Nmnat2, The Cure for Neurodegenerative Diseases, for aging?

Recently at the Babraham Institute, scientists have discovered a survival factor that plays a key role in keeping our nerve cells alive and protects us from degenarative disease such as multiple sclerosis. This survival factor is called Nmnat2, and it has been discovered that without this protein nerve cells begin to degenerate. Nmnat2 is a metabolic enzyme that is situated in the golgi of nerve cells. Neurodegenrative diseases are caused by a loss of functioning nerve cells, usually caused by the degeneration of axons. Axons are the long and thin projections, that can be up to a meter long, that carry messages from nerve cells to other target cells. Many neurodegenerative diseases are caused by the deterioration of these axons. These axons also deteriorate as people age.

These discoveries open up whole new world of possibility in the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders as scientists now know what protein, or lack thereof, cuases the deterioration of these axons. Scientists now believe they can combat neurodegenerative disorders by targeting this protein or other steps in the nerve pathway. There is also some potential for the possibilty of slowing the natural degeneration of nerve cells with old age.

While this discovery opens up many doors for people with neurodegenerative diseases, some of the worst and most painful known to man, it also could give humans the power to extend life to unthinkable ages. Nowadays most things in ones body can be replaced if it breaks down, from a knee to a heart. However, one of the most effective limiting agents on human life is the degeneration of nerve cells, something that has baffled scientists for many years. With this recent discovery though, science could be reaching another plateau of extending human life, one that could have incredibly controversial views.

-Graham and Hayes

Public Library of Science. "Scientists Find Survival Factor for Keeping Nerve Cells Healthy." ScienceDaily 31 January 2010. 31 January 2010

Graham And Hayes Nmnat2 Pres.

View more presentations from Student Wilsonsbiologylab.

Cells Critical to Childhood Leukemia Discovered

On January 21st, Science published an article about a new cell that has been discovered. But this isn't just any old cell, this cell is said to play a critical role in a form of childhood leukemia. Researchers at the Royal Melbourne Hospital found the cell.

This cell, which is still unnamed, is believed to be a major player in causing a specific type of childhood onset Leukemia called T cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia or T-ALL. The cell is mainly found in the thymus.

This is a rather new discovery, and not all the details are known in terms of the part this specific cell plays in T-ALL, nor do scientists know exactly how T-ALL is caused. However, while studying mice prone to this type of leukemia, researchers discovered that this cell continued to re-emerge after radiation.

The cell functions much like a stem cell, which makes it incredibly resistant to therapy and the toxicity of the treatment. Consequently, this cell can lead to post -treatment relapses which are quite common in T-ALL.

Though researchers have not yet found a way to target this cell, they have identified one of the major players in T-ALL and in the future may be able to work towards a much more effective treatment which would not include any relapses.

Above is a microscope slide of bone marrow infected with ALL L1 leukemia, a

type of leukemia similar to the T-ALL form in children.

For those of you unfamiliar with Leukemia, the following video should

shed some light not only on the cancer but also on recent research.

-Post by hayes10

Cloning

Cloning

Cloning is the process of making a genetically identical organism through nonsexual means. On January 8, 2001 Scientists at Advanced Cell Technology, Inc., declared that the first clone of the endangeed animal, a baby Gaur, named Noah, was created. Though Noah died of an infection it proved that a functional clone could be created, and it showed that an endangered species could be saved by cloning. Cloning had been used many times before to make copies of plants, but the cloning of animals has be studied for many years. The first cloned animal created from an adult cell was created in 1997, it was a sheep named Dolly. After Dolly, many scientists have cloned other animals, like cows and mice.
The cloning of humans could potentially lead to certain medical breakthroughs. For instance, certain organs and tissue could be harvested from clones and used for transplants. However, others do not think this is humane. Issues could also arise from failing to successfully create the clone. So far, not one primate has been successfully cloned. So, is human cloning humane? You decide.

Cloning

View more presentations from Student Wilsonsbiologylab.

Cure for Alzheimer's???

A new discovery led by the University of South Florida provides evidence that long-term exposure to the electromagnetic emissions from cell phone use may protect and even reverse Alzheimer's disease. The researchers tested 96 mice, most of them had altered beta-amyloid in the brain to give them Alzheimer like qualities. However, some were normal to get wider results. All of the mice were exposed to the electromagnetic field generated by cell phone use for two 1-hour periods each day for seven to nine months. To expose the mice, their cages were arranged around a central antenna generating the cell phone signal. Each animal was exposed to electromagnetic waves typically emitted by a cell phone pressed up against a person's head.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an irreversible, progressive brain disease that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills, and eventually even the ability to carry out the simplest tasks. The mice tested without brain problems never developed any problems and the brain problems of the altered mice died down or completely disappeared. The scientists think that this could also be true in humans. If they are correct this would be a major breakthrough in Alzheimer's research. Test were ran with the two types of mice and the results clearly showed that they both had the same memory recognition. Also, scientists found that when Alzheimer's mice are exposed their brain temperature rised. Scientists believe this happens to remove newly-formed beta-amyloid by causing brain cells to release it.

