Early Referral for Kidney Disease

Kidney disease is cyclically degenerative. If the issue is not addressed early the nephrons will degenerate over time until the entire kidney fails. This article discusses the issue of identifying kidney disease earlier in young patients so that steps may be taken to save the kidney before failure. Researchers at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine analyzed 18 separate studies and found that being older, belonging to a minority group, being uninsured and suffering from multiple health issues have a high correlation with late referrals.

The study shows that as much as 80% of patients that are referred to dialysis treatment are referred late to nephrologists. The researchers suggest that patients should be referred to a nephrologist by stage IV kidney, which involves a severe decrease in kidney function.

This brings up an important issue for policy makers and doctors. Referrals need to happen sooner and different guidelines for a referral would be beneficial to patients. Early treatment will not only help slow the disease, but it will also give the patient and his or her family time to deal with a plan for treatment if dialysis is necessary eventually. Dialysis is physically and mentally demanding for patients and families. End stage kidney disease is also the most expensive disease to treat on a per capita basis. Early referral would also give families time to figure out a way to afford the treatment.

Immunoglobulin Therapy

For patients currently on dialysis due to kidney transplant rejection there is new hope. Currently there are 70,000 Americans waiting for a kidney transplant. As many as a third of them are on dialysis because they have too high a level of anti-donor antibodies. Lakeisha Hall, 25, has been on dialysis since she was told she was losing functions in her kidneys at age 15. Lakeisha’s sister, mother and brother have all donated kidneys to Lakeisha; each transplant ends in ultimate rejection, building up more and more anti-donor antibodies.

A new therapy, intravenous immunoglobulin therapy (IVIG), is proving to fight back this rejection, however. The treatment is given during two, four-hour dialysis treatments. The patients are given a mixture of immunoglobulins in blood. These immunoglobulins block antibodies from attacking the donated kidney.

The IVIG treatment allowed Lakeisha to finally go on a long-awaited vacation. She is now doing well and back at work in Louisiana.

http://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=18034

Pregnancy does cause memory loss

(CNN) -- Science has now confirmed what expectant moms already know: Carrying a baby makes them more forgetful.

Researchers suspect that pregnant women's forgetfulness stems from hormone shifts and lifestyle changes.

A recent study by two Australian researchers has found that pregnant women do experience a slight loss of memory -- and in many cases, the forgetfulness continues after birth.

The memory loss is subtle, and usually involves unfamiliar or demanding tasks, Dr. Julie Henry, one of the authors of the study, told CNN on Tuesday.

"What we found is that memory tasks which are more challenging or more novel, or those that would require multitasking -- these types of tasks are likely to be disrupted," said Henry, a senior lecturer in Sydney's University of New South Wales.

For example, a pregnant woman is more likely to forget a new telephone number, but she is able to recall a number she has dialed many times before, Henry said.

Henry and her colleague, Dr. Peter Rendell of Melbourne's Australian Catholic University, analyzed 14 studies from around the world that tested the memory performances of more than 1,000 women -- expectant women, mothers and non-pregnant females.

The study, published in the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, found that the memory loss can extend up to a year after birth.

The researchers could not establish whether the forgetfulness lasts longer because none of the research they analyzed went beyond the one-year observational period.

Henry and Rendell said that more research is needed to determine what causes the loss at such a critical period of a woman's life. It may result from hormonal changes or from a lifestyle shift, Henry said.

"You're probably more preoccupied with the upcoming birth and (how) your whole life is going to be changing," she said. "You're going to have more difficult sleeping. And other studies have shown that sleep deficiency definitely disrupts cognitive performance. There's no reason to think it won't do so during pregnancy."

So, has Henry experienced the syndrome firsthand?

"I haven't yet," she said, laughing. "It hasn't put me off."

