Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Superbug vaccine 'shows promise'

Researchers in the United States have developed a vaccine that may help protect angainst MRSA, or Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. The vaccine was tested on mice and protected against four different strands of MRSA. According to the team, the study could lead to a human vaccine. The disease is a major problem all over the world. It strikes in hospitals frequently because many patients immune systems are weak. It is difficult to fight because of its resistance to various antibiotics. The team used "reverse vaccinology" to make the vaccine. They sifted throught the bacterias genome for proteins that create a strong response in the immune system. They found four proteins that were good targets for vaccines. Dr Jodi Lindsay, a critic, said,"The researchers did not look at a good cross-section of strains of MRSA - there are several families of MRSA, each containing many different strains, and the team only looked at a few US-specific strains." Irregardless, there is a great need for a vaccine for MRSA. It has managed to develop protective measurements for new treatments with legendary speed and accuracy. I found this article very interesting because I worked in a hospital last summer. MRSA is indeed a real problem. Any patient with this infection is placed under extreme isolation precautions. Many patients do end up dying from this disease.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6098210.stm

Tanning to prevent Skin Cancer?

http://www.childrenshospital.org/newsroom/Site1339/mainpageS1339P1sublevel242.html

Researchers at the Children's Hospital of Boston have found an interesting new way to prevent skin cancer, by tanning the skin using creams that "switches on the tanning machinery" within skin cells as they put it, not by UV light which damages DNA leading to melanoma (skin cancer). This is expanding on what is already pretty common knowledge: people who tan easily or have dark skin rarely get sunburns, which is a precursor to skin cancer. Once I read this I became curious as to melanoma incidence rates by race, so I looked that up online and found this chart, which basically proves this point, darker people have less skin cancer incidence:

Race/Ethnicity Men Women
All Races 23.2 per 100,000 men 14.7 per 100,000 women
White 26.5 per 100,000 men 17.3 per 100,000 women
Black 1.1 per 100,000 men 0.9 per 100,000 women
Asian/Pacific Islander 1.6 per 100,000 men 1.2 per 100,000 women
American Indian/Alaska Native Not enough Data
Hispanic 4.4 per 100,000 men 4.4 per 100,000 women
from: http://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/melan.html?statfacts_page=melan.html&x=13&y=16

So what these researchers aim to do is to make people who naturally do not tan (they specifically go into red heads) able to tan without UV exposure in order to prevent damage from UV rays. Also, the article mentions that this sunless tanning will make people less inclined to participate in risky behaviors that induce skin cancer, such as tanning in a salon or sunbathing at the beach. It would be pretty cool if this cream that they used is released to the public commercially or by prescription for those with a high risk of developing skin cancer, but research is still going on.

Also I found this cool website that allows you to perform a virtual knee replacement. It's kind of creepy cutting someone's leg open even though it is not real at all and animated. It talks you through all the steps of surgery and there's also a virtual hip replacement as well:

http://www.edheads.org/activities/knee/index.htm

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

The saddest possible tragedies that new parents can go through is the sudden death of their child. This study on sudden infant death syndrome has found strong evidence that this is caused by abnormalities on the brain stem. One current link is to SIDS is babies that sleep on their stomachs. When autopsied, the SIDS babies had about double the number of nerve cells displaying serotonin defects. Hopefully this research will lead to a way to prevent this syndrome.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/10/31/sids.research.ap/index.html

Discovery of a gene gives hope to Chron's Patients

The recent discovery of a gene that plays a key role in advancing inflammatory processes has excited many researchers who feel that this might be the breakthrough in understanding and treating gastro intestinal diseases such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. The gene now named IL-23R has been implicated with many chronic illnesses associated with gastro intestinal system and provides hope for developing more specific formulation drugs and therapies to help patients suffering from inflammatory bowel disease; which is known to affect more than one million Americans. Right now the only options for treatment are steroids, anti biotics and anti inflammatory drugs ; all of which are not adequate.
Genetics really seems to hold the key towards treating the world' diseases. More discoveries like this would have massive impacts on treatments for all types of diseases! This discovery gives hope that better treatments of diseases are possible. Science is not finished yet; there is much more out there to discover. This is an exciting prospect!
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=55268&nfid=mnf

Change of Tastes

Whether a person enjoys a certain taste or not is not a matter of personal choice, it is actually a brain response. In fact, studies have been done, as explained in the article, that found that pleasure from a specific taste is simply a result of fast firing rate of neurons emitted from the ventral pallidum portion of the brain. The higher the firing rate, the more pleasure the person will feel in response. The frequency of the neuron emission changes depending on the homeostatic state of the body at the time, therefore changing a person’s tastes. If a body is extremely salt deprived, the ventral pallidum will have a very fast neuron firing-rate when the mouth tastes salt water and the person will enjoy the salt water. Conversely, under normal conditions the body would not find pleasure in tasting salt water. The discovery of this pleasure region of the brain will be helpful in later years in both brain mapping, and in finding treatments for those who do not feel normal pleasure.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/061030183127.htm

