Genetic Trigger of depression

Researchers from Yale University have identified a gene that may contribute to the onset of depression and a target for new antidepressants. When a person suffers from depression, this new found gene appears to block the pathway neural pathways.

After testing 21 deceased individuals diagnosed with depression 18 had the gene MKP-1 more abundant in the brain tissues. The gene inactivates a molecular pathway crucial to survival and function of neurons and other disorders. More interestingly after they were able to knock out the gene in mice, the mice were more resilient to stress and if gene was activated they would mimic symptoms of depression. The interesting fact about curing depression, a rather common mental disorder is that it has so many symptoms and differs among individuals. The most commonly used antidepressant works to inhibit the uptake of serotonin. By narrowing down the cause of depression, we scientists present a more precise method of treatment without the possible side effects.

Depression is a rather interesting topic because as of a few years ago it wasn’t completely understood, and treatment was difficult. Defining such an ‘emotional’ and dilapidating disorder due to a chemical imbalance was amazing and the ability to actually pinpoint and possibly silence the gene that causes it might just make for the creation stress resilient humans.

Christine Otieno

Source: http://www.neurointerests.com/?p=481

Pfizer's drug causes more damage than good; recalled

Pfizer, a prominent pharmaceutical company, has put out a recall of its Thelin drug. Thelin's purpose was to be used for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension. Pfizer is the same company behind Lipitor, Celebrex, Viagra, and other high-money-grossing drugs. Post-market research and clinical trials have shown that this drug causes potentially life-threatening liver damage. They have willingly recalled Thelin from the market and have stopped clinical trials worldwide.

This report can be taken in multiple ways depending on one's views of large corporations.
The goal of medicine is, in fact, to help the ailed individual. If a "medicine" causes more harm than good, then it is breaking the first oath that doctors take in helping the sick. In a positive light, it is reassuring to know that a big corporation is willing to make a recall like such when reports come in of danger and sick individuals. At the same time, it can be said that they only did so to save face on their recognizable brand name.

Debatably, this company is may be money hungry and is willing to do what it takes to get their product out to the market, even before adequate testing is done. As the pharmaceutical company that is #1 in sales, they should have more accountability for their products. They have the resources to be able to test their products fully before releasing them to the market for wide-scale consumption. I wonder how much of a role capitalism has in the consciousness of the leading health care companies. Hopefully the biotechnology companies of the future will hold their product to a high standard and not release nano bots that could possibly backfire before proper testing.

Taraz Nosrat

article:
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pfizer-stops-clinical-trials-of-thelin-and-initiates-voluntary-product-withdrawal-in-the-interest-of-patient-safety-111660124.html

Utah Study Shows Progress in Spray-On Stem Cell Healing Tech

From minor to major lacerations, abrasions, and burns, the typical answer is to sterilize it, and wrap it in a bandage. While antiseptics have improved immensely (from near non-existence little more than a century ago), the bandage itself has remained fairly unchanged.

However, doctors at the University of Utah’s Burn Care center have been developing an alternative to the cloth bandage. Instead, they are utilizing stem cells—the differentiable generic cells that can replace any tissue in the body. Stem cells failure in becoming an the 21st century panacea is mostly due to not to their limitations, but our inability to effectively apply them where they need to be. In this new method, the team at Utah creates a cocktail of the body’s own healing agents, and sprays them directly on the wound in a regenerative mist.

Combining the patient’s own platelet cells and progenitor cells, and adding calcium and thrombin, the solution can effectively treat topical burns. In tests, the spray proved to be effective in treating small burns, and seemed to increase the success rate of skin grafts.

I found this article interesting because I like old-fashion technologies to be improved upon. Skin wounds heal so slowly because getting regenerative material to the necessary location is non-specific, and inefficient. The regenerative agents in the blood stream must notice the damage as they pass by, and push their way through many layers of cells to reach the wounded location. This method applies the healing agents directly to the point of interest, which should help protect the wound and allow it to heal faster. This project isn’t too far along; only treating small burns, and not covering bleeding wound, but they have ambition for larger wounds. Burn applications are the best development here at home, because burns are least helped by bandaging and the slowest to be healed by the body. But a universal, regenerative bandage of skin could have untold applications in the military, where care needs to be quick, efficient, and get people back on their feet.

