Both the levels and the types of hospital night noise were measured in this study and found to seriously disrupt the brain activity and cardiovascular function of patients who are there trying to heal. And that’s not even counting all the times they come into your room on purpose, turn on the lights and wake you up to poke, prod and peer at you.
This study results were conclusive enough that the researchers recommend immediate efforts to decrease noise in existing medical care facilities and ensure that new facilities are built to respect this new understanding of the importance of sleep for recovery.
When a 61-year-old woman died recently after having received an accepted targeted treatment—known as stereotactic body-radiation therapy—doctors had to start re-thinking both the radiation dose and the treatment itself.
Months after she’d received the treatment for early-stage adenocarcinoma, a type of non-small cell lung cancer, the woman came back suffering. Doctors found not only that her cancer had metastasized but also that a large portion of healthy tissue in her airway had been destroyed by the radiation. They then treated her with chemotherapy rather than radiation, but she died anyway a few months later.
Despite doctors following accepted protocol, the patient died. It took courage to report this case, according to the US News and Health article. Even though this incident is about a single patient, having it on the record can help other doctors think more carefully about how and how much to use this increasingly popular therapy.
Let us hope physicians are all as brave and forthcoming if and when they discover dangerous or devastating side effects from the new nanoparticle-based targeted cancer therapy techniques.
stem cells after heart attacks. Healthy donors’ cells seem to work better than using the patient’s own compromised stem cells. Makes sense—if the heart is damaged, doesn’t seem right that cells from it would be okay. But of course it only looks obvious once we’ve actually learned it.
Fighting infection by controlling production of nitric oxide (NO). Silicate powder interacts with light to release NO and kill gram-negative bacteria without harming the host. Another useful partner for NO—and another good reason to get out and enjoy the sun.
Saving lives by preventing organ fibrosis (scarring). Peptide from collagen has prevented scarring in human skin samples and in lungs and skin of mice. It even reversed fibrosis that had already begun in mouse lungs. Wonder if they’ll ever be able to use it for COPD and emphysema victims.
Minimizing damage to healthy tissue by using nano-constructed cages for targeting and delivering drugs to specific cells. They’ve got the concept but need to work on the execution—e.g., controlling the porosity of the cage so the loaded drug doesn’t leak out before it reaches its target.
So much promise. My imagination goes wild with visions of a world with so much less suffering.
The trouble with some of the miracles of science is that we discover some wonderful substance and start manipulating it in the belief we know what we’re doing, only to find out at some later date that the substance in question—in this case, nitric oxide—does not, in fact, perform its magic all by itself.
A recent study reports that hydrogen sulfide (H2S), which was thought to perform on its own certain functions similar to those of nitric oxide (NO), is actually a partner with NO in such actions as growing new blood vessels and relaxing existing ones. The authors of the study were Greek and American scientists, and the report is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
Adoption of Genetically Engineered Crops in the U.S. HT = herbicide tolerance. BT = insect resistance. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The only conclusion I can reach is that these researchers were surprised by this discovery. Which makes me wonder. How can we use nanotechnology for a myriad of purposes and gaily go about genetically modifying foods and so on without having done enough safety studies? What surprise “partnerships” might we be missing/ignoring? And if we’re missing something, anything, what long-term effects will, for example, the genetically modified foods have on the nutrition—and therefore growth and health—of the animals and humans consuming them?
I served recently on a small panel of ordinary citizens being questioned by food industry representatives. The topic was attitudes about food safety and food labeling. What kind of labels did we think would make us feel confident about a food? I ask you: if you read “This is really good for you!” on a package, how much do you believe that? How often do you trust that “free range” really means the chickens didn’t spend most of their lives crammed together on top of each other in cages? And does “organic” broccoli mean they used compost from the kitchen in the dirt but still sprayed the hell out of it with pesticides? The truth is often a crapshoot
Some panelists thought they’d trust a source of foods–like Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods–more than they’d trust the marketing language of the manufacturer. The assumption being that these large, consumer-friendly stores that talk big about wholesome and healthy have actually done some serious investigating before they decided to carry a certain brand.