Dance Therapy Relieves ADHD

The youth of today are ever more becoming pro ADHD. Ritilin cannont be the only source of relief from this disorder. Research shows that children who organized dance class in which they start with heavy exercise leading to more complicated dance routines, this allows the child to focus when previously he was unable. This is a great therapy that does not use drugs meaning that it is better in the long run.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=44846

CT scans detect lung cancer early

http://www.webmd.com/content/article/129/117275.htm?printing=true

The use of spiral computed tomography (CT) imaging has shown potential in the early detection of lung cancer. Lung cancer is an extremely dangerous form of cancer that leads to death in approximately 90% of patients diagnosed with the disease. Routine CT tests would be able to identify lung cancer in the early stages of progression, when the disease is treatable. The article also discusses some possible detrimental effects including over-diagnosis.

Liver Cells Grown From Cord Blood

A team of British scientists from NewCastle University claim to have grown small sections of the liver using stem cells from umbilical cords. In the future these tiny penny sized liver sections are seen as potential treatment options for patients with liver diseases. However, since it would be 10 - 15 years before a full liver would be formed from the cultured cells, more recent plans are to use the sections in potential drug testing and research in replacement of human or animal models. The small liver sections will be grown in the laboratory and sent to pharmaceutical companies for drug testing, thus avoiding risks of allergic reactions in patients recieving newly developed treatments. Even with all the excitement, the team is still awaiting further investigation from the scientific community because prior to this claim there had been no discussion of the research "through the scientific channels, nor had it been peer reviewed". Even with the legal procedures, the validity of the research seems very straightforward and seems to be supported by many of the nations top liver specialists. With the legal issue aside, it is the ethicacy of this research that is gaining support from many scientists. Amazingly the stem cells were collected from the umbilical cord and not from embyos. This has gained alot of attention in the scientific community. Overall, the growth of liver cells seems to be a sucess, and according to the British scientists, in the next decades to come enough testing would be done with the growth of a full liver that liver transplants would be possible.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6101420.stm

This article is amazing, it truely shows the extent of our scientific community and where we stand in relation to modern and developing technology. With the pace of new research currently being done, who knows, our nanobots might have a chance of performing tasks that we assign them for our device design. :)
-Maunark Patel

DNA Strands: The New Tic-Tac-Toe Champion?

Silicon computers made of DNA strands and test tubes are a hot topic for a small group of scientists. At several universities (such as Columbia and NYU), scientists customize DNA strands to perform logical operators that can be carried out in computers.

According to the creators of MAYA II (the name of the DNA based computer), the program can succesfully beat or draw a human opponent in tic-tac-toe. In order to do so, the computer uses a 3x3 matrix of test tubes, each possessing its own individual DNA gate. The DNA reacts to an input molecule from the human user and performs a given move. MAYA II requires 128 different DNA gates and 32 input molecules to perform the tic-tac-toe game.

Using the DNA molecules to perform computational and logical tasks creates a door for the biomedical drug and detection industry. Hopefully, better drugs can be given triggered responses that can react to specific conditions. For example, a drug that reacts to specific pathogen. As well, nano-manufacturing can be improved.

The link to the full article:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa016&articleID=000A70B0-8024-1536-802483414B7F011B

Monday, October 30, 2006

Bioengineers at Work

Unraveling Pain's DNA

Some people can feel more pain than the others. Why? Resarchers suspect that the most probably the answer lies in the genetics of pain. Some genes, like GCH1, are thought to influence the excitablity of neurones. Although, current study on this topic is shallow and need further researches, hopefully, the future studies of pain gene can assist in creating the new pain treatments or even prevention.

Couzin, Jennifer. "GENTICS: Unraveling Pain's DNA" Science October 2006, 314.5799: 585 - 586
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/314/5799/585

Strength Training May Lower Diabetes Risk in Teens

A new study has been conducted by researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) in which they have discovered that strength training in teenagers may help to lower their risk of type 2 diabetes. The study consisted of 22 boys ranging from ages 14 to17. They were given a personal trainer that gave them sessions in weight lifting twice a week for 16 weeks. They focused on only weight lifting and as the study went on, they had the teens doing fewer repititions but using more weight. After the study was conducted, it was found that 91 percent of the teens in the study "considerably improved their insulin sensitivity." This could lead to a decrease in the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes in teenagers. This conclusion comes from knowing that overweight teenagers have higher risk for developing a resistance to to insulin, meaning that their bodies are not effectively using the hormone insulin to process blood glucose. This has been shown to lead to the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. Although this study did not help the teens to lose any total fat body mass, the teens increased their amount of muscle mass in the body and decreased their percentage of body fat. The simple act of lifting weights twice a week can potentially affect and better the lives of so many teenagers, that this study is of great importance. It has been shown that around half of all Latino teenagers in 2000 will develop type 2 diabetes so anything that can aid in the decrease to this statistic is key. I know so many friends and family members that have been affected by diabetes so it is of much interest to me to hear about ways to decrease the risk of the disease at a young age.

http://sciencedaily.healthology.com/diabetes/article3795.htm

Intelligent Machines in the Near Future?

