Heart Cells Display a Behavior-Guiding "Nanosense"

Bioengineers at Johns Hopkins University, along with colleagues in Korea, have developed a laboratory chip with nano-sized grooves that allow them to grow heart cell cultures that more closely resemble those of heart cells grown in vivo. The seed heart cells used the grooves and ridges to collect information as to what direction to grow, requiring no use of chemical signals to direct growth. This development allowed the researchers to speculate toward end goals of alternative methods of treatment or diagnostic tests for heart disease. Although the cultured heart cells do not exactly mimic those of naturally grown cells, the cells do possess some of the physiological characteristics of an actual heart in a living organism.

I think that this development is a great step toward alternative methods of treatment for heart disease. The fact that the growth of the cultured cells can be directed simply by the physical characteristics of the laboratory chip, without additional impetus (such as chemical signals) means that the bioengineers can direct the growth in distinct ways. The fact that the cultured cells also closely resemble their natural counterparts leads one to a possible conclusion that if the technique is advanced and refined, the process could be used to develop an artificial heart that more closely mimics a naturally grown heart in a living organism and can then be used for transplant. The heart cultures can also be used to multiply a given heart cell to aid in the diagnosis or potential treatments which might be better alternatives to heart transplants. The development looks to have wide-reaching applications and hopefully will provide for a decline in fatalities due to heart disease whether through earlier diagnoses or by treating conditions, or even possibly full-scale heart development for transplant.

URL: http://gazette.jhu.edu/2009/12/14/on-new-lab-chip-heart-cells-display-a-behavior-guiding-%E2%80%98nanosense%E2%80%99/

"Luke Skywalker Arm" Ready for Clinical Trials

Dean Kamen, an engineer at DEKA research, was asked by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to create a better prosthetic arm. After two years of research and innovation, his "Luke Skywalker Arm" has received more funding in order to start clinical trials. This state of the art prosthetic allows amputees to pick up objects as small and thin as razor blades, as heavy as a gallon of water, and as delicate as a grape. Patients are even able to reach above their head, which has not been possible with previous prosthetics. The device is the size and weight of a regular arm and has 18 out of the 22 degrees of freedom as a normal human arm. The shoulder to elbow, elbow to wrist, and hand are all wired separately in order to accommodate all arm amputees.

I found it interesting that most amputees, after receiving a prosthetic arm, stop wearing it after a couple years because it is so uncomfortable. This was one of Kamen's main focuses, because even the most advanced prosthetic is useless if no one uses it. He came up with a new type of socket that will be more comfortable for wearers. The arm can be surgically attached to residual nerves in the patients stump, so that they get neural feedback from the prosthetic. It can also be attached without surgery, with a little vibrating motor placed where the real part of the arm meets the prosthetic to give the patient feedback on how hard they are gripping an object and adjust accordingly. Kamen and DEKA research are optimistic about the future of the device.

Stents As Effective as Surgery for Clogged Carotid Arteries

There was a study recently done at Loyola University that compared traditional surgery with stenting to clear clogged carotid arteries. The study, named CREST (Carotid Revascularization Endarterectomy vs. Stenting Trial) was done in a nine-year period throughout the United States and Canada. It is one of the largest studies of its kind. The CREST study found that the safety and efficacy of both procedures were similar.

Carotid arteries on each side of the neck supplies blood to the brain and as a person ages, plague can build up. It causes the artery to stiffen and narrow, increasing the risk for stoke if the artery gets blocked. Sometimes pieces of plague can break off and travel to the brain causing a mini-stroke, called a transient ischemic attack.

The standard treatment is doing an endartectomy, which is when the surgeon peels out the plague deposit by removing the inner lining of the clogged artery. Another newer treatment would be using stents inserted via catheter. The stent expands inside the artery and increases blood flow.

The two different procedures have their advantages and disadvantages, depending on the patient's age and health. Since this study shows that a traditional surgery and inserting a stent are both effective, the doctor and patient have more freedom to choose which procedure to undergo depending on his or her medical condition. This is important because the treatment strategy is able to be more individualized to the patient. An important outcome from this study was the discovery that there were more heart attacks in the surgery group, while the stenting group had more strokes.

I found this article interesting because I was not sure whether surgery or stents were more effective to clear up clogged carotid arteries, since stenting is a more recent treatment method. My grandparents have had heart problems, so I wondered whether stenting or surgery would have been more effective. Since the treatments are able to be individualized to the patient, based on his or her age and medical condition, doctors would be able to select the best treatment based on the person more often than depending on only one treatment and what needs to be done.

This article was found at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100226161439.htm

Making Running Painless

Since the beginning of this semester, I have been training for my first indoor triathlon. Part of my training is running every weekday, and ever since that first day my main inhibitor has been shin splints. For those who do not know what shin splints are, they are a pain that develops on the medial edge of the tibia or in laymen’s terms the inside edge of the shin. I have searched the internet to find a solution to my problem and came across this article written by Mark Jenkins, MD at Rice University.

The article says that when you are running every time your foot strikes the ground a shockwave that travels up your leg and must be absorbed by your musculoskeletal system. It is this shockwave that causes the shin splints. The article stresses that if you want to prevent shin splints avoid running on concrete because concrete is extremely hard and in turn creates large shockwaves. Instead try running on soft grass, smooth dirt, or even asphalt (which are listed in order of softest to hardest). If you run you should wear a good pair of running shoes because most have shock absorbers, and you should replace worn out running shoes early sooner than later to reduce the length of time you are running with defective shock absorbers. If you have shin splints the only treatment is rest, so increase the increments between running either by resting or replacing running with other cross country exercises like cycling. If shin splints are affecting your day to day activities you should stop running until the pain subsides. Keep an eye on the pain, if it becomes very sharp and localized in a very small place you should see a doctor because your shin splints may have turned into a stress fracture.

The article gave great insight on prevention and treatment of shin splints. Starting tomorrow I will be running on the grass instead of the concrete to reduce the shin splints and hopefully be able to run for longer periods of time. Remember if you have shin splints then you need to significantly change your training routine to prevent them from developing into a more severe problem.

Reference Article:
http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/shin.html

Heart Healing

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/07/14/hannah.clark.heart/index.html

This article is about a young girl who underwent heart transplant surgery nearly 11 years ago in which the doctors performed a procedure that wasn’t widely accepted in the day—they put the donor heart in along with her heart. The procedure is called a piggy back. The problem with her heart was that it wasn’t contracting at all and couldn’t supply the necessary pressure to supply the body with blood. The doctors were hoping that by allowing the heart to rest for the time, they could get it to heal on its own.

The only problem with the situation was that she had to be on continuous immunosuppressant that left her body vulnerable to attack. Over the next few years, the girl contract several diseases including cancer that left her both emotionally and physically depleted. Around 10 years after the transplant, the immunosuppressant stopped working properly and the body began rejecting the heart. Not exactly sure what to do, the doctors tried something that hadn’t been attempted yet—they took out the donor heart, theorizing that the heart would have healed itself over time by resting and would be able to take over its job.

The crazy thing was that it actually worked. After taking out the donor heart, the girl’s own heart began pumping and over the next couple years took over the job so well that she was recently cleared from the hospital and released with a clean bill of health. The miracle of the heart’s ability to heal and its vigorous ability to withstand almost anything if given the proper time baffles the medical community over and over again.