Source: http://www.ksl.com/?sid=13424065&nid=148

Stem Cells to help Damaged Hearts

Glenn Gaudette, who is the assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, along with a research team, has potentially found a way to use stem cells in repairing damaged tissue, more specifically cardiac muslces damaged by heart attack. There method uses human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs), which come from the bone marrow and are pluripotent.

The first methods included injecting the cells into the bloodstream or directly into the heart, however this did not prove sufficient because less than 15% of the cells survived or were washed away.

To solve this problem, the team developed a scaffold made of biopolymer microthreads. These are made up of fibrin, a protein that helps blood clot. These threads can be manipulated into different tensile strength and dissolving rates. The research team took out the bundles of thread after they were placed in human tissue to find that the majority of the stem cells remained alive. Another advantage to using the hMSCs on these small bundles is that the microthreads began to differentiate into different types of cells as if to support the cardiac muscle.

This article was very interesting to me, especially since we have discussed stem cells and differentiation in class. It pertains to me because these are the projects and research that I could be doing in the future.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101209113546.htm

Alicia Capps

Purifying Stem Cells

New studies are being shown that scientists have figured out a way to isolate neural stem cells. These stem cells could help treat nervous system diseases such as Parkinson’s or Huntington’s. The researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center have been able to take neural stem cells from the human brain and isolate them. Stem Cells are important because they can be developed into different brain cells, but unfortunately become rare after birth. Current efforts have mostly been aimed at isolating stem cells from human fetal cells. Unfortunately, progenitor cells are separated out with the stem cells which pose a problem for scientists. They only want undifferentiated stem cells to treat brain diseases. This new technique is able to get pure neural stem cells from the brain tissues.

In the studies using the new technique, different genes for encoding proteins were found in neural rat stem cells were very active. Some genes were found that were unknown to exist in humans, but could be more important in rat cells than human cells. The researchers came to the conclusion that rat neural stem cells should be a guide for human research. The general signaling pathways are similar to humans and mice, but the genes makeup is very different. It shows the researchers that one must truly understand human tissue and diseases.

This new technology requires taking a piece of DNA and coupling it with a gene that makes cells emit light of a particular wavelength. They turn the DNA into a virus in order to deliver it to the brain tissue. This has allowed the scientists to see the stem cells because they emit a certain color.

This article is interesting because it may lead to the cure of deadly brain disorders. My friend’s dad has ALS, and I have seen firsthand what it does to a person. With this new stem cell research, brain disorders may be a thing of the past.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101207131733.htm

Peripheral nerve regeneration advance

Shelly Sakiyama-Elbert, Ph.D, assistant biomedical engineering at Washington University in St. Louis designed a system for peripheral nerve regeneration that could have implications for successful stem cell delivery and spinal cord repair. It is a nerve guide tube filled with a sticky gel that contains growth factor proteins to stimulate nerve regeneration and sugars and peptides for binding. So far, this system has shown positive results in rat studies.

Methods used today for nerve regeneration include taking a nerve from a donor site on the injured person’s body, and sewing the donor nerve in between the two ends of the injured nerve. Another method is the use of cadaver nerves, but each of these come with major problems and risks. Sakiyama-Elbert worked with Susan Mackinnon and Robert H. Shoenberg to place exogenous sticky material that is capable of binding growth factors throughout the gel. This causes the growth factor proteins to remain in the gel for months. The time of release for these components is key to the success of this system. Sakiyama-Elbert presented the results she found at a conference in April. Sakiyayam-Elbert is also exploring another approach to peripheral nerve regeneration that involves creating her own protein consisting of a growth factor, and two different domains. She is also one of the few researchers exploring matrixes for spinal cord damage.

Sakiyama-Elbert comments that “the overall goal of this direction of my research is to apply novel bioengineering technology to allow controlled release of growth factors from scaffolds that facilitate the regeneration of adult spinal cord axons through and beyond spinal cord lesions," Sakiyama-Elbert said. "The scaffolds are drug-delivery systems consisting of protein matrices containing growth factors that are released in a sustained manner during tissue regeneration."