Scientists and programmers are beginning to look towards the human cortex as a starting point for creating intelligent machines. In particular, Jeff Hawkins is leading two ventures, the Redwood Neuroscience Institute and Numenta, that plan on creating a high level software representation of the cortex's layers in order to solve traditionally hard problems (voice and visual recognition, weather prediction etc...)
This video shows Jeff giving a talk about the neocortex, its structure, and the ways that computer models can be built on top of that. They even have an example of a model that allows for a computer to recognize shapes into 96 different categories with an amazingly simple underlying architecture.
This kind of research fascinates me because of the amazing possibilities of these techniques of 'solving' problems that are currently impossible. Imagine connecting one of these 'pseudo-cortexes' to live data about the stock market, and having the ability for a machine to predict stock prices for example.

Space Invaders Vs. Brain

A boy suffering from epilepsy used only signals from his brain to make movements when playing the two-dimensional video game Space Invaders. The signals were recorded by laying a grid atop his brain and recording the brain surface signals as he was delegated to do various tasks. Then, a run with the teenager using his hand to control the cursor in the game was done, and another one was done without any physical movement to control the cursor. A video of the teenager playing the video game in these two instances can be seen on the website. This can hopefully be used to further our advancement in building devices that will be able to control artificial limbs effectively.

Extra Information: Epilepsy is a brain disorder where a person has suffered from more than two seizures, and can be caused by nerve cell clusters or neurons signaling abnormally in the brain.

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/epilepsy/epilepsy.htm

Breakthrough Test for Alzheimer's Disease

Scientists at King's College in London have presented research that could diagnose Alzheimer's disease before its symptoms occur. Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, accounting for 50 to 60 percent of all dementia cases. "We found some evidence that there are protein differences in the blood of people with Alzheimer's," said Simon Lovestone. A blood test would be able to detect the levels of protein in the blood. According to the researchers, high levels of two types of proteins can indicate a higher risk of having Alzheimer’s later in life. The levels of these proteins in the blood of Alzheimer’s patients were higher than people who did not have the disease. There is currently no cure for the disease. A diagnostic test would be a huge breakthrough in treatment for the disease. I found this article interesting because my group has Alzheimer’s for the nanobot project.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061030/wl_uk_afp/healthdiseasealzheimersblood_061030164533

Ultrasound used to make an opening in the blood-brain barrier

While researching ways to get things into the brain for my group’s device design project, we came across the idea of using ultrasound to open the blood brain barrier. In recent experiments scientists have seen that focused ultrasound exposures caused reversible openings in the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in target locations. The ultrasound is applied in the presence of preformed gas bubbles. The actual cellular mechanisms of this transient BBB disruption are largely unknown. Experiments have been done on rabbits that resulted in BBB openings. These findings could be considered in further development of the strategy for drug (or nano-robot) delivery in the brain.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15313330&dopt=Citation

Drug Combo Fights Tough-to-Treat Hepatitis C

This article mainly deals with the combination of two drugs, ribavirin and Infergen, to combat hepatitis C in patients who were unresponsive to other therapies. In a disease that currectly affects 3.9 million Americans and is growing at a rate of 50,000 Americans per year, it is important to find new techniques and medicines to combat this unresponsiveness. As a side note, there was another study done on people with severe hepatitis C and severe liver damage that after therapy the liver damage "greatly improved". This just shows me that there need to be several medicines to combat a particular illness since there is a lot of variation from person to person.

http://health.msn.com/healthnews/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100147721

Biomolecular Motor

In this article, the main discussion is the inability to create a nano-motor (or functional nanoelectromechanical system) to power the nano structures that can be created. The solution is to utilize a biomolecular particle such as F1-ATPase and myosin to power the nano structure. Although it is conceivable that we will be able to construct nano-motors in the near future, I thought this was an interesting and clever biological solution for the time being. I found this article while researching for the nano-bots and I think it is an interesting possibility.

You can find the whole article at:
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/290/5496/1555

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Teenage Brain: A work in progress

After the last SNBL on the brain...I have become very interested in the developement of the frontal lobe and the emergent phenomenon within the brain. While researching this topic, I found this article about the teenage brain. It says that "advancements in MRI image analysis are providing new insights into how the brain develops". It talks about how ages 6-13 are the primary ages to learn languages, because "growth spurts can be seen from theses ages in areas connecting brain regions specialized for language and understanding spatial relations, the temporal and parietal lobes". After age 12, the growth drops basically stops resulting in the end of a period to learn languages. It also said they did a test where they scanned subjects' brain activity while they identified emotions on pictures of faces displayed on a computer. Young teens, who did bad on the the test, used the "amygdala, a brain center that mediates fear and other "gut" reactions, more than the frontal lobe". They noticed that as teenagers get older their brain activity during this test shifts to the frontal lobe, leading to more rationale observations. So maybe young teens really are incapable of making rational decisions in tough situations...

