guidelines’ “strong recommendation” header: The use of benzoyl peroxide creams to curb the amount of acne-linked bacteria on the skin The use of retinoid creams such as adapalene, tretinoin, tazarotene and trifarotene, to help clear pores and lower inflammation Oral antibiotics such as doxycycline, as well as antbiotic creams, to also help lower bacteria levels and inflammation Combination use, as needed, of all of the above The AAD also had five “good practice” recommendations for dermatologists when treating acne: The guidelines advise “combining multiple different treatment types, as this can lead to better results.” Use antibiotics sparingly, because overuse can trigger resistant strains of bacteria Using benzoyl peroxide alongside an antibiotic can lessen the risk for resistance Patients plagued by larger acne bumps may need injected corticosteroid therapy…  read on >  read on >

Advanced brain recording techniques have revealed how neurons in the human brain work together to produce speech. The recordings provide a detailed map of how people think about what words they want to say and then speak them aloud, researchers report in the Jan. 31 issue of the journal Nature. Specifically, the map shows how speech sounds like consonants and vowels are represented in the brain well before they are spoken, and how the brain strings them together during language production. “Although speaking usually seems easy, our brains perform many complex cognitive steps in the production of natural speech — including coming up with the words we want to say, planning the articulatory movements and producing our intended vocalizations,” said senior study author Dr. Ziv Williams, an associate professor in neurosurgery at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. “Our brains perform these feats surprisingly fast — about three words per second in natural speech — with remarkably few errors,” Williams added in a hospital news release. “Yet, how we precisely achieve this feat has remained a mystery.” The findings could form the basis of sophisticated brain-machine interfaces capable of producing synthetic speech, the researchers said. They also could provide insight into a wide array of disorders that hamper or prevent speech. “Disruptions in the speech and language networks are observed in a wide variety of neurological…  read on >  read on >