INFLAMING DANGERS OF A FAT-LADEN MEAL

Newly discovered scientific information could help break the enduring links between obesity and heart disease or diabetes. A report in the February 24th edition of Science Translational Medicine has basically stated that a high-fat diet can cause macrophages in an obese person’s adipose tissue to produce proteins that help induce heart disease and possibly type 2 diabetes.
According to Preeti Kishore, an endocrinologist in at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, the levels of “free fatty acids, such as triglycerides, rise after a high-fat meal” and can even stay elevated to many-fold the normal level in an obese person. When the macrophages (part of the immune system) in these people’s adipose tissue detect these high levels of fatty acids, they respond by making proteins called plasminogen activator-inhibitor 1, or PAI-1. This protein is known to prevent blood clots from breaking up, essentially “cancelling out” the necessary amount of anti-coagulant in the blood. These unbroken clots can go on to cause heart attacks or strokes. Another negative effect of these proteins is the release of inflammatory proteins TNF-alpha and IL-6, which are “thought to play a role in type 2 diabetes in obese people” by making them more insensitive to insulin.

It has been known for some time that there are more macrophages in overweight peoples, but it has been a mystery as to what they actually do for quite a while. This study suggests that macrophages act as processors of information between the extracellular and intracellular environments. They monitor the levels of certain substances in the blood, and they in turn “ask” the cell in which they live how to “tell” the immune system to react.

Research done in Kishore’s lab has confirmed that the “disease-linked proteins” are indeed produced in excess and are prompted by fatty acid-rich diet after intravenously feeding a fatty acid solution to a group of people with an average BMI of 28. Biopsies showed that macrophages are definitely the source of the proteins. However, they also require a signal from the fat cells before they can make the protein, which is still a mystery to the researchers.

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/56595/title/Inflaming_dangers_of_a_fat-laden_meal

Picture:

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/access/id/56597/name/ts_adipose.jpg

Trevor Lancon
VTPP 435-502

Hormonal Switch for Men

Scientists recently discovered a great deal about androgenic hormones in the testis of male mice. This information is very promising in showing how the androgenic hormones in humans behave as well. If scientists can further discover the details of this hormones behavior in humans, they can hopefully use this information to begin research on infertility studies and even a male contraceptive.

The androgenic hormone is the hormone present in male testis that controls the sperm production and male fertility. The study recently conducted on mice took place in the Centre for Reproductive Biology at the Queen’s Medical Research Institute in Edinburgh, United Kingdom and consisted of two different groups. The first group was a number of regular male mice, with all hormones and genes present. The second group was a number of male mice that were missing a gene from the peritubular myoid cells in the testis. This gene holds codes for the androgen hormone receptor, and therefore it is responsible for a great deal of sperm production. During the study, the male mice without this gene had a very low sperm count and thus were infertile. Those with the gene were still fertile and had a significantly higher sperm count. Prior to this test, information about the exact hormone and location of such high level of sperm production were not known. With the addition of this information, further research on infertility and contraceptives can begin using the androgenic hormone as a good candidate for that research to be centered around.

I think that this is really interesting research because you never really think about why there is no “the pill” for men, but it never occurred to me that it’s because they didn’t know enough about the male reproductive system. The great thing about this research is that not only could this create a male contraceptive, but it could also help those people that have struggled with infertility for a better part of their lives.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091130112419.htm

Robin Terry
VTPP 435-502

Scientists Unravel Mysteries of Intelligence

The concept of "general intelligence" has been the subject of much debate in the scientific community for decades. Scientists have wondered what exactly in the brain is the telling sign that one person will have more intelligence than another. Recently researchers have discovered that connections between the frontal and parietal lobes of the brain correlate heavily with an increased general intelligence. Thus these connections, as opposed to any specific part of the brain, are most important in determining the intelligence of a given person. These connections explain why people who are considered "intelligent" are usually good in a variety of subjects as opposed to just one.

This study involved subjects who had brain lesions, or parts of their brain that had been damaged. The patients were required to take IQ tests and then their results were studied and compared with the location of their lesions. This allowed researchers to map out the areas of the brain that had the most effect on the subjects' performance on the test. Once again, these areas were located on the frontal and parietal lobes of the brain. As one of the researchers in the study pointed out, these lobes are very important for language and mathematics. Another researcher pointed out that these results were not unexpected, but were "confirmation that good communication between between various parts of brain are very important for this generalized intelligence."

This article interested me because I have been curious about the factors that contribute to intelligence. I've always wondered why people can be taught the same material, but perform so differently on tests. Obviously this has something to do with how much effort a person puts into learning the material, but this study also causes me to believe that the idea of "general intelligence" has something to do with how well a person understands the material. This study also interests me because I find it amazing how scientists can map the brain and determine what areas contribute to certain areas of intelligence. As technology advances, I'm sure that scientists will continue to make strides in neurological research and continue to unlock the mysteries of the brain and how it works.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20100226/hl_hsn/scientistsunravelmysteriesofintelligence

Michael Cook
VTPP 435-502

Ultrasound Speeds Drainage of Brain Hemorrhages

Sonothombolysis is a “technique that combines ultrasound pulses and injection of a thombolytic directly into a hemorrhage”. This is a new treatment technique that Doctors are researching at the Swedish Neuroscience Institute in Seattle. Although their results and conclusions are still preliminary, it has appeared to be safe and could be a new way to treat hemorrhages in the brain.

This method has not yet been tested for people with intracerebral hemorrhages just yet, but it has been successful for treating clots in legs and pulmonary emboli. They also, however, have been testing the safety for using this as a treatment. They insert two catheters through a burr hole directly into the intracerebral hemorrhages. In one catheter, low doses of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator were given directly to the clot. Ultrasound pulses were applied through the catheter to help speed the action of the drug. Finally, the dissolved clot drained through the second catheter. Doctor David Newell, MD and co-executive director, wants to administer a clinical trial, with more patients.

I find this article interesting because my older brother had an intracerebral hemorrhage. He was first diagnosed when he was 5 years old. At the time, they thought the brain surgery they did fixed it. However, he woke up one morning to a terrible headache when he was 16. He had multiple surgeries, and the doctors ended up removing part of his brain, replacing it with bovine. My brother is blind in his left field of vision and has a slight speech impediment, apart from that he functions like an average human. The method that Doctor Newell is testing seems less harmful to the brain, and much more focused on getting out just the actual hemorrhage. I hope that more research will be able to be done so that this could be a successful method.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/ASA/18688


Eva Szabuniewicz
VTPP 435-501

Forced Oscillation Technique may be able to detect early smoking-induced respiratory changes:

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a growing cause of mortality worldwide and is considered a major public health problem. Usually, the study of the mechanical properties of the lung (resistance, compliance, etc.) has relied more on spirometry than the forced oscillation technique (FOT). This article suggests that the FOT could be used as an alternative to spirometry in identifying early stages of COPD. The advantage of identifying COPD sooner is that it is more 'reversible' when less damage to the lungs has already been done. More specifically, this article explores FOT's ability to detect changes in the mechanics of the lungs due to smoking-a main cause of COPD. The article says that "the study shows FOT can be used to detect early smoking-induced respiratory changes while [the] pathologic changes are still potentially reversible".