Vitamin E Linked To Lung Cancer

A U.S. study of over 77,000 people showed that increasing you daily dose of Vitamin E to 400 mg could increase you risk of lung cancer by 28%. Neither Vitamin C nor folic acid showed an increase in the risk of lung cancer. This study was done over the course of four years on individuals between the ages of 50 and 76. Vitamin E is thought to be an antioxidant, but at high dosages, researches think it could act as pro-oxidant causing damage to cells. Many scientists and researchers are now saying that the appropriate amount of vitamins and minerals can be obtained by a healthy diet and that supplemental nutrients are not needed. "Research repeatedly shows that a healthy, balanced diet can reduce your risk of some cancers while giving you all the vitamins you need," Henry Scowcroft, senior science information officer at Cancer Research UK. In a previous study done in 2002, beta-carotene was seen to increase chances for lung cancer by 18%. This leads us to wonder if there are also many more supplements and vitamins that when taken in excess, actually do harm to the body just like this study showed Vitamin E does.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7271189.stm

Frequency Comb Spectroscopy Detects Disease via Breath Analysis

This article describes a new technique that could prove extremely sueful in teh diagnosis of disease in the future. Cavity-enhanced direct optical frequency comb spectroscopy, is an exciting new area of research that could lead to earlier and more accurate diagnosis of diseases such as asthma, cancer, and diabetes. Scientists from Colorado have engineered this new and potentially powerful method that uses a laser to identify different biomarkers in a person's breath. Cavity-enhanced direct optical frequency comb spectroscopy works by first having a patient breath into an optical cavity. A laser inside the cavity is then transmitted and bounces all around the cavity, covering up to several kilometers, and coming into contact with essentially every molecule in the cavity. The light then leaves the cavity and is analyzed by the scientists. The scientists determine the differences between the frequencies going into the cavity and coming out. These differences enable them to identify different biomarkers in the breath releated to many types of diseases and make an accurate diagnosis. This method could prove to be extremely useful in the futre as an effective, low cost, non invasive mode of diagnosis.

http://www.laserfocusworld.com/display_article/320579/12/none/none/TECHN/Frequency-comb-spectroscopy-detects-disease-via-breath-analysi

Sea Turtle Prosthetic Flipper

While this article has very little to do with humans, I though it was interesting. A 5-inch seaturtle was rescued and had only 1 flipper, thought to be the result of a shark attack. An intern begged to keep the seaturtle around and nurse it back to health, and it is now 10 lbs and has healed well, defying the odds. However it can still only swim in counter-clockwise circles and is not fit to be returned to the wild. Now, the Sea Turtle rescuers are trying to fit it with a prosthetic flipper on its back left limb. A dental expert from UT plans to build a prosthetic flipper from silicon and use dental instruments that are about the right size for the sea turtle's surgery. Placing a second flipper will enable the turtle, who is otherwise developing normally to swim much more efficiently. This has never been done before, and while this sea turtle will never be released back into the wild, this method could be improved and used to help 3 flippered sea turtles that are able to survive in the wild but are less likely to reproduce.

www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,333670,00.html

Targeting Nerve Growth Factor May Lead To Cure For Liver Cancer, Study Suggests

Researchers from the National Research Council of Italy found that nerve growth factor and its receptor trkANGF were expressed in the livers of patients with liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, while they are absent in healthy livers cells. This discovery hints that there is some correlation between the nerve growth factor and the development of the disease, whether it is a cause is unknown; however, researchers believe this finding can possibly be used to develop to interfere with the production of nerve growth factor in the liver and prevent these diseases. Also, it is also believed that this discovery could be used to diagnosis early liver cirrhosis and extracellular carcinoma.

Smallest Infant to Undergo Successful Open-Heart Surgery

Serena Brown was born on December 27, 2001, weighing only 1.4 pounds after only a 25 weeks of gestation period. Brown was one of a set of triplets, all of which had complications at birth. Serena was diagnosed with anomalous pulmonary venous return (a rare congenital heart abnormality where the pulmonary veins are attached to the wrong side of the heart) immediately after birth.

