Pioneering eye operation in baby

US doctors have successfully implanted the artificial cornea to the babies/ children of aged 4 months to 7 years old, and all (19) are found to be successful. The artificial eye is made of plastic and certain type of protein, and it is expected to last about ten years.

I find the material of this artificial cornea interesting, and have researched upon a number of current resource of the artificial bioinstruments. What I found amazing is that in making artificial bioinstrucments, people already include the patient's cell in the process - i.e. in cornea made in Lions Eye of Institute of Perth/Australia, their artificial cornea outer rim contains the personal cell to hold the cornea in place for longer time.

http://www.cornea.org/study_cornea.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5073552.stm

Fibulin-2 Assists in Cardiac Tissue Remodeling

A malignant side effect of myocardial infarction is the severe, lasting damage to the myocardium. Recent research at Thomas Jefferson University identifies an extracellular protein known as Fibulin-2 that contributes to the wound healing process. In a study of mice, acute healing is delayed in mice lacking Fibulin-2, thus resulting in a larger area of cardiac damage for those mice. Future implementations of the experimental results include a better understanding of chronic heart failure.

Click on the link below to view the article:
http://medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=66455

Acupuncture Treatment (posted by ALEXANDRA IACOB)

Acupuncture has been used icnreasingly all over the world. This is seen especially after the Western medical treatment has failed. Currently, both NIH and WHO recognize acupuncture as a treatment for symptoms/conditions including addictions, nausea and vomiting, asthma, digestive issues, sinusitis, osteoarthritis, and allergies. It's also used increasingly for infertility.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/03/29/healthmag.acupuncture/index.html

Gene Switches On Repair in Liver

Researchers may have identified a master switch that activates the liver's ability to heal itself, suggesting a route to better treatments for liver diseases such as hepatitis and cirrhosis. Mice that lacked the gene showed a marked deterioration in their livers and lived shorter lives than normal mice.
Damage to the liver activates a group of specialized wound-healers called hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), which churn out scaffoldlike collagen fibers that support the growth of new liver cells. But when they stay activated for too long, the fibers begin substituting for healthy liver tissue, leading to liver failure in people with chronic cirrhosis, for example. But researchers do not know which genes control the process.
Researches of the University of California, San Diego, thought they had a good candidate in the gene for the p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR), a regulator of cell death in the brain that also switches on soon after liver injuries.

full article:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=9F4CE513-E7F2-99DF-3B827D53632DD53C&chanID=sa011

Nutrient Combo May Prevent Hearing Loss

This article talks about taking the combinations of magnesium and vitamins A, C, and E together help prevent the ears from noise induced hearing loss. The researchers did their experiment on guinea pigs, in which they divided the guinea pigs into four groups. Each group got different treatment daily for six days, which include one group receiving magnesium and vitamin A, C, and E together; one receiving vitamins A, C, and E without magnesium; one with magnesium only; and one with salt water. After their first treatment, the guinea pigs were exposed to 120 decibels of noise for five hours. They were exposed to the noise only once and received their treatment for the next five days. As a result, the guinea pigs that took magnesium and vitamin A, C, and E had the least amount of noise-induced hearing loss and ear damage.

For more information about this article, please visit:
http://www.webmd.com/news/20070330/nutrient-comb-may-curb-hearing-loss

Prostate Cancer Vaccine

The FDA recently endorsed Provenge, a prostate cancer vaccine, that has proven to be therapuetic and able to extend the lives of the patients that are no longer responding to hormone treatment. Provenge sould be the beginning of many new therapies that are designed to stimulate a patient's own immune system against cancer, according to Dendreon the company that has designed the vaccine. It is also customizable to patients, as doctors will take cells from the patients blood, then add the vaccine and give soultion back to the patient. Provenge will allow the body to recognize prostate cancer cells and lengthen lives of the men inflicted with the disease.

http://health.aol.com/news/story/_a/fda-approves-prostate-cancer-vaccine/n20070329181309990016?cid=474