What is FOT? From what I read, FOT uses small-amplitude pressure oscillations superimposed on normal tidal breathing to measure respiratory mechanics. The main advantage of FOT is that the burden on the cooperation of the patient is less than compared with spirometry. In spirometry, the patient has to take large breaths, exhale and inhale with maximum effort, etc. FOT just requires tidal breathing. The article also claims that the measurements of FOT are more sensitive than spirometry measurements.

This article interested me because it centered around topics that were discussed in class and brought them into a more 'real' perspective. For example, the article used FOT to show approximately how much lung resistance and compliance changed with how many packs of cigarettes a given patient smoked per year. Hopefully, as more advanced methods of measuring lung mechanics are developed to measure the effects of smoking, the danger of chronic smoking will become more apparent to the general public. Maybe this could facilitate less chronic smoking and less of a healthcare burden in the future? Maybe not? Either way, the article suggests that more widespread use of the FOT will facilitate scientific advances in lung physiology and treatment/prevention of COPD.

Michael Serafino

VTPP 435-502

URL:

http://www.biomedical-engineering-online.com/content/8/1/22

Know Thyself

A psychologist at the University of Washington at St. Louis has shown that we might not know ourselves as well as we think we do. Simine Vazire found that although we are more capable in assessing ourselves in regards to things like internal or neurotic traits, our friends are better tellers of traits such as intelligence and creativity. Vazire even went as far as to say that strangers are just as capable of assessing one's extroversion as our friends and even we are. Vazire said "Personality is not who you think you are, it's who you are." She thinks that just because you get to "write the story" you don't get to dictate your personality, personality is the reality of who you really are. She goes on to explain that everything you do leaves marks of your personality, your clothes, your hair, your Facebook, etc. You give off traits of your personality that you might not even know your self. You leave behind so many clues as to your personality it's difficult not to believe that your friends might know you better than you know yourself.

Vazire developed a model called the self-other knowledge asymmetry (SOKA) model. With it she tested 165 volunteers who were each given a different task. They then took an IQ test, participated in a group discussion without a leader to see who would emerge as a leader, and they took a Trier social stress test, where trained experimenters filmed the volunteers in a small room as they spoke of what they liked and didn't like about their bodies. Every volunteer then grades every other person on their personalities using a 40-trait personality rating form.

Her tests found that people are very inept at telling of their internal personality traits like sadness, fear, etc. The test also found that we have a very hard time judging ourselves in areas that are desirable or undesirable, things like intelligence, humor, and creativity. Vazire thinks these traits are so hard for someone to judge because of the fact that they affect your life so much. You lead an extremely different life based of whether or not you are smart or funny.

This test makes me wonder if people may have extremely warped concepts of who they really are. Could it be possible that I have no concept of many parts of my own personality?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100226093235.htm

Charles Brown

'Ministrokes' may cause more damage than thought

Many people recognize the symptoms of a stroke: numbness, slurred speech, death, etc. The symptoms of a ministroke are much easier to dismiss. With numbness or dizziness lasting as short as a few minutes, the person suffering the ministroke could attribute the symptoms to some other cause. It has long been thought that the damage inflicted by ministrokes was insignificant, but recent studies indicate that they may do a lot more damage than we initially thought. Standard cognitive tests show minimal decrease in brain function, while other tests, designed to test “executive function”, show that as many as 40% of those who suffer from ministrokes may experience brain damage.

I find this interesting because my grandma used to have ministrokes, and her doctors told her that they were, in themselves, harmless. The doctors said that the ministrokes were a risk factor for a “real” stroke, but that they were not doing any damage. It is interesting to know that they may have been doing damage all along.

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/56598/title/Ministrokes_may_cause_more_damage_than_thought

Wi-Fi Pacemaker

This July a wireless pacemaker, able to communicate critical data through Wi-Fi, was approved by the FDA. This wireless pacemaker was designed by St. Jude Medical Inc. with the idea of creating a pacemaker able to communicate with the doctor. This pacemaker uses the internet to communicate a patient history to the doctor. The pacemaker shows the doctor the patient’s rhythm history and any abnormalities with the device once the information is downloaded. The pacemaker can also alert the doctor if an emergency is occurring via a 24/7 telephone call. For instance if a patient is sleeping at home and the pacemaker has a critical malfunction, for instance a lead becomes defective, the device uses a nearby wireless network to alert the patients doctor. Carol Kasyjanski was the first patient in the US to have one of these pacemakers implanted in her. She has had an older pacemaker for 20 years until it failed. She says that having this new technology gives her great relief that if something goes wrong the doctor will know. This wireless pacemaker is opening a door to new technology such as being able to use these pacemakers to regulate slow heartbeats but also monitor blood pressure, glucose levels, and even heart failure.

I found this article interesting for several reasons. I one day hope to become a Cardiothoracic surgeon, so naturally reading an article on a new advancement in cardiovascular technology would be very interesting. I also find this article interesting from the stance of being an engineer. I can appreciate the hard work and ingenious engineering that went into designing this device. I also find this article more interesting after studying the cardiovascular system in class. Now that I have a better understanding of the organ system I have a much greater appreciation for this technology.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,538908,00.html?sPage=fnc/health/heart
Andrew Ritchey VTPP 435-502

New Cancer Targeting Drug

Dr. Keith Flaherty of the University of Pennsylvania now has 17 people in his drug trial of a cancer treating drug called PLX4032. The work on this drug has been several years in the making, and it is not a new concept. However, the patients in the clinical trials for this drug have improved dramatically. PLX4032 is a very specific drug, made by Roche, that targets the B-RAF gene mutation common to melanoma, thyroid, colorectal, ovarian, breast, and lung cancer. Not every patient that has these types of cancers necessarily has the B-RAF mutation, but about 50% of melanoma and thyroid cancer patients have it. It is identified as one contributing mutation to the formation of cancer.
The initial troubles of the drug trial were in 2008, when the drug was being administered at lower doses. Dr. Flaherty pushed for higher doses, eventually resulting in a drug 10 times as potent as the original. This new form of PLX4032 is the one currently being used in trials. The results have been promising, with many of the melanoma patiens in the trial showing no internal or external tumors in the last few months.
While this is a promising drug for cancer treatment, the problem is specificity. This drug is targeted to a specific genetic mutation, which may or may not be causing the cancer in the patient. In order to even consider the drug, the tumor's have to be biopsied and identified as containing the specific genetic mutation. However, as more drugs like this one come out, hopefully a more universal genetic treatment for cancer can be adopted. This is the main reason this article interested me. I think it is amazing that drugs can alter or stop certain genes to help treat diseases such as cancer. In the future, these drugs have the potential to cure a vast number of genetic diseases.