Due to this heart problem, which was not related to her premature birth, doctors decided that the surgery was necessary if she were to have a chance of survival. Surgeons usually don't operate on premature babies less than two pounds, but underwent surgery to re-route her veins as a necessary measure.

Although similar surgeries have been done on premature babies, Serena is the smallest and youngest patient. Serena was healthy enough after surgery to transfer hospitals. Although the surgery was a huge success for Serena and medical sciences, she will still face problems associated with being born extremely premature.

At the time of her surgery, Serena's chest was the size of an adult's palm and her heart was the size of a grape ( or "the size of the tip of my thumb,"said Dr. V. Mohan Reddy, chief pediatric surgeon).

The reason I decided to post on this article was because I was completely fascinated at the abilities of modern medicine. Serena Brown weighed less than 1.5 pounds and her heart was the size of a grape, yet surgeons were able to perform a live-saving open heart surgery to re-route her tiny pulmonary vein from the right atria to the left.


Full article can be found at:

http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2002/2/27/smallestInfantToUndergoHeartSurgeryEmergesHealthy

Tooth In Eye Surgery

This technique is called Osteo-Odonto Keratoprosthesis and it's for treatment of certain blind people.

Basically when you have severe damage to the cornea and other treatments don't work you have the option of undergoing this procedure where they use a plastic optical device and a canine tooth with its surrounding tissue to create a new cornea for you, thus fixing your blindness.

They do it two separate operations. In the first operation scar tissue, the inside of the eyelid, and the corneal surface are all removed. A canine tooth and its corresponding tissue are removed and fashioned so that it can receive the plastic optical device. This is implanted in the cheek so it can get a new blood supply. They then remove a lining from the patient's cheek to cover the patient's eye until the second surgery is done about 4 months later.

In the second surgery they open up lining placed over the eye and remove the inner contents of the eye. Then the tooth device is removed from the cheek and implanted in the eye. The mucosal lining that was over the eye is now put around the implanted device.

It's been around for a while but has gotten a lot of new attention now because if it's relatively high success rate (roughly 65%) and it's low rate of complications.

I found it very interesting that we could create an artificial cornea out of a tooth. Also, sometimes surgeons get a bad reputation for lack of innovation in terms of surgical procedure. They are comfortable using the tools they learned to use and don't like newer ones all that time. I guess in this case the was no new equipment being used but still, a new technique was developed successfully.
http://www.ndc.com.sg/Newsroom/MediaRelease/OOKP25May05.htm

John Li
501

Adult-Onset Obesity Seen In Mice When Gene Disrupted

A recent study at the UT Health Science Center in San Antonio determined that when a certain gene for ubiquitin, a protein that marks unwanted cell proteins for degradation, was altered in mice, the mice experienced cell death in the hypothalmus and adult-onset obesity. This better unveils the role of ubiquitin in these processes giving scientists more to work with when approaching neurodegeneration and obesity. This shows just how much the improper removal of cell proteins affects the integrity of cells. Taking ubiquitin levels into more of an account in the furture could help doctors better treat cell death and obesity.
This first caught me eye because the study was performed by scientists at the UTHSCSA. Additionally, the data applies to our device design project from last semester. Knowing that decreased levels of ubiquitin lead to neurodegeneration and cell death, open up potential approaches at negating neuronal death, especially in the hypothalmus.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080226184602.htm

Medical mystery solved in slaughterhouse

Kruse had worked at Quality Pork Processors, or QPP, for more than 15 years. But the commonalities didn't end there.

The Minnesota Department of Health was urgently brought into the QPP plant, where more than 19,000 hogs are slaughtered each day.

"When we looked a little further, it seemed that these workers were clustered in a particular part of the plant," according to Dr. Ruth Lynfield, a leading epidemiologist at the Minnesota Department of Health.

Lynfield surveyed the plant with QPP President Kelly Wadding. They focused their attention on a section of the plant called the "head table." It was the area where brain tissue was harvested and packaged for export.

