Archive for October, 2009

16
Oct

No More Memory Loss!

By smykjes 0 Comments
Categories: Science News
From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/manuel_atienzar/2572536743/

From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/manuel_atienzar/2572536743/

Scientists at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida have discovered a possible treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease happens when brain cells die off and people loose memory. One of the main causes of the disease is an excess of amyloid plaques in the brains, which kill neurons. The scientists were experimenting with mice who had a model of Alzheimer’s disease in them. They were trying to prove that the activation of the microglia (cells that activate immune defense in the central nervous system) in the brain of the mice would make Alzheimer’s worse because they would not be able to remove the plaques. But, to their surprise, they found that when the microglia were activated by a protein called Interleukin-6 protein, the protein cleared the plaques from the brain. There have not been any tests on humans yet, but the study has proven that with further research, there may be a treatment for Alzheimer’s.
This is a disease that has been affecting the elderly for years, and it would be so awesome to finally have a cure, or at least something that would make it better. It’s really sad to be around people who are loosing their memories, and a treatment would be beneficial to both people with the disease and their family and friends.

Do you think that scientists will get the same results that they got with mice if they try this on humans?

Would you be willing to try to try this process if it was approved for humans and you had Alzheimer’s?

Here is the link to the original website where I got the article.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091015091602.htm

16
Oct

Happy News for Sad People

By glascor 2 Comments
Categories: Science News

A biomedical engineer named Brian Lithgow, from Monash University, has developed a way to test for depression accurately in a short period of time. “The patient sits in a specially designed tilt chair that triggers electrical responses in their balance system. A gel-tipped electrode placed in the individual’s ear canal silences interfering noise so that these meaningful electrical responses are captured and recorded,” the Monash researcher said. “The responses are then compared to the distinct biomarkers indicative of particular CNS disorders, allowing diagnosis to be made in under an hour.” They call this procedure EVestG™, short for electrovestibulography, and they are hoping that it will become standard around the world because it is simple, quick, and inexpensive.

Even though they say it is a simple procedure, it is still very complex to me. I chose this topic because depression runs in my family and it is an interesting and mysterious disorder to me. This is a very positive step for those who have this negative problem. It makes the diagnosis quick and simple so the patient can move on to treatment faster than ever before.

Do you think this technology will catch on worldwide?

Would you ever consider undergoing a procedure like this one?

Here’s the original site.

16
Oct

LIPOSUCTION LEFTOVERS MAKE ORGANS

By howajan 3 Comments
Categories: Science News

Liposuctions are for getting rid of fat, but scientists have now turned fat into stem cells to make organs. How does that work? Well, I don’t really know, but Scientists such as Joseph Wu, have done it. Previous to this scientists have turned skin cells into stem cells but now they have discovered that using fat cells is “twice as fast and about 20 times more efficient,” as Joseph Wu explained. They start by reprogramming the cells which are then called pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells. Those cells are capable of turning into most cells in the human body. Scientists want to use these worthless fatty leftovers to study diseases and grow new tissue and replacement organs.
It is quite a science to do this. I would of never of been so creative as to use leftover liposuction fat to come up with a way to create stem cells. Of course I probably would never of though of turning anything into a stem cell. Oh and just so you know anyone can get a liposuction and get replacement organs and tissue for themselves, its not just a thing for people suffering from obesity, why even Sandy could do it.
Using Fat for stem cells kind of grosses me out, but how about you? Would you be willing to go get a liposuction so that scientists could create an organ for you and then actually be ready for them to put it inside you? I mean think about it, whatever organ they just made for you is totally and completely from your fat.

Here’s the site I used:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/09/090908-liposuction-leftovers-fat-stem-cells.html

16
Oct

Let Me Just Grow Some Bones Here

By browreu 2 Comments
Categories: Science News

SkullFromTheFront

Stem Cells from fat are now being used to grow bones in the human body. This is great since the if it shows to be very effective it will be much better then the old way that used other materials to replace the bone or a donor bone from a cadaver which were commonly rejected by the body. They have tested this on a 14 year old boy who happened to be born with Treacher Collins syndrome which had him missing his front cheek bones.

