A Schizophrenic Computer

We know what schizophrenia looks like in "living" organisms but now we know what it looks like in a computer. Researches at University of Texas at Austin have now created a schizophrenic computer that can process both emotions and semantics. This "computer" built on a language parser called DISCERN can hear a story and retell it in its own words, while hearing the story it picks up the negative and positive aspects of the story and when retelling the story insert certain words with different connotations to retell the story with feeling mimicking a human being. Also when being fed a story in third person the DISCERN program was able to tell it in first person, of course, changing the story by adding delusions, mixing up characters in the story and adopting wild autobiographies. This technology takes new insight into mental disorders and can also be taken as a portal to different clinical trials. This is why I was so interested in this article. If we can program a computer to act like a mental disorder that still has not been 100% "figured out" by professionals we have hope to do this with so many different mental disorders. Why is this so fascinating? Because we can try clinical studies to unravel the disorder more and more coming up with new ways to treat disorders of the brain.

http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/biomedical/diagnostics/researchers-create-a-schizophrenic-computer

Mimicking the Brain, in Silicon.

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/brain-chip-1115.html

Scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have designed a computer chip that mimics the way the brain processes information. These processes allow the brain to think, learn new things, and store memory. This silicon chip can mimic the activity of a single brain synapse. This is very exciting because it should reveal much more information about the brain and hopefully will be used in future neural prosthetic devices.

Synapses are the communicating centers (gaps) between neurons in which neurotransmitters are released by the pre-synaptic neurons onto the receptors of the post-synaptic neuron. This opens up ion channels and changes the post-synaptic neuron cell potential. If the signal is strong enough, an action potential is fired by the post-synaptic neuron and an electrical impulse is achieved.

This synapse phenomenon is all controlled by ion channels. The chip developed by the MIT researchers mimics the activity of the ion channels. The chip parameters can be manipulated to mimic certain ion channels and simulate the firing of an action potential.

This is fascinating because these chips could one day be used in artificial intelligence devices, or as a communication between prosthetic devices and the brain. Although only one synapse has been simulated, hopefully this research is the foundation needed to be able to eventually improve the quality of life of people in need of such devices.

Research could help people with Anosmia

An often overlooked problem with old age is anosmsia, the absence of smell. Many people who suffer from anosmia lose the will to eat because the ability to taste depends upon our sense of smell. This often leads to malnutrition and becomes a slippery slope with elder sufferers.

Researchers at UC Berkeley have pinpointed a regulatory gene in nose cells called p63 that when is "switched on" self renews olfactory stem cells and when is "switched off" differentiates to replace more mature cells in the nose.

A drug that regulates p63 might be able to boost the mature cells or stem cells in the nose. P63 is found in many types of epithelial cells and more research could lead to "cell replacement therapies" that could be used all over the body.

http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/12/07/research-could-help-people-with-declining-sense-of-smell/

Probiotics in Traumatic Brain Injury

While working on the nanobot project, all of the proposed designs and solutions were extremely interesting, and seemed like they could all be viable methods with a little bit of tweaking. However, there was one practical problem with every design and that they all rely on future technology. I was interested in some of the current methods and their effectiveness.

Tramautic brain injury has been associated with a shift from T helper 1 to T helper 2 immunological response. It was hypothesized that a readjustment of this imbalance would improve clinical outcomes in TBI patients. This imbalanced would be adjusted by enteral admission of probiotics.

In the study, 26 patients were given probiotics, and 26 were placed in the control group, and a variety of different factors were monitered. These included serum levels of Th1/Th2 cytokines, length of ICU stay, and 28-day mortality rate. At the end of the trial period the study showed decreased ICU stays and less nosocomial infections in the group recieving probiotics. The altered Th1/Th2 response was also attenuated, which resulted in the i9mprovements of clinical treatment. Hoever, the 28-day mortality rate was not affected.

Thus, right now treatment is being done to greatly improve patient care of brain trauma patients, and is an effective way to at least reduce infections by enhancing immunological status.

http://ccforum.com/content/pdf/cc10579

A Promise for Vascularization in Implanted Tissues?