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/Publicat/teenbrain.cfm

Jellyfish Protein to Treat Alzheimer's

A biotech company in Madison, Wisconsin is on the verge of creating a drug from a jellyfish protein that will treat neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. John Moyer, an assistant professor at UW-Milwaukee, has done most of the research with the jellyfish protein called aequorin. Alzheimer’s disease is associated with the loss of calcium binding proteins. Calcium in cells is needed for communication between cells and thus for memory and learning. Too much calcium in cells can lead to their eventual death. As people age, their number of calcium binding proteins decline, so an excess of calcium is in the neurons of the brain leading to neuron death, and so their brain function begins to decline. Aequorin has proved to be a valuable substitute for the calcium binding proteins, helping to control the levels of calcium in neurons. While not new in the areas of medicine, aequorin has never been used as a control of calcium levels in cells before now. Neurodegenerative disease treatments of such diseases as Alzheimer’s are becoming more and more important in recent years as life expectancy continues to rise. It’s good to know that new breakthroughs are occurring all the time.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/061027183731.htm

Biomedical Professionals at Work

I read this article titled "'Critical error' led to radiation overdoses" from http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1596402006. The article reports that a "mistake made by an inexperienced health worker led to a teenager (Lisa Norris) being given a massive (58% more than prescribed) radiation overdose". This "error" eventually killed the kid. Though this article does not directly relate to the so called break throughs in the medical field, I still find this article interesting in the following ways. The first being the fact that the error was not casued by the stereotypical "bad doctor hand writing" problem. The inexperienced treatment planner, probably an intern entered everything into a computer. The error occur because the health worker wasn't aware of the new updates on the computer system. I'm a news kind of guy and I hear alot about hospitals updating their managment systems to full automatic computer systems to prevent human errors such as bad hand writing. This incident just proves that no matter how amazing automated systems are, there is still the human element in the operation. While computers don't make arithmetic errors, humans are still prone to mistakes. The second aspect of this article that interested me was the fact that the error was discovered not by this intern's mentor but by another more experienced doctor. This again goes back to the humans versus technology theme. I am however more interested in the fact that the mentor didn't catch the mistake. It either means that he/she was not well qauilified ( which I seriously doubt), or that he/she was too busy with other things. While this incident happened in U.K., understaffed hospitals are very relevent issues in the U.S. The ever growing baby boomer generation will put a huge strain on our health care system. Hospital understaffing problem may eventually become the norm, which only opens the door for more accidents. I think this issue can be solved or at least alleviated by limiting the amount of money victims of medical mishaps can sue. I am by no means saying that victim are not entitled to certain compensations, but some lawsuit verdicts are just rediculous. Hospitals need to put their money in hiring new staff than paying off lawsuits. It's actually quite scary to think that we are going to be the ones working in an environment which one mistake can literally mean the end of our career.

Also, has anybody seen the show on Discovery channel about savants? I thought it was very intriging how the savants are mentally disabled and at the same time possess amazing tallents in music and arts. The show went into details on how their brain are different from ours, I thought it was neat to watch a couple of shows on nervons and brain function while I'm also learning it from class.

Pour-on nanotechnology stops bleeding in seconds

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US have created a liquid that stops bleeding in any tissue in a matter of seconds. Rutledge and colleagues worked from the nano-scale using individual amino acids to create a self-assembling peptide. The discovery was made by accident during an experiment in which the liquid was used to stimulate nerve repair in the brains of rats.

Once the liquid touches an internal organ, it forms a gel, the amino acids assemble into fibers and stop the bleeding. The degradable peptide then breaks down into non-toxic products as the tissue heals.

http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2006/October/10080601.asp

Gene 'doubles risk of diabetes'

A UK team discovered that people with two copies of the mutant TCF7L2 gene were twice as likely to develop type 2 diabetes compared with those with no copies. These findings led the researchers to believe that a particular genetic make-up can put people as much at risk of developing type 2 diabetes, as being clinically obese. The researchers looked at 2,676 European middle-aged men whose health had been tracked over a period of 15 years, to investigate the association between genes and diabetes. Of the 2,676 European middle-aged men, 158 developed type 2 diabetes. “The researchers discovered those carrying one copy of a variant of a gene called TCF7L2 were 50% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes, while those men who carried two copies of the variant were about 100% more likely to get the disease compared with those who had no copies.” The TCF7L2 gene's role in the body is not yet fully known, but it is thought to be important in the pancreas, where insulin is made. This is interesting because being obese has always been the main risk factor for developing diabetes, but now researchers are starting to see that healthy men can be in danger of developing diabetes if they have the variant of a gene called TCF7L2.
From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6076750.stm

Autism is a disability believed to be cause by abnormal development and therefore functioning of the brain. Scientists at Vanderbilt University believe they have found a gene that doubles the risk for autism. Researchers call the gene MET; however, it is important to realize that this is not the only gene that causes autism. Rather, a group of 5-15 genes cause the disorder. MET is a gene involved in brain development. This article is an interview with Pat Levitt, the man who led the study. I thought this article would be appropriate since we are studying neurophysiology!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15338256/site/newsweek/