When it comes to nanotech in medicine, I’m sure that if a medicine could be nano-power-injected in me that would save my life—even for a while—I’d say hurry up and shoot, man. But it’s a different story when we talk about using it to fight cancer in a small child where we don’t know what the long-term consequences may be of nanoparticles injected into the body.
No Luddites here. Thank God for every exciting step forward in science—and equal gratitude for those who urge balance and caution.
Specifically, the plants being experimented with were radishes and two ryegrass ground covers that grazing animals commonly eat. Researchers at National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass) wanted to learn:
…whether nanosizing cupric oxide [a reactive chemical that removes electrons from other compounds] made the generation and accumulation of DNA lesions more or less likely in plants. If the former, the researchers also wanted to find out if nanosizing had any substantial effects on plant growth and health.
They found out. The radishes absorbed twice as much cupric oxide and developed twice as many DNA lesions when the mineral came in smaller nanoparticles versus those bigger than 100 nanometers. And the results on the radish seedlings were definitively destructive.
Although the DNA of the two ryegrasses was not as dramatically affected, in all three plant species, growth of both roots and shoots was significantly stunted. Next up for these researchers will be similar testing with “titanium dioxide nanoparticles — such as those used in many sunscreens — on rice plants.”
This report’s conclusions stick strictly to the science and don’t project anything about how the effects of this experiment might apply to human beings being injected or otherwise treated with medicines or protocols involving nano-sized particles. It’s reassuring, at least, to know that high-level researchers are working to test the safety of nanoparticles for living systems. Let’s hope this series of experiments is the first of many that will lead to new, strict standards for nano-sized development.
Day 46 - West Midlands Police - Cannabis Drugs Raid (Photo credit: West Midlands Police)
Some of the oldest medicinal herbs in the world are still being found effective for some treatments for human afflictions. A study in Switzerland, written up in the April 11, 2012 edition of The Journal of Neuroscience, says a marijuana-like substance works well with nitric oxide to both suppress inhibitors and stimulate activity of motor neurons in the spinal cord.
I’m tempted to conclude that this means something like having these endocannabinoids (a marijuana-like substance) inserted into the body’s neural networks—the authors don’t discuss whether smoking marijuana might produce the same effect—creates a partnership with nitric oxide that promotes nerve activity and could potentially lead to some degree of movement in at least some patients with spinal cord injuries.
But since the abstract doesn’t at any point translate its medical-speak into a recognizable potential benefit to human beings, I’m only guessing. It’s an exciting prospect even if I’ve got it only partially right.
As baby boomers age, people are also living longer. Naturally they hope to also have improved quality of life—without paying their entire retirement savings for it.
According to a recent presentation at the American Chemical Society (ACS), scientists are beginning to understand biological pathways more deeply. And now nanotech chemistry is coming along to help them implement new ways of doing things. Experts are developing nanotechnology strategies to use “supramolecular self-assembly” to create noodle-like “nanoscale filaments, virus-like objects, or cell-like microcapsules” that can act as scaffolding for building regeneration processes.
The report goes on to say these noodle “gels” can be used with stem cell therapies to help treat spinal cord injury and Parkinson’s disease, to promote rapid growth of blood vessels for heart attacks or diseased arteries, and to facilitate regenerating bone and cartilage.
The patient’s right hip joint replaced by a metal head and a plastic cup. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
As someone who’s looking at another hip replacement in the near future, this makes me want to say, “Hell, no,” and refuse to let them do the current barbaric procedure. This sawing-and-cutting-out-your-bones thing is so 18th century. Would I ask any questions about whether those nanoparticles could hurt me? Not at my age.
Wonder if I can hold out long enough for this promising tech to bear fruit?
The nanoparticles that coat the pellets are microscopic grains of materials called metal oxides. They absorb “a variety of radioactive materials such as uranium and strontium, as well as non-radioactive toxic elements such as lead and arsenic.” They attach tightly to the pellets and “will not detach into the liquid,” according to the researcher. Then the pellets are placed in a porous capsule and “would be too large to fall out.”