David Szafron

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/22/health/research/22trial.html?pagewanted=1&ref=research

Removal of Lymph Nodes may lead to Increase in Endometrial Cancer Survival Rate

Studies in Japan have shown that removing both the pelvic lymph nodes and the para-aortic lymph nodes can lead to a decrease in endometrial cancer recurrence. One study in particular had a sample size of 671 patients, with 328 of them at medium to high risk of having a recurrence, this subset of the group was also given additional treatments, such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

The study showed no increase or decrease in mortality or recurrence for those participants with a low risk of recurrence in the first place, but for the medium to high risk patients who had both lymph nodes removed, there was a 56% decrease in mortality as compared to those who only had their pelvic lymph node removed. Doctors think this may be due to drainage from the pelvic area finding its way to the para-aortic lymph nodes, and the drainage from the cancerous area could lead to infection in the para-aortic lymph nodes.

I found this article interesting, because not only do I plan on going into oncology, but I also researched endometrial cancer last semester for the student lecture presentations, and found this research quite fascinating in accordance with what I learned last semester.

Link to Article

Maegan Griffith

VTPP 435-502

Exercise Helps Protect Brain of Multiple Sclerosis Patients, Study Suggests

In addition, MRI scans of the patients showed that the fitter MS patients showed less damage in parts of the brain that show deterioration as a result of MS, as well as a greater volume of vital gray matter.

"We found that aerobic fitness has a protective effect on parts of the brain that are most affected by multiple sclerosis," said Ruchika Shaurya Prakash, lead author of the study and assistant professor of psychology at Ohio State University.

"As a result, these fitter patients actually show better performance on tasks that measure processing speed."

The study, done with colleagues Robert Motl and Arthur Kramer of the University of Illinois and Erin Snook of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, appears online in the journal Brain Research and will be published in a future print edition.

The study involved 21 women diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS. They were compared with 15 age- and education-matched healthy female controls. The study assessed fitness, cognitive function, and structural changes in all participants.

In order to measure fitness levels, the participants underwent a VO2 max test, in which they rode a stationary bicycle until they felt exhausted. During the test, they breathed into a mask which measured their oxygen consumption.

All the women also took a variety of tests designed to evaluate cognitive functions, such as processing speed and selective attention. In one test, for example, participants had to write down in one minute as many words as they could think of that began with the letter "F." MS patients generally perform poorly on these tests compared to healthy people.

The third analysis involved MRIs of the participants, revealing any damage to their brains.

As expected, the MS patients did much worse than the healthy controls on the tests of brain functioning, and showed more deterioration in their brains as revealed through the MRIs.

But what was interesting, Prakash said, was the significant differences between the more aerobically fit MS patients and those who were less fit.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100218141813.htm

This article was specifically appealing to me because Multiple Sclerosis was my student lecture disease last semester. I found it interesting that daily exercise can influence physiology of the brain. Though it is apparent that exercise helps the mind, I was not aware that it played a factor in physical aspects as well, for MS is when the myelin sheath of neuron deteriorates.

Mayo Researches Find Obesity Key

The researches at Mayo along with other universitys have collaborated, and discovered a molecular mechanism that controls enrgy expenditure in muscles and helps determine body weight. This exciting discover cold lead to a new method of obesity treatment. ATP-sensitive potassium channels are able to sense areas with high levels of ATP, and adjust heart and muscle performance accordingly.

In animals such as humans, excess energy is stored and this channel helps our bodies to use energy more effeciently. In theory, if one was to be missing these channels, they would be able to consume more, store less, and therefore, not gain any weight.
The study was originally done on mice by Dr. Alekseev ho was able to inactivate the KATP channels in some of the mice. He observed the mice with the inactive channels to be leaner throughout their life span.

I found this article to be extremely interesting. If we reach a point where weight can be controlled medically, there will be no motivation to excersize or eat well. I am curious to see how this plays out ethically in our society. Can this be a beneficial contribution to moden medication, or are we heading towards the feared world Aldous Huxley speaks of in "Brave New World"?

Erica Williams
VTPP 435

http://insciences.org/article.php?article_id=8073

Is Platelet-Rich Plasma an Effective Healing Therapy?

Platelet-rich plasma therapy or PRP therapy is where a sample of the patient's blood is centrifuged into separation and then the concentrated platelets are injected at the site of injury. This is said to work due to growth factors that the platelet secretes. This therapy is usually used as a healing aid after injury to the spine and soft tissues but, also becoming popular in the use of sports-related injuries such as tendonitis. In the case of tendonitis, the therapy is said to help because the tendon does not get a good blood supply making it harder for it to heal on its own. So by injecting the platelets into the area there is a greater chance of healing due to the growth factors the platelet provides. This therapy however, is under supported in research as of right now. The research that has been done on this subject did not have a control goup so the current results could be caused by the placebo effect and the actual healing of the tendon to be from other healing factors in the body. It was also stated that just by injecting the needle to the site would cause bleeding which would improve healing anyways due to the sudden increase in blood flow to the area.

I think this article is interesting because scientists may be onto a way of repairing tissues like the tendon which in the past has been extremely hard to fix and usually done so by surgery to reattach the torn parts with artificial materials like elastic bands. Even if the platelets being injected didn't really help, wouldn't just sticking the area with a needle be sufficient enough to improve healing? That way you wouldn't have to spend time and money extracting blood and centrifuging it.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=platelet-rich-plasma-therapy-dennis-cardone-sports-medicine-injury

Dermal Tissue Engineering

One recent 3-D cell culture that has shown a lot of promise in dermal tissue engineering is a honeycomb collagen scaffold which was used for a 3-D culture of human skin fibroblasts. This is a biodegradable, mechanically stable, and biocompatible scaffold that allows cell proliferation, adherence, multiplication, development, and the continuation of the cell’s properties. Using a 3-D cell culture on a biodegradable scaffold allows the cells to proliferate and develop into a structure similar to the tissue in the human body.

In their experiment regarding 3-D cell cultures, the human skin fibroblast cells were first propagated in medium and cultured on cell culture dishes. Then, a honeycomb collagen sheet was placed on the proliferating fibroblasts and the fibroblasts adhered quickly to the collagen sheet. The honeycomb collagen sheet was 1 mm thick and the pore size was about 300µm. Then they proliferated inside the pores through the interior walls of the honeycomb and they grew into a composition similar to dermis. The honeycomb collagen sheet was biodegraded by the proteases produced and released by the proliferating fibroblasts.

There are many advantages to using a honeycomb collagen scaffold. One is that it has the capability to get rid of wastes and transport nutrients to the skin cells. Another advantage is that the honeycomb collagen scaffold kept its structure throughout the two months of the experiment without collapsing or deforming. Also, dermal tissue engineering on collagen scaffolds has low antigenicity and preserves live cells for a long period of time. Overall, this design provides the skin cells with the appropriate mechanical support and allows for optimal cell proliferation as in living dermal tissue. This topic interested me because I find it fascinating that they can grow dermis from human skin fibroblast cells.

http://josorge.com/Papers/JBMR.pdf

New Way to Predict Women's Heart Risk

A new set of guidelines to help predict a woman’s risk for heart disease has been published by the AHA. The study was conducted by Judith Hsia MD at the George Washington University Medical School. This new approach is used to simplify the classification for both the doctor and the patient. A patient can be placed in one of three categories; high risk, at-risk, or optimal risk. High risk means that a woman has cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease. At-risk women have more than one sign leading to heart disease. Some of these examples are: cigarette smoking, obesity, family history, high blood pressure, poor diet, or high cholesterol levels. Optimal risk women live a healthy lifestyle and exhibit no risk factors.