Don't Blame TV for ADHD

It has been suggested that watching TV at a young, impressionable age leads to ADHD because of the flickering lights and fast pace of the changes between scenes and commercials. It has recently been found that this is not true. This can take some pressure off of parents that use TV for a "babysitter" when their kids get hyperactive, but it is cautioned that TV should only be watched in moderation. Researchers have said that some educational TV can be good for younger children. This also shows that ADHD most likely is not brought on by something that the parents do, which is a relief for most parents.

http://health.msn.com/centers/adhd/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100125657

Waste DNA a Possible Cause of Arthritis

The article described an experiment done by biochemists in Japan on special immune cells called macrophages that function in breaking down waste DNA. The team genetically modified a group of mice so that their macrophages could no longer make DNase II, which is important in degrading DNA. As a result, the waste DNA build up inside the macrophages, and the mice developed symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis in humans. Their joints became inflamed and were filled with immune system chemical messengers TNF-α, which they proposed that it was due to the excess load of waste DNA. Moreover, when the team used antibodies to block TNF-α activity in mice, the symptoms of the disease were significantly reduced. This study has lead to new promises in a new treatment for patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

For more information, here is the link to the article:
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2006/1026/2

Autism Research Using Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI)

Quoted in an article from the College of Humanities & Social Science,

"These reductions in white matter integrity may underlie the behavioral pattern observed in autism of narrowly-focused thought and weak coherence of different streams of thought," said Marcel Just, director of the Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging and a co-author of the latest study. "The new findings also provide supporting evidence for a new theory of autism that attributes the disorder to underconnectivity among brain regions," Just said.

A recent research done by the University Carnegie Mellon using a new technology called Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) - capable of tracking water movement in the brain - found differences in connection in brains of people with autism. It was discovered that the structure of the "white matter" of an autistic brain has a lower structural integrity than in those of normal brains. The research basically revolved around the monitoring of water movement through the brain. In the brain, water molecules move or diffuse with the aid of the coherent structures of nerve fibers of the white matter. As for those with autism, lower structural integrity such less dense or myelinated fibers can cause the movement of water to be more dispersed. Researchers found this dispersed pattern particularly in areas in and around the corpus callosum, the large band of nerve fibers that connects the two hemispheres of the brain.

Link to Carnegie U's Article
http://www.hss.cmu.edu/pressreleases/2006/061023_dti.html

An Abstract of the Research in NeuroReport
http://www.neuroreport.com/pt/re/neuroreport/abstract.00001756-200611060-00006.htm;jsessionid=FGSJ27qt2k2vQmV5ChGMK4n0dnPD2WQh2clThY2hkZz7wl4HqqHv!1287082388!-949856145!8091!-1?index=1&database=ppvovft&results=1&count=10&searchid=2&nav=search

Saturday, October 28, 2006

Brainwave Model of Remote Control

No one was in that room except a 'patient' lying on the bed with his eyes closed. One second, the tv was off. The next, it was turned on. But no movement was observed.

It was nothing supernatural. Hidenori Onishi, whose Technos Japan Co. jointly developed this ingenious device with the Himeji Institute of Technology, is using the device to sense brain-wave patterns and converts them into signals that are used to operate electrical appliances!

The device that is called Mind Control Tool Operating System, or MCTOS, includes a pair of goggles which holds electrodes to the head and it responds to a single type of brain impulse, the beta wave, which is produced in mental excitement states.

MCTOS is relatively easy to use compared to other similar devices and it is a mean of new life to paralysed patients once the accuracy and convenience are improved.

http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9712/25/remote.control.ap/

Friday, October 27, 2006

Alzheimer's Scan

Researchers are developing a laser that scans the eye to detect Alzheimer's in its early stages. The scan shines a low-intensity beam of light into the eye. The beam then reflects back off certain particles producing a "scatter pattern." The pattern is then analyzed, looking for beta-amyloid protein. Beta-amyloid protein builds up into plaque between the nerve cells in Alzheimer's patients. So far, this method has been 100 percent accurate in detecting Alzheimer's in mice.


http://www.discover.com/web-exclusives/detecting-alzheimers-eye-scan/

Eyes on the Prize: Science Sees Gold in Biomimetics

“Animal eyes inspire new technology” The article is about biomimetics, or reverse-engineering nature. Scientists are looking for ways to imitate the energy-efficient, densely-packed, space-saving technologies exhibited in animal eyes to improve artificial sensors, microscopes and cameras. Observing systems in nature has inspired humans to create technological tools that allow us to better understand and imitate biology. Biomimetics, in particular, owes much of its current development to advances in materials science and creative optical system designs. New investigational tools, such as those for microscopic imaging and chemical analyses, have added to our understanding of biological optics. Biologically inspired optical science has become the emerging topic among researchers and scientists. Imitating nature is a complex endeavor, and a blind biomimetic approach is not the best methodology. Instead, molecular-level studies of the biological development of natural vision systems are key. For example, current infrared sensors can distinguish more than what human eyes can see, but they require a sophisticated cooling system to work. Somehow, insects have this same ability without the limitation of temperature control. This is but one example of how it is primarily nature’s designs that are superior to man-made equivalents. However, if we are able to decode the designs, then the combination of our creativity in materials and nature’s wisdom is [a] synergistic one with incredible potential.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10075854/