The market for pig brain tissue includes the American South, in dishes like brains and eggs. It's also sold in some Asian countries, such as Cambodia and China, to be used in various recipes including stir-fry and stew. The brain tissue processed at QPP was used mainly for export to Asia.

State and federal health authorities have said eating the pork brains is completely safe. It's the specific harvesting method, called "blowing brains," that posed the health risk.

In the procedure, high blasts of compressed air were shot into the head cavity to remove the brains. Sometimes the liquid combined with brain tissue and turned into a mist.

Health investigators said droplets of the mist could have entered a worker's system through the mucous membranes in the nose or mouth. Once in the body, the foreign pig brain matter prompted the immune system to produce antibodies to attack it in a process similar to an allergic reaction.

But the foreign matter seems to have also triggered an attack on the body's nerve tissue, killing some of the nerves and causing the mysterious numbness.

On January 31, 2008, the CDC gave a new name to the unique constellation of ailments: Progressive Inflammatory Neuropathy, or PIN.

read more @ http://edition.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/02/28/medical.mystery/index.html


I chose this article to share because it is yet another example of humans contracting diseases, or medical problems from animals. The scariest flu to come around in a long time is the Asian bird flu, which could be a serious problem if it were to take off. This on the other hand comes from pigs brains, which were ironically going to Asia. It seems they just have no luck. But I thought it was interesting mainly because I myself do not like being around farm animals besides horses, and as far as I know, you cant get a disease from a horse just yet. So everyone look out for animals because they can give you something hurtful.

New Hope for Diabetics

Diabetics, tired of pricking your finger to find out your blood glucose levels? Good news at last.

A new invention which eliminates the need for diabetics to prick their finger check blood sugar levels is currently under development.

Dr. Gerard Cote and Dr. Mike McShane at Texas A&M University are spear-heading this project. The invention consists of two separate devices.



One of the devices is small fluorescent particles which are inserted into the diabetics wrist, six epidermal layers deep. The device has to be six layers deep to prevent it from being shed with dead skin by the body. The other device is a device which shines a laser on the particles, which then glow a certain color depending on your blood sugar level, and translates the particle color into a digital readout.

Best of all is that this project was started a few years before the class of 2010 joined TAMU and we will probably see its fruitation by the time we graduate.

BioTex, based in Houston, is also making a similar device.

The link to the article is:
"24/7 Blood Sugar Test" http://www.rd.com/health/diabetes/blood-sugar-test-medical-breakthrough-/article.html

Picture source:
http://www.bioe.psu.edu/navigate/SeminarsFall2005.htm

P.S. For more information e-mail Dr. Cote at gcote@tamu.edu or Dr. McShane at mcshane@tamu.edu

New Hope for Diabetics

Diabetics, tired of pricking your finger to find out your blood glucose levels? Good news at last.

A new invention which eliminates the need for diabetics to prick their finger check blood sugar levels is currently under development.

Dr. Gerard Cote and Dr. Mike McShane at Texas A&M University are spear-heading this project. The invention consists of two separate devices.



One of the devices is small fluorescent particles which are inserted into the diabetics wrist, six epidermal layers deep. The device has to be six layers deep to prevent it from being shed with dead skin by the body. The other device is a device which shines a laser on the particles, which then glow a certain color depending on your blood sugar level, and translates the particle color into a digital readout.

Best of all is that this project was started a few years before the class of 2010 joined TAMU and we will probably see its fruitation by the time we graduate.

BioTex, based in Houston, is also making a similar device.

The link to the article is:
"24/7 Blood Sugar Test" http://www.rd.com/health/diabetes/blood-sugar-test-medical-breakthrough-/article.html

Picture source:
http://www.bioe.psu.edu/navigate/SeminarsFall2005.htm

P.S. For more information e-mail Dr. Cote at gcote@tamu.edu or Dr. McShane at mcshane@tamu.edu

Severe Asthma Unlike Mild Asthma

Roughly 10% of people with asthma don't respond well to treatment. A recent study from the SARP (Severe Asthma Research Program) showed several things different in people with severe asthma. They are more likely to have air trapping, which seems to be having more anatomical dead space in the lung, thus decreasing efficiency of breathing, and increased likelihood of complete blockage of the airways.