Implanted tissues require vasculature in order to maintain physiological functioning, including gas exchange. Implant tissue death can occur if blood vessels fail to form in implanted tissues. When native tissues need nutrients and waste disposal, they begin to produce Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF), which induces biochemical processes that form vessels from the walls of existing vessels. This restores tissues to the level of oxygen they require. To make this process work for implanted tissues, researchers at Wake Forest University have recently developed an injectable collagen-based gel containing the chemical messenger VEGF. Vessel formation in implanted tissues is targeted by injecting tiny concentrations of the gel into the isolated, desired area over a period of 12 days. This prepares the area to have an amount of vasculature that will support implanted tissue, increasing the chances of the implant surviving. Further research is underway to extend the period of VEGF release to ensure vessel development in the implanted tissue. Extended release of the gel is possible because its collagen matrix traps water, and could also possible be loaded with other chemicals such as VEGF. The matrix porousity could even be manipulated to control the release of the chemical. As published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, the gel has shown promising results in small animal trials. This gel would be an important contribution to tissue engineering because it would further increase the similarity of the tissue to that of native tissue. It promises the essential function of providing vasculature to non-native, implanted tissues.

Article: Injectable Gel Promotes Vascularization in Implanted Tissues

Schizophrenia: A Mental Disease with a Physical Origin

      It has always seemed that mental illnesses have forever been classified as just that-- mental. Ailments such as depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disease have fallen into the mysterious category where treatment ranges from psychiatric evaluations to trial-and-error drug treatments to even electroshock therapy. Such a broad range/intensity of treatments is mostly indicative of the lack of understanding that medical professionals have concerning the derived characteristics of the brain.
      However, recent studies focusing on genetic differences between populations of Schizophrenic individuals and the genotypes of their healthy counterparts has indicated that one gene, DISC1, may be at least partially responsible for the symptoms of Schizophrenia. This gene is responsible for the Wnt signaling pathway that stimulates the generation of stem cells during embryonic development. A disruption of this gene leads to improper neural development and a lack/failure to maintain much of the grey matter in the brain. This gene also offers insight into some of the drug therapy which uses lithium to treat Schizophrenia; DISC1 controls the Wnt pathway by inhibiting Gsk3-beta, the same enzyme affected by lithium. Such insights into the affects of medicine may help contribute to better methods of treatment in the future. Furthermore, discoveries such as this help to end the stigma often surrounding mental diseases. Sufferers of psychiatric diseases are increasingly common in today's society, and should be properly recognized as victims of maladies comparable to diabetes, or the common cold. Perhaps this discovery will be the stepping stone that will provide them with the treatment that they need.

17-year old Creates the "Swiss Army Knife" of Cancer Treatment Nanoparticles

Angela Zhang, a 17-year old high school student in Cupertino, CA, has developed a dual-purpose nanoparticle that can be used target and treat cancer more effectively.

Zhang developed the nanoparticle over the course of three years with the help of Dr. Zhen Cheng of Stanford University. Her efforts won her the Grand Prize in the 2011 Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology on Thursday, along with a check for $100,000.

Angela Zhang holding up her prize. Courtesy Siemens.

The gold and iron oxide-based nanoparticle Angela developed is an important development, for one, because of its dual purpose in treatment and imaging of the tumor. The nanoparticle releases a drug called salinomycin, a highly toxic drug that has been shown to kill stem cancer cells 100 times more effectively than another popular anti-cancer drug in rats. In addition to treatment, the gold and iron oxide in the nanoparticle aid in the non-invasive imaging of tumors.

Because the nanoparticle can be tightly controlled, it can be used by doctors to target cancerous tumors without affecting the rest of the body. Dr. Tejal Desai, a judge in the competition, says that the nanoparticle will lead to new target-specific treatment technologies.

Details of the nanoparticle and how it works are not yet available, other than that it is injected near the site of the tumor. The title of the entry gives more information: "Design of Image-guided, Photo-thermal Controlled Drug Releasing Multifunctional Nanosystem for the Treatment of Cancer Stem Cells - Biochemistry." In any case, Zhang's work represents an important step in the progression of cancer treatment research.

Source: http://www.azonano.com/news.aspx?newsID=23920

Watson at Work

The product of years of IBM research, the computer known as Watson will soon go to work for drug companies. The technology is the resulted from several years of work between IBM Research and four companies: AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, DuPont and Pfizer.

The program sorts through millions of patent filings and biomedical journals to look for chemical compounds used in drug discovery. It searches for the names of compounds, related words, drawings of the compounds, the names of companies working with specific chemicals and molecules, and the names of scientists who created the patented inventions.