Researchers were also surprised by the fact that the emissions not only boosted memories of mice with Alzheimer's, but also boosted ones of the normal mice as well. Researchers have concluded that it will take more time to determine all the pros and cons but it hopefully it will be as effective on mice as on humans. If this become an alternative option for the cure of Alzheimer's, this can help cure 26 million people around the world, which is the population of Texas.

Cell Phones Treat Alzheimer's

View more presentations from Student Wilsonsbiologylab.

Carp DNA Is Found in Lake Michigan

Ecologists and federal officials have found genetic material from the Asian carp at a harbor within Lake Michigan, near the Illinois-Indiana border. The Asian carp is a voracious invasive species—meaning that it is non-native may have a negative effect on the ecosystem. Though unwelcome, the identification of the DNA is not shocking considering that the Asian Carp had long been feared to be nearing the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes have a very delicate ecosystem and the presence of the Asian Carp could be devastating. The presence of the Asian Carp would throw off the ecosystem because of the lack of natural competitors. The arrival of Asian Carp could potentially crush the 7-billion-dollar fishing industry and endanger and ecosystem that contains 20% of the world’s fresh water. Though an elaborate barrier costing millions of dollars had been constructed in hopes of preventing the Asian Carp form making its way into the Great Lakes, the efforts may very well have been futile.
Despite these ominous signs, there is some hope that the Asian Carp has not actually made it’s way into the Great Lakes. Government officials states that no full fish have been found and that the DNA could have arrived by other means. Regardless, however, government officials are very disturbed by the findings and the logistical problems in dealing with it. On the same day that the news of the findings came out, The U.S. Supreme Court has denied Michigan officials the right to close the locks of a Chicago shipping lane that has direct access to the lakes. The news of the Supreme Court’s denial has sparked strong responses from many state officials. The Governors of Michigan and Wisconsin have called upon president Obama act swiftly on the issue, lest the Great Lakes be overrun with Asian Carp and cause devastating irreversible damage.
This article raises an alarming issue. The Great Lakes are a humongous natural resource that are environmentally and economically vital to North America. Though there are many global issues that are very pressing, this should not be put on the back burner, or we may really regret it. Though I think action must be taken, the article raised some interesting questions; what extents should humans go to prevent the “natural” progression of the world? Though the Asian Carp may devastate that Great Lakes ecosystem, could our efforts to stop it also have devastating effects?
Works Cited:
Saulny, Susan. "Carp DNA Is Found in Lake Michigan." New York Time (2010): n. pag. Web. 25 Jan 2010. .

A link to the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/science/20carp.html?

-Jukie

Common Stain Repellant Linked to Thyroid Disease

Recent studies done on stain-repelling chemicals have revealed startling and frightening results. It is a known fact that these chemicals contain perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA. However, it is now emerging that PFOA could have a direct link to thyroid disease. Thyroid disease is characterized by an under or over active thyroid and metabolic and immune system problems. The thyroid is a gland that produces various thyroid hormones. Researchers at the University of Exeter are looking at data gathered by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, or NHANES. This data was gathered from around 4,000 adults from 1999 to 2006 where the blood levels of PFOA were checked. These levels of PFOA were compared to many types of diseases such as heart disease and diabetes but only thyroid disease stood out. Also, it was also noticed that thyroid disease was more prevalent in women.
PFOA is a perfluorochemical, or PFC which can be manufactured directly but can also be the byproduct of producing other chemicals. PFCs can be found in many items such paper and textile coatings, polishes and food packaging. However, there is not enough information to draw any clear conclusions about the effects of PFOA on thyroid health.
This article raises many ethical questions for the companies who produce any stain-repelling chemicals. As of now, there is not enough information to make any solid conclusions, but there could be many issues raised down the road if it is found out that PFOA does cause thyroid disorders.
Should companies put warnings stating the risk of thyroid disease even if it is not a proven fact?

-Graham

Works Cited
Ehrenberg, Rachel. "Common Stain Repellent Linked to Thyroid Disease." Science News. 22 01 2010. Science & Society, Web. 24 Jan 2010. .