I found this article interesting because it shows that improvements can always be made in the medical field. The impossible becomes the possible.

http://www.biology-online.org/articles/horizons_nerve_repair.html


Posted for Macie Richmond

This article from the Bangkok Post summarizes a new technology whose applications for the future are endless. The Brain Computer Interface (BCI) allows users (namely paraplegic patients) to communicate to electrical devices via brainwaves. By thinking of an action, the electrodes will read these brainwaves and transduce them to elicit an appropriate reaction from an electrical device. The current extent of this technology reaches to such applications as simply turning on a TV by thinking about it, or something more practical such as activating a wheelchair. The BCI wheelchair currently in its testing phase can be used for approximately 1-2 hours before the user's brain signals weaken or they get tired.

I chose this article because of the many applications this type of technology makes available. First, for patients who are disabled, this can change their lives entirely, helping them regain accessibility to simple tasks such as turning on the TV or opening a door. The BCI Wheelchair can allow them to move around again by just thinking about it. Taking this technology out of the medical setting, if brainwaves can be wirelessly transmitted to electrical devices, then pseudo-telekinesis is not far from being invented. One would just have to think of making something happen and it would.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/tech/technews/207851/technology-puts-mind-over-body

Versatile Drug Presents Another Potential Benefit

Many people in the biomedical world may be familiar with the drug sirolimus (also known as rapamycin). This versatile drug has an abundance of uses including the prevention of reocclusion in arteries after balloon angioplasty. It has also been used as an immunosuppressant after organ transplants to prevent rejection. Modern research suggests that this drug may also be useful as an anti-aging product as demonstrated in a research study done on 20 month old mice (equivalent to 60 year old humans) where sirolimus increased average life-span roughly 30%.

This article discusses the research into a new use for sirolimus. It's hard to believe that they could possibly think of another way to use this "miracle" drug, but they've found a use. Santen and MacuSight (two pharmaceutical companies) are working in coordination to develop sirolimus as an effective treatment for macular degeneration. The loss of eye-sight is a major problem for humans as they age. Entire industries are built around eye-sight degeneration (including optometry and lasik surgery). These companies have promising research studies that indicate that sirolimus has a positive impact on the degeneration of the macular region of the eye. More studies are underway, and they hope to have a viable product ready for the markets shortly.

http://www.bio-medicine.org/biology-technology-1/Santen-and-MacuSight-Announce-Collaboration-and-License-Agreement-for-Sirolimus-in-Ocular-Diseases-and-Conditions-5727-1/

Decoding Fetal DNA From Mother's Blood Opens Door To Single Prenatal Test For Multiple Genetic Disorders

I chose this article because it deals with the most recently discussed topic in our physiology class, the reproductive system. In this article, a group of scientists from Hong Kong discovered a way to scan the entire genome of a fetus, using free-cell fetal DNA found in the mother's blood, and use this information to non-invasively test for multiple fetal genetic disorders. In order to do this, the scientists had to first prove that all of the fetal genome was contained in these "free-cells" found in the mothers blood. They successfully proved this, however they found out that the DNA was highly fragmented. Essentially they had to piece together only the fetal DNA from the billions of fragments contained in these cells. It is quite amazing the dedication it takes to complete such a task, which is one reason I found this article so intriguing. Unfortunately, this technology is currently very expensive. The scientists believe that in time the prices will drop and hopefully performing this test will be a common thing for newborns. I encourage everyone to read this article because it is very interesting and educational.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/210840.php

James Spencer

Pet Prosthetics: Bionic Devices Let Injured Animals Roam Again

“Euthanasia had been deemed the only humane option,” for many beloved pets who had suffered trauma to multiple limbs. However, breakthroughs in animal orthotics and prosthetics have opened doors to promising new futures for animals as well as humans. Recent developments that have proven effective for animals are now being considered for adaptation in human circumstances. For example, after a bulldog received a hip replacement which allowed tendons and musculature to grow into the replacement device, doctors are taking notice in hopes of incorporating similar ideas into their human patient cases. Also a cat with new artificial hind legs has now been deemed the first creature to have bone- and skin-integrated implants placed in moving bone. Companies like OrthoPets are taking developments and treatments from the human patient world and adjusting them to accommodate for animals. OrthoPets develops and provides animal braces and prosthetics. OrthoPets’ work doesn’t stop with dogs and cats; they have fitted a variety of patients such as dolphins, sea turtles and bald eagles with custom-made prosthetics which suffice each animals need to carryout the type of life that would have, with out a doubt, been unattainable otherwise.

http://www.technewsdaily.com/pet-prosthetics-bionic-devices-let-injured-animals-roam-again-0866/

