The Science Circuit

Image credit:   https://openai.com/index/dall-e/     Fatty liver disease, or metabolicdysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) , is becoming a widespread health problem, affecting up to 25% of people worldwide. A more severe form, called metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), can lead to serious liver damage like cirrhosis. But there's some good news: scientists are exploring new ways to tackle these conditions, and one recent study has revealed a promising approach. What's the big idea? The study, published in the Journal of Hepatology , looks at a special enzyme called ACMSD, which is mainly found in the liver and kidneys. Enzymes are like tiny workers in our bodies that speed up chemical reactions. ACMSD plays a role in how our bodies produce a vital substance called NAD+. NAD+ is like a rechargeable battery for our cells. It's involved in many important processes, including energy production and repairing damaged DNA. Previous re...

                                                                  Image credit:   https://openai.com/index/dall-e/   Imagine looking at a simple picture of a tissue sample and being able to tell which genes are active inside it. That's the promise of a new area of research called spatial gene expression prediction , and it could revolutionize how we understand and treat diseases like cancer. What is Spatial gene expression?  Think of your body as a complex city, with each cell acting as a building. Genes are like the blueprints that tell each building (cell) what to do. Spatial transcriptomics (SRT) is a way of mapping out which genes are switched on in different parts of the tissue. This is super useful because it shows us how cells organize themselves and interact, which is key to understanding how diseases...

  Image credit:   https://openai.com/index/dall-e/   Chronic liver disease (CLD) is a major health problem worldwide, affecting around 1.5 billion people. It's often caused by things like viral hepatitis, excessive alcohol consumption and metabolic issues linked to fatty liver disease. When the liver is chronically damaged and inflamed, it can lead to fibrosis, a condition where excessive scar tissue builds up in the liver. This fibrosis can progress to cirrhosis, a severe form of liver damage, which increases the risk of liver cancer. Sadly, liver fibrosis is often diagnosed late, when the damage is quite advanced, due to a lack of clear symptoms and effective ways to identify those at high risk. This new study looks into the complex molecular processes involved in liver fibrosis and tries to find ways to diagnose it earlier using non-invasive methods. What the researchers did: The study used a technique called proteo-transcriptomics, which looks at both the proteins a...