The researchers, based on these results, think that people with severe asthma may actually have a different form of the disease, rather than just a more severe form of the same disease, which would explain why the treatments for traditional asthma don't work well on them.

Honestly, this article interests me most because asthma runs in my family and I have it so I like hearing that research is being done about asthma. Also, the discovery that there might actually be another type of asthma instead of severe asthma will probably lead to improved treatments for people with this new type of asthma if it so.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/31/AR2008013101947.html

John Li
501

First Decellularized Heart Valve Approved in US

CryoLife, Inc., a biomaterials, medical device and tissue processing company, announced that it has received clearance from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its CryoValve(R) SG pulmonary human heart valve. The valve would implement the companies SynerGraft (SG) technology which is designed to remove allogeneic donor cells and cellular remnants from the valve without compromising the integrity of the underlying collagen matrix.
The pulmonary valve directs blood flow from the right ventricle to the lungs. The SynerGraft valve is for use in patients who require replacement of their pulmonary valve because of disease, malformation or malfunction of their own pulmonary valve or as part of another surgical procedure.

Traditionally, when human tissue is recovered from a cadaver for future implantation, it is inspected, cleaned and decontaminated to prevent infection, but the allograft product remains otherwise unchanged. CryoLife Inc. has added a manufacturing step to its CryoValve SynerGraft Pulmonary Valve and Valved-Conduit Allograft (SynerGraft) that decellularizes or removes the tissue's cells and cellular debris. What remains is a scaffold of connective tissue that still functions like a human heart valve, potentially lowering the risk of an immune response and subsequent tissue rejection.

This becomes a popular choice for children because they can avoid the need to take blood-thinning medications on a long-term basis. Also, Allograft heart valves are less likely to calcify than heart valves from a pig or cow.

Read more:

http://www.healthnwstrack.com/health-news-276.html

Double amputee walks again due to Bluetooth

There have been many attempts and solutions to make efficient prosthetic legs for amputees. Recently, two military amputees were given the latest, innovative prosthetic legs. The prosthetic limb is equipped with Bluetooth receivers at the ankles, which has previously been used to allow a single prosthetic leg to mimic the individual's other leg but, in this case, is being use to allow one prosthetic leg to mimic the other. Since the Bluetooth is programmed to move consistently for each leg the stride length, speed and force for going uphill or downhill is balanced. They are initiated with the force of the thigh muscles to get things moving or slow them down, with built-in motors in the legs allowing him to walk longer without getting tired.

Check it out at : http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/01/25/bluetooth.legs/?iref=mpstoryview

Scientist Make Clone Embryos from Skin Cells

California scientist, Dr. Samuel Wood, claim to have produced embryos that are clones of two men. The researchers took skin cells from Wood and another volunteer and produced three embryos, scientifically proven to have DNA matching that of the men. The cloning approach involves inserting DNA from a person into an egg, and then growing the egg into an embryo for about five days before extracting the stem cells. The embryo is a sphere of about of about 150 cells.

Their research is a potential step toward developing scientifically valuable stem cells.
The stem cells from cloned embryos provide a valuable tool for studying diseases, screening drugs and, perhaps someday, creating transplant material.

There are however objections to the research. The cloning include concerns about health risks and exploitation of women to provide eggs. Also, the simplicity of the cloning process comes with it's negative effects. There is a theoretical risk of cancer for the recipients of tissue from these cells.