Study shows a link between psoriasis and increased heart attack risk

A recent study shows that middle-aged people with more severe forms of psoriasis were twice as likely to have a heart attack than those that don't. Psoriasis is a skin disease that results in itchy and sometimes scaly red patches on the skin. It occurs when the body's immune system attacks its own skin cells. Although there are different forms ranging from very severe to very mild, it affects approximately 2% of the western population.
The study also showed that less severe forms of psoriasis can elevate the risk of a heart attack for people in their mid-40's by 20%.
This article is interesting to me personally because I have a mild form of psoriasis. On top of that, my family has a history of heart attacks and cardiovascular disease. If anything, it has made me more aware of my psoriasis and its potential problems.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15209007/

Multipotent Myelinating Cells Discovered in Adult Brain

Many diseases, including multiple sclerosis, are caused by the degeneration of myelin on an axon. This paper discusses the discovery of oligodendroglial progenitors (OPs) in adult brains. These cells have myelinating ability and could possible be used to treat degenerative diseases such as MS. Multipotent myelinating cells are known to exist in fetal tissues but, as we have discussed in class, this raises many ethical issues. The fact that these cells may be present in adult tissues as well sparks much more research in using these cells to treat and cure diseases such as MS.


http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=22425

Snooze Power: Midday nap may awaken learning potential

It could be midterm exhaustion, loud roommates, my nocturnal cat, or maybe (dare I admit it) laziness, but I love naps. There is something beautiful about midday sleep that I often can't resist. And (drum roll please) this article from ScienceNews tells me that I might shouldn't resist the call of the couch around 2:00 pm.
The article summarizes a study done by psychologists at Harvard on the possible correlation between napping and performance. The researchers challenged college students to detect changes in images for four sessions during a day. The study showed that the performance of the students who didn't nap decreased over the last two sessions while the students who took a 30-minute nap did not show any decrease in performance. In addition, the students who were allowed a 1-hour nap actually improved their performance in ensuing sessions.
One researcher hypothesizes that the rest may prevent overuse of neuronal pathways and allow the brain to consolidate what it has learned. The article also correlates this hypothesis with the fact that many times musicians will experience a breakthrough in learning a complicated composition after a nap or night's sleep. As a musician, I can say from experience that this is absolutely true for me.
This article has definitely relieved some of the guilt I feel for napping. In fact, it has given me significant reason to nap more often and longer. I love science...

http://sciencenews.org/articles/20020601/fob6.asp

Screening Process for Lung Cancer

A new study has just been completed that links screening smokers lungs with a CT scan can increase the survival rate of lung cancer, the world’s number one cause of death. Much as women receive yearly or semi yearly mammograms smokers received CT scans. This study had no comparison group, which is the main cause of controversy, but the screened smokers who developed a tumor which was promptly removed showed an estimated 10-year survival rate of 92 percent, which is much higher then the average. Currently only 16% of lung cancers are diagnosed in Step 1. This screening process could greatly increase that percentage.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061026/ap_on_he_me/lung_cancer

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Killing Brain Tumors From Within - 'Trojan Horse' Approach

Professor Levitski and his team of researchers at the University of Jerusalem have devised a method in which cancerous cells are targeted and told to "committ suicide." The primary target of this new treatment is Epidermal Growth Factor Receptors(EGFRs). Cancerous cells proliferate due to an abornally high number of Epidermal Growth Factors (EGFs) and therefore can be targeted without having an effect on normal cells. The method which has been proven to work in mice consists of taking a molecule of RNA attached to an EGF and delivering it to cells with increased numbers of EGFRs (the cancerous cells). The RNA is taken in by the cancer cells causes failure of the genetic machinery inside the cells and thus, kills the cell. Further testing is being planned in a clinical setting.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/061025085236.htm

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Detection of Human Pheromones

Newly developed research leads investigators to believe that humans, although lacking the natural machinery to detect pheromones that animals use, may actually be able to detect pheromones through the use of trace amine- associated receptors(TAARs). Many insects and mammals that use pheromones, chemicals that transmit a message to members of the same species, detect these with the vomeronasal organ which lies between the nose and the mouth. Although humans lack this organ, the discovery that mice use receptors in the olfactory epithelium to detect pheromones, could suggest that humans use a similar mechanism to detect pheromones as well. To demonstrate this, neuroscientists from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle scanned olfactory epithelium of mice and identified a family of genes that appeared to be expressed only in olfactory neurons. The TAAR encoding genes have been found to be activated by compounds such as isoamylamine and trimethlyamine, two pheromones in mice urine. Since humans also have TAAR genes, this finding suggests that humans are also capable of detecting pheromones.
This investigation may lead to evidence regarding a whole new aspect of human behaviors, including sexual preference.
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2006/731/4

Monday, October 23, 2006

Promising for curing diseases more efficiently

Researchers in University of Basel, Switzerland are developing cell-like nano particles for attacking disease. Moreover they can be smart "nanocarriers" for drug delivery and diagnostics.
Basicly, by using parts of living cells in a smart nanotechnology-based system, those nanocarrier can target specific diseased cells and attack them.
http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=17578&ch=nanotech

Sunday, October 22, 2006

dreaming = schizophrenia ??