A new kind of twin

A new kinds of twins, called "semi-identical" twins were just recently identified by scientists. These types of twins share their maternal DNA, but only half of their fathers DNA. This is very rare, because in this state two sperms penetrate one egg. This happens in about 1% of the population, however, most of the time, these 'triploids' do not live. Well, in this case, they did. Scientists suspect that in order for this to happen, one of the two conditions have to be met. First the egg divided before the sperm penetrated, this allowed two identical eggs, and two different sperms to fertilize them. Second, and the more likely possibility is that two sperm fertilized one egg simultaneously, and created a triploid. Then, during the second stage the triploid underwent changes to account for the extra set of chromosomes present. This process is still unclear to scientists. One of the two twins has been identified as an "intersex" twin with 5% XY, and 95% XX, and the other identified as male, has 50% XX and 50% XY.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1603799,00.html
I found this article interesting because sometimes we think that we have figured out what there is to know about some of the most well known processes, but then a case like this pops-up and proves us wrong. Overall, it was worth reading.

Stem cell injections for hearts

Doctors have used stem cell injections for patients post heart attack to improve cardiac function. These findings were presented at a recent meeting at the American College of Cardiology. The first trial involved injecting stem cells from bone marrow intravenously into patients. Over the six month trial, the patients receiving the stem cell treatment had improved lung and heart function from those who did not receive the injections. Likewise, a second trial involved stem cells taken from a patients own muscle tissue. In the treatment group the stem cells were directly injected into the patient's heart. The control group was treated with the standard drug treatments post heart attack. At the end of the trial, the patients receiving the stem cells had a markedly improved quality of life, and the control group worsened. Because of the success, the FDA has approved a phase II trial. These non-invasive techniques could potentially change the way heart attack patients are treated.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070326/ts_alt_afp/ushealthheartstemcell;_ylt=AqFyX0oqH2kIhE1sqiw0q1CJhMgF

Cancer Society Recommends Breast MRIs

The American Cancer Society recommends that 1.4 million US women with a high risk of developing breast cancer should get annual MRIs along with the traditional mammogram. MRI makes more detailed images with a magnet and radio waves but without radiation, and they are better at showing increased or abnormal blood flow in the breast, a sign of early cancers not visible on a mammogram. While MRIs are much more expensive than mammograms ($2000 to $150), they have proven to detect smaller cancers that mammograms might miss. In one study of women with cancer in one breast, the MRI scans revealed cancers in the opposite breast that were missed by ordinary mammograms in 3 percent of these cancer survivors. While some MRI results give false positives and give the need for a biopsy to ensure the correct diagnosis, it is better to be safe than sorry.

This article was intriguing to me because I lost an aunt to breast cancer in 1994. Also, I participated in Relay for Life last night, so cancer research was on my mind. Everyone knows that early detection is key in treating and preventing cancer, and hopefully this finding will help to aid in the result.

http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/333/7228/537616.html

Light Based Probe Detects Cancer

Researchers at Duke University have developed an "optical biopsy" that detects cancerous cells in the epithelial cells of the lungs, esophagus, and gut. Approximately 85 percent of all cancers start in the epithelium, according to the researchers. Thus, this probe could potentially detect the earliest signs of cancer, ultimately allowing for diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of a large number of cancers. The technique is known as fa/LCI, or frequency-domain angle-resolved low coherence interferometry. The fa/LCI works by detecting irregularities in the cell nucleus through changes in the refraction of light. In cancerous cells, the nuclei are irregular and enlarged, which can be effectively detected using this imaging technique. The device could potentially eliminate the need for biopsies in which tissue is removed.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=66245

Granada-based scientists make the first artificial cornea model using rabbit stem cells

http://www.bionity.com/news/e/63053/?ps=&pw=a&t=&defop=and&wild=yes&sdate=01/01/1995&edate=03/28/2007&sort=1

Researchers at the University of Granada have made an artificial cornea using rabbit stem cells. Due to the relative shortage of cornea donors, this could potentially be a huge advance in organ replacement. The results could also be valuable in researching medicine permeability.
The artificial corneas are made by separating stem cells from biopsies taken from the rabbit’s eyeball. Along with the stem cells, a support platform was made from various polymers. Together, the layers of the cornea tissue are reconstructed.
The researchers are working with ophthalmologists to further develop and improve the tissues to eventually be used for human cornea transplant.
This research gives a glimpse at the future of artificial tissues and the use of stem cells to create those tissues. Transplants may not be as dependant on organ donations as they are now.