This Framingham Heart Study has been going on since 1948. The seven characteristics that are used to determine heart problems over the next 10 years are: age, gender, total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, Systolic blood pressure, need for blood pressure medication, and cigarette smoking. This method was compared to the more complex AHA guidelines and provided very similar results. While both methods can still be used, the simpler one should become more popular.

http://women.webmd.com/news/20100216/new-way-to-predict-womens-heart-risk
-Kelli Martinez
VTPP 435

Doctors Struggle to Treat Gram-negative Bacterial Infections

This article begins with the story of Richard Armbruster, who went to the St. Louis hospital for a hip replacement and ended up dying two months later from an infection. The bacteria that killed him is one of many that are becoming more lethal to hospital patients. This group of bacteria, called Gram-negative bacteria, are receiving little attention from pharmaceutical companies because they do not appear as deadly as other infectious organisms like MRSA. Hence, there is little research going into the development of cures for Gram-negative bacteria, which is especially frightening considering that these germs are evolving and becoming more resistant to existing medications.

Research on Gram-negative bacteria is particularly distressing. The SUNY Downstate Medical Center has found that more than twenty percent of infections in Brooklyn hospitals that are caused by a particular strain of Gram-negative bacteria are essentially resistant to all antibiotics. Although there are few American statistics on the effects of Gram-negative bacteria, European hospitals have conducted surveys on the subject. They have found that two-thirds of 25,000 deaths caused by “some of the most troublesome hospital-acquired infections.”

MRSA is still a threat, of course. It continues to be the primary source of hospital infections, and, unlike Gram-negative bacteria, can infect people outside of hospitals. In comparison, gram-negative bacteria usually only infects hospital patients with weakened immune systems, though it can survive long periods of time on surfaces and “enter the body through wounds, catheters, and ventilators.” The main problem lies in Gram-negative bacteria’s resistance to antibiotics.

Resistant strains of these bacteria must be treated with colistin and polymyxin B, which are now rarely used because they can cause kidney and nerve damage. Their infrequent use has prevented the bacteria from evolving much resistance to them yet. Unfortunately, if the infection is life-threatening, doctors must treat the patient and take the risk of causing other damage to their organs. Additionally, in some cases, the bacteria prove to be resistant to even these medications.

The severity Gram-negative bacteria infections has even caused some patient advocacy group to express that hospitals need to take better preventative measures against infection and not overuse antibiotics. One such example is the Safe Care Campaign, started by a couple whose son died of a Gram-negative infection.

I chose this article because I found it to be very disturbing. I find myself frightened by the fact that people in hospitals are dying from infections that are proving to be increasingly resistant to antibiotics. These bacteria are simply not receiving the attention they deserve. When doctors sometimes have to resort to antibiotics that may permanently damage the patient’s kidneys in order to fight a life-threatening infection, something is wrong. Additionally, there are very few facts or figures on the effects of these bacteria, and the few that exist show very distressing results. Overall, I think that this article demonstrates a huge deficiency in bioengineering.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/27/business/27germ.html?adxnnl=1&ref=health&adxnnlx=1267326152-N7DdMbEEWXgJaXwaWMZK8A

Nicole Wanlass, VTPP 435-502

Major study of carotid stents may help local medical device makers

Recently, a study was performed involving 2500 patients concerning the benefits of carotid stents versus surgery to un block clogged arteries. The study is called the Carotid Revasulariztion Endartectomy (versus) Stenting Trial, or CREST. CREST compared the results from patients who had stents put in to those patients who underwent endartectomies. This surgery involves a doctor cutting into the blocked vessel and removing the deposited plaque. When stents are implanted, a small ballon is first inserted in to the vessel, inflated to expand the artery and then the stent itself is implanted to keep the walls open. It was found in this study, which was the “largest randomized study of its kind,” according to MedCity News, that stents and surgery were equally effective at preventing long term strokes and heart attacks. However, results also show that in patients 69 and younger, stents were slightly more effective, and with patients 70 and older, surgery was slightly more effective. It has been debated for a long time, which method was better at treating blocked arteries, and CREST was able to provide reliable answers to this debate.
I found this article to be of particular interest to me because several of the professors I currently have, and had in the past specialized in cardiovascular research including stent studies. Also, we recently learned about this topic in depth in physiology class, and it was a very interesting section. It is truly amazing how the heart works and how it physiologically interacts with other parts of the body to keep us alive.

Link to article: http://www.medcitynews.com/index.php/2010/02/major-study-of-carotid-stents-may-help-local-medical-device-makers/

Charlcie Northrop
VTPP 435-502

Fun with Microscopic "Ears"

At the cusp of revolutionizing our perception of the microscopic world, the scientists from three different universities in the UK are building an ear capable of capturing microscopic vibrations. A whole array of cellular conditions or responses could become classified based on the sounds that are made. Like a doctor capable of listening for rales in the lungs, microbiologists would pick up a sound associated with a disruption of cellular processes. The effects of drugs on a cell, effects of mechanical stimuli, and.

The technology for these ears was not built from the ground up; rather, it is a new application of existing technology. Scientists have been using optical tweezers to measure small forces. By measuring beads in the laser light of the tweezers, scientists can measure their movement as they are jostled by microscopic events. A ring of beads is used to surround an event of interest. Upon completion, the scientists plan to listen to the movement of flagella on E. coli. This might improve on the existing method of attaching beads to the tails to watch them move, which requires genetic alterations of the bacteria.



These little ears offer a robust and easy application. The scientists working on them hope that one day they will become standardized equipment in laboratories alongside the microscope. In a sense, it’s just a way to heighten a sense we had never before utilized in microbiology. Ultimately, it will add a new angle to understanding the field.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8529232.stm

Jason Dwight
Section 502

Activation and Silencing of Neural Networks via Optogenetic Neural Implants

Modern medicine employs contemporary neural implants to treat neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. These devices enjoy a limited range of success by shocking the targeted neural networks until basic functionality resumes. However, the technology has not yet advanced to the stage where individual neurons can be stimulated; the result is interference that can hamper observation of some of the milder electrical signals. In light of this problem, researchers at Medtronic are developing a neural implant that uses visible wavelengths to influence the behavior of neurons. If a few genes are introduced into specific clusters of neurons, these cells will begin to respond to specific visual stimuli. Blue light induces the neurons to fire while yellow light silences the cluster. The light is provided by an implanted fiber optic wire.

The findings from the optogenetic neuromodulator study have immediate market potential in improving the electrical stimulators that are already FDA approved and in circulation. Even so, one of the primary objectives of this research group is to develop optogenetic devices as an independent treatment method for neural disorders. Before the product can become viable, Medtronic will first need a gene therapy vector to modify the targeted neural network. Fortunately, gene therapy is the focus of several large industrial and academic institutions, and the outlook for optogenetic neuromodulators is looking good.

Genetically modifying neural networks to respond to light stimuli is awesome. This project encompasses cutting-edge technology and aspirations and yields tantalizingly tangible results.