This article is about a research that was conducted in France. The research was based on the hypotheses that the neurophysiology of a person dreaming is the same as that of a schizophrenic. After applying all the controls, this hypothesis was found to be true !!!
“The rapid eye movement dreaming sleep stage and schizophrenia are both characterized by common intracerebral disconnections, disturbed responsiveness and sensory deafferentation processes. Moreover, in both states, there is dorsolateral prefrontal deactivation as shown by the decrease of blood flow. Finally, identical pharmacological and neurochemical variations are observed for acetylcholine, dopamine, noradrenaline, serotonin and glutamate concentrations.”

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T0F-4JVT1WM-4&_coverDate=12%2F31%2F2006&_alid=472560375&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_qd=1&_cdi=4861&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000049198&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=952835&md5=5347bc8b9b7bc568bee793bc7926da69

Stem Cell Therapy treats heart attacks in Animals

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2004/11_09_04.html

This article talks about how scientists in Johns Hopkins university used 14 pigs (because they have a similar circulatory system as in humans) in their study of preventing heart attacks through stem cells. The researchers used a special kind of bone marrow cell - mesenchymal cells and injected them directly in the pigs' heart muscle- which resulted in the full recovery of the pigs in a period of just 2 months. These adult bone marrow cells are taken from the bone marrow because the bone marrow has plenty of those cells to spare. About 12-15 injections of adult stem cells were given to the pigs with each one of them consisting of about 200 million cells. These cells were injected into the heart muscle using a specialized catherer, inserted through a tiny puncture in the artery. The most advantageous reason of using mesenchymal cells is that it does not trigger an immune response once injected in the muscle of the heart. Soon this study will be implied onto humans to treat pathalogies such as CAD.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Filovirus cure?

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=54284

Researchers at the Greene Infectious Disease Laboratory at Columbia University made an amazing discovery. They identified an amino acid sequence that codes for a protein similar to those known to break down the body's immune system. This discovery could lead to the development of drugs that could fight filoviruses (such as Ebola). Up to now, there is no cure for filoviruses. According to the article, filoviruses have a mortality rate of 80%. With the discovery of this amino acid sequence, that number should drop. Humans and apes are susceptible to these diseases and it is thought that these diseases may be contributing to the decline of ape populations worldwide. If all goes according to plan, scientists will utilize this new found knowledge and develop a "cure" for these horrible diseases.

New Diabetes Type II Drug

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=76963

Januvia, a DPP-4 inhibitor that helps the body control high blood sugar, was just approved by the FDA as a Type II Diabetes drug. Januvia will be taken daily and can be taken in conjunction with other oral diabetes drugs, such as metformin, Avandia, or Actos, when these drugs do not adequately control blood sugar. The FDA says that even though there are already other type II diabetes drugs on the market, it will be good to have another option for patients, as about 21 million people in the US have diabetes. Also, it is nice to have another alternative since not all patients respond to the same medications and not everyone can even tolerate each medication.

The problem in type II diabetes is that the body does not produce enough insulin, which results in uncontrolled high blood sugar and can lead to serious problems like blindness, heart disease, nerve damage, and kidney damage over time. What Januvia does is keep the proteins releasing insulin for a longer time, which it does by blocking the DPP-IV enzyme, which breaks down these proteins. Studies done on Januvia, lasting from 12 weeks to more than a year, and done on over 2,700 people with type II diabetes, have proven that improved blood sugar control results. More studies will be done on using Januvia in conjunction with insulin and other diabetic medications.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

The Blue Brain Project

Researchers in Switzerland have taken on the task of creating a digital 3-D replica of the brain. It will describe all of the known neurological interations that take place within the cerebral neocortex. A leading reaseacher by the name of Felix Shurmann directs a team of both computer engineers and computational neuroscientist in there goal of accurately displaying the brain funtion. In there work thus far, they have simulated of 10,000 compartmental neurons with over 30 million dynamic synapses. The Blue Brain Project itself is expected to expand to a multinational level by 2008.

http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_development/previous_issues/articles/2006_10_06/leading_the_blue_brain_project/(parent)/68