Remember when...

To ensure that a memory lasts, gene activity regulation is needed. Usually a protein latches onto a DNA and inhibits or enhances the expression of certain genes. A new study has also shown that neurons and also regulate gene activity by modifying the genes chemically. DNA methylation is where enzymes chemically modifies a gene that silences it. A study was recently done to test this. Rats were injects with a drug that inhibited DNA methylation right after receiving three electric shocks. Normal rats remember getting shocked and freeze up when placed in the same enclosure the next day. The injected rats showed about 25% of the freezing up behavior. This shows a much weaker memory for the injected rats. More experiments are being done to see how long DNA methylation effects memory and the duration of these effects. Recent studies suggest that DNA methylation may be a far more dynamic process than many researchers assumed.

http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2007/314/3

Autistic children can interpret the mental state of others by looking at their eyes

Psychologists found that autistic children can 'read' a stranger's mental state based on that person's eyes. Autistic children have long been thought to be poor at interpreting people's mental states based on facial expressions, especially expressions around the eyes. Some researchers believe that this lack of ability could be due to the social problems experienced by autistic children and adults, but a recent study in Nottingham contradicts this belief.

This study at The University of Nottingham found that autistic children were able to interpret mental states when looking at animated facial expressions. The findings also suggest that the use of moving images, rather than conventional still pictures, gives a much more accurate measure of the abilities of autistic children. Their study indicated that a more accurate measure of the abilities of those with autism can be obtained through the use of sophisticated digital imaging techniques with animated facial expressions.

An estimated 588,000 people have autism in the UK, according to the National Autistic Society. A mental health survey by the Office for National Statistics found the prevalence of children and young people anywhere on the autistic spectrum is 0.9 per cent - almost one in every 100.

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk

Green Tea Cure's HIV? I don't think so...

Well, I found this article from this website http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/healthnews.php?newsid=66540. According to the report, epigallocatechin gallate from green tea stops or at least slows down the spread of HIV infection. Off course, this article claims that drinking green tea probably will not prevent HIV infections, at least not at the level an average person consumes. Why do I find this article interesting? It's another example of useless reporting. I'm so tired of the scientific community publishing these researches that intentionally or unintentionally give uneducated or desperate people false hope. I don't know who to blame, the media or the researchers. While it is true that their research is based on facts, but these kinds of studies are often not repeated by other researchers. They are also too early to claim anything substantial. Why is it even necessary to report this finding other than to mislead the generally ignorant public? The trend seems that our culture embrace this kind of study that either give an excuse or a miracle cure for our problems. It's like Americans just won't admit that they need to drop the cheese burger and exercise or disciplining their children instead of blaming their failure as parents to "mental disease". All in all, I think our modern medicine is moving to towards a dark age driven by politics and sprinkled with magical discoveries.

Drug-Free Therapy to Treat Asthma

A treatment involving radio frequency currents that are applied to the bronchials reduce the amount of smooth muscle that act in the contracting of airways that occurs during asthma. The treatment has been found to vastly reduce the need for medication that would be used in excess in normal situations. Due to the fact tha many people suffer from various forms of asthma, the treatment system may quickly become a widely used system. Reasearchers are pleased with how the treatment method has given effective results, and hope to continue to perfect the use of the system.