I found this article at http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-02/new-optical-neural-implants-use-light-manipulate-brain

- Scott Blasczyk, VTPP 435-502

Singing Therapy Helps Stroke Patients Regain Language

When a person suffers a stroke, often the first thing that they lose is their ability to communicate through speech. Recent studies have shown that one of the best ways to teach patients with severe brain impairments to speak again is through the use of singing therapy. One of the main reasons this treatment works so well is because music and language are very intricately linked in the brain and singing is able to activate more regions of the brain simultaneously than almost any other activity. Activating regions of the brain is extremely important because, although the left side of the brain plays the major role in language and speech, the right side has the ability to compensate for left-side deficits. The phenomenon of stroke patients being able to sing but not speak has been observed for generation but only now is the scientific reasoning for this clear.

I was so interested in this article because I have actually seen a stroke patient be able to sing certain songs but not verbally communicate to their caregivers. This shows how awesome the human body is and how it is able to evolve and change in order to meet a person’s needs. It is estimated that singing therapy could benefit 60,000 to 70,000 people a year, and if this is truly the case, this treatment could be a great breakthrough in stroke rehabilitation.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/02/22/aaas.music.language/index.html


Brittany Guth
VTPP 435-501

The Jaipurfoot: A $40 Solution to a Priceless Problem

This article is about a new development in prosthetics, which may have significant utility in developing nations. Scientists in Northern India have developed a new prosthetic foot, also known as the Jaipur foot in order to help amputees to work towards living normal lives. This is especially important in a developing nation such as India, as the reason many amputees there remain in the same condition is that they are unable to pay for any new prosthetics or aids. Because they remain in the same state for the rest of their lives, their struggles can affect them, especially in a psychological sense. This prosthetic is especially innovative, as most of the materials used to build it come locally, from sources such as wooden crates, water tanks and tire rubber. As we have seen in the recent Haitian earthquake tragedy, when a developing nation is afflicted with a disaster of high magnitude, the citizens become utterly helpless. In 2001, there was similar damage in the North Indian state of Gujurat, and many of the victims, some of whom lost limbs during this disaster were unable to recover. Many of these amputees are farmers by trade, so when they are affected by the loss of a limb, they are unable to continue on in their work, and this of course is devastating. The prosthetic was designed to meet the needs of such farmers, especially those who work in rice fields, which tend to be wet enviroments, and has been designed so that these farmers can continue on with their normal lives. The normal cost of a prosthetic, especially in developed countries can be between $8000-$9000. This is why the price of the prostheic, termed the “Jaipur Leg”, after a city in Northern India is especially shocking. $40. Within about a months time, the amputee fitted with the Jaipur Leg is able to resume normal activites such as farming and running.

I found this article interesting because it is an example of how innovative solutions can be found to many widespread problems at a very cost effective manner. Also, as an Indian-American who has visited India several times, I have been made aware of the number of amputees in India, which by proportion is much much higher than the number of amputees here in the United States. Biomedical innovations such as the Jaipur Foot can help the poor get back to their normal lives, which is especially important for the poor, who rely heavily on their professions to give them their basic needs.

Source:http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100224/india_nm/india464236

Picture:
http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/patient-wears-prosthetic-limb--known-quotJaipur-Footquot-hospital-Mumbai/photo//100224/ids_photos_india/ra3800819082.jpg//s:/nm/20100224/india_nm/india464236

New drug could drastically improve the survival rate among wounded soldiers.

Hasan Alam of Massachesetts General Hospital in Boston has conducted research on a new drug that prevents the body from going into shock after massive blood loss. When normal humans lose excessive amounts of blood their bodies go into shock, an emergency condition designed to raise blood pressure and conserve energy. The problem with this self-preservation mechanism is that it can become lethal if the person cannot receive adequate treatment quickly. It takes, on average, four hours to transport an injured soldier from the battlefield to medical care; many soldiers die during this time. In theory, a drug that could prevent a human from going into shock could significantly increase his or her odds of surviving the trip to medical care.

Alam's research into rats with massive blood loss has demonstrated that valproic acid may be the ideal drug for halting shock. Rats treated with valproic acid were better able to survive injuries and blood loss. Similar studies performed in pigs also showed promise. Pigs treated with valproic acid had triple the survival rate or pigs treated with saline after both groups had 60% of their blood drained.

Alam is currently testing the drug to see if it has any long term health effects. If none are found, he plans to request human trials.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527454.200-drug-could-turn-soldiers-into-supersurvivors.html

Activities of the Heart and Brain during Love

The brain sends signals to the adrenal gland, causing it to secrete hormones such as adrenaline, epinephrine, and norepinephrine which will flow through blood causing the heart to beat faster and stronger. These same hormones are the same as the ones activated during flight responses or during a workout. The article also mentions that in cases of heart problems such as blood vessel blockages, the heart rate can lead to a heart attack.

Even when thinking back on the thought of the significant other, the effects of the hormones can still cause the blood rate to go up. Another unique feature of some hormones such as oxytocin and vasopressin is that they may linger in the body causing continued effects of love. For example, a one night stand may lead to more due to the lingering effect of the one night stand causing the person to feel responsible for the activity.

Also, it was shown that romantic love can last for years, despite popular belief that it dies after a varying amount of years. This was shown in the same hormone production of those married for 20 years as opposed to only a few.

Lastly, it was also shown that romance is a good thing. Those with romance have lived longer and healthier lives with fewer heart problems and lower blood pressures.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/02/12/love.heart.brain/index.html?hpt=C2

SIDS, or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, is when an infant, under the age of 1, suddenly dies with an unknown cause of death. Researchers at Harvard analyzed tissue samples of infants who died from SIDS and a small group who died from other causes. They found 26% less serotonin than in a normal infant in the brain stem of the infants who died from SIDS. The Harvard researchers also found that the infants who died from SIDS had lower levels of an enzyme involved in synthesizing serotonin. According to Dr. Hannah C. Kinney at Harvard, SIDS is a disease process that can be studied with scientific process, creating a great headway for preventing SIDS. Harvard researchers also hope that this study will lead to the development of screening tests to identify at-risk infants. However, Kinney also says that the discovery does not mean that infants should not be put to sleep on their backs.


From: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/health/research/09risk.html?ref=research
"Risks: Study Looks at Serotonin and SIDS Death"

Sarah Biemer
VTPP 435-502

Heart Contraction and Heart Failure

From: www.sciencedaily.com "Protein Identified that Helps Heart Muscles Contract"

In class, we have been learning about the cardiovascular system and how the heart works. Published on Feb 16, 2010, UCSF researchers discovered that B1N1 is a protein necessary for proper heart muscle contraction. They confirmed the idea of the "calcium highway" theory in heart muscle contraction, and they found that the protein B1N1 is essential in making sure this process works properly. They found that when they altered the B1N1 in a heart muscle, the muscle mimicked what happened during heart failure. This is very important in understanding what goes on exactly when a heart goes into heart failure. I this article is interesting because it reiterates how the body is a careful balance between substances, and if one little thing is altered, it can have a huge effect on the body. Understanding these little balances is key in the future development of medicine, and I think this is a very interesting field of study.