The technology is said to be applicable to product strategy all the way to recruiting patent enforcement. I.B.M. is also adding to a searchable chemical database housed by the National Institutes of Health. The company is contributing more than 2.4 million chemical compounds extracted from 4.7 million patents and 11 million biomedical journal extracts from 1976 to 2000.

The information was all published, but often in costly scientific journals or buried in the mountains of patent filings. It was so difficult to access that it was, for all practical purposes, inaccessible. Most of the data will be on patents that have already expired, useful for scientific research but far less useful commercially.

I thought this was a great example of how we are adapting technology to further help us in the medical field. It is making information readily available without all the research hours previously needed. It is also allowing the information to be available to the masses.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/08/ibms-watson-technologies-looks-for-drugs/?scp=3&sq=biomedical&st=cse

Repaying a Measure of Devotion

It was once said that warfighters who died in combat gave, “the last full measure of devotion,” but what for the men and women whose devotion has left them living scarred and maimed. With the help of Wake Forest and the University of Pittsburg the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM) is helping find a way to repay this debt. They have already had some success with regrowing lost muscle and may soon even be able to spray or print new skin on burn victims.
Cpl. Hernandez (pictured right) was 19 when he lost 70% of his muscle in his right thigh, an injury so severe that doctors recommended amputation. Researchers with AFIRM using a pig bladder to derive the needed proteins and growth factor thought they could help Cpl. Hernandez. After an intense period of physical therapy to strengthen the remaining 30% of his muscle, Doctors inserted the pig bladder derived extracellular matrix. This matrix coaxed the needed stem cells and other cell precursors into the area of the wound. Cpl. Hernandez then did something amazing, he started to regrow skeletal muscle and today he has recovered almost all the muscle strength in his right leg.
Another promising area of research with AFIRM involves the field of burn treatment. With nearly 10% of combat injuries involving burns, the development of treatment to make skin grafts obsolete is badly needed. Today when someone is burned they need replacement skin and they need it badly; so as soon as they are stable Doctors start taking skin from other non-burned parts of the patient and replacing the destroyed skin. This process is severely painful and the surgeries can stress an already vulnerable patient’s body too far. With funding from AFIRM researchers are developing a “bio printer” (pictured below) that would print new skin directly onto the patient’s burn. This printer would work on the same principle as an inkjet printer that we all have in our offices and homes. A scanner would first map the size and depth of the burn, then a cartridge containing the correct type of skin cells and the needed supporting material would be inserted into the printer and the skin would be printed directly onto the patient. Scientist are even hoping to be able to match skin pigments and promote hair growth as well.
These future treatments could give hope to tens of thousands of wounded combat veterans that they will once again have the life they did before they were wounded. This research does not only benefit civilians by repaying those men and women who give so much of themselves for our protection, but these treatments will also benefit injured people everywhere. With such waste going on everywhere in Washington the AFIRM project is an example of taxpayer dollars being put to good use, and repaying a measure of devotion.
For more information: http://www.afirmwakepitt.org/home.htm

Cabbies have superhuman memories

Some of you may have heard about the rigorous training that London cab drivers have to go through before they can be registered to drive a cab. If you haven't it involves over 3 years of schooling in order to memorize every street(over 25,000), turn, intersection, and fastest routes between over 20.000 landmarks in a 6 mile radius around Charing Cross train station in London. Needless to say, this is an almost superhuman feat and as such attracted the interest of a few neurological researchers. Trainees were evaluated using multiple factors such as IQ, memory skills, and grey matter volume before they began to learn what is referred to as "the Knowledge". Then after their training was up all of the 79 trainees were evaluated again, even though only 40 of them had made the cut. The difference between those that had succeeded and those that had not was drastic. Those who had succeeded showing a substantial increase in grey matter in the hippocampus, an area of the brain responsible for spatial reasoning and related memories. The results led the scientists to believe that perhaps those individuals with more "plastic" brains were usually more successful as drivers because their brain learned to adapt during their training.

http://io9.com/5866305/why-cab-drivers-are-mentally-superior-to-you

How to Break a Tadpole

That black spot where the arrow is? That's an eyeball on a tadpole. What's so special about it? There isn't supposed to be one there. Scientists at Tufts have manipulated voltages to a specific embryonic cell in the tadpole and caused the cell to specialize into an eyeball.

So far, there's no evidence that the process can be used to generate non-eyeballs, but it has shown that they can be created outside of the head. Furthermore, they work. It doesn't specify if they is an optic nerve connected to it, but the eye itself is whole and undamaged.

