Technically Speaking

Mayo Clinic gynecologists have discovered a better, cheaper, and less evasive way to perform female sterilizations. The technique involves inserting a nickel-titanium and stainless steel springlike device into the fallopian tubes. The device will in turn cause the body to produce scar tissue at the site of the device and thus block the tube. The blockage will be complete in roughly 12 weeks. This method requires minimal sedation and no surgical incision, as the surgeon enters via the vagina. It also allows quick recovery.

“Patients love it,” says Abimbola Famuyide, M.B.B.S., Mayo Clinic gynecologic surgeon, who conducted the cost-comparison study. “There are minimal side effects. Patients typically leave the hospital within an hour, and they are back to work the next day.”

Dr. Famuyide and colleagues found that hysteroscopic sterilization costs patients approximately $500 less on their medical bills compared to the traditional method of female sterilization, laparoscopic tubal ligation, surgery requiring an abdominal incision with general anesthesia.

The study found the hysteroscopic method is less expensive due to the following factors:

* Quicker recovery — this method requires either no time in recovery or much less time in the hospital recovery room and/or the outpatient floor than laparoscopic tubal ligation, which also means less need for nursing care or ongoing pain control.

* Less expensive pharmacy charges — this method requires fewer drugs to administer.

The study was conducted retrospectively via a comparative cost analysis of the aforementioned two methods of female sterilization performed on women ages 27 to 45 who requested permanent sterilization at Mayo Clinic from January to December 2003. The analysis included 43 cases of hysteroscopic sterilization and 44 cases of laparoscopic tubal ligation. The investigators reviewed billing records using cost algorithms on data from Mayo Clinic’s Cost Data Warehouse. The average cost for the hysteroscopic sterilization was $2,314, versus $2,859 for the tubal ligation.

Dr. Famuyide expects that patients will be able to further increase their savings by choosing hysteroscopic sterilization in the future, as the procedure moves out of the hospital setting to the physician’s office.

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For more info visit MayoClinic.com.

Some time ago Engadget wrote about a robot pill that you can swallow and it would walk through your intestines taking pictures. Well the picture above shows the robot pill. Right now it looks as if it is fitted for an elephant or at least a horse. Hopefully, if the aim is to use it on humans, we will see some significant reduction in size in later models.

In the future, drugs may be administered by microscopic robots. Chinese scientist have created a microscopic swimming robot that could eventually be used for drug delivery or to clear arteries in humans. The robotic swimming device currently measures 3mm x 2mm x 0.4mm but a more feasible model would be only 0.1 mm long. It may be several years before we actually see this idea clinically tested.

The 3 millimetre-long triangular machine was constructed by Tao Mei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, and colleagues from the University of Science and Technology of China.

The craft is propelled using an external magnetic field which controls its microscopic fins. The fins are made from an alloy that contracts in response to application of the field. Applying the field quickly makes the tiny submersible paddle forwards and gradually switching the field off slowly moves the fins back to their original position.

It is possible to control the speed of the craft by altering the resonant frequency of the magnetic field. The next stage is to build a robot with fins that respond to different magnetic field resonances. This would enable an operator to control the fin separately and steer the robot around.

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A new synthetic gel, created by scientist of India, has the potential to deliver drugs, that are traditionally given by injection, by oral ingestion.

The problem in giving drugs to treat these and other diseases is that after being broken down in the stomach, not enough of the drug gets to the target tissue, such as the colon.

To get around the problem, scientists in India created a synthetic “hydrogel” designed to hold up to stomach acids but yield to the more-alkaline surroundings of the intestines. In experiments, they found that a hydrogel container holding vitamin B2 largely withstood acidic conditions like those of the stomach, and released most of the vitamin when in a low-acid, colon-like pH.

Dr. Sunil K. Bajpai and Seema Dubey of the Government Model Science College in Jabalpur report the findings in the journal Polymer International.