Stents open clogged arteries

Stents are scaffolding devices placed in blood vessels to treat conditions such as atherosclerosis or stenosis which block or narrow the arteries. Essentially, they work by opening up the artery again to increase blood flow through the vessel. These medical devices have become popular among the media within the past weeks as a result of former president Bill Clinton undergoing a procedure to have two stents placed in a coronary artery. This operation was necessary because Clinton underwent a quadruple bypass surgery in 2004 to bypass four clogged arteries. It is not unusual for bypass grafts to have fairly short life spans before complications arise. According to Dr. Michael Lee, the associate director of interventional cardiology research at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, the surgeons opted to place stents in most likely because one or more of the bypass grafts may have been completely obstructed. Dr. Jonathan Reiner, the cardiologist of Dick Cheney, added that Clinton’s symptoms, which included chest “discomfort”, were typical signs of angina or ischemia, conditions which result from a decrease in blood flow to the heart due to an obstructed coronary artery. Other/additional treatment includes blood thinners such as aspirin or heparin and bed rest, and with this treatment, a majority of chest pain goes away.

Website: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/02/11/chest.pain.clinton/index.html

Nathan Poon
VTPP 435-501

3-D Scaffold Provides Clean, Biodegradable Structure for Stem Cell Growth

Nearly all of the embryonic stem cell cultures that were used in 2005 were contaminated with animal byproducts. This is a big problem considering that they were created with the intention of being implantable. But even today, scientists place a lot of importance on preventing cell culture contamination. For the research world however, “animal-based ‘feeder layers’” are still commonly used because they are an inexpensive way to get stem cells to replicate.

Biodegradable tissue engineering scaffolds are devices that encourage the growth of a specific cell type. These scaffolds aim to provide cells with a mechanical environment that favors their replication. Ideally, a particular cell culture will proliferate very quickly on its scaffold. Scaffolds are an indispensable consideration for any biomedical application that requires a large number of cells. Researchers at the University of Washington have successfully created 3-D biodegradable scaffolds that copy the stem cells' natural environment, and the results are very promising for stem cell renewal. The harvested daughter cells were tested in mice and preserved the properties of the original culture.

It is not easy to imitate the in vivo conditions that favor embryonic stem cells growth. These conditions are not easily replicated in 2-D. Three dimensional scaffolds are a new and active area of research, and are proving to emulate the native environment of these cells quite well. As of right now, there is no scaffold that perfectly mimics the natural matrix found in a human embryo.

This article interests me because of the limitless potential that such a technology can provide to our discipline. These scaffolds are biodegradable, and can be implanted into the human body. Different scaffolds give many different types of cells, depending on what the application requires. The ultimate goal is to be able to tailor a given scaffold to the particular need of the patient, quickly grow tissue on this template, and insert it into the body to regain original function.

http://www.genengnews.com/news/bnitem.aspx?name=74539484&taxid=49

Heartmate II

The FDA recently approved a new left ventricular assist device (LVAD) called Heartmate II for patients that are not only waiting for a heart transplant but also for those who are not eligible for a heart transplant. This LVAD is surgically implanted in the left ventricle and connected to the aorta assisting the heart’s function by the use of a small motor that creates a continuous flow. The whole device is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. The motor is composed of a rotor that is powered by an electric current while suspended by a magnet. The recent approval for patients who are ineligible for transplants came because “46% of patients implanted with the device were still alive two years later.” This news is important because there is a large demand for donor hearts and these could be used instead, and these devices would not require immunosuppressant drugs; however, anticlotting medication is necessary. Another possible long term complication is that the device creates a continuous flow in the arteries and there is no determinate data that shows that this is safe for long term care. This article interests me because it shows the rapid advancement of medical care in cardiology toward the eventual development of a completely implantable artificial heart.

Sources:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34958522/ns/health-heart_health/

http://www.heartfailure.org/eng_site/whats_new_heartmate_ii.asp

http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/ProductsandMedicalProcedures/DeviceApprovalsandClearances/Recently-ApprovedDevices/ucm074231.htm


Stephen Infanger

Mango Effective in Preventing, Stopping Certain Colon, Breast Cancer Cells, Food Scientists Find

This article talks about the effectiveness of using mangoes to attack cancer cells and use them stop these cancer cells. Mangoes at first weren't thought of as a "superfood" like acai and pomegranate because they do not have as many antioxidants as such foods have. But when Texas AgriLife Research food scientists researched the mango some more, they found that it prevented or stopped the growth of cancer cells mostly in the colon and breast.

The mango polyphenol extracts impacted different cell lines at different levels. Colon and breast cancer cells were most impacted by the polyphenols in mangoes. These cells underwent apoptosis
(programmed cell death) when the mangoes were tested.

Even more positive is the fact that mango polyphenols do not harm normal cells. They just kill the cancer cells when in reasonable amounts.

When studying the gallotanins in the mangoes, it was found that they stop the cell cycle at the point where the cells are dividing. It was a big breakthrough that they were able to find where the effectiveness of the mangoes occured.

The next step in the process of this research is to conduct a small scale clinical trial and then a large scale clinical trial with patients.

I thought this article was very interesting because it shows the effectiveness of natural foods as medicine as opposed to drugs made in a lab. If this research continues to prove that mangoes can help prevent and stop cancer cells from growing and multiplying then the price of cancer treatment would be much less than it is right now. Recently, the craze to eat healthily and antioxidant rich foods has gotten very large, but now that the research is showing that the effect of these superfoods could actually be very effective, then I feel more people will make healthy eating more of a lifestyle change than a short term fad that they lose after a short time.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100111154926.htm

Jessica Sabbagh
VTPP 434-502

Silver nanoparticles as batteries

Dr. Esther Takeuchi was a key developer in the lithium/silver vanadium oxide battery that are currently used in the implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs) that are placed in over 300,000 patients every year. The current battery lasts around 5-7 years and then must be replaced and Dr. Takeuchi decided that there must be a better design that will net a longer lifetime and higher current. Her team of her, her husband Dr. Kenneth Takeuchi and Dr. Amy Marschilok explored ways of fine tuning bimetallic materials at the subatomic level.
They have created a material that is 15,000 times more conductive upon initial battery use due to silver nanoparticles. Takeuchi who is very enthusiastic about her work made this quote, "We may be heading toward a time when we can make batteries so tiny that they -- and the devices they power -- can simply be injected into the body."
The batteries are still in a testing phase where the team is trying to boost the stability of the battery and then are tested in ovens that mimic the human body temperature.
The batteries are hopefully going to be able to treat a variety of diseases not just in the heart, but in the brain, such as strokes or even obesity.

I chose this article because in class we were discussing these types of devices and were debating if the battery could be implanted into the patient and with Takeuchi's work it may be possible.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/178894.php

Low I.Q. Predicts Heart Disease

February 10, 2010, 1:23 PM

Low I.Q. Predicts Heart Disease

By TARA PARKER-POPE

Smoking, obesity and high blood pressure are well-known risk factors for heart disease, but now British researchers have identified a powerful new predictor of heart problems: low intelligence.

In a new study, a low I.Q. score was a stronger predictor of heart disease than most traditional risk factors, second only to smoking. The study tracked 1,145 men and women in Scotland over 20 years, documenting I.Q., weight, education and income as well as traditional heart risk factors like obesity, high blood pressure and smoking.