New Self-Healing Materials Detect When They're Damaged and Fix Themselves

Arizona State researchers have currently developed working prototypes of what is known as a self-diagnosing, self-healing material that can respond to damage and regenerate itself. Known as a "autonomous adaptive structure", this material employs "shape-memory" polymers that return to a pre-defined shape when heated to a certain temperature. With an embedded fiber-optic network that senses damage and a heat delivery relay system, the material's on-board infrared laser transmits light through the fiber-optic network to deliver thermal energy to the part of the material undergoing unnatural stress or damage. This delivery of thermal energy triggers shape-memory polymers that can toughen up to 11 times. This shape-memory is capable of closing up a crack or tear to regain up to 96% of normal functionality. Additionally, the material can even self-heal while in any mode of operation.

This article is of interest to me, since I am interested in pursuing the Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering track of Biomedical Engineering. With artificial materials such as these coated in a suitable material that the body can accept, regneration of implanted devices would eliminate the need to constantly fix, repair, or even re-implant the devices themselves preventing wear and tear from accumulating and damaging the implant. Essentially, this could make the lifespan of any implanted device much longer than our current technology affords, making life much easier for patients receiving implants at any age, particularly the elderly where a re-implantation procedure would not be a feasible option.

Data-Broadcasting Chip-on-a-Pill to Start Testing Within 18 Months

A swiss pharm company, known as Novatis, is working on a computer chip that would be able to be attached to a prescription pill. These chips would be ingested with the medication, and would monitor the body from the inside. The patients would wear patches on their body that would reciece signals from the chip, and then forward the message to the doctor. The chip could possibly be activated by the acidity of the stomach. These would allow for doctors to make sure that the patients were taking their medication at the proper times, and in the proper dosages. It would also allow the doctor to track a range of biological information such as heart rate and temperature. These chips would be very beneficial to medical professionals. They would allow the doctors to make sure that their patients are doing what they are supposed to, while also seeing how they are affected. By doing this, doctor's could better tailor medication regiments to the individual.

This article interested me because it reminded me of nanobots. Even though this is much larger, it is still introducing technology into the body to help facilitate, and better understand, good health.

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-11/novartis-plans-chip-pill-transmits-info-doctors-within-18-months

Harvard Reverses Aging Process in Mice, Could Lead to Human Anti-Aging Treatments

Harvard scientists may be a step closer to a medical fountain of youth after figuring out how to reverse the aging process in mice. The breakthrough could lead to a way to slow the aging process in humans which in turn could extend quality of life by reducing the impact of age-related ailments like heart disease or dementia. That is, if it doesn’t kill them first.

Harvard Medical School scientists turned unhealthy old mice into youthful versions of themselves by tampering with an enzyme called telomerase. While the aging process is not totally understood, one of the many factors that causes the deterioration of the body’s tissues is tied to telomeres, which protect the end of each of the chromosomes in DNA. When cells divide, the telomeres are cut shorter and shorter until eventually they stop working altogether and the cell either dies or goes into a dormant state.

The researchers genetically engineered mice that lacked telomerase, an enzyme that stops telomeres from shortening. As such, the telomeres rapidly grew shorter and the mice aged quickly, developing all the signs of old age including damaged organs, a shrinking brain, and infertility. The researchers then injected the mice with a cocktail that reactivated their telomerase. This didn’t just slow the aging process, but actually reversed the effects of aging, essentially making the mice grow younger.

But rejuvenating old organs in mice does not necessarily mean a human treatment is on the way, the researchers warn. For one, mice make telomerase throughout their lives, but the enzyme is switched off in adult humans, as it can cause unchecked cell replication (read: cancer). None of the mice in the study developed cancer, but there’s no telling if human tissues would tolerate the treatment so well.

Still, the breakthrough is monumentally important as researchers attempt to blunt the negative effects of aging in increasingly gray populations around the globe. There’s no telling if such a treatment could help humans to live longer, but it could lead to a better quality of life in older humans by allowing their organs to regenerate rather than undergo sustained deterioration toward the end of life.

This article demonstrates a held fanatical concept, so called immortality. It is unclear how the aging process works, as demonstrated in this article, but this research can further spark investigations on how the body can heal itself.