According to the researchers, tests are now needed to see how the gel would act in the body, and not just the lab dish.

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A bit of controversy surrounding the gel is that it contains acrylamide. Acrylamide is an ingredient that proved to be cancerous in lab animals. The saving grace is that there is research that suggests that when packaged as a “polyacrylamide” in a drug delivery device, acrylamide would not produce toxic effects. If the gel passes the FDA guidelines then injections may be soon thing of the pass.

I have waited for a long time to hear this news. Researchers at The University of Western Ontario have found one drink of beer or wine provides equivalent increases in plasma antioxidant activity, which helps prevent the oxidization of blood plasma by toxic free radicals that trigger many aging diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease and cataracts.

The study was conducted by about 10 researchers, including experts in pharmacology and toxicology. It was led by John Trevithick, a biochemistry and kinesiology professor at Western. It involved administering five beverages (stout, lager, red wine, pure alcohol and a placebo-like non- alcoholic drink) to 20 volunteers over a period of two summers, with daily blood tests.

It was all done scientifically.

“It took them an hour or so to get three drinks down,” said Trevithick.

“We didn’t push it. They weren’t chugging.”

The scientists were trying to determine if drinking beer imparts the same benefits as drinking wine, which past studies have shown can help prevent the oxidation of blood plasma by toxic-free radicals that trigger many aging diseases, including cancer, diabetes, heart disease and cataracts.

…

The conclusion?

Trevithick said the study shows that drinking one bottle of beer a day reduces your chances of contracting cataracts or atherosclerosis (narrowing of the arteries caused by the buildup of plaque) by 50 per cent.

You and I might think that if drinking one beer a day can help you live longer, then drinking five will help you live forever. (This is also why you and I are not scientists.)

In fact, the study showed that drinking two bottles of beer a day is not as healthy as drinking one bottle a day, because it reduces the risk of various aging diseases by only 10 per cent.

And the bad news is that drinking three bottles of beer a day actually causes the blood to become pro-oxidant and increases the risk of such diseases 30 to 40 per cent.

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Personally, this is good and bad news. I love beer so the good is that it is good for you. The bad is that I will have to cut back on it a little for it seems that it is only good in moderation.

Sources: Slashdot, The University of Western Ontario and London Free Press.

A draft of the human genome was presented in June 2000 with 97% of the genome mapped. Since then scientists have split up the genome into various groups of chromosomes and divided them among a group of scientist. This was done so that the genome could be studied further and missing holes be completed and errors be corrected. The Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (JGI) has finalized in collaboration with the Stanford Human Genome Center (SHGC) the second of three chromosomes. They have just released a detailed account of the “chromosome five”, one of the larger chromosomes. Completion of the sequencing means that they, the project participants combined, has reached the halfway point in their research. Only 12 chromosomes remain.

Now, several institutions around the world have divided up the 24 human chromosomes - the cellular structures into which DNA is wound - and are going through them with a fine-tooth comb for a final time, to fill gaps and correct errors.

They are, as it were, dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s and giving the whole sequence a thorough spell-check.

“It is about getting everything in the right order,” commented Dr Tim Hubbard, of the Human Genetics group at the Sanger Institute in Cambridge, UK.

“In the draft version there were 100,000 gaps in the whole genome. It was a small percentage of the sequence, but it meant you were uncertain about the order of the pieces.

“It is important for doing experiments to have the complete sequence - to have no gaps at all.”

…

“This extremely accurate sequence will be a powerful tool for scientists trying to understand human disease,” said US Secretary of Energy, Spencer Abraham.

The giant chromosome is made up of 180.9 million letters - the A’s, T’s, G’s and C’s that make up the genetic code.

Of the 923 genes that sit on chromosome five, 66 are known to be linked to disease when they go wrong. Another 14 diseases seem to be connected to chromosome five genes, but they have not been linked to specific genes yet.

Having a detailed picture of chromosome five will be an immense help to researchers investigating these illnesses.