Low physical activity doubled the risk for heart attack, whereas risk was about three times higher for people with high blood pressure or low income.

However, low I.Q. was a much stronger predictor than these traditional risk factors. People with lower I.Q.’s had four times higher risk of heart disease. By comparison, smokers were nearly six times more likely to have heart problems, according to the findings published in The European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation.

Why would low I.Q. predict heart risk? Researchers pose a number of theories. It may be that some of the factors in early life that lead to low I.Q. may also lead to poorer heart health.

“I.Q. is a marker of lifetime insults, physiological insults,’’ said David Batty, a Wellcome Trust fellow and scientist at the Medical Research Council in Glasgow, the U.K. government’s national health research agency. ”We know kids with poor diets, kids who have repeated infections, have a lower I.Q., so it could be an I.Q. is capturing something about lifelong misery.’’

People with lower intelligence also are known to adopt less healthful behaviors — they smoke and drink more and are more likely to have a poor diet. It may be that people with low I.Q. have a more difficult time understanding complex health messages and don’t fully understand the long-term health effects of an unhealthy lifestyle.

The U.K. researchers have also posed a provocative theory that a high I.Q. is not just a marker for a better education, higher income and overall better life circumstances. It may also be that a high I.Q. is associated with better overall neurological and physiological “wiring,’’ meaning all the body systems, from brain to heart to liver to kidneys, function at a more efficient level.

For instance, some studies suggest that people with high I.Q. also have faster physical reaction times.

“Scores on those kinds of reaction time tests are also predictive of heart disease,’’ Dr. Batty said. “If you have a better functioning brain, you may have a better functioning heart — physiologically, maybe the integrity of the whole body is superior.”

Dr. Batty noted that the study wasn’t intended to explain why low I.Q. predicts higher heart risk. The study also didn’t specify specific I.Q. numbers that predict heart risk, only noting that those on the lower end of the I.Q. spectrum in the Scottish study were at higher heart risk.

Future areas of study may focus on whether raising I.Q. with early life interventions can affect long-time heart risk. Simplifying health messages to better reach people with lower intelligence may also be a solution.

“We’ve done a lot of research showing I.Q. is a powerful risk factor,’’ Dr. Batty said. “But we were surprised it was higher than things like obesity and high blood pressure and poverty.’’

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/10/low-i-q-predicts-heart-disease/

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I thought this article was very interesting because it talks about possible predictors of heart disease. In the article the author explains how the researchers actually thought that low I. Q. scores was a better predictor than most risk factors. Of course the author does explain that the lifestyle the person leads is highly dependent on their I. Q. since normally a higher I.Q. person has better opportunities. I thought the connection these researchers made from I.Q scores to directly Heart Disease problems was very interesting since not a lot is understood in many heart disease problems such as Hypertension.

David Figueroa

Heart Stent Research

New advances in medical research have brought heart stents to the forefront of heart health. Research is now being conducted to improve drug-eluting heart stents to reduce the risk of blood clots forming after stents are placed.

A team of researchers is testing whether coating heart stents with a human protein could prevent the re-narrowing of coronary arteries after balloon angioplasty procedures.

The project brings together scientists William Fay, a professor of internal medicine, medical pharmacology and physiology, and director of the division of cardiovascular medicine for MU; Daniel Lawrence, a professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Michigan; Douglas Bowles, an associate professor of biomedical sciences at MU; and Brian Wamhoff, an assistant professor of cardiovascular medicine and biomedical engineering at the University of Virginia.

A heart stent, an alternative to invasive bypass surgery, is used to reopen blocked arteries. The stents are placed after an angioplasty — a procedure in which a small balloon is fed through the femoral artery to the blocked artery and then inflated to reopen the artery.

In the past, angioplasty has been the only treatment. But in recent years, doctors have been using the balloons to place stents, which prop the artery open to keep blood flowing.

Bare-metal stents consist of wire mesh without any type of coating. This type of stent can allow the smooth muscle cells that cause arterial blockage to re-form.

“Small cells can regrow through a stent like snowflakes getting through chicken wire and building up,” Fay said.

Drug-eluting stents are coated with drugs that inhibit cells from dividing and causing re-narrowing in the cleared arteries.

"However, these drugs also inhibit the growth of the endothelial cells that coat the inner lining of blood vessels," Fay said, "which renders the artery vulnerable to blood clot formation, which can cause heart attack."

The researchers hope the human protein being studied, called plasminogen activator inhibitor 1, or PAI-1, will halt the growth of bad cells while still encouraging the good ones to grow, Fay said.
Lawrence, from the University of Michigan, has been studying PAI-1 in his lab for more than 20 years and is hopeful it can control cell growth.

The three-year PAI-1 project will be funded through a grant from the MU Life Sciences Research Trust Fund and will be carried out in two parts.

Fay and Lawrence will continue their research on PAI-1 and its effects on smooth muscle cells and the effects of drug-eluting heart stents on blocked arteries. On the other end of the project, Bowles, the associate professor of biomedical sciences for MU, will study live results of angioplasty in pigs.

Both Fay and Lawrence have worked with mice in the past. But for the studies to advance, “the subjects have to graduate and become something more akin to humans. Pigs are the closest subject for this,” Fay said.

The project has been many years in the making. It's being carried out with extreme care for humane treatment of the animals, with the help of MU's vet school, Fay said.
MU "is the only (university) in the state and one of the few in the nation where both (a medical school and veterinary medicine school) exist on the same campus,” Fay said.

Advances in medical technology aren't the only goals of the project. The researchers are hopeful the collaboration of multiple scientists across the nation will lead to the creation of more interactive research groups leading to new developments for small businesses that could provide the new technology for these projects, as well.

"We're looking beyond our own molecule," Fay said, "to serve the broader community for advancing science and technology."

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2009/03/25/drug-eluting-heart-stent-research-project-begins-mu/


This article intrigued me because it is related to the heart physiology we have recently been studying and it is something I want to focus on. This research will further advance the use of stents and bio materials. With this research invasive open heart surgery's won't be as necessary because the stents will fix the problem and the drugs will keep the arteries from re-narrowing.

Shan Murtaza Rizvi

Stem Cells Rescue Nerve Cells by Direct Contact

A group of Swedish doctors experimenting with stem cells has uncovered something especially cool- implanted stem cells can actually repair diseased and dying neurons. The exact method hasn't been uncovered yet, but it's been suggested that the new cells develop into neurons that will communicate with and replace the dying cells. An alternate proposal suggests that the developing stem cell secretes neurotrophic factors that in a sense heal the stem cell's dying neighbors. Lab tests showed that the new stem cells formed gap junctions with dying brain tissue, and that only the tissue with these new gap junctions survived, while the rest of the diseased neurons inevitably died. The experiments were performed by monitoring implanted mice and human stem cells in brain tissue cultures and by using rodents with brain disease/trauma as substitutes for real human brain illnesses.

This "hits a nerve" with me, so to speak, because I myself plan on researching neurodegenerative diseases when I grow up. This article is exciting but frustrating all at once; I don't condone having children just to harvest their organs. As Kirk once said to Spock after the crew of the Enterprise risked their lives to save him, "The needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100201171754.htm