Link: http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/01/17/cloned.embryos.ap/index.html

Pfizer pulls Lipitor ads

Pfizer recently announced that it is "voluntarily withdrawing advertising ... featuring Dr. Robert Jarvik". This is in response to investigations into ads which promote products through endorsements by celebrities. In the specific case of the Jarvik ads, criticisms included the observation that Jarvik had been providing medical advice to the ads' audience but is not a practicing physician. According to the article, the result has been "misimpressions and distractions". Pfizer stated the true intent of the advertisements was the encouragement of doctor-patient dialogs. 

I find this article of interest first because a similar (if not the same) issue arose during class discussion. I find this article of interest also because it highlights the ethical issues underlying these advertisements: given the ads' general audience, what is the ethical responsibility of the advertiser to this audience in terms of quality/accuracy of information and the presentation of a purported authority on the subject? 

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTON58138020080225

Computers Diagnose Alzheimer's

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7258379.stm
Computers are now able to accurately diagnose Alzheimer's by comparing MRIs taken from patients and comparing those with the MRI of a plaque ridden brain. This method of diagnosis is fast, non-invasive and surprisingly accurate, yielding results as high as 96%.

Got Milk? Got contaminants?

Guarding the nation's food supply has always been a major concern; however, in today's age of international terrorism, it is even more important.

Take milk, for example. Because of the short "cow-to-consumer timeline", milk could easily become contaminated and affect a large number of people before it is detected (2). With over 176.9 billion pounds of milk produced in 2005 (1), or approximately 22 billion gallons that's a big risk!

Fortunately, Dr. David Beebe at University of Wisconsin-Madison has a solution: inexpensive "labs-on-a-chip" that can detect contaminants in milk. With their small size and inexpensive cost of manufacturing, Dr. Beebe and the Department of Homeland Defense hope that these micro-labs can be incorporated into packaging to detect common contaminants.

So once again, thanks to technology and biomedical engineering, you can have your milk and drink it too! Got Milk?

(1) http://www.agmrc.org/agmrc/commodity/livestock/dairy/organicdairyprofile.htm

(2) http://www.bmes.org/WhitakerArchives/news/beebe.html

See through tissue

Scientist at the California Institute of Technology are developing new ways of looking at our body. First it is necessary to understand why we our tissues aren't transparent like a jellyfish. The reason is that our body tissues scatters the photons when they enter our skin and the light rays never converge to form an image. What Changhuei Yang and his colleagues are researching is how to use a photorefractive holographic crystal to piece back together the scattered photons, analogous to making the photons retrace their paths to make the original beam of light. They have ran experiments with a .46 mm thick piece of chicken breast and produced promising results. Also the scientist plan to investigate light sensitive technologies that could be implanted in a human to destroy cancer cells or recharge prosthetic devices.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080212165049.htm

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/97182.php
link to article below :)

Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia Distinguished From Underlying Critical Illness By Gene Chips

Critically ill patients who are need a ventilator to breathe face a high risk of getting pneumonia. Pneumonia is very hard to diagnose due to the patient's condition which basically hides the lung disease by giving inaccurate lab test results and by hiding the symptoms. This is very dangerous because it delays appropriate treatment of antibiotic treatment. Washington University in St. Louis have come up with a new technique using gene technology allowing for doctors to detect ventilator-associated pneumonia. Research suggests that this may open up new ways to detect and treat this seriously illness.

"The team analyzed patterns of expression in more than 8,000 genes as patients on mechanical ventilators developed and recovered from pneumonia. They found changes in the activity of 85 genes could pinpoint early activation of the immune system in response to pneumonia, typically several days before clinical signs of the infection developed. By adding computational tools to their genomic analysis, the researchers also showed they could objectively monitor patients' recovery by graphing changes over time, creating a tool they called the "riboleukogram.""

Ventilator associated pneumonia is become more of a severe problem everyday. More and more patients on ventilators end up getting pneumonia -- almost 30%. Not only does this put a risk to the patients' lives, it is very expensive to keep the patients at the hospital due to the length of stay.