Polymers show promise for gene delivery

Researchers at Virginia Tech from the biomedical engineering department, with help from the chemistry and vet medicine are in the process of developing polymers that can ferry genetic material across the cell membrane so that it can be incorporated into the machinery of the cell. These macromolecules can be easily modified to contain a variety of functional elements capable of interacting with biological systems. When these polymers enter a cell, they have the ability to carry new DNA into the cell that may help develop specific proteins that the body may not be currently producing due to a genetic disorder. I find this interesting because so many people that are effected by genetic disorders can find a quick, easy, non invasive cure.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-03/vt-psp031907.php

Conjoined twins to be separated in Ohio

Doctors are preparing to separate twin 3-year old girls, Tatiana and Anastasia Dogaru, who were born joined together at the head. The girls were brought to Dallas from Italy two and a half years ago by the World Cranial Foundation to be assessed for surgery. Craniopagus twins (twins joined at the head) are very rare and occur roughly in 1 in 2.5 million births. Doctors say that the girls can not live much longer as they are; however, there are many risks involved in the separation. The family will go to Cleveland in April, where a group of doctors will perform the surgery. The operation will be performed in stages because there are many risks. The girls share many blood vessels and Anastasia has no kidney function and relies on her sister's kidneys. The twins only share a small amount of brain tissue. The doctors will use skin expanders to make sure there is enough skin to cover the brain after the operation is over. I found this article to be interesting because it is such a complicated physiological problem for the doctors to solve so that both twins can survive.

2 Euro Hearts

All sorts of cardiovascular devices have been developed in the recent years. The Abiocor is one of them. However, the Abiocor address adults. For the infants on the other hand, has the PediaFlow. This device is a PVAD that aims to keep the infant alive while the neonate awaits a suitable heart donor. The PVAD is in the size of a 2 Euro coin and utilizes magnetism to drive the flow of blood. Further references can be made at,

http://www.launchpnt.com/Objectives.375.0.html
http://www.launchpnt.com/Detail_View.43+M573aa3f480f.0.html
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/10040/32215/01511153.pdf?arnumber=1511153

Post created by Seng Hoe Yeoh
(he wasn't able to access his account)

'All for research': Australian Nobel winner was a human guinea pig

Here is that post for the Nobel Prize winner. Unfortunately, this site is not as reliable a source as msn.com or others, but it still shows what happened. This man proved that he was without ulcers before swallowing a culture of bacteria. After doing so, he came down with nausea, vomiting, and stomach pains. The main idea was that this bacteria is responsible for ulcers and not stress. He used an antibiotic to cure what came about.

The interesting part to note about his method is that he swallowed his culture. This is not recommended in any form by any professors-at least ones that I know of. So swallowing his culture means that he must have really believed in his theory in order to prove it. Otherwise, he could have been in a great deal of danger. Here is his quote, ''Somebody had to do it, somebody had to swallow those bacteria and develop the disease,'' Marshall told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

I find his persistence more appealing than the finding.

http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/oct42005/update1042502005104.asp

Martial Arts to Immunity

For centuries Martial Arts have been practiced for various purposes but it had never been known that they also have a side effect to them. This side effect is none other that the boosting of the immune system. A recent study showed that older adults participating in a program were required to perform a certain amount of Tai Chi each day. These were then compared with other older adults that did not. The results showed that the ones practicing Tai Chi had higher immunity to the shingles vaccine. The article also stated that Tai Chi and the vaccine for shingles together enhanced immunity to where it was comparable to a middle aged adult. This and other such remedies and practices are beginning to show significant paths to a healthier and happier life.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=66026

Study questions long-term benefits of heart stents

A recent study showed that the long term effects of stents might not be any better than medication. It was previously thought that stenting, which has more immediate effects than medication, would also be more beneficial in the long term. The study, which was conducted over 5 years, showed that the patients with stents had better blood flow in the area, but the patients suffered the same number of heart attacks and did not live any longer. Additionally, the side effects, such as chest pains, were not significantly better. Although this study raised some doubts about stenting, it also raises confidence in medication.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/27/news/heart.php

Human + Sheep = Chimera

Professor Zanjani, of the University of Nevada, has announced the breeding of sheep which are 15% human by cell count. In the process Dr. Zanjani injects adult human stem cells (derived from the bone marrow) into the peritoneum of the developing sheep fetus. The cells do not fuse, but the human stem cells divide and eventually specialize into the sheep's organs. Most notably the liver, heart, lungs, and brain.

