All posts by Barbara Payne

stem cells

Embryonic stem cells made from human skin

English: Embryonic Stem Cells. (A) shows hESCs...
English: Embryonic Stem Cells. (A) shows hESCs. (B) shows neurons derived from hESCs. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Scientists have come up with a new technique for using not just infant stem cells but also stem cells from older adults’ skin to develop treatments for many diseases. They pursued this angle because older adults’ DNA is more suitable to addressing conditions that tend to develop more frequently in older people such as diabetes, arthritis, and so on.

Good to see that the researchers have finally, after many years. found a way to create “embryonic” – meaning able to turn into any other type of human cells (plenipotent as opposed to multipotent) – stem cells without the controversial approach of taking them from discarded human embryos. Good news on all fronts.

This new approach could lead to building a genetic library of stem cells made from strong DNA. It could also be used to draw a patient’s own DNA to develop a patient-specific treatment, though this would be much more expensive than choosing from a library.

Imagine. Alleviating the pain, disability, disfigurement and suffering of diabetes. And arthritis.

For anyone facing the prospect of undergoing the current brutal approaches to joint replacement, according to research at Johns Hopkins,  the idea of using stem cells to grow new cartilage, which sounds like the proverbial miracle, may not be that far away.

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BiomedNews

New guidelines suggest fewer blood pressure meds – and the fight is on

A multidisciplinary panel of medical experts agreed recently to raise the blood pressure limits for people over 60 and people with kidney disease. Instead of 140/90 the new top limit is 150/90 for people over 60.  For people with diabetes or kidney disease it’s changed from 130/80 to 140/90. The result is your doctor has more leeway for diagnosing you as an individual.

Yes, it says raise the limit. Shocking, eh? The trend, as seen so clearly with the cholesterol meds, has been to keep lowering the “desired” limit – and thus end up forcing more and more people to take medications. Wonder what happened here?

English: A jar for keeping medical leeches, on...
English: A jar for keeping medical leeches, on display in Bedford Museum. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

But, hey, the fight is not over. Five of the panel’s 20 experts dissented. That is, they disagreed with the majority, just as happens with our Supreme Court. Only the thing is, when judges dissent, the majority decision becomes law anyway. That doesn’t happen in medicine.

Rather than the majority ruling settling the issue in the medical world, the opinions of the minority nay-sayers become the news story instead. Witness the article in the March, 2014 issue of the AARP Bulletin. It focuses on the dire warnings of the dissenters who claim that changing the guidelines will nullify the advances that have occurred in lowering risks.

The result is that patients have little clarity about where they really stand. Which is why it is so very important to find a doctor you respect, who sees you as an individual human being and who respects you for your own “medical mind.”  (see my other posts on using your medical mind).

Just remember. At one time doctors were certain that applying leeches to the patient’s skin was a cure for sickness. And – unlike the occasional pharmaceutical purveyor – the leeches weren’t offering any incentives for the doctors to use them.

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nanotechnology, nitric oxide, nitroxyl

New nitric oxide component (HNO) promises new CV help

English: A schematic showing the (laboratory) ...
English: A schematic showing the (laboratory) production of nitric oxide. The setup was made based on an image of the 1949 Popular Mechanics article by Kenneth M. Swezey (titled: The gas that makes you laugh). Images from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Rocket000/SVGs/Chemistry were used to make this image. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The substance nitric oxide (NO), one of my favorite topics, is now known to be break-downable into components, one of which has one less electron. It’s known as NO(-) or HNO or nitroxyl, and researchers are finding some exciting new applications for it.

One novel use for nitroxyl is as part of a nanoparticle coating for implanted medical devices that otherwise might trigger dangerous blood clots. The coating is made up of sheets of graphene integrated with two components—haemin and glucose oxidase. “Both work synergistically to catalyze the production of nitroxyl, which can be used inside the blood like nitric oxide, although it contains one less electron. Nitroxyl has been reported as being analogous to nitric oxide in its clot-preventing capability.”

The other use for nitroxyl (HNO) involves its use in treating heart failure. Researchers normally write in very reserved terms about their discoveries, but the author of the passage below seems pretty excited about  the implications of the research. Basically it’s saying that HNO donors can do things that regular NO donors cannot do and may be dramatically more useful in treating cardiovascular disease.