"Old Friend Hypothesis"

When treating patients with autoimmune disease, parasites might not be the first option to consider. However recent study and research has revealed startling connections between parasites and the treatment of autoimmune diseases. In 2007, a parasitic immunologist met with a man with ulcerative colitis and was shocked at how he was able to cope with the disease. Ulcerative colitis is an autoimmune disease in which the colon becomes inflamed causing the formation of open sores that leads to intense abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea and many other problematic symptoms. However, this man experienced none of these symptoms. He was able to successfully cope with this debilitating disease by infecting himself with parasites, in this case, tiny worm like parasite known as helminthes. It turns out these parasites in the intestines helped ease the autoimmune disease by enabling the secretion of mucus which naturally remedied the sores caused by the autoimmune respond. These worms helped right the ship that is the autoimmune system. Due to the presences of these worms, the immune system redirected its attention to the treatment of the infection of the worms and less on destroying the intestine and ironically, the way to treat the worms was the production of IL-22 which aids in wound healing and mucus production. As a result, the immune system makes up for the damage it caused and remarkably reduced the onset of ulcerative colitis. Today, further studies have been put into this unique method of dealing with autoimmune disease. Researches have shown that parasites have always been on our side when fighting autoimmune disease. A study has shown that less developed country often do not exhibit high incident of autoimmune compared to more developed counties. The reason is that parasites like helminthes are more prevalent in less developed countries which actually aids in the defense against autoimmunes, something more industrialized countries like the United States lack ("old friend hypothesis"). Promising results like this has pushed scientist and researchers to further look into finding ways to utilize this usual treatment.

Overall, this was a very interesting article. It certainly was surprising how methods of treatment can come from the most unlikely of sources. It also goes to show how diverse our body can be by using natural solutions to cure problems like autoimmune disease whereas modern medicine cannot. This definitely is an area of research that can be groundbreaking and highly risky. People will certainly have adjusted at the thought of using parasites for treatment but it a step in the right direction when considering how much people are suffering from disease like Ulcerative colitis.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=helminthic-therapy-mucus

Anti-inflammatory Drugs to Fix Post-operative Atrial Fibrillation

Approximately one-third of the patients that undergo heart surgery, such as coronary bypass or valve replacement, experience atrial fibrillation after their operation. Atrial fibrillation is a complication in which the heart twitches irregularly, causing arrhythmia. Typically, beta-blockers have been used to help with this issue, but there is no direct cure.

Recent findings suggest that cardiac inflammation is the main issue behind post-operation atrial fibrillation. Inflammation is the typical response for many tissues in the body after injury or surgery. It is a natural way for the body to speed up the healing process of the tissue. Dr. Ralph Damiano stated that "inflammation led to non-uniform conduction of electrical impulses in the atria." Inflammation in the heart could lead to electrical impulses not potentiating properly between muscles. This new discovery shows that anti-inflammatory therapy is a much better treatment to post-operational atrial fibrillation than beta-blockers. Damiano and many other researchers and working to find a treatment that will block the anti-inflammatory response of the heart while preserving the normal inflammatory response of the rest of the body.

Source:

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3035495

Bioengineering graft could lay ground for organ growth

It was recently discovered that a complex bioengineered tissue part can be grown from a person's own cultured cells. This is the first time that it's been created without synthetic components. Before, complex organs could be grown if it were provided a scaffold from a nonliving polymer. However, it seems that the scaffold causes a blockage problem in the blood vessels and the body can reject the scaffold. Todd McAllister has found a way to grow the blood vessels without the help of the scaffold. Fibroblast cells are taken from someone and a grown to produce a protein scaffold. Other proteins were added to create the lining of these newly grown blood vessels. These vessels seem to be successful for patients with a type of kidney disease. Research shows that these "grafts" remained functional after a few months after inplantation for five out of the eight patients.



I believe that this article is interesting because it is always exciting to hear about new bioengineering inventions that could be used in the future to treat various types of diseases. What's even more exciting is that in the future, organs could be grown from using a person's own cells. This means that no artificial materials would be used to grow cells in humans so that there would be less immune responses in the body. This could lead to major success in treating uncurable diseases, in particular, cancer.