Sounds like a bug or animal trap that lets the creature in but won’t let it get out. Hmm. We’d have to place a great deal of trust in this invention to give our kids such “formerly” radioactive milk to drink. But then, that’s the kind of trust we put into a lot of what medicine prescribes (think: statins) and what manufacturers put in our homes or on our plates (think: GMO foods).
The technology has not yet gone commercial so you definitely won’t see boxes of “anti-radiation” pills in your local drug store any time soon. It’s a great idea, but let’s pray it will end up like the famed *backyard atomic bomb shelters of the 1950s–we don’t ever find out how well it works because we never have to use it.
Those on both sides of the fence hotly debate the advisability of legalizing the sale of donor organs. Meanwhile, a couple of exciting new developments in using stem cells in transplantation caught my eye recently—using stem cells to protect against organ rejection and a new way to study how they work once they’re put into the organ recipient’s body.
Cut down on immunosuppressants
A small new study suggests that some kidney transplant patients who receive bioengineered stem cells from their donors may not need anti-rejection drugs long term. Five of eight patients who received the stem cells in addition to the organ were able to stop taking immunosuppressants after one year, according to Science Translational Medicine. If they can replicate this in a bigger study, it could mean reducing fewer drugs for transplant patients and being able to use more donor organs for transplants. There are typically around 47,000 people a year waiting for a kidney and that wait can currently take years.
Learn how stem cells work for transplants
Looking into the process of using them, NIH researchers have developed a way to monitor how stem cells function once transplanted. The method uses magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and consists of two FDA-approved drugs that can attach to cells and a third that is detectable by MRI. The technique is being tested in brain tumor patients who receive transplants of engineered neural stem cells, according to Molecular Imaging. The technique will help doctors understand how many of the cells they transplant actually reach the target organ, and so help them regulate how they administer the cells, plus how to adjust doses and timing.
Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t have to resort to selling organs—which would likely turn out to produce another crop of heart-wrenching episodes of Law & Order (the original)?
You’ve heard of hybrid cars, which combine power sources—gasoline and an on-board rechargeable energy storage system (RESS). Now there’s a hybrid aspirin that combines acetylsalicylic acid, nitric oxide (NO) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S). They call it the “NOSH aspirin,” and they’re saying it can stop cancer cells from growing.
Image via Wikipedia
Cancer-fighting properties of the new hybrid aspirin are reported in the ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters. The same scientists had already developed a safer-on-the-stomach aspirin that used nitric oxide.
By adding hydrogen sulfide with its anti-inflammatory properties, the hope was that the aspirin would reduce the long-term inflammation that is thought to lead to abnormal cell growth and thereby contribute to a variety of cancers. Such long-term inflammation might come from infections or diseases such as HPV (can lead to cervical cancer) and hepatitis B (a precursor to liver cancer).
NO is important for a great many functions “in the gastrointestinal tract, including mucosal blood flow, maintenance of mucosal integrity, and maintenance of vascular tone,” according to the National Institutes of Health,
Scientists have for years been studying the role of hydrogen sulfide in the development of cancer prevention drugs. When they noted that cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, watercress and Brussels sprouts naturally protect against stomach and colon cancers, they decided to mix
NO and H2S in the hope of coming up with dual benefits. Voila, the NOSH aspirin.
Laboratory tests on animals show the aspirin inhibits growth of breast, colon, pancreas, lung, prostate and some types of leukemia cancer cells without damaging normal cells. NOSH preparations were recorded as being 100,000 times more effective against cancer than regular aspirin.
Other studies have shown even regular aspirin offers a significant reduction of chances of hereditary cancers. But regular intake of aspirin carries a risk of gastrointestinal bleeding and in somecases Reye’s syndrome.
So it will probably come soon. Clinical trials will see whether the cost-benefit ratio of using NOSH aspirin for cancer prevention gets up to where it needs to be for human consumption.
Looking at how bioscience news affects business, higher education, government – and you and me
We all know it’s painful to be awakened multiple times in the night while we’re in the hospital. Surprise. Now there’s a quantified set of stats to prove the crummy quality of sleep in the hospital, beyond being just uncomfortable, is actually damaging to our health.