Thus, unlike NO*, HNO can target cardiac sarcoplasmic ryanodine receptors to increase myocardial contractility, can interact directly with thiols and is resistant to both scavenging by superoxide (*O2-) and tolerance development. HNO donors are protective in the setting of heart failure in which NO donors have minimal impact.

It’s cool to see this showing three of my favorite topics coming together: nitric oxide, nanotechnology and heart failure. But then, when all is said and done someday, everything in bioscience will undoubtedly coalesce in one way or another.

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nanotechnology

Nanomotors can now navigate inside human cells

English: Cancer cells photographed by camera a...
English: Cancer cells photographed by camera attached to microscope in time-lapse manner. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The ability to control the movement of artificial nanomotors inside a human cell has far and wide implications for finding and treating cancers and other conditions. The hope is that the technology could be developed to perform intracellular surgeries and deliver drugs noninvasively.

Researchers tried introducing nanomotors years ago, but they had to use toxic fuels to propel them and even then they wouldn’t move in biological fluids, so the approach wasn’t practical in living tissue. Now they’ve discovered how to use ultrasonic waves to get the nanomotors to move forward or spin. They can also steer them using magnetic forces. And several of the little guys can be directed to move independently within the same cell. This technique has already been shown to be able to do some damage inside a HeLa cancer cell.

Check out the article and the Fantastic-Voyage-like nanomotor video.

Science fiction does indeed come to life every day in this age of biomedical wonders.

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nitric oxide

Sunshine facilitates nitric oxide flow – and lowers blood pressure

Digitales Blutdruckmessgerät / Digital Blood P...
Digitales Blutdruckmessgerät / Digital Blood Pressure Monitor (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A recent experiment showed that exposing people to UV rays can measurably reduce their blood pressure. The conjecture is that the rays are promoting the transfer of nitric oxide via the skin into the circulation, thus lowering blood pressure along with risk of stroke and heart attack.

Dermatologists were quick to say this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still avoid sun exposure for fear of skin cancer. However, docs who did the experiment point out that high blood pressure, stroke and heart attack kill 80 times more people than skin cancer.

Hmm. Lower blood pressure, more relaxed = benefits of sunshine. Does this surprise anyone? How many millennia have human beings been seeking out sunny locales in which to spend their vacations?

In addition, no change was detected in the subjects’ vitamin D levels, when it’s long been a scientific claim that sunshine exposure helps raise vitamin D absorption.

Clearly, this is a small study, but it’s a good reminder that science sometimes needs to be taken with a healthy dose of common sense.

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BiomedNews

Doctor’s physical exam still best diagnostic tool for heart failure prognosis

Shown is the back of a female patient with a d...
Shown is the back of a female patient with a doctor who is using a stethoscope to listen to her lungs. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’s great to know that what a doctor can hear/feel in the physical exam of a patient with advanced heart failure is the best predictor of how well that patient will fare.

Despite the development of continually more sophisticated diagnostic tools, it’s comforting to know that the best guide to a patient’s prognosis is the doctor’s careful listening to and observation of four important indicators: 1) distended jugular venous distention, 2) a third heart sound, 3) rales (crackles) in the lungs, and 4) peripheral edema (swelling in the legs and ankles).

I am grateful that most doctors have some training in how to present bad news to a patient. As one of their duties, that’s gotta suck. But the hope is that patient and doctor have developed a respectful, caring relationship along the way.

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nanotechnology, nitric oxide

5 news bits – nitric oxide and nanoparticles

English: An experimental setup used to measure...
English: An experimental setup used to measure the fraction of exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) in human breath samples. The subject blows into the tube (1) after a mouthpiece (2) has been connected to it. The wires on the side measure parameters like breath velocity, while the exhaled gas is taken to a FeNO analyzer (3). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The first item is about nitric oxide (NO) used in testing, and the rest are all about using nanoparticles for delivering things into the human body, including NO. It’s astounding that scientists have found nanotechnology so helpful in these kinds of applications. I just hope more research is done on how safe it is to inject nanomaterials into our bodies or make us breathe them in. Their size is so similar to the deadly asbestos fibers that are currently costing billions in lawsuits by workers whose companies didn’t protect them from breathing and ingesting them.

Gotta make sure the cure doesn’t damage the patient in different ways than the condition it’s meant to help.