Unfortunately, a few of the other tadpoles used in the experiment as they grew developed deformed eyes or no eyes at all. Still, if this information can be used as a stepping block to regrowing test-tube eyes for blind people or something else crazy, it's well worth it.

Hit the link for more info.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111207175740.htm

A Real-Life Spiderman

This is sort of a two-part post; the article I originally saw was talked about splicing the gene for making spider silk into goat DNA so the goats made the spider silk protein in their milk. The protein could then be isolated, made into fibers, and potentially used for all kinds of things like eye and jaw sutures, artificial tendons and ligaments, and bullet-proof vests.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-437668-scientists-create-spider-goat.do

It's done by taking a single spider gene from the orb-weaver spider and inserting it into fertilized goat embryos. When they grow up and have little goat kids of their own, the females produce milk which has the spider silk protein in it.

If you want to know more about how it's done watch this video.

They have done this (and they're planning on trying it with alfalfa next) because of the potential of spider silk to be useful in a variety of different areas, and because getting it in commercial quantities is difficult, since spiders are territorial and don't take well to being farmed. In the first article I saw, they had just made viable goats and were only beginning to get commercial amounts of spider silk using the protein from the goats' milk, but the article was a few years old, so I wanted to get an idea of what they were doing with the silk now, which is when I came across this: http://jalilaessaidi.com/2-6g-329ms/

A lab in the Netherlands has been using spider silk from these spider-goats (and spider-silkworms) to experiment with creating bullet-proof skin. Not vests; skin. What they eventually want to do is replace keratin with the spider silk protein by adding the spider silk gene to the human genome. Basically they want to create spiderman (well, really it would be more like Achilles, since the goal is a bullet-proof human, not a human that can climb walls and shoot web from their wrists). Since they can't just start breeding humans with the spider silk gene and run experiments on their skin, they settled for weaving the spider silk into a bullet-proof matrix and embedding it in between the epidermis and dermis of a skin model. With this model of bullet-proof skin, they experimented by shooting bullets at it and seeing if the bullet could break through the spider silk-skin. The project was called 2.6g 329m/s because that's the maximum weight and velocity of a .22 caliber Long Rifle bullet, which a Type 1 bullet-proof vest is supposed to protect you from. According to the page I read, the spider silk-reinforced-skin stopped some partially slowed bullets but not ones at full speed. Of course, once they work out the science part of it, there's also all sorts of moral and ethical issues to consider, like to the social and political implications of the possibility of humans with bullet-proof skin (which would also mean that they had some spider DNA, another can of worms entirely).

I found this interesting because these goats are some of the first viable genetic crosses that actually serve a purpose other than glowing in the dark, and I've always thought spider silk was a very interesting material and had huge potential in many different fields, including physiology (I just didn't necessarily consider bullet-proof skin). Also, the possibility of humans with spider DNA? Come on.

The silk-reinforced-skin model being shot by a bullet.

Multiple Sclerosis may progress the opposite direction than we thought

Multiple Sclerosis(MS) is an autoimmune disease that affects the Central Nervous System. Inflammation occurs in the CNS attacking the body's own myelin sheaths. Needless to say this is very detrimental to several functions of the body. Not much is known about the actual cause of MS , but it had previously been thought to affect the white matter(inner part of the brain), and then spread to the cortex(outer part of the brain). The study found that a portion of patients in an early stage of MS had damage only in the cortex of their brain, and not within the grey matter. This allowed researches to conclude that MS may start in the cortex, and then progress to the inner parts of the brain. This finding is one more step in the direction of understanding MS, and autoimmune diseases even further. Hopefully gaining a better understanding of the global view and progression of MS will lead to a potential cure for this terrible disease.

Scientists Capture Single Cancer Molecules at Work

Telomerase molecules add bits of DNA(telomeres) that prevent the genome from deteriorating which allows cells to keep dividing and become cancerous. The way telomerase is controlled is not fully understood because scientists are not able to see what the telomerase is doing and when its acting. Scientists at the University of Montreal figured out a way to see what telomerase is doing in cells by using microscopy techniques. They can actually tag the the telomerase with fluorescent proteins to make the molecule visible in a single living cell. Through this discovery the scientists have discovered factors that restrain the activity of telomerase while a cell is dividing. Through this discovery a key component in the development of cancer can be studied and understood at the molecular level, and maybe this will bring about change in treatment of cancer.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111208125722.htm

Study: Lichen based dye may help treat Alzhemer's Disease.

