Category: Technologies

Empa researchers visualized the process of amyloid β protein accumulation in the brain associated with Alzheimer's disease. The observation lasted 250 hours and showed how second-generation fibrils are formed.

Empa researchers have recently been able to visualize the “abnormal” accumulation of amyloid β proteins in the brain, a process associated with Alzheimer's disease. Scientists hope that the result will open up new methods of diagnosing the disease.

Writes UNN with reference to Science Daily.

Alzheimer's disease affects more than 55 million people worldwide. Treatment of such disorders is still one of the biggest challenges facing modern medicine. The accumulation of amyloid plaques in the brain plays a significant role in the development of the disease.

Misfolded proteins stick together to form fiber-like structures. However, it was not yet entirely clear how these fibrils are formed.

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Recently, a team led by Empa researcher Peter Nirmalraj from the Empa Transport at Nanoscale Interfaces lab and scientists from the University of Limerick in Ireland were able to show how this process works using a particularly powerful visualization technique.

ExplanationExplanation

The focus is on the processes observed on the surface of amyloid fibrils, i.e. structures in the brain formed by oligomers – soluble proteins that are highly toxic to neurons and assemble into dense fibers. Scientists have identified a special subtype of superproliferator proteins among them.

For reference

Aβ42 is considered to be one of the main factors that trigger Alzheimer's disease.

Incorrectly folded proteins lead to the formation of new oligomers on the surface of existing fibrils during secondary nucleation (when mature fibrils catalyze the formation of new oligomers).

Aβ is formed from a larger transmembrane precursor protein (beta-amyloid precursor, PBA) with a molecular weight of 100-140 kDa, which performs trophic and protective functions.

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According to the “amyloid hypothesis,” beta-amyloid forms neurotoxic soluble oligomers for reasons that are not fully understood. According to numerous studies, beta-amyloid aggregates, including oligomers, have a detrimental effect on nerve cells, disrupting their normal functioning. This creates conditions for the development of Alzheimer's disease.

What the new observation achieves

The mechanism of how the protein building blocks come together to form second-generation fibrils, as well as their shape and structure, were previously unclear.

Recent imaging brings us one step closer to a better understanding of how these proteins are distributed in Alzheimer's brain tissue.

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The researchers were able to observe the process of fibril formation in real time, from the first moments to the next 250 hours. This was made possible by a new technique: proteins are analyzed unchanged in saline, which is much closer to the natural conditions of the human body.

“This work brings us one step closer to better understanding how these proteins are distributed in Alzheimer's brain tissue,” says Nirmalraj, an Empa researcher. He hopes this will eventually lead to new ways of diagnosing the disease.

Scientists discover new sign of early stage of Alzheimer's diseaseOctober 28 2024, 03:27 PM • 15245 views

17 Ukrainian manufacturing teams presented their developments of drone swarms and guided munitions. The tests were conducted with the participation of military and government officials, who provided recommendations for improving the products.

Recently, Ukraine's military and government officials have conducted demonstration tests of new Ukrainian developments – swarms of drones and guided munitions. This was stated by Minister of Strategic Industries of Ukraine Herman Smetanin, reports UNN.

Details

Representatives of Brave1, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the General Staff, and the National Guard joined the tests.

17 teams of manufacturers. 7 of them presented their developments in drone swarm technology, and 10 in guided munitions. These solutions were at different stages of readiness and showed different approaches to solving problems

– Smetanin said.

According to him, thanks to these tests, representatives of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff saw what the Ukrainian manufacturer can do and gave their recommendations for improving the products.

For the first time, Ukrainian companies will be able to participate in tenders of the Drone Coalition – Ministry of DefenseSeptember 17 2024, 06:30 PM • 20158 views

Recall

The Command of the Unmanned Systems Forces has been included in the list of state customers for drones and electronic warfare equipment. This will allow for faster formation of the needs of the front and strengthening Ukraine's defense capabilities.

MIT researchers have found an interstellar cloud with a large amount of pyrene, a complex carbon molecule. Pyrene consists of four fused carbon rings and belongs to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States have discovered an interstellar cloud that contained a lot of pyrene, a type of molecule that contains carbon.

Writes UNN with reference to Space.