  1. Mayo Clinic officially recognizes the exhaled-nitric-oxide test to confirm asthma diagnoses and to determine how well medications are working – http://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/nitric-oxide-test/basics/definition/prc-20012958
  2. Japanese researchers have found a way to use nano-sized particles to deliver nitric oxide to cells as needed – http://www.azonano.com/news.aspx?newsID=28613
  3. Government wants scientists to adapt nano-delivery systems to protect soldiers in the field from bio and chemical weapons – http://www.abqjournal.com/328885/news/dod-wants-protocell-to-protect-soldiers-2.html
  4. Nanoparticles can carry RNA gene-silencing snippet to treat breast cancer – http://www.azonano.com/news.aspx?newsID=29083
  5. Inhaled nanoparticles to carry antimicrobial meds to treat pneumonia caused by drug-resistant bacteria – http://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology_news/newsid=33688.php
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BiomedNews

New way to tell heart failure prognosis

Heart Failure causes more damage than you think
Heart Failure causes more damage than you think (Photo credit: Novartis AG)

Just a quickie on a new method for determining prognosis for heart failure patients. This study shows that measuring how the heart metabolizes energy can give docs a better way to predict who’s going to have a rough time of it and who will do better with heart failure.

Using a non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique, researchers at Johns Hopkins found they could predict clinical outcomes for heart failure very well – independent of the patient’s symptoms or the actual pumping strength of the heart.

“Having a more precise way to determine a patient’s risk would enable us to identify high-risk people earlier and tailor their treatments more specifically,” according to Robert Weiss, senior author of the study.

“And with a new target – impaired energy metabolism – we can also open the door to developing and testing new therapies for heart failure.”

Wonder how this correlates with the new studies indicating exercise that’s more strenuous (relatively speaking) looks to be beneficial for heart failure patients. Does more vigorous exercise improve the heart’s ability to metabolize energy? Sounds good to me.

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BiomedNews

“First Do No Harm” film highlights med insurance shortfalls

First Do No Harm
First Do No Harm (Photo credit: edenpictures)

It wasn’t on purpose that I ended up with the movie “First Do No Harm” playing on  my computer on January 1, 2014. But the timing was convenient in the sense that today is the day a whole bunch of the 45 million Americans who previously didn’t have medical insurance will start having coverage.

The movie is about a family being torn to pieces financially and emotionally while dealing with their little boy’s epilepsy. It touches on the devastating consequences possible when medical insurance is absent or inadequate to the task for a major illness – a question this new law hopes to make obsolete now for many more in the United States.

Plus the movie touches on the powerfully important question of how blindly we are required to trust in our doctors when the treatment appears to be worse than the illness. Read my previous review of the book, Your Medical Mind, about patients feeling empowered about making choices in treating serious health challenges.

I wish for 2014 that allowing millions more Americans to gain health insurance will save more lives and improve the quality of life for millions – and will not in any important way negatively affect those who already had it. And that we all will have doctors who are open to listening when we’re confused or find new information.

Happy new year.

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nanotechnology, nitric oxide

Light-triggered nanosystem delivers NO gas to cells

Nitric oxide (white) in conifer cells, visuali...
Nitric oxide (white) in conifer cells, visualized using DAF-2 DA (diaminofluorescein diacetate) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Japanese researchers have developed a new way to deliver nitric oxide (NO) gas into cells.

Nitric oxide is a workhorse in the body. It signals cells to divide, expands blood vessels and sends signals between nerve cells in the brain. Scientists believe that figuring out how NO controls all this may help them come up with new approaches to treating cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.

Despite progress, it’s still a mystery just how much NO causes specific effects. “No existing technique has been able to capture what this gas is truly doing at the cellular level,” said Stephane Diring, who led the study.

By combining chemical and biological techniques the team of researchers, from Kyoto University’s Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS) put together a nano-based structure called MOF for delivering NO that could release its payload to nearby cells based on how much light is delivered to it.  Kind of like an underground sprinkler system delivers water to a lawn.

The system lets them control exactly where and how much nitric oxide is delivered by tuning the intensity and wavelength of the light, according to researcher Shuhei Furukawa. Plus, the fact that the light is infrared means it won’t harm other cells.

One giant leap into understanding NO. One small step in the never-ending battle to develop non-invasive therapies.

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