Scientists have tried unsuccessfully to look for a single marker that could diagnose infection in the ICU. The current study is very exciting and helpful in distinguishing infection even before it starts. After a study on patients on ventilators, it was proven that the gene chip works because all of the patients got pneumonia in the next 5 days. Fortunately, the doctors were able to administer antibiotics way in advance in order to prevent the pneumonia.

This study opens doors to more and more different types of gene therapies to diagnose and treat several critical illnesses. Identifying 85 genes that diagnose pneumonia is just one step forward in identifying hundreds of other genes to diagnose other infections before they occur. Genes can also be the key to not only diagnosing, but permanent cures.

MC3 Develops Promising Artificial Lung

Patients suffering from acute respiratory failure or other lung associated complications have few treatment options. Although respiratory assist devices do exists, most require intubulation that leads to infection, are costly, and the devices are immobile. For these reasons, the medical community is in search for an artificial lung. MC3, a medical device company is creating such a lung.

MC3 Biomedical Engineer Scott Merz of Ann Harbor, Michigan has a 5$ million grant from the National Institute of Health to develop such an artificial lung. Currently Merz has developed a soda-canned sized artificial lung containing bundles of polymer fibers that function to exchange carbon dioxide and oxygen as blood washes over them. The BioLung is worn outside the body and attached to larger blood vessels in the chest, arms, or legs. Similar to natural lungs, the Biolung relies on the heart to pump blood through, and this allows the blood to flow naturally between the high pressure in an artery to the lower pressure in a vein. Similar companies testing comparative devices have seen success with temporary use.

Merz states the largest obstacles are finding a membrane that allows oxygen-carbon dioxide exchange without causing blood to clot or damaging the blood. Some research exists in discovering enzymes that, when coating the fibers of the artificial lung, accelerate the removal of carbon dioxide from the blood. However, most lung-assist devices, and potential lung implants are currently for temporary use.


http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-01-29-artificial-lungs_N.htm

Knee Brace Generates Electricity From Walking

Knee Brace Generates Electricity From Walking
Feb. 8, 2008

Research at the University of Michigan has led to a knee brace that captures energy from human movement. This new apparatus can generate enough electricity to charge or use various portable electronics. The brace itself functions like many hand powered but time consuming and exhausting methods, but is implemented much like a flywheel or regenerative braking helps recharge the batteries of new hybrid cars.
Arthur Kuo, author of the paper concerning the mechanism, says: "Regenerative brakes collect the kinetic energy that would otherwise be dissipated as heat when a car slows down. This knee brace harvests the energy lost when a human brakes the knee after swinging the leg forward to take a step. There is power to be harvested from various places in the body, and you can use that to generate electricity. The knee is probably the best place." I find it very insightful how much energy the body seems to "waste" in this area. Kuo also says that there may be other locations in the body where energy like this could be harnessed.
The device supposedly has a drastically lower impact and strain on the body; evidence of said energy not being put to use. "The body is clever," Kuo said. "In a lot of places where it could be dissipating energy, it may actually be storing it and getting it back elastically. Your tendons act like springs. In many places, we're not sure whether the energy is really being dissipated or you're just storing it temporarily. We believe that when you're slowing down the knee at the end of swinging the leg, most of that energy normally is just wasted." Kuo suggested that this proof of concept could be adapted and built into many other functional ideas such as soldiers and hikers who are far from the grid, and powering internal devices such as pacemakers.

article
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080207140751.htm
video
http://gizmodo.com/354097/first-video-of-electricity+generating-knee-brace

Nick Sears VTPP 435-501

Three-parent embryo formed in lab

Scientists have discovered a way to cure mitochondrial diseases in embryos; this method combines the DNA from three humans. The nucleus of an embryo, with the DNA of the mother and father, is removed and implanted in a donor egg. Most of the DNA from the donor egg is removed prior to implantation of the nucleus, except for the part that controls production of the mitochondria. This mitochondria transplant is believed to someday be an effective way to avoid passing down diseases to children. Some problems with this treatment are large abnormalities in the embryos and problems with ethics issues. Carrying out a treatment such as this is comparable to designing a baby how the parents want it. Decisions like this should not even be able to be made; they are a natural part of life that humans should not be able to choose themselves.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7227861.stm