They did the surgery which required a piece of donor bone hip, shaped for the cheek bones then drilled holes in it to plant the stem cells to work in through the bone and into the skull. It has been a year now since the operation and they say the kid is doing good and he has been very happy and the bones are still in place. This will be considered a vast improvement if it last five or more years which is much better then common skin graphs.

I liked this article for it reminded me of my two fake teeth I have. It would be very nice if I could just simply grow some more teeth since I have had these ones fall out more then once and definitely don’t last as long as normal teeth. So what I would like to know is what are the limits to regenerating with stem cells? Can they regenerate anything on the human body?

16
Oct

Tasting Fizzy

By lindsha 1 Comment
Categories: Science News
From: http://www.cap.nsw.edu.au/bb_site_intro/stage1_Modules/Senses/tastebud.gif

From: http://www.cap.nsw.edu.au/bb_site_intro/stage1_Modules/Senses/tastebud.gif

The tongue’s sense of sour is why we can taste the fizz of carbonated drinks. Scientists have always thought that the taste of carbonated beverages comes from the actual bursting of the bubbles on the tongue but carbonated drinks still taste that fizziness even when they are in a pressure chamber where bubbles don’t burst. Research has been done on the tastes cells of mice to measure nerve activity and when they were given club soda their taste cells responded to the CO2. Then the researchers genetically engineered mice that were missing one of the five kids of taste cells (sweet, salty, umami, bitter and sour)  Only the mouse with the sour taste missing responded to the carbon dioxide. This shows that the sour taste is what actually makes us taste that distinct fizzy taste.

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/48458/title/Tongues_sour-sensing_cells_taste_carbonation

15
Oct

If I Only Had A Brain

By kimberi 2 Comments
Categories: Science News
by vaXzine

by vaXzine

Commonly recognized as a song sung in the Wizard of Oz by the Scarecrow who reveals that he lacks a brain and desires above all else to have one. In reality, he is only two days old and merely ignorant. But that is not the case with Brandi Binder. She is 22 years old and only has half a brain. No she is not blond, she literally only has the left half of her brain. When Brandi was 4 she someone developed a rare and severe case of epilepsy that should of killed her.

When Brandi was born the doctors and family thought she was a beautiful, healthy baby girl. Soon after she developed eye twitch, teeth grinding, drooling, and seizures. This continued to the point where the baby was having 200 seizures a day. After visiting many doctors, on from UCLA finally got it right and diagnosed baby Brandi with Rasmussen’s encephalitis. Rasmussen’s encephalitis is a rare, chronic inflammatory disease that usually affects only one hemisphere of the brain. It occurs in children under the age of 10.

Now the parents had to decided, treat the condition, remove the right half of the child’s brain and doom their daughter to a life without being able to use half her body, or leave the situation untreated and lose Brandi. They took the doctors advice, did the surgery, and challenged their daughter everyday of her life.

The challenging paid of and within months of the surgery Brandi was walking and the part of her brain that was left was making new connections and taking over.

Three years ago Brandi graduated with honors and became somewhat of a novice artist and had one of her drawings displayed in the Capitol.

Today, she still lives with her family, and likely always will. She is paralyzed completely on the left side and her vision is impaired. Binder though, remains confident; “I just go on living my life like anybody else, you know, ‘cause we all have disabilities in some way. I try the best I can do, despite my limitations.”

The right part of the brain controls artistic and emotional part of a person’s life and the left holds the logic and problem solving. How do you think Brandi was able to express her feelings and make art with out her right brain hemisphere?

Brandi seems quite optimistic about her current life style. Imagine yourself in her position, how do you think you would feel and act?

15
Oct

Looks aren’t the only thing that can be passed on

By grovste 1 Comment
Categories: Science News

500px-Leukemia_cellsMelanomaNew science shows that in rare cases, cancer like leukemia or melanoma can be passed on to the child of pregnant women. In this article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8298947.stm a British led team studied if it was possible for cancer to be passed down. Theoretically the child’s immune system should destroy the cancer cell if it was passed through the placenta but in some rare cases both child and mother like in the study of a Japanese woman and her baby, who both developed leukemia.