These organs can be matched to the transplant patient and the idea is to improve the human to sheep ratio to improve the incompatibility of the organ. Animal rights activists have expressed concern over the possibility of the human and sheep cells fusing to create some kind of chimera hybrid, but Dr. Zanjani asserts that this is not possible in this method.

Daylight-Saving Shift Might Be Bad for Your Health

I am a little torn on the topic of Daylight Savings; on one hand, I hate getting up when it's still dark, but on the other, I love the evenings being lighter longer. But the issue could be more significant than just personal preference.
This article from Fox News suggests that 'springing forward' the extra hour could have negative health implications. Studies have shown that early morning light is the key catalyst in waking the body; "wakeful hormones" are released throughout the body in increasing amounts coinciding with morning sunlight level. During Daylight Savings, the mornings are necessarily darker. The body does not receive the wake up call it is used to. This difference throws off circadium rhythm, the biological clock, and has untold effects on the body as a whole.
People who have been diagnosed with a form of depression called Seasonal Affective Disorder suffer from feelings of despondency, sleep problems, sluggishness, and cravings for sweets and other carbohydrates. The disease ramps up in the fall and then usually subsides in May; it is directly correlated with daylight. Scientists think that Daylight Savings may force these people to suffer longer unneccessarily.
Daylight Savings may not be all bad, though. Your teeth and bones receive a higher dose of vitamin D from the extra daylight, strengthening them and improving density and overall health. Daylight Savings also saves energy, as humans use less artificial light due to the increased availability of sunlight.
I still support Daylight Savings, but I enjoy watching the sunset on a late summer's night stroll...
There's probably a reason most romantics aren't scientists!
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,257921,00.html?sPage=fnc.science/humanbody

Lasers Revolutionize Acne Treatment

Everyone knows how embarassing acne can be, and for chronic suffers of acne a new treatment has been introduced. They are now using blue lights, pulsed lights and heat energy, and a diode laser treatments. The blue light therapy uses a low intensity blue light for 15 mins but ongoing treatment is necessary. Pulsed light and heat energy therapy uses a combination of pulsed light and heat to shrink sebaceous glands to decrease oil production. Diode laser treatment destroys the sebaceous glands without harming the outer layer of skin. These treatments can be mildly painful. Let's hope this research works and that moderate to severe acne cases can still have hope!

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,261163,00.html

New Artificial Vein for Use in Bypass

In patients with CAD stenting and bypasses are common surgeries. Stenting has become much more common since it is a less invasive procedure, however, results from stenting are almost always inferior to the results of a bypass. With a stent, the patient has a higher cost and the possibility of restenosis, yet this procedure is still much more common than bypass. Scientists at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee have recently developed an artificial vein which could be used in bypass operations. This vein causes blood to flow in its natural corkscrew pattern and will hopefully prevent it from clogging. If trials go as planned, this could impact the number of bypass operations performed since it eliminates the need to harvest a section of the patient's veins for implantation.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6449715.stm

Nanomaterial Breaks New Hardness Record

Natalia Dubrovinskaia of Heidelberg University and colleagues in Bayreuth, Paris and Grenoble have synthesized a superhard nanocomposite made from boron nitride that has a maximum Vickers hardness of around 85 GPa, approaching the hardness of a diamond of 100 Gpa.

Since 1950s, crystalline cubic boron nitride has been used in a variety of important technical applications similar to those of diamond due to its termal stability up to 1650 K, compared with 950 K for diamond. However, boron nitride has not been able to replace diamond completely because its hardness is half that of diamond (50 GPa compared with 100 GPa).