The molecule, called pyrene, consists of four fused flat rings of carbon. It is classified as a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), one of the most abundant complex molecules in the visible universe.

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A complex form of carbon was first spotted outside the solar system by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA.

The pyrene was identified in a star-forming region called the Taurus molecular cloud, 430 light-years from Earth – one of the closest clouds to our planet. The detection was made using the 100-meter Green Bank Telescope (GBT), a radio telescope at the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia, USA.

HelpHelp

Pyrene is a large molecule known as a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH). Researchers speculate that this substance could be the source of much of the carbon in our solar system, which is crucial for life on Earth.

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Comet C/2024 S1 (ATLAS), discovered in September in Hawaii, evaporated near the Sun on October 28. The SOHO spacecraft captured the last moments of the comet, which belongs to the Kreutz family.

A video of the "Halloween comet" ATLAS burning up as it flies toward the Sun has been released, UNN reports citing Space.com.

Details

On Monday, October 28, the comet evaporated as it headed toward perihelion, the point closest to the sun in its orbit. Earlier, there were hopes that the comet, officially designated C/2024 S1 (ATLAS), might become a so-called "Halloween treat" visible to the naked eye, but in the end, these were just dreams.

Now, thanks to the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), a spacecraft jointly operated by NASA and the European Space Agency, we know exactly how and when comet ATLAS died.

Comet C/2024 S1 (ATLAS) passed its closest point to Earth on October 23, reaching a magnitude of 8.7, too dim to be seen with the naked eye.

Addendum

Comet ATLAS was first discovered just last month, on September 27, by the Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) project in Hawaii. The comet belongs to a family of comets known as the Kreutz comets, which all follow a similar orbit that brings them very close to the Sun every 500-800 years, depending on the individual orbit of each comet.

The Kreutz comets are believed to be fragments of a single comet that broke apart at some point in the past. According to the European Space Agency, the earliest these comets were probably spotted was in 317 BC.

The Ministry of Social Policy warns about fraudulent resources that promise to pay UAH 1000 from the state. Real payments will be made through the official Diia app.

Links to fake accounts of the Ministry of Social Policy, which allegedly promise to pay UAH 1,000 from the state, are being spread on the Internet, in particular among Telegram channels, the ministry warned on Thursday, UNN reported.

The Ministry of Social Policy urges not to trust such messages and not to click on the relevant links.

These are fraudulent resources that require personal card data, as a result of which fraudsters can gain access to your funds

– noted in the Ministry of Social Policy.

The ministry said that all reliable information on the registration of financial support in the amount of UAH 1,000 will be posted on the government's official resources.

It was also reminded that the opportunity to receive UAH 1000 as part of the Winter eSupport program will be available through the official Diia app.

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Context

On October 25, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy instructed the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to introduce a new support programfor Ukrainians starting December 1, under which they will be able to receive one thousand hryvnias per family member.

First Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine Oleksiy Sobolev said that Ukrainians will receive UAH 1,000 per person, regardless of age or social status. These funds can be used during the winter months of December, January and February.

The money will be transferred to the National Cashback virtual card, which can be opened through the Diia app. Sobolev clarified that the funds will be "labeled," meaning that there is a limited list of areas where they can be spent

Google has published updated satellite images showing the location of Ukrainian military systems. The company is not responding to requests to remove the photos, said the head of the NSDC's Center for Information Security.

Google has published updated satellite images showing the location of Ukrainian military systems. The company did not respond to requests for removal over the weekend, Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, said on Sunday, UNN reports.

Imagine the situation. Google posts updated images on maps that show the location of our military systems (I won't specify). We contact them to fix it quickly, but it's their weekend. No time for that)

– Kovalenko wrote on Telegram.

According to him, the Russians are already actively disseminating these images.

Recall

Google, Meta and TikTok deleted social media accounts belonging to an industrial enterprise in Tatarstan, Russia. This particular enterprise was engaged in recruiting young foreign women for the production of drones.

A Russian court imposed a fine of two undecillion rubles on Google for restricting state channels on YouTube. The amount exceeds the world's GDP and is doubling every day due to non-payment.

A Russian court has fined Google two undecimals of rubles – a two with 36 zeros – for restricting Russian state media channels on YouTube, UNN reports, citing the BBC.