“It is very useful to have a base sequence which you can then compare individuals to,” Dr Hubbard told BBC News Online.

“Then you can look for key differences between people that do have the disease and people that don’t have the disease.”

Another feature of chromosome five will pique the interest of scientists studying the difference between humans and chimpanzees.

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This analysis of the genetic material has also opened the eyes of scientist about the portion of the genome earlier regarded as “Junk” DNA. Scientists observations suggest that there really is a purpose for the so called “Junk”. The other 12 chromosomes should be completed in the next few months, hopefully before year end. Upon completion, scientist will have the most accurate and up to date reference to work with.

Professor Stuart Campbell at London’s Create Health Clinic has perfected the technique used in created 3D ultrasound images. Using the technique, he has been able to capture images of the foetus in real-time. Such images include, stretching, kicking, leaping and walking.

The images have shown:

* From 12 weeks, unborn babies can stretch, kick and leap around the womb - well before the mother can feel movement

* From 18 weeks, they can open their eyes although most doctors thought eyelids were fused until 26 weeks

* From 26 weeks, they appear to exhibit a whole range of typical baby behaviour and moods, including scratching, smiling, crying, hiccuping, and sucking.

Until recently it was thought that smiling did not start until six weeks after birth.

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The technology will help scientist determine exactly what goes on in the development cycle of a baby and hopefully in the future it will help doctors in the early detection/correction of diseases.

Interesting tidbit to make you think about the damage that may be happening to your body from cell phone radiation. Hungarian scientists conclude that carrying a cell phone in your hip pocket or attached to your waist can cut a man’s sperm count by 30%.

“The prolonged use of cell phones may have a negative effect on (sperm production) and male fertility,” Dr. Imre Fejes, of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Szeged said in a summary of the study.

Fejes and his team analyzed sperm from 221 men and questioned them about their use of mobile phones. They found correlations between the use of the phones, even in a standby setting, and reduced sperm concentration and quality.

Fejes said more research is needed to support the findings, which will be reported to this week’s conference in Berlin of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.

Professor Hans Evers, a past president of the society, said the results are interesting but far from conclusive.

“It … appears not to take into account the many potential confounding factors that could have skewed the results,” Evers, who works at the Academic Hospital in Maastricht in the Netherlands, said in a statement.

He added that the study did not seem to analyze stress levels, the type of jobs the men have and whether they smoked, which could all influence sperm count.

“These factors would have a considerable effect on the outcome of the research,” he said.

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I’m sure more studies will be conducted on this issue. Let’s hope that the Hungarian scientists really are wrong.

News that I’m sure a lot of people will be glad to hear… A possible vaccine for cocaine addiction has been found. A UK pharmaceutical company, Xenova, has had success with their TA-CD vaccine. Subjects that have taken the vaccine have been able to stay off cocaine for up to 6 months. The vaccine works by blocking the high that the user feels when taking cocaine. In essence, making it pointless to take the drug. This technique is similar to the techniques used in fighting viral agents.

Mr Oxlade added: “The vaccine for cocaine addicts works in very much the same way a regular vaccine works.

“The reason cocaine addicts can take the drug for years without mounting any sort of immune response is because the drug has very small molecules.”

He explained that the vaccine is created by attaching the cocaine to a large protein molecule which is used to stimulate the body’s immune system to produce antibodies that recognise the drug.

Mr Oxlade added: “It stops the cocaine from being able to get across from the blood into the brain, which is where you get the high and, of course, where you get the addiction.

“If somebody takes the vaccine as part of a programme in a drug centre and after a month or so is out and takes another dose of cocaine, they won’t get the high and they won’t get the re-addiction.”

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It seems that this idea can be extrapolated for fighting other addictions as well, but it might not have been a good idea to make it public knowledge on how the vaccine works. If the vaccine recepient get wind of the methods used to fight the cocaine addiction they may simply switch to another drug.