Now, Dubrovinskaia and colleagues have made the first thermodynamically stable boron nitride with a hardness that approaches that of diamond's. The researchers achieved their result by reducing the size of the grains in the material from micron-sized down to the nanoscale.

Full article can be found at:
http://nanotechweb.org/articles/news/6/3/16/1

Cell sounds stimulate differentiation

Studies conducted at UT Southwestern Medical Center found that the sound produced due to randomness of biological reactions acts as a stimulant to differentiation. Randomness in those reactions contributes to biological noise, technically referred to as stochastic fluctuations. To determine the biological role for noise, the researchers analyzed a genetic circuit that controls the transformation of bacteria cells from one state to another. This process, called differentiation, is akin to that used by human stem cells to change into a specific tissue type. It was determined that by dampening the noise level within the bacterial cells, they could prevent the cells' transformation between states, essentially "tuning" cellular behavior.

http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2007/03/23/cells_use_noise_to_make_cellfate_decisions.html

Tanisha Sharma

Nitric oxide may be harmful for lung injury patients

Doctors often use inhaled nitric oxide to treat patients with acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome. No evidence existed as to whether nitric oxide was beneficial until researchers examined 1,237 patients in 12 trials. Analysis of the patients showed that the patients did not benefit from the nitric oxide, but actually were at a higher risk of developing kidney dysfunction. Researchers concluded that it has no benefit in the survival of these patients, and the use of it should be discontinued.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070322191224.htm

Cloaking Device Breakthrough

For the first time, physicists have devised a way to make visible light travel in the opposite direction that it normally bends when passing from one material to another; a phenomenon called negative refraction. It could be used to construct optical microscopes for imaging things as small as molecules and to create cloaking devices. Dionne, one of the lead authors, says that the breakthrough is made possible by the Atwater lab's work on plasmonics, an emerging field that "squeezes" light with specially designed materials to create a wave known as a plasmon. The plasmons carry the light along the silver-coated surface of a silicon-nitride material and then across a nanoscale gold prism so that the light reenters the silicon-nitride layer with negative refraction.
This is really cool....its like something out of star trek!
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070322132145.htm

Lunar dust is deadly

A significant fraction of lunar dust could pose deadly risks to future astronauts stationed on the moon, a BBC News report says. About 1-3% of moon dust particles are too small to be coughed up or removed by the cilia lining the respiratory tract. These would lodge in the lungs and become inflamed. As in silicosis the lung responds by building scar tissue around the particles, but this reduces the effective surface of the lungs for oxygen intake. The fine particles could be absorbed directly into the bloodstream and interfere with hemoglobin’s ability to absorb oxygen.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6460089.stm

Spinal disc transplant

Doctors in China have reported that the world's first human spinal disk transplants are working well. Transplanted spinal disk from two organ donors were transplanted into four men and one woman five years ago. To date there is no sign of rejection and they seem to be working well. Doctor's say more refinement of the procedure is needed before it is widely used. Particularly in the lower spine, where most injures occur, due to the more complex nature of that area.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6483521.stm

~John Austin Mullins

Unique Infant Heart Defect

I came across this article while researching for the device design project. A boy named Zachary Davis was born with a heart defect that puzzled doctors. His coronary arteries formed incorrectly and sent blood to the brain instead of directly to the heart. A normal aorta is just one large tube that makes an arch, but Zachary's branched out. A four hour surgery thankfully corrected the condition. You can check out the details at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/24/AR2005112400899_2.html

Healing Bone with Stem Cells

As we have known that patients with severe fractures can't be healed on their own typically undergo a painful bone biopsy in which a bone fragment is removed from the hip and then transplanted onto the site of the wound. But now we have improvements to an alternative procedure developed could soon make this process obsolete. In the procedure, orthopedic surgeons withdraw bone marrow from the patient and then process and transplant those cells onto the fracture without the need for bone biopsy. Implantable materials that grab stem cells and spur their growth and survival could improve bone-healing surgeries. Linda Griffith and her colleagues at MIT have created a new tissue-engineering material that could help cells survive the harsh transplant environment which is a key step in cell-transplant therapies. Although they are still working on this to be able to extract bone marrow from a patient and, while still in the operating room, filter the extract through a specially designed scaffold that preferentially grabs bone-forming stem cells and boosts their growth and survival. And then the cells can then be directly implanted into the patient. We all hope with this method can help many patients with severe fractures.
http://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/18274/