The researchers used an advanced genetic fingerprinting technique to prove that the leukemia cells found in the baby had originated from the mother. Professor Mel Greaves, of the Institute of Cancer Research, the lead researcher of this topic had this to say, “It appears that in this and, we presume, other cases of mother-to-offspring cancer, the maternal cancer cells did cross the placenta into the developing fetus and succeeded in implanting because they were invisible to the immune system. We are pleased to have resolved this longstanding puzzle. But we stress that such mother-to-offspring transfer of cancer is exceedingly rare and the chances of any pregnant woman with cancer passing it on to her child are remote.

Professor Peter Johnson, chief clinician at the charity Cancer Research UK, stressed that it was extremely unusual for cancer to pass from a mother to her baby. “This is really important research as it adds to the evidence that cancers need to evade the immune system before they can grow, giving hope that by alerting a patient’s immune system to a cancer we can develop new types of treatment. Women needing cancer treatment around the time of having a baby who are worried about this research should speak to the specialists looking after them for advice.”

What do you think about cancer being passed on?
Do you believe we can find a way to stop this from happening?

15
Oct

Tetris Players are Not Blockheads

By pottsar 4 Comments
Categories: Science News
by analwigs

by analwigs

Recent research shows that playing tetris can cause a brain’s gray matter to grow. Gray matter is an information processing mass of brain cells and capillaries. This experiment was perform on 26 adolescent girls (girls were less likely to have played many video games than boys, so the results would be more accurate). Of the 26, 15 girls played tetris for 1.5 hours a week for three months. At the end of the three months, the girls that played tetris had far thicker gray matter then the 11 girls that didn’t play tetris.

Another test they performed was taking an MRI while the girls were playing tetris. The MRI showed that parts of the brains of the tetris playing girls was inactive, even though the same parts were functional when they were tetris novices. This change didn’t happen in the brains of the girls that didn’t play tetris. Researchers are assuming that this is because as the brain becomes used to playing the game, it learns which sections are needed.

Although these studies show that tetris has an effect on the brain, they don’t show exactly what those effects will be. There will have to be further studies to find out the long term effects of tetris. Richard Haier said, “We know tetris changes the brain, we don’t know it it’s good for you.”

Do you think that the results would have been different if adolescent boys were tested instead of girls? If so, how would they different? Do you think that playing tetris will have good or bad long-term effects on the brain?

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/47026/title/Tetris_players_are_not_block_heads

15
Oct

Headphones Can Kill You

By Harrison 0 Comments
Categories: Science News

In a recent study expanding on the effects of electronic equipment on pacemakers and implanted defibrillators, headphones have been shown to have fatal effects. The problem is that the headphones would emit a signal that would be enough to disrupt the devices ability to register the heartbeat. The device still functions but it can’t decide how fast to make the heart beat. It would not be able to detect any abnormalities the heartbeat either. In previous studies similar information was found but they didn’t expect that it would be enough to be proved fatal. HealthDay news image

Do you think that people should be more careful with headphones?
What about a headphone causes the signal, and do other speakers do the same thing?

13
Oct

Boys better watch your back!

By petenic 2 Comments
Categories: Science News

Did you know that 94% of the people over 110 years old are women, even though more boys are born each year than girls? Between the ages of 20-24 men have 6 times likely chance of being murdered and 5 times more likely of dying in a non-automobile accident, those years are said to be the danger years. Another interesting fact is that while women most likely suffer from authorities, osteoporosis, and autoimmune disorders they are nothing compared to the life threatening problems men face. Men are more likely to be diagnosed with cancer and heat disease which tend to be life threatening.

We all know that one of the main differences between men and women is the hormones that run through our veins. One of the things you probably didn’t know was that Testosterone raises the bad cholesterol in your body and lower good cholesterol, while estrogen does the exact opposite. Men are also way more likely to die by gunplay; I mean what can you say, men and there guns. However I have to say the shocker of them all is the suicide rate of men. Men complain that women have too many emotions and make everything into a big deal, but by suppressing their emotions they higher the risk of future suicide. From the ages of 75-79 years old men are 9 times more likely to commit suicide. While in an article about men committing suicide on the job says that 4 out of every 5 suicides are men.
Here is the article in which I found all this interesting info.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/215824
and here is the article on suicides on the job
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PLP/is_1_33/ai_n18616193/

These facts are not only interesting but also surprising in some aspects. Why do you think that boys are born more often then girls?
And
If all this stuff is killing off men, how do all the women die off? Loneliness?

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