Pork From a Petri Dish

Pork From a Petri Dish... Tantilizing
Are you a vegetarian? Are you a vegetarian because you think the animals are treated badly? If so this could be the answer. Dutch scientists (but they are doing this all over the world) have developed a way to turn pig stem cells into pork. To do this the scientists must take stem cells from a pig muscle and put them in a nutrient soup where they will multiply by the millions. This process, if effective, will be able to save millions of animals that would usually be killed for their meat. Scientists are also thinking about using the stem cells from fish to produce Omega Fatty Acids so that instead of fat, there would be healthy Omega 3 Fatty Acids. This means that your average burger could prevent, not cause heart attacks.
Many experts are criticizing this idea. Some say that, like most new technologies, this one may be dangerous to people. One critic spoke about how taking animals out of slaughterhouses would affect the environment. Others say that the lab made meat would not taste anything like normal pork. Some of their reasons to draw this conclusion are the protein content, and the marbleization of natural meat. In real pork, the meat is about 99% protein. The grown meat is only around 80% protein. In natural meat, fat and other parts of the animal create various almost un-replecatable meat conditions, which make it very good tasting. Supporters of this process argue that people already eat sausages and hot-dogs, so this should not be a problem to put the grown pork into processed meats. This technology could be extremely helpful to developing nations. If food could be grown in places that have a lack of resources, then food could be supplied to people that may be dying of starvation.
NASA has tried to grow this type of meat for trips into space. If meat could be grown on a space-bound shuttle, then astronauts could be able to consume protein from pork, or steaks, or other types of meat. However NASA's tests yielded less than satisfying results. Unfortunately, the geniuses at NASA could only manage to grow pathetically small slivers of meat. NASA decided it would simply be easier for space goers to just eat vegetarian.



Original article from
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100115/ap_on_he_me/eu_med_petri_pork
Pictures from
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWWNmcCbqndiJ5_pZII_ReaBuQ9gXps8_gCzSmvVoe3pe-zeRBtkjEGrZvL5w8fjQNZoppzpDhnOI2GY7wgw2xpQuX1VBraObP9e-Yik8wZxs2ZQXqjLPHnyzfOqo8cHVBb2O8bR1RJ6M/s1600-h/pig+in+a+petri+dish2.jpg
http://kategale.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/teacup-pig-trio.jpg
http://www.citizen.org/cmep/images/lots%20of%20dead%20pigs.JPG
http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/art/PigArt.jpg
http://hesdeadjim.squarespace.com/storage/hamburger.jpg
http://static.squidoo.com/resize/squidoo_images/-1/draft_lens1894779module36241022photo_12434633908-75-hunger.jpg

Scientists Turn Stem Cells Into Pork

View more presentations from Student Wilsonsbiologylab.

Ilan, WIll, and Danielle 02

Global Warming "Errors" Raise Credibility Questions

A recent article documents some very serious mistakes made by UN scientists in an important paper about global warming. The article comes after a wave of confusion and accusations at e-mails between groups of scientists working on studies of global warming. These emails were said to have contained hints that facts or results should be beefed up or made more scary. Global warming skeptics maintain that these scientists have been fudging the facts to get more power behind their cause. Indeed when science and politics mix, serious questions of credibility are raised and the balance between the two can often become blurred and messy. The scientists insist that these large mistakes were purely errors, yet the magnitude of these errors and the apparent carelessness that must have went into such an important paper is questionable. Some of the errors include:

"Glaciers in the Himalayas are receding faster than in any other part of the world." Cogley and Michael Zemp of the World Glacier Monitoring System said Himalayan glaciers are melting at about the same rate as other glaciers.

It says that if the Earth continues to warm, the "likelihood of them disappearing by the 2035 and perhaps sooner is very high." Nowhere in peer-reviewed science literature is 2035 mentioned. However, there is a study from Russia that says glaciers could come close to disappearing by 2350. Probably the numbers in the date were transposed, Cogley said.

The entire paragraph is attributed to the World Wildlife Fund, when only one sentence came from the WWF, Cogley said. And further, the IPCC likes to brag that it is based on peer-reviewed science, not advocacy group reports. Cogley said the WWF cited the popular science press as its source.

A table says that between 1845 and 1965, the Pindari Glacier shrank by 2,840 meters. Then comes a math mistake: It says that's a rate of 135.2 meters a year, when it really is only 23.5 meters a year.

These types of mistakes, all which lean towards making global warming more real, and fast and frightening are riddled throughout this paper. I can only hope that politics haven't corrupted the men and women of science, yet I am skeptical of their agenda and of these mistakes.

Any thoughts?

Cell Phone Radiation Might Improve Memory

Cell Phone Radiation Might Improve Memory

There are claims that extensive cell phone radiation can cause brain tumors, but a new

study argues that the radio waves can possibly prevent and even reverse Alzheimer's disease --

well that is in mice. The mice that were not given Alzheimer's showed a boost in brain activity.