The misfolding of proteins is considered by researchers to be a cause or contributing factor of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's Diseases. The proteins then accumulate into large intracellular or extracellular plaque. The assumption is made that the small accumulations that are the precursors to mature plaques are toxic for nerve cells, hence their eventual destruction. research has shown that a red dye called orcein, derived from lichens, bind preferentially to a type of theses aggregates and causes the rapid maturation of the aggregates into nontoxic mature plaques. Further research in animal models is necessary to determine whether this is useful for therapy. As orcein is composed of multiple natural compounds, a pure substance has been derived that is structurally similar to one of the molecules, named O4, that would potentially have the same effect. As opposed to the known mechanism used by Epigallocatechin-3-gallate, which renders the toxic protein assemblies nontoxic, the mechanism discovered here reduces the prevalence of the assemblies, opening the possibility of combination with preexisting therapies. Note that this is a preliminary study only, and has neither progressed to animal models nor clinical trials, or if the maturation of the plaques would indeed help treat the disease.

Source: http://www.news-medical.net/news/20111203/Dye-derived-from-Canary-Island-lichens-may-help-treat-Alzheimers-disease.aspx

Oncotype DX

The Oncotype DX test is a diagnostic test used on breast cancer patients that analyzes the tissue and determines their risk of recurrence. It is a 21-gene assay that currently tests for invasive breast cancer. However, it is now being explored that the test may be useful in patients that have ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). If a patient has a low risk for recurrence then they may be able to skip radiation or chemotherapy and not have to endure these harmful treatments. A limitation with the Oncotype DX is that it does not tell us the benefits of radiation, even if the test reveals a high risk for recurrence.

article:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/754967

Advances in In Vitro Fertilization

Research on in vitro fertilization at the University of Michigan is taking significant strides. Researchers have found a method to keep the embryos viable for longer by softly rocking them while they grow. This method has only been tested in mice, but it has raised pregnancy rates by twenty-two percent so far. In order to accomplish this rocking motion, the researchers fashioned a machine that imitates the egg’s travel inside a mammal’s fallopian tubes. In this way, the egg is in an environment much like the one it would experience in vivo, and thus it is more likely to remain viable. The machine consists of “thimble-sized funnel[s]” that contain early-stage embryos. These funnels have small channels at the bottom that allow for nutrients to move in and waste to move out. The funnels are also attached to pins that move up and down, allowing the fluids to easily move in and out. In addition, this up and down movement is similar to that of the muscle contractions in vivo. Upon comparison, the eggs grown in this device seemed healthier than those grown in a static culture.

Currently, the success rate of in vitro fertilization is about thirty-five percent in women under 35. However, with this new machine, the success rate will increase this percentage. This increased success rate would lead to less embryos being implanted at once, and thus less multiple pregnancies. I chose this article because of the significant impact this study will have on women. Multiple pregnancies can potentially be very dangerous, leading to such things as preeclampsia or placental abruption. By decreasing the chance of multiple pregnancies, in vitro fertilization becomes safer for both the fetuses and the mother.

Source: http://insciences.org/article.php?article_id=8132

Memory Boosting?? Can it be done......

Well researchers from the Baylor College of Medicine say so, allowing mice to learn and remember better. The targeted molecule of this discussion is PKR (the double stranded RNA activated protein kinase); this molecule was initially assigned a role as a sensor of viral infections but its newly found connection to the brain is even more enticing. It was shown, that in mice whose brains lack PKR, have a kind of super memory. It was found the mice had an increased spatial awareness. What's even more interesting is the fact that a PKR inhibitor can mimic the results mentioned above; therefor acting as a memory-enhancing drug. If a drug like this could be tested and scrutinized by the FDA, and eventually passed, it could have a profound impact on medicine and society. It could greatly minimize the effects of Alzheimer's disease and age associated impairment of memory. However, with a drug like this I can already see the potential for abuse by individuals in an intellectually rigorous environment that would do anything for an edge, ie most college students. Therefor the FDA would have a serious challenge in limiting the ability of the drug to end up in the hands of individuals who it was not designed for. But I believe the benefits of a potential PKR inhibiting drug far out weigh the cons, and should further be pursued.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111208125716.htm

Consequences of Brachytherapy

Brachytherapy is a method of breast cancer treatment where the tumor is surgically removed then the area left by the removed tumor is directly radiated to kill any remaining cancer cells. This method of treatment is usually about 6 times faster than whole breast radiation. Because of this time frame, the percentage of people who opt for this treatment has risen from less than 1% to 13% in seven years.