Early Growth Spurts.. Bad Cholesterol

British researchers reported that children, who are tall as toddlers or grow fast during their teenage years are more likely to have lower cholesterol levels as adults. However, people who gain excess weight after age fifteen run a higher risk of higher cholesterol levels, according to the study. "Children who grew more slowly in height in the first two years of life had higher total cholesterol levels in adulthood. And those who had a high body mass index in adulthood also had higher levels of total cholesterol," said lead author Paula Skidmore, a researcher at the School of Medicine, Health Policy and Practice at the University of East Anglia, in Norwich. For the study, Skidmore's team collected data on 2,311 men and women who participated in the Medical Research Council long term study. Skidmore said it's "vital that parents are aware of the importance of nutrition in pregnancy and childhood." I found this article interesting because taking care of our health, as early as in our childhood years, can be closely linked to the way our health turns out be in the future, as an adult.

Source:http://health.msn.com/centers/cholesterol/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100157013

'Anger' Gene Found in Women

While studying heart disease, researchers found a variation in genes that can make women more hostile. The study looked at how genetics, emotions, and health are connected. This variation gives one piece that can contribute to the puzzle of heart disease. This gene variation affects serotonin receptors on brain cells, which help brain cells communicate. Serotonin plays a key role in sleep, emotions, and physical well-being. It could be possible that a pill or genetic treatment that can make women less hostile. But that would be a tricky topic, seeing as our genes affect behavior and personality, so that would essentially changing a person's personality with treatment. While they have found a variation in this gene, it is nearly impossible that this one gene completely affects a person's personality completely.

http://health.msn.com/womenshealth/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100157863&GT1=9145

3D Visualizations of Tumors

Medical physicists at Rush University Medical Center are using a new technology to help give radiation treatment to cancer patients. This new technology is a 3D visualization of tumors. The machine is called the 'Perspectra.' Currently, doctors giving radiation treatment have to look at many still images and try to piece together a puzzle of where the tumor is located. Doctors seeing the tumors in 3D give two main benefits. The first benefit is doctors can develop a better plan for attacking the tumor with respect to orientation of the radiation beam. The second benefit would be that they would be able to do develop such a method of attack more quickly. The goal of the machine is to target the radiation beams on tumors alone while trying to avoid the surrounding tissues.

Basically, the machine works by displaying 3D holographic images from MRI, CT scans, PET, and X-rays in a 24-inch dome. The 2D images are transferred from a computer to the machine where the information is processed and sent upward to the dome. The information bounces off three mirrors and reflects onto a rotating projection screen inside the dome. Currently, only three medical centers in America have this technology since it is relatively new.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2007-01-08/

After Scrutiny, Preemie Lung Treatments Turn Out To Be Safe, Effective

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=64512

In the past, it was believed that the treatment using steroids (repeated courses of steroids in the womb) on preemies between 28 and 32 weeks to help lungs mature before birth was harmful to the babies' brain; however, this is no longer the case. Prior to the concerns reguarding the safety of this treatment, many mothers in on-and-off preterm labor received several rounds of steroids before delivering. This method of treatment has been abandondoned due to this belief, but new studies show that the babies' brains are virtually unaffected. Because the use of steroids has been limited to one course, more babies are being born in need of ventilation. Now, mothers in preterm labor will only receive a single course of steroids to help strengthen the baby's lungs upon birth. This new discovery reguarding the safety of the use of steroids is important because one of the biggest challenges for babies born preterm is breathing on their own.