The scientists exposed old mice (some with Alzheimer's, some without) to cell phone radio waves

and the brain displayed deposits of a strongly connected (to Alzheimer's) called beta-amyloid.

Beta-amyloid bunched together creating brain plaques which are tell-tale signs of the disease. As

the scientist see, the radio waves increase the temperature in the brain, which triggers the brain

cells to dispel the awful plaques.

The study consisted of 96 mice, many of them had been genetically altered to make

beta-amyloid plaques and memory issues which simulated Alzheimer's. The rest of the mice

were normal. This was so the researchers could see the effects on normal memory. Both types of

mice were exposed to 1 hour of radiation (cell phone radio waves) each day for seven to nine

months. The radio waves were transmitted by an antenna on the side of each mouses cage. If the

older mice were showing memory issues (genetically altered) and were exposed to the waves,

their memory issues would be gone, and the originally normal mice would have raised

intelligence. These results took months to show up.

If the test were designed for humans, and it worked, we would have a cure for

Alzheimer's disease. This discovery could also have a portable electromagnetic field and prevent

Alzheimer's for all. The topic is still being looked into, it is not a surefire plan to get rid of

Alzheimer's but may be in the future.

By Daniele Marcato

NanoCocktail Used to Treat Tumors

Chemists at UC San Diego have recently been working a Nano-cocktail of drugs that target tumors, and kills them. This has been a problem before because the body of the injected subject has mononuclear phagocytes that stop the nanomaterials. This is because mononuclear phagocytes are immune cells that can identify the nanomaterials as foreign invaders, and pulls the nanomaterials out of the blood stream; which in turns stops the nanomaterials from reaching the tumors.
Previously, tests were being done with these nanomaterials, but not in combination. Cocktails of multiple drugs is commonly used in the medical world, and is now being used to create the nano-cocktail. A graduate student at MIT discussed how two nanomaterials would be used in this cocktail. The first acts as an agent that finds and covers the tumors in gold particles that heat up the tumor. The second nanomaterial acts like a "soldier" as it is attracted to the heated tumors, and proceeds to attack them. The first nanomaterial also has "nanostrings" that show up on x-rays so that doctors can find the tumors before they even inject the second nanomaterial. This makes it so that the second nanomaterial can be injected into the body close to where the tumor is so that the mononuclear phagocytes will have less of a chance of extracting the nanomaterial.




Ryan
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100104143507.htm

Cigarettes can Make you Sick in More Ways than you Know

For years people have known about the dangers of smoking cigarettes. Average cigarettes contain almost 3,000 different chemicals and heavy metals, as well as tar and nicotine, and commonly known side effect of smoking cigarettes range from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to lung cancer. But recent studies have shown that cigarettes also contain hundreds of strains of bacteria, which can cause diseases such as the common cold, asthma, and influenza, among others.

It was already known that bacteria exist on tobacco leaves, but scientists have discovered that the fermenting process that is done to turn natural tobacco into what is found in cigarettes causes an ideal environment for bacteria to grow and prosper. There have been up to 15 different species of bacteria discovered in cigarettes, such as Acinetobacter, Bacillus, Burkholderia, Clostridium, Klebsiella, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Serratia, and these strains were found in 90% of the tested cigarettes.

With at least 1 billion smokers over the age of 15 in the world, scientists must keep studying these bacteria to see what other diseases they might cause. Also, with this new information being available to the public, maybe some people will stop smoking once they realize that they aren't just inhaling chemicals and tar, but living bacteria as well.

-Ethan

HIV After 25 Years, Can it be Cured?

There has now been 25 years since the discovery of HIV/AIDS and still there is no cure for the infectious disease. Scientists have found agents that suppress the disease in the body; however, no scientist has found a definite cure. There have been 25 new agents that keep the levels of HIV down in the blood. However, when these medicines are taken away, the HIV in the body comes back in full strength. These medicines are called highly active antiretroviral therapy, or HAART, and they have given many affected patients better, longer, and more healthful lives.

However, as stated previously these medicines do not cure the disease, they just make it more manageable. Scientists are puzzled why HAART does not totally cure and get rid of the HIV. Scientists have found that the HIV is forced into some kind of hiding when a patient’s body is undergoing the HAART treatment. Scientists are trying to find a medicine that is potent enough to totally eradicate the HIV from the body. They want to find where HIV hides in the body when the body is undergoing HAART in order to totally get rid of it. This problem is what scientists have been faced with since the discovery of HIV and HAART.

HIV After 25 Years

View more presentations from Student Wilsonsbiologylab.