Source:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17020-bioengineering-graft-could-lay-ground-for-organ-growth.html

Mymetics HIV Vaccine Shows Strong Preliminary Phase I Data

I found this article interesting, especially with the recent marking of World AIDS Day on December 1, due to its incredible relevance to many people around the world today. The technology in the proposed HIV-1 vaccine is not only revolutionizing treatment of HIV patients, but vaccines in general. Instead of trying to improve upon technology that is already present by focusing on a vaccine that produces more/better blood serum antibodies, Mymetics is developing a vaccine that will produce serum as well as mucosal antibodies. This approach has the potential to be extremely effective for prevention of transmission of HIV, seeing as mucosal antibodies provide a front line of defense as they prevent the attachment of HIV-1 to epithelial cells along mucosal surfaces, such as the genital tract.

http://www.mymetics.com/investor/press-releases/103-mymeticshivvaccinenovember302100-showsstrongpreliminaryphaseidata

Cardiac Electrical Activity Mapping Implant

A team of cardiologists, materials scientists, and bioengineersrecently created a new type of implantable device for measuring the heart's electrical output. This is said to to be a far and above advancement from the current technology we have today involving the reading of electrical current in the heart.
The new device is the first of its kind to use flexible silicon technology in a medical application. Co-Senior author, Brian Litt, says about the new material, " we believe that this technology may herald a new generation of active, flexible implantable devices for applications in many areas of the body." Other hopes for furthering application of this material is in treaing epileptic seizures and mapping electrical waves through the brain. This neurological application is on the horizon of develping medicine and is very promising.
This article is very interesting to me because I want to go into medical device production and research and this device development, along with the flexible silicon material, is on the leading edge of research in their respective field. Also, I found this article quite interesting because they said that the silicon material would be able to be used in the mapping and treatment of epileptic seizures which is something that as been only monitored from the outside as of yet and to see this development is very promising.

Source:
http://insciences.org/article.php?article_id=8611

Cavities Become a Thing of the Past

Ever feel like brushing your teeth doesn't do quite enough to keep your mouth clean? Dutch Researchers may have found a way to keep plaque from ever being able to even start building up on your teeth. Scientiest and Bioengineers alike have brainstormed thousands of ways and put countless amount of money into getting rid of the plaque in our heart (including us!) - but the plaque in our mouth seems to have been a simpler fix.
The culprit for a dirty mouth? An enzyme named Glucansucrase. This enzyme takes the sugars that we chew and changes them into extremely long sugar chains that adhere to our teeth like glue. You would think it would be easy to inhibit such an enzyme but the problem is that it is extremely similar to the enzymes found in our saliva that are meant to break down our foods. This enzyme, amalyse, is pivotal to the proper function of our saliva in the digestive system. However, researchers at the University of Groningen have successfully crystallized the enzyme glucansucrase using protein crystallography. Knowing the 3-D structure allowed the researchers to analyze how the protein folded - which was extremely different as to how the researchers thought it would be. This unique method of folding allows the researchers to create an inhibitor to "target the folding structure directly", thus not affecting the critical amalyse enzyme.

I found this article extremely interesting because of our nanorobot project and a general dislike for all plaques. It was interesting to me that the plaque in the mouth could be inhibited while the plaque in our hearts is so much more a pertinent problem and spent so much more research money on, yet we have no cure yet. Still, this is a large breakthrough in medical (more specifically dental) science.

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-12/figuring-out-tooth-decay-mechanism-researchers-could-eradicate-cavities-plaque-inhibitor

Mimicking Muscle Elasticity

Over the summer, researchers at the University of British Columbia designed an engineered version of the muscle protein titin that accurately mimics the elastic properties of muscle. Titin is a very large protein molecule that works in a very similar manner to a spring. Within a muscle, it connects the Z and M line within a sarcomere, and in response to stress, it shortens. When it is stretched, it becomes resilient to high stretching forces by dissipating energy over its length, and thus prevents damage by making it harder to over-stretch other muscle tissues. As the largest known single polypeptide, titin is a key molecule within a muscle.
Researchers have figured out a way to engineer a material very similar to this one, that is about 100 times smaller than titin itself. The mechanical properties, described above, that titin exhibits make it a fundamental protein in muscle contraction and relaxation. This specific material can be adapted to mimic different muscles throughout the body, and has a promising future for use in people with muscular degeneration or weakness due to a genetic defect.

This an extremely interesting advancement in biomaterials engineering. As an athlete and a biomedical engineer, muscle physiology provides a mechanism for knowledge on what goes on during a workout as well as a possibility for work in the future. This specific design is eye-catching in that the engineered muscle protein has the same exact mechanics as titin, and although it cannot mimic its action in all muscles, it can do so in many. This could hold the key to several irreversible muscle problems, and perhaps be used one day to create prosthetic limbs that look more like real ones.

