COVID ‘mind fog’ linked to mind irritation

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Surgeons in protective clothing work on a patient.

Surgeons at Xijing Hospital in Xi’an, China, carried out the primary transplantation of a non-human liver right into a human physique.Credit score: Xijing Hospital, Air Power Medical College in Xi’an China

Surgeons in China say they’ve transplanted a pig liver into an individual’s physique for the primary time. With consent from the person’s household, the clinically lifeless affected person acquired a liver from a pig that was genetically modified to forestall the recipient from rejecting the pig organ. The surgeons say the pig liver secreted greater than 30 millilitres of bile day by day, and the color and texture of the liver remained regular after 10 days. In January, a US workforce performed an identical experiment with a pig’s liver positioned outdoors an individual’s physique, and there have been additional experiments with genetically modified pig kidneys and hearts.

Nature | 5 min learn

Learn extra: Consultants weigh in on the problems surrounding the xenotransplantation of pig organs in Nature Medication (11 min learn, from 2022)

Stellar detectives have recognized seven stars that just lately wolfed up a rocky planet. The planets appear to have been eaten throughout their stars’ comparatively secure main-sequence interval. If that is true, it means these methods have continued to be chaotic lengthy after their formation, with planets disintegrating or falling into their star, says astronomer Johanna Teske. “It’s an inference at this level. We have to have a look at these methods in additional element.”

Nature | 3 min learn

Reference: Nature paper

2,500

The variety of researchers who’ve left Russia because it invaded Ukraine in February 2022, in accordance with an estimate based mostly on researchers’ ORCID identifiers. (Nature | 5 min learn)

A slew of research have recognized how irritation within the brains of individuals with COVID-19 may clarify neurological signs resembling lack of odor, complications and reminiscence issues. Rising proof means that the immune response triggered by the virus leads not directly to mind irritation. One research discovered that folks with lengthy COVID and ‘mind fog’ had a leakier blood-brain barrier, which could let in molecules that trigger irritation.

Nature | 5 min learn

Reference: Nature Neuroscience paper

Indian biotechnology firm ImmunoACT is producing a less expensive model of a most cancers remedy often known as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell remedy. A single remedy of NexCAR19 prices between US$30,000 and $40,000 — a tenth of the worth of comparable merchandise now out there. The protection profile additionally seems to be higher than some US-approved CAR-T merchandise. NexCAR19 is now getting used to deal with blood cancers in hospitals throughout India. “These are folks for whom all different remedies have failed,” says immunologist Alka Dwivedi.

Nature | 6 min learn

For 15 years, geoscientists have been concerned in an advanced technical course of to find out whether or not human impacts on Earth quantity to a brand new geological epoch: the Anthropocene. This week, following a controversial vote and problem, the ultimate verdict has arrived from the Worldwide Union of Geological Sciences: we aren’t in a brand new epoch. The present lack of settlement on a begin date mustn’t detract from the Anthropocene as an idea, says a Nature editorial. The fact is that people are leaving a discernible fingerprint on Earth methods.

Nature | 5 min learn & Nature editorial | 5 min learn

Options & opinion

AI picture mills can amplify biased stereotypes of their output. There have been makes an attempt to quash the issue by handbook fine-tuning (which might have unintended penalties, for instance producing various however traditionally inaccurate photographs) and by growing the quantity of coaching information. “Folks usually declare that scale cancels out noise,” says cognitive scientist Abeba Birhane. “Actually, the great and the unhealthy don’t stability out.” Crucial step to understanding how these biases come up and methods to keep away from them is transparency, researchers say. “If lots of the information units aren’t open supply, we don’t even know what issues exist,” says Birhane.

Nature | 12 min learn

Invasive ant species such because the Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) have conquered the land so completely that “it may well appear as if the unfold of world commerce was an Argentine ant plot for world domination”, writes science journalist John Whitfield. He explores what makes these bugs so profitable, their results on ecosystems and the temptation to match their unfold with humanity’s personal energy struggles. Ants “converse to life’s skill to flee our grasp, no matter how we would attempt to order and exploit the world”, writes Whitfield. “There’s one thing hopeful about that, for the planet, if not for us.”

Aeon | 15 min learn

Quote of the day

The psychoactive drug ketamine is more and more getting used to deal with melancholy and different temper issues, together with by high-profile customers resembling entrepreneur Elon Musk or actor Matthew Perry. Greater than 40 medical trials assist its effectiveness in treating extreme melancholy. However neuropsychopharmacologist David Nutt warns that these taking it want cautious supervision. (Nature | 5 min learn)

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