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Neurofeedback used to treat epilepsy and ADHD, as well as enhance musical ability

http://www.webmd.com/content/article/13/1668_50191.htm

Neurofeedback allows patients to view their own brain activity and learn to modulate it in order to achieve the desired mental state. According to this article, it has been useful in the treatment of epilepsy and ADHD. Children with ADHD use neurofeedback games to learn to reduce theta waves and increase beta waves in their brain. As a result, they learn to become more attentive without the use of drugs like Ritalin. A 1999 German study also found that some epilepsy patients treated with neurofeedback could reduce their seizure rate.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3091595.stm

Recently, neurofeedback has been tested as a way to increase a person's musical ability. The study found that the technique was able to improve musicians by an average of 17%.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Cell Differentiation No Barrier to Cloning

New resent test in mice shows that adult stem cells are actually worse than regular cells for the purpose of cloning. Moreover, the experiment delivered 2 cloned pups from the genetic material contained in fully formed white blood cells.
Xiangzhong Yang of the University of Connecticut and Tao Cheng of the University of Pittsburgh as well as a host of colleagues examined the cloning potential of three different types of cells: hematopoietic stem cells, progenitor cells and granulocytes. Each represents a different stage in the differentiation process of blood cells. The result was surprising-when they compared cells from the same animals they saw that differentiated cells gave a much higher efficeincy. This was very important because it is much easier to collect differintiated cells than stem cells. Both researchers think that differentiation opens the door for a lot of different studies.


Check out the whole article at:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa025&articleID=000D0681-A3B8-151D-A3B883414B7F0000

Monday, October 09, 2006

Extending Overall Survival

I was looking at some articles over ovarian cancer and I came across this article that I found interesting. Over a year ago in the Brown Cancer Center, doctors found that chemotherapy drugs through the vein as well as in the abdomen extended womens life expectancy by a little longer than a year!

http://browncancercenter.org/research/disc_display.aspx?id=8

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Epilepsy Breakthrough May Be Near

Research is underway on a new device that could give much needed relief to patients who suffer from epilepsy. The device detects oncoming epileptic seizures before they occur and then activates a pacemaker to attempt to suppress them. Current epilepsy treatments and drugs are not effective for one out of three epilepsy patients. This device would greatly improve the lives of these people in particular and decrease the danger of unexpected epileptic seizures. Research is also being conducted on whether or not this device could potentially treat other neurological conditions and disorders such as depression, schizophrenia, and attention deficit disorder. This device, if perfected, would greatly improve the lives and self-security of any family, friends, or acquaintances who suffer from this neurological disorder. It would also help us cope with these disorders if any of us suffer from them in the present or future.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/09/060912215213.htm

Saturday, October 07, 2006

Chemotherapy has long-term negative impact on brain function

Researchers at UCLA found that chemo can actually deteriorate brain function in the long term. The researchers studied 21 patients who had surgery to remove breast cancer tumors, 16 of whom undergone chemotherapy and five who have not. Using positron emission tomography scans as the patients did short memory exercises, researchers were able to monitor the patients' resting brain metabolism and blood flow to their brains. The results showed that the chemo patients had lower metabolism in a key region of the frontal cortex, and a higher rate of blood flow to the frontal cortex and cerebellum. The researchers noted this phenomena may explain why a number of chemo patients face symptoms of confusion - due to alterations in brain metabolism.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/10/05/chemo.brain.reut/index.html

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Japanese Scientists find Hunger Molecule

Scientists in Japan discovered nesfatin-1, what they call the "hunger molecule". This molecule is released from the hypothalmus in the brain and tells mammals when they are full and to stop eating. By injecting nesfatin-1 into rats brains, the rats ate less and lost weight. Similiarly, when the absorbtion of nesfatin-1 was blocked, the rats continuted eat as they were never triggered "full."
This might be one of the more important iadvancements in treating obesity which is a serious problem in developed countries. Many other methods are continually being discovered; however this is specfically related to the body's molecular process.

Now that scientists have identified nesfatin-1, all they have to do is make it, test it, produce it, package it, get it approved, sell it, and you've got a diet pill!

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15103053/

Monday, October 02, 2006

RNA interference

RNA interference is about the effects of specific genes being turned off. This occurs naturally in plants and animals alike. Recently, Americans Andrew Fire and Craig Mello won the Noble Prize this Monday for making this discovery about RNA.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/10/02/nobel.medicine.ap/index.html

This is very important since the "bad genes" such as mutant cancerous genes or high blood cholesterol genes could be just turned off and help cure many illnesses. If you want to read the full text on their paper published in Nature, go here:

http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v391/n6669/full/391806a0_fs.html&content_filetype=pdf

New Camera could stop blindness

A camera, invented by Professor Andy McNaughts, could help in saving the sight of adults who have diabetes or glaucoma. This camera is a non-invasive procedure that measures oxygen levels in the back of the retina, and is a welcome alternative to the original way of injecting the patient's eye with fluorescent dye which can cause allergic reactions. A prototype is currently being used at Cheltenham General Hospital, and it is already being developed for commercial use. Hopefully, we will be seeing a lot more of this camera very soon as a welcome way to help prevent blindness.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/5222674.stm