Details

Although it is one of the richest companies in the world, it is much more than the $2 trillion that Google is worth.

In fact, this is much more than the global GDP, which, according to the International Monetary Fund, is $110 trillion.

The fine has reached such a gigantic level because, according to state-owned Russian media, it doubles every day when it is not paid.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to RosSIA, admitted that he "can't even pronounce this number" but called on "Google's management to pay attention.

The company did not comment publicly and did not respond to the BBC's request for a statement.

Russian media report that the fine on Google is related to the restriction of content on 17 Russian media channels on YouTube.

Although it began in 2020, the situation escalated after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years later.

This has led to the withdrawal of most Western companies from Russia, and business there has also been severely restricted by sanctions.

Russian media outlets were also banned in Europe, prompting retaliation from Moscow.

Addendum

This event was the latest escalation in relations between Russia and the American tech giant.

In May 2021, Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor accused Google of restricting YouTube's access to Russian media resources, including RT and Sputnik, and supporting "illegal protest activities.

Then, in July 2022, Russia fined Google 21.1 billion rubles for failing to restrict access to so-called "banned" materials about the war in Ukraine and other content.

Nvidia-backed Tokyo-based Sakana AI plans to release its first commercial AI product in 2025. The startup develops AI technology for text, image, video, and code generation.

Tokyo-based Sakana AI, which develops its own artificial intelligence technology and is backed by US GPU developer Nvidia, will launch its first product within the next year but will focus on the domestic market.

Writes UNN with reference to Asia.Nikkei.

Founded in 2023, Sakana AI specializes in the development of an AI model capable of generating text, images, video, code, and multimedia, and is currently developing its own artificial intelligence technology. The company's CEO announced that the first commercial AI product is scheduled for 2025.

According to Asia.Nikkei, the CEO of one of Japan's most advanced startups confirmed this on the sidelines of the Global Management Dialogue:

Launching a commercial product platform next year is something we are committed to,” said Sakana CEO David Ha.

Recall

Google is developing a new AI project called Jarvis to revolutionize the interaction with web browsers. The project is expected to be presented in December along with the announcement of the new Gemini language model.

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Intel posted better-than-expected results with revenues of $13.28 billion in the third quarter. The company forecasts revenue growth in the fourth quarter to $13.3-14.3 billion.

Intel beats revenue expectations in earnings report – one of the largest PC chip makers predicts fourth-quarter revenue above previous estimates.

Writes UNN with reference to the WSJ and Yahoo! Finance.

Intel shares rose by about 9% in post-market trading after quarterly revenue, although down year-on-year, was slightly better than expected.

For the quarter, Intel posted a loss per share of $0.46 on revenue of $13.28 billion. Analysts had expected a loss per share of $0.03 on revenue of $13 billion.

Intel said it expects fourth-quarter revenue of $13.3 billion to $14.3 billion. Wall Street was expecting $13.6 billion. The company also said it has two new customers for the 18A processor.

For reference

The Intel Foundry business, which is responsible for manufacturing chips for Intel and third-party customers, generated revenue of $4.35 billion. Wall Street was expecting $4.4 billion. The division's revenue in the third quarter of 2023 amounted to $4.7 billion.

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Cybercriminals threatened bloggers with blocking their Instagram accounts and demanding money. The Ministry of Digital Transformation appealed to Meta, as a result of which the bloggers' accounts were restored and the attackers were blocked.

Dozens of bloggers have fallen victim to cyber scams. They received messages threatening to block their Instagram accounts in exchange for money. This was announced on Friday by the head of the Ministry of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov, reports UNN.

Details [1

The bloggers reportedly filed complaints about the fraud with the Ministry of Digital Transformation, and the ministry, in turn, with Meta to resolve the issue.

As a result, some of the bloggers' accounts have already been restored, and some will be restored soon. The accounts of the attackers were blocked

– , the Ministry of Digital Transformation said in a statement.

Currently, the agency continues to work with Meta to detect and disrupt cyber fraud.

Addendum [1

If you have become a victim of cybercrime, you should report to the team of the Ministry of Digital Transformation by e-mail: [email protected]

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