Kidney Failure

Kidney failure is a very serious complication.  The kidney has a really important role which is to filter and clean the blood.  They kidneys filter out waste and excess water that may be present.  This waste comes from the food or from the breakdown of tissue.  If the kidneys stop functioning, the blood will not be clean and will become toxic.  In the modern world we live in now, procedures can be carried out in order to keep a person alive by cleaning his or her blood without the use of kidneys.  In order to do this the patient must have his blood filtered from a dialysis machine.  A person must be hooked up to this machine for several hours in order to clean the blood.  A long and expensive task that the kidneys would have done quicker, more efficiently, and for free.  But, not anyone can go and be hooked up to a dialysis machine.  Our veins have thin layers that would not be able to withstand numerous punctures and having a large amount of blood taken out.  Arteries are not superficial like veins and rather are deep.  This makes them hard to reach, especially since this will be needed every week.  To get the best of both vessels, a vascular surgeon constructs a fistula for the dialysis patient.  A fistula is a large blood vessel that is created by joining a vein and artery together.  By doing this the vein grows and becomes much stronger.  Additionally, the blood pressure increases.  The fistula is near the surface of the skin and is strong, and has good blood flow.  This makes for a viable vessel to withdraw large amounts of blood out of on a weekly basis.  A fistula will be able to withstand a great deal of punctures making it a great option.  These dialysis patients can truly appreciate the work kidneys do without us even thinking about it.

Aging Eyes

Many of the nuisances that come with getting older have not been given a clear reasoning as to why they occur.  Some of these setbacks include a slower reaction time, memory loss, and insomnia.  Recently studies have pointed to altered circadian clocks as the culprit for these consequences of old age.  "The gradual yellowing of the lens and the narrowing of the pupil that occur with age disturb the body’s circadian rhythm." Because the eyes are aging, less sunlight is able to get to the the cells in the retina.  The retina regulates the body's internal clock, and this disturbed internal clock is now said to be linked to ailments like heart disease and insomnia.  Blue light is said to be greatly responsive with such cells in the retina, and as it turns out blue light is known to be filtered out as our eyes begin to age.  A study was done testing the amount of suppressed melatonin on women of 20 years and women of 50 years after exposure to blue light.  The older women had no were not affected at all while the younger women were.  Also it was found that people increased their reaction times after having cataract surgery.

This article gives light to how a disturbed circadian clock can disrupt certain aspects of everyday function.  It shows that getting outside even at old age is important, not only for physical activity but for the well being of our bodies.  I will be sure to get outside throughout my life as it is beneficial and more engaging than staying indoors.  Even the doctors mentioned in the article have installed sky lights in their offices because "artificial lights are 1,000 to 10,000 times dimmer than sunlight and the wrong part of the spectrum".

Fat loving brain cells!

Eating cheeseburgers can cause massive weight gains in humans and also has an affect on mice. Eating high-fat foods can cause mice to pack on new nerve cells in their brains. One would think that more brain cells is a good thing, but it actually has a negative affect on the mice. The new cells cause weight gain in the animals. Developed research shows how the brain controls weight and can lead to anti-obesity treatments in humans.

A study showed mice that ate rodent versions of Big Macs actually gained weight and had increased nerve cell production. After four weeks of this unhealthy diet, the mice had four times as many nerve cells as before. Scientists are unsure about the effects these new cells have on animals' metabolisms. Neuroscientist, Seth Blackshaw, and his team shut down production of the cells with a laser. Even though the same diet continued, the mice didn't gain as much weight as the mice with ongoing production. It's also unsure whether or not this same process occurs in humans. I thought this article was interesting because I never knew someone's diet could affect their cell production. This could lead to major discoveries about preventing obesity in humans.

"Genetic Risk and Stressful Early Infancy Join to Increase Risk for Schizophrenia"

        This article is about how scientists are starting to better understand the cause of shizophrenia. Researchers from John Hopkins genetically engineered mice to have reduced levels of DISC1, a protein in one type