Lifeboat Foundation

Researchers at Princeton University have revealed the inner workings of a gene repression mechanism in fruit fly embryos, adding insight to the study of human diseases.

Led by graduate student Shannon Keenan, the team used light to activate chemical signals in developing fruit flies and traced the effects on a protein called Capicua, or Cic. Located in a cell’s nucleus, Cic binds to DNA and performs the specialized task of silencing genes. The study, published in Developmental Cell and made available online March 5, reveals the dynamics of gene repression by this protein.

In a complex piece of music, the silences running through the melody contribute as much to the score’s effect as the sounded notes. The biological processes that control development rely on highly sophisticated temporal patterns of gene activation and repression to create life’s beautiful symphonies. When a pattern is disrupted, it’s like a wrong note in the music. In this case, Cic is a repressor protein that silences certain parts of the genome, allowing other genes to express in harmony with one another. Understanding how repressors like Cic work allows researchers to better conduct the orchestra.

Music therapy can help improve brain and motor function in stroke patients, scientists say.

A new study has found taking part in music sessions can boost mood and improve concentration in patients recovering from stroke. Those participating in the two-year sessions alongside existing stroke rehabilitation treatment also reported physical benefits such as better arm function and gait.

Based on their trials, the researchers are preparing a proposal for an NHS-funded permanent music therapy sessions post on the stroke ward at the Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge, where the study was conducted.

Bottomline: DON’T PANIC!

This is a Cary prodocution!

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Today’s defense electronics systems rely on radio frequency (RF) mixed-mode electronics – those that integrate RF, analog, and digital circuits onto a single chip – to interface RF signals with digital processors. This technology supports critical communications, radar, and electronic warfare (EW) capabilities, as well as being widely used to support commercial telecommunications. The Department of Defense (DoD) has capability demands that far exceed the requirements of the commercial world in terms of speed, fidelity, capacity, and precision. Current commercial RF mixed-mode systems on a chip (SoCs) are implemented on digital complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) platforms, a technology that has been used for decades to construct integrated circuits, highly integrated transceivers, microprocessors, and beyond. Despite continued advancement and scaling along the trajectory of Moore’s Law for high integration density, these CMOS platforms are unable to support operations at higher frequencies with larger signal bandwidths and higher resolutions, essentially limiting their use in next-generation mixed-mode interfaces needed for emerging defense RF applications.

To advance RF mixed-mode interfaces beyond current limitations, DARPA established the Technologies for Mixed-mode Ultra Scaled Integrated Circuits (T-MUSIC) program. T-MUSIC was first announced in January 2019 as a part of the second phase of DARPA’s Electronics Resurgence Initiative (ERI). One area of research under ERI Phase II focuses on the integration of photonics and RF components directly into advanced circuits and semiconductor manufacturing processes, enabling unique and differentiated domestic manufacturing capabilities. As such, T-MUSIC will explore the integration of mixed-mode electronics into advanced onshore semiconductor manufacturing processes. The goal is to develop highly integrated RF electronics with an unprecedented combination of wide spectral coverage, high resolution, large dynamic range, and high information processing bandwidth.

“Corona is the foe. You and I are bros. No discrimination, I’m not virus.”

African students in Shandong, China create a music video to express their best wishes for China amid the #coronavirus outbreak. #StayStrongChina

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=TIXxRXNEDJo

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

Doctors wanted to ensure they didn’t compromise parts of the brain necessary for playing the violin, so they asked their musician patient to play for them mid-operation.

Hart’s demonstrations are entertainment for sure. But his message runs deeper: rhythm and vibration heal the brain. Dementia, he says, is the “loss of rhythm.” And he, along with notables who collaborated on the event — University of California at San Francisco neuroscientist Adam Gazzaley and opera singer Renée Fleming (who lent her soprano to the event’s musical track) — are all at work searching for pathways that can bypass obstacles to function and cognition. Hart has also worked with Dr. Connie Tomaino, who runs the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function, on music as a therapeutic tool for brain function.

Gazzaley is currently conducting clinical trials with healthy older adults to show how a regular regimen of digital rhythm can enhance attention and memory in people with cognitive impairment. Hart has been working with Gazzaley on what will be a downloadable app, their goal to develop a game that challenges one’s rhythmic ability, with the hope of building new neuropathways in the brain. “What we’re talking about here is a deeper and longer immersive experience which can actually harness the brain’s plasticity to change the way it functions,” says Gazzaley.

Taking up an instrument as a child, and playing through adulthood is one proven way to protect one’s brain. But learning later in life is helpful, too. Hart shares the story of his unlikely best friend, Walter Cronkite, who was 73 when he became a Deadhead, and also started playing the drums. In July of 2009, as Cronkite lay dying from complications of cerebrovascular disease, Hart handed him a hand drum. “He could no longer speak, but he could play,” Hart says, tears in his eyes. “He used to ask, ‘When we do we know we have found our groove?’ Well, he found it.”

The conductor on the podium has no baton, no tailcoat, and no musical score, but Android Alter 3 is kicking up a storm as it guides a symphony orchestra’s players through their paces. Robot playing orchestra.