Previous studies showed neurological complications from multiple courses of dexamethasone, a steroid prepared with sulfur. However, the steroids now commonly used are sulfur-free. This new study was based on infants who received betamethasone, a sulfur-free steroid, prior to birth, and they did not show the same adverse effects as previous studies from when sulfur containg steroids were used. The only medical difference between those infants who received one course and those who received more was that the ones who received more were less likely to need mechanical ventilation the day they were born.

Metabolomics and Predictive Medicine

http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070226/full/446008a.html

Metabolomics is the study of the substrates, products and intermediates of the body's biochemical reactions. Though the field is relatively new and has been low key compared to genomics and proteomics, its potential for use in diagnostic medicine has encouraged new interest. According to a recent Nature news article, metabolomics may have an advantage in predictive and diagnostic medicine when compared to genomics and proteomics because "small changes in the activity of a gene or protein often create a much larger change in metabolite levels."

The ultimate goal will be the ability to analyze samples of body fluid to assess the relative risk for developing various diseases or adverse reactions to certain drugs. However, in order to reach this goal, a comprehensive database of metabolites and their association with disease at different concentrations must be created. This is a difficult feat because the composition of metabolites in a sample vary depending on the body fluid tested, the time of the day that the sample was taken and the testing procedure used. Furthermore, results are sensitive to short term changes imposed by drug and food intake and may have a great amount of variation between individuals.

The development of metabolomics will require a large amount of data from individuals with different ethnicities and lifestyles. However, it seems to me that one of the big advantages of metabolomics is that the tests developed may be more time efficient and cheaper to perform than tests involving gene expression and protein production.

For kidneys found in one man

21.02.2003

Latvian doctors found four kidneys instead of two for 34-year-old student from Yemen. Hamiam at-Tamla is a student of a high school of Riga, the capital of Latvia. The man went to see a doctor after he felt some pain in his back. Doctors examined the man, X-rayed him, and they could not believe their own eyes: the pictures showed that the man had four kidneys. Doctors decided to carry out another medical examination, although new results did not differ from previous ones at all: the Yemeni man had two healthy kidneys on each side. This is an extremely rare case for medical practice.

The Yemeni man had to deal with “commercial demand” after such a remarkable discovery. Thousands of people that suffer from kidney diseases wait for kidney transplantation operation for years. An operation like that is very expensive – more than ten thousand dollars. The man was asked to share his kidneys with other people. That was not a free of charge offer, of course. However, the Yemeni man turned down each of those suggestions. He said that four kidneys were a gift from Allah and that he could not sell such a gift.

http://newsfromrussia.com/fun/2003/02/21/43595_.html

A New Drug Improves Learning in Lab Mice with Down Syndrome

Pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) is a new drug that greatly and consistently improves the mental ability of lab mice with Down syndrome. Treated Down syndrome mice were found to have the same amount of memory and learning capacity as untreated mice. The benefits of the treatment lasted as long as two months after treatment was stopped. This drug blocks the effects of the inhibitory GABA neurotransmitter, which is believed to be a significant cause of the mental symptoms of Down syndrome. This drug does cause epilepsy if taken in high enough doses, so clinical testing has not yet ensued. This drug, if used in practice, could potentially help Down syndrome patients live more normal lives.

http://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=15578

Vitamins Increase Death Risk

The article talked about the latest research done by Danish researchers about common antioxidant vitamins such as vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, or beta carotene. They compared groups of people taking the vitamins to similar people taking a placebo or taking nothing. From their results of more than 60 trials, they found a significant increase in the risk of death in people taking the vitamins. Vitamin A caused a death increase by 16 percent, vitamin E by 4 percent, and beta carotene by 7 percent. It is also known that over a long duration, these supplements can cause toxicity because of the accumulations of fat soluble vitamins in the liver. Antioxidants can clear up the free radicals, but researchers suggested that removing free radicals can interfere with cell processed like apoptosis or phagocytosis.

For more information about the article, please visit:
http://www.abc.net.au/health/thepulse/s1860137.htm