Scientist have known about this so-called lifeform for some time now but was quite sure if it was living or not. Nanoparticles or Nannobacteria were discovered in 1996 when fossils of them were found on a Martian meteorite. At that time no one was sure if it was a lifeform. Scientist since have found evidence of the nannobacteria in nature and now have conducted test that may have proved that the nannobacteria is living.

But US scientists report they have now isolated these cell-like structures in tissue from diseased human arteries.

Their research is described in the American Journal of Physiology.

The team, led by Dr John Lieske at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, conducted an analysis of calcified and non-calcified arteries, arterial plaques and heart valves collected as surgical waste from two US hospitals.

In the lab, they stained the specimens and examined them under a high power electron microscope.

The team found tiny spheres ranging in size from 30-100 nanometres (nm - billionths of a metre), which is smaller even than many viruses.

When the tissue was broken up, filtered to remove anything more than 200nm and the filtrate added to a sterile medium, the optical density - or cloudiness - of the medium increased.

This, the researchers argue, means the nanoparticles were multiplying of their own accord.

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Scientist will now attempt to extract a DNA sample from the nannobacteria and start investigating what affect the nannobacteria has in our bodies and what role do they play in causing disease.

Harvard researchers have discovered a way to administer drugs, as an alternative to the often feared syringe, by using a stream of gas fired at the patients skin.

The gas contains sharp particles which remove the surface layer of the skin and create tiny holes allowing a drug to be administered.

The development could benefit people such as diabetics who need regular injections, campaigners said.

The technique, known as microscission, bombards small areas of the skin with a stream of gas holding tiny crystals of inert aluminium oxide.

The rough surface-layer of the skin is removed, creating tiny holes - microconduits - in the underlying layers of the skin.

The crystals and loosened skin are taken away with the gas flow and the whole process takes less than 20 seconds.

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I’m sure many of us wished for this when we were little kids.

The world’s first HIV tester of saliva was approved for use in certified laboratories. This new test is 99% accurate and results are known in 20 minutes. This is a vast improvement over the original HIV test that required a vial of blood and took upto 14 days to provide results. OraSure Technologies is not looking for approval for over the counter sales but is looking to get their product approved for use in neighborhood clinics. I’m sure that this test will be available to the public, like home pregnancy test are, within a couple of years.

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Read more about OraQuick

Dominic Patrick, age 14, was diagnosed with DVT after playing on his XBox for 10 hours straight, in a kneeling position with his legs tucked under him. From the unfortunate incident come this interesting dialog.

In Thailand, the authorities proposed a curfew on online gaming between 10pm and 6am amid fears of both “addiction” to role-playing games, and the dangers of marathon sessions.

Mandatory play breaks every two hours were also proposed as a way of cutting the risk of DVTs.

Dr Russell Keenan, a paediatric haematologist from the Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, said that it was extremely unusual to see DVTs in otherwise fit and healthy children.

He said: “I would expect to see a DVT in a child perhaps once every few weeks - but the vast majority of these involve children who are very seriously-ill in other ways.

“The only risk factor we could find in this case was the fact that Dominic had sat on his legs for 10 hours playing computer games without moving.

“If you fold the leg, you are basically folding the vein in the leg and causing the blood supply to stagnate. That is what might be causing the clot.

“However, it doesn’t mean that the government should be putting health warnings on Playstations.”

I find it interesting that the parents of this child would let him play for 10 hours straight. The child appears to be in good physical shape but I think he was on his way out of shape. It takes time to build up stamina to play video games for 10 hours straight. The couch potato within him was maturing.

Update: I received an email regarding this post from a person who claims to be the father of the child that got DVT

Tony,
ref, Dominic patrick getting Dvt I am his father ,

fact 1. we did not allow him to spend the 4 to 5 hours NOT 10 on his PLAYSTATION not xbox he does not have one,

fact 2. He was supposed to be supervised at his friend house where he was driven and driven back home.