Although this treatment has become more common, it does not mean that it is safer than whole breast radiation. Within a five year timeframe, about 2 times more women who had brachytherapy had to undergo a mastectomy than women who didn’t have that type of therapy. Aside from this, brachytherapy patients also had more infections and rib fractures due to the way the radiation was directly applied, and breast pain.

Although medicine is improving, newer methods can sometimes have more consequences than the methods they might be trying to replace. This leaves space for medicine to constantly improve upon itself.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/07/health/research/study-questions-brachytherapy-a-breast-cancer-radiation-treatment.html?_r=1&ref=health

Caging Bacteria

Normally, aprotein called septin is known for building scaffolding to provide structural support during cell division and to rope off other parts of the cell. However, a new study has shown that septin or GTP binding proteins may possibly build “cages” around invading bacteria. This action allows the bacteria to be stuck and thus prevents the bacteria from entering other healthy cells.

The way that septin’s method of trapping bacteria was discovered was through its interactions with Shigella. Shigella bacteria usually forces its way into neighboring host cells by using its actin-polymer tails. The immune system can combat this by producing a cell signaling protein called TNF-alpha. Due to the presence of TNA-alpha, septin filaments surround the bacteria and then prevents the Shigella Bacteria tail from moving. The bacteria is then broken down through autophagy which is a stage of the septin’s life cycle.  However, autophagy can only occur if the septin cage is present.

The role of septin is still mysterious in terms of humans. Some studies have shown that disruptions in septins and mutations in the gene that code for them could possibly be involved in diseases such as leukaemia, Parkinsons’ disease, etc.  Septin also holds great potential for therapies that could strengthen the immune system with drugs that imitate the behavior of TNA-alpha. This could allow for septin cages to be more prevalent and thus allow the immune system to fight an infection in a new way. Overall, the more research that is done on septin, the more possible it is to unlock the secrets in fighting infections and diseases.

http://www.nature.com/news/septin-proteins-take-bacterial-prisoners-1.9540

Reversing Early Sign of Alzheimer's

Currently, there is no effective treatment for Alzheimer’s Disease. Alzheimer’s begins with the deterioration of senses, cognition and coordination, and ultimately leads to death. Individuals with the disease become unresponsive to smells as they age.

A research study done at Case Western University on mice with the equivalent of Alzheimer’s Disease in humans had an impairment of disease restored: sense and smell. Removing a plaque-forming protein amyloid beta, which is responsible for the loss of sense of smell, allowed for this recovery. The researchers discovered that the amyloid beta occurs in too amounts too small to be seen on current brain scans, but still causes a loss in the olfactory system. With this discovery, the ability to smell can be used to determine if someone may get Alzheimer’s. This would allow for treatments to begin earlier once changes in smell were noticed.

Though losses in the olfactory system were observed, the rest of the mouse brain remained normal in the experiment, even the hippocampus, which is the center for memory. In order to remove the amyloid beta, the researchers gave the mice a synthetic liver x-receptor agonist. After two weeks of treatment on the drug, the mice were able to process smells normally. But, unfortunately, one week after stopping the treatment, the olfactory loss symptoms were present again.

Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/238603.php

Bioelectric Signals and Organ Formation

Scientists have finally altered natural bioelectrical communication among cells to directly specify the type of new organ to be created at a particular location within a vertebrate organism. They were able to manipulate the membrane potential of embryos. The hypothesis is that for every structure in the body there is a specific membrane voltage range that drives organogenesis. Scientists changed the membrane voltage in a tadpoles tail and back cells to mimic the voltage in the actual eye cells. They were able to develop the back cells into eye cells using the same voltage gradient.

Researchers further explored to see if they could induce an abnormal organ via depolarization. They found that not only could they destroy an organ, but there was a direct correlation between the amount of voltage induction, and the degree of organ abnormality. Coincidentally, this led to the ability to control gene expression.

These findings break new ground in the field of biomedicine because they identify an entirely new control mechanism.


This could introduce an entire new way to the detection and repair of birth defects. Imagine, the doctors find out your child has a problem with a specific bone in his leg, a little manipulation in the membrane potential of that particular bone, and WHAM, fixed. We need to throw a few billion dollars in this direction.


This new field will give us much greater control of tissue and organ pattern formation. Merry Christmas everyone, and good luck on finals.