Assessment of the alpha 7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor as an imaging marker of cardiac repair-associated processes using NS14490.

Background: Cardiac repair and remodeling following myocardial infarction (MI) is a multifactorial process involving pro-reparative inflammation, angiogenesis and fibrosis. Noninvasive imaging using a radiotracer targeting these processes could be used to elucidate cardiac wound healing mechanisms. The alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (ɑ7nAChR) stimulates pro-reparative macrophage activity and angiogenesis, making it a potential imaging biomarker in this context.

Epigenome-wide analyses identify DNA methylation signatures of dementia risk.

Introduction: Dementia pathogenesis begins years before clinical symptom onset, necessitating the understanding of premorbid risk mechanisms. Here we investigated potential pathogenic mechanisms by assessing DNA methylation associations with dementia risk factors in Alzheimer's disease (AD)-free participants.

Methods: Associations between dementia risk measures (family history, AD genetic risk score [GRS], and dementia risk scores [combining lifestyle, demographic, and genetic factors]) and whole-blood DNA methylation were assessed in discovery and replication samples (n = ~400 to ~5000) from Generation Scotland.

A relative age effect in men's but not women's professional baseball: 1943-1954.

Birthdates of professional female and male baseball players active from 1943 to 1954 (the beginning and final years for professional female leagues) were matched for year of birth and league years and then compared by birth quarters, with a cutoff date beginning August 1. A relative age effect was noted for males, as there was a significantly different distribution of players across birth quarter, but there was no such effect for female professionals. Since players were matched for birth year and league play, the difference was unlikely to be due to seasonality differences in birth.

Sopranos but not tenors live longer.

The longer life spans of females compared to males has been attributed to the effects of sex hormones. Since experimental tests of this possibility in humans are unethical, indirect studies have been relied on for evidence. The present study offers such indirect evidence by comparing life spans of female and male opera singers, since sex hormones are known to influence development of voice.