Unknown to either myself or his mother he played WWF wrestling for this period of time in his freinds bedroom. This due to the fact that is was raining heavily , they would have normaly played football on a nearby sports field.

fact 3 Most other sites got it correct Dominic is very athletical and has gained trophies galore for football and more recently cross country running. regards Dave P

I tried to respond to the writer of the email but the return address was incorrect. Fact 1, OK you got me…. I did read that it was a PlayStation but the picture that they tagged to the article was of an XBOX. My mistake, or was it?

Facts 2 & 3, all I can say is that I listed my source and base my conclusions on the facts as they are laid out.

I do apologize for the bad press but I think that if the facts are incorrect then the reporters that originally wrote the story need to print a correction.

Danish scientists have created a way to genetically alter the Thale Cress so that when the plants roots come in contact with NO2, the plant will change color. Green cress becomes red cress. Of course, this is not a foolproof solution but it is another solution. The plant can be sprayed onto an area via an off-the-shelf pump or a crop-spraying plane.

At least 26,000 people are killed or injured by mines every year.

Aresa’s aim is to plant its GM plant - an altered thale cress - in landmined areas. Scientists say that within three to six weeks it will change colour in areas where roots come in contact with nitrogen dioxide (NO2) evaporating from explosives in the soil.

We have to convince people who are actually clearing mines that this system is reliable

Aresa Chief Executive Simon Oestergaard said the project was still in its early days but it had great potential for land that could be used for different agricultural activities.

“We don’t think our invention will completely replace other methods,” he said.

Landmines are traditionally located by a number of methods including the use of sniffer dogs, heavy machines or metal detectors. The mines can then be carefully removed.

In order for this plant to do its job, its roots has to be exposed to nitrogen dioxide (NO2). There are mines that are specifically sealed that do not seep nitrogen dioxide. This would be one instance in which the plants wouldn’t work. I think that the technique would be a great first step in the process of mine clearing.

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Scientist have successfully grown human corneas in the eyes of partially blind animals. This breakthrough may pave the way to a viable source of replacement corneas for millions of people.

Humans are currently the only source of corneas for transplantation, and the supply of donor tissue is limited.

In addition, the artificial corneas may actually work better than human versions - growing their own nerve connections within the eye.

This helps the cornea maintain itself properly, as a loss of sensitivity can lead to ulceration and injury.

The artificial cornea is grown around a “scaffold” of plastic and protein implanted into the eye.

It regenerates the cells necessary to make a fully functioning cornea within a matter of weeks.

This scaffold technique has been successfully performed only on pigs. Scientist are excited because the technique can be a basis for further study in the areas of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Hopefully it will lead to some solutions to regenerating nerves.

They wrote, in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: “Other corneal substitutes have been produced and tested, but we report an implantable matrix that performs as a physiologically functional tissue substitute and not simply as a prosthetic device.

“These replacements should have applicability to many areas of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, especially where nerve function is required.”

Mr Bruce Allan, an consultant ophthalmologist at Moorfields Eye Hospital, told BBC News Online that an artificial cornea needed to have a nerve supply to work properly.

In Havana, a synthetic vaccine was developed to protect against pneumonia and meningitis. The significance of this discovery is that the process used to make the vaccine has made it possible to provide the drug to the public for a very low price.

This is the first vaccine for humans made with a chemically produced antigen, Cuban scientists said. The available, conventional vaccine is made using a difficult and more costly process of growing antigens in a bacterial culture.

“It took us six years,” said Dr. Vicente Verez, head of the University of Havana’s Synthetic Antigens Laboratory. “But what could be more precious for society than to have healthy two-month-old babies,” he said.

Poor nations that depend on multinational pharmaceutical companies for the vaccine — now costing $3 a dose — will now have a less expensive alternative, Verez said.

The disease has been almost erased in the United States, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said. But it remains a problem in developing countries where the cost of the vaccine has been a barrier to widespread immunization.