"Noninvasive Ultrasound Pulses Could Treat Neuro Disorders, Enhance Cognitive Function"

Rather than using electrical stimulation as a treatment option for neurological disorders, research suggest that ultrasound waves may be a new and better approach.

Previously, researchers at Arizona State University had been able to stimulate action potentials in dishes containing brain tissue.  Now, using very sensitive ultrasound pulses, the team was able to elicit motor responses from an anesthetized mouse.  Getting the responses through the layers of skin and bone now brings the procedure for future consideration as a treatment option.

The hope is to use ultrasound pulses to help diagnose neurological disorders and even treat certain dysfunctions.  Interestingly, the team found that certain cognitive abilities like memory formation can also be influenced by ultrasound.  Also, ultrasound was found to stimulate brain-derived neuortrophic factor (BDNF) in the hippocampus, which could aid in increasing brain plasticity or even treat PTSD.

Ultimately, the ultrasound procedure could have use as a noninvasive treatment for some neurological conditions without a cure, like Alzheimers, and speaking radically, it has stimulated interest in future developments to allow brain-machine interfaces that apply to communication and entertainment.  The latter, however, is very much a futuristic hypothesis that is many years down the road.

I personally found this topic to be of interest because there seemed to be a huge lack of treatments available for the neurological disorders we discussed in class.  I think the concept of making a difference in the lives of those affected by these conditions without have to be invasive is an attractive prospect, and the fact that it’s using a technology that has existed for a while is exciting because it could mean that many of the devices and procedures we use now could have other more exciting uses.

Source:

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-06/noninvasive-ultrasound-pulses-could-treat-neuro-disorders-enhance-congnitive-function

The Future of Heart Transplants: Beating Hearts

A Los Angeles heart transplant patient has recently received a "beating heart" in a transplant procedure being tested in which the donated heart is kept oxygenated while awaiting transplantation. In conventional heart transplants, the heart is injected with a chemical for preservation and kept frozen in an ice chest immediately after donation. This puts the heart in a suspended state; however, damage is still very possible under this old method, and doctors must quickly transplant the donor organ into the transplant recipient. Generally, the transplant heart is only good for 4 to 6 hours after donation. This means that geographic considerations must be taken into account, and it is extremely difficult to transport these hearts long distances within an appropriate time. This time factor also means that surgical transplant teams must often be prepared very quickly and transplants are often performed in the early hours of the morning.

In the transplant method being tested, the heart is not kept frozen after donation. Rather, it is kept in a Organ Care System (OCS) developed by TransMedics Inc. The beating heart box keeps the heart at "near physiologic beating state" and supplies the heart with warm, oxygenated blood supplemented with nutrients and electrolytes. Researchers suspect that this new method will reduce damage on transplanted hearts. Once the OCS is hooked up, which takes roughly 20 minutes, any deterioration on the heart is fully reversed. Furthermore, the heart can be kept within the beating heart box nearly indefinitely, so time is not an especially important factor with this procedure. The tested system would give doctors more time to prepare for transplantation as well as the ability to examine the transplant heart before insertion. Dr. Bruce Rosengard, the doctor who performed the first beating heart transplant, says that the new system takes the rush factor away. So far, around 100 people have received hearts using this new method, and results look encouraging with a survival rate of 97% after one month and a low incidence of organ rejection and other complications. The success of this new procedure will depend both on its effectiveness compared to the current system, and its price.

This was interesting to me because I am planning on one day working as a cardiologist. This new procedure, if implemented, could certainly become an important part of my job. Besides job aspects, this was also interesting to me because of my family's history of heart problems. Perhaps one day this new procedure will be used for a heart transplant to one of my family members or even myself. If proven effective, this new procedure will almost certainly play into my future as a doctor and possibly even as a patient.

Link:
Medical News Today: Los Angeles Transplant Patient Receives "Beating Heart"

Help cure diseases :D

Phylo is an elegant solution to a complex problem of computing Multiple Sequence Alignments. By simply playing the game, you are optimizing the ancestral sequence. Computers that can do this are expensive and don't always get the most optimized solution so this game is ideal for it. All the information is put into a database that is available for researchers to use.

About it
Play it

All of this is thanks to McGill University in Canada. Hurray Canada!