Infants Eliminate Mercury In Vaccines Faster Than Previously Thought - It Does Not Have Time To Build Up In Babies' Bodies

Mercury has been proven to be eliminated faster in infants than we have thought. It has been suspected that thimerosal, a mercury preservative pediatric vaccine ingredient may have been an important contributory factor to rising autism rates in California. However, it seems like thimerosal was not the cause. Mercury has been used as vaccine preservative due to its bacteria killing property but has caused fear that there might be mercury accumulation just like eating contaminated fish. Recent research result indicates that the mercury was eliminated through the gut. A good sign as mercury at high levels is toxic to kidneys. No damage to renal tissues were found, the authors report. Besides, the researchers found that the half-life of ethyl mercury in the blood was 3.7 days, compared to 44 days for mercury found in some foods. Ethyl mercury's short half-life prevents toxic build-up from occurring. Thus, the use of this mercury in vaccines should be causing problems.

Link: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/96003.php

Patient Sets World Record for Living with Heart Assist Device

As of July 6, 2007 Peter Houghton set the world record for living with a heart assist device - it had been seven years since his surgery. Peter was 62 years old when his doctors implanted the Jarvik 2000, which is no larger than a "C"-sized battery, into the left ventricle of his failing heart. The surgeon who performed the procedure has completed more than 70 like it, and is currently researching new assist devices that function as bridges to recovery instead of bridges to transplant. Peter said that "just to open the possibility of long term resolution of a previously incurable condition is to me to exercise the gift of God and a little miracle on its own.”

http://www.texasheart.org/AboutUs/News/Lucky7_device_07_06_07.cfm

Beating Heart Grown in Lab Brings New Hope for Custom-built Organs

Heart Disease is the number one reason for death in the United States. Researches made some very big developments in the last few months in successfully growing a rat heart and making it beat. Newborn rats' hearts were taken out and stripped of the cells. The scientists then injected them back in to the remaining sac. The muscle and endothelial cells aligned themselves back up and the scientists passed an electrical signal through the heart. By two days the hearts started beating. This is a huge development in science today because of the need for more organs for transplant. The donor needers exceed the number of available organs for transplant. I picked this article because it relates to our design project and is a huge advancement for the future.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,322421,00.html

Alzheimer's & Deep Brain Stimulation

Surgeons were performing deep brain simulation on a man in hopes of controlling the regulation of his appetite. While performing the operation they at one point applied deep brain stimulation on the implanted electrodes and the patient recalled detailed memory from decades ago. With more stimulation, he remembered more details. The electrode contacts that induced the memories were in the hypothalamus close to the fornix, a bundle of fibers that signal the limbic system. Weeks after the hypothalamus stimulation the patient scored higher on learning tests. The patient was also tested and shown to remember unrelated paired objects while being stimulated rather than not being stimulated.

I think this is very exciting news, and it shows how much there still is to learn about the brain. This is definitely brings forth the possibility for a new treatment direction for Alzheimer’s disease. Also it could eventually be used for people with amnesia or other memory loss issues. This may also bring to light research on how else to stimulate this region besides the use of electrodes. Another way of stimulation may be more effective. It will be interesting to see how long the increased memory lasts without continual stimulation. Also, as it said that he could remember more “unrelated paired objects” while he was stimulated, it may someday make non-impaired memory people want to undergo treatment to get ahead or have a superhuman memory.

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/story?id=4217967
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/95762.php
Original published Article: "Memory Enhancement Induced by Hypothalamic/Fornix Deep Brain Stimulation," Clement Hamani, Mary Pat McAndrews, Melanie Cohn, Michael Oh, Dominik Zumsteg, Colin M. Shapiro, Richard A. Wennberg, Andres M. Lozano, Annals of Neurology, January 2008.