Clinical trials conducted in the central Cuban province of Camaguey, first on adult volunteers, then on four-year-old children and finally on babies, showed a 99.7 percent success rate in developing the required antibodies.

The technology for the new vaccine was patented in 1999 by the University of Ottawa and the University of Havana. The Canadians discovered how to simplify crucial chemical reactions and Cuba applied the method on a larger scale, Verez said.

Hopefully the fabrication process will be revealed so all countries may develop other vaccines for many other deadly diseases. Somehow I don’t think it will work that way, but the good thing is that this may help Cuba’s economy as well as its children.

The premise of the famous epidemic movie Outbreak may soon be a non-issue. Human testing of a Ebola vaccine has started today.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is administering the vaccine to 27 volunteers.

In August, the institute said the same vaccine had worked to protect monkeys from the virus in a single shot.

The virus for one of the world’s most lethal diseases originated in Africa and the US has expressed fears that it could be used as a biological weapon.

Scientist have made a breakthrough in their research on diabetes. In lab mice, the disease has been reversed. The procedure involves injecting the subject with healthy spleen cells.

The director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Diabetes Centre, Dr David Nathan, said: “These exciting findings in a mouse model of type-1 diabetes suggest that patients who are developing this disease could be rescued from further destruction of their insulin-producing cells . . . (and) patients with fully established diabetes possibly could have their diabetes reversed.”

Insulin dependent or type-1 diabetes results in the immune system attacking the pancreatic islet cells which produce insulin, the essential hormone that allows the body to obtain energy from glucose.

According to researchers, there is a prospect of hope that they have found a viable cure, only a patient trial can make the cure a reality. This finding can be a true blessing for 194 million people worldwide that suffer from type-1 diabetes.

Source: SMH.com

A cellular regenerator not to be confused with a dermal regenerator is now fact instead of fiction. Researchers have found that the typical wavelengths of the common LED has properties that are beneficial to the growth of cellular tissue.

LEDs provide light for plants grown on the Space Station as part of commercial experiments sponsored by industry. Researchers discovered the diodes also had many promising medical applications, prompting NASA to fund this research as well, through its Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

Biologists have found that cells exposed to near-infrared light from LEDs, which is energy just outside the visible range, grow 150 to 200 percent faster than cells not stimulated by such light. The light arrays increase energy inside cells that speed up the healing process.

In the first stage of the study, use of the LEDs resulted in significant relief to pediatric bone-marrow transplant patients suffering the ravages of oral mucositis, a common side effect of chemotherapy and radiation treatments, according to Dr. David Margolis, an associate professor of pediatrics at the Medical College, working with Dr. Whelan on the study at Children’s Hospital.

The device is manufactured my Quantum Devices of Barneveld, Wis. and they are currently in clinical trials. Clinical trails should last about three years and log some 80 patients. So far the results are promising.

Source: NASA.gov

Lab tests revealed a likely explanation: All had a gene variation in a key protein component of HDL. The variation contributed to larger-than-normal HDL particles, which is believed to make HDL cholesterol especially efficient at removing plaque.

Scientists made a synthetic form of the protein, which was found to reduce plaque buildups rapidly in mice and rabbits.

The product was first tested and shown to be safe for use in humans. This latest round of experiments is the first time the substance has been used to actually treat narrowing of the arteries in people.

The study was funded by Esperion Therapeutics Inc. of Ann Arbor, Michigan, a small biotechnology company that makes the product.

In the study, 36 patients who had had heart attacks or severe chest pain received weekly intravenous infusions of the substance for five weeks. Eleven patients received dummy treatments.

At six weeks, imaging tests showed the patients receiving the synthetic protein had a visible 4 percent reduction in plaque buildup in their coronary arteries. There was no significant change in the placebo group.

To think, in the near future, we will be able to cure clogged arteries with a few injections and then later, possibly a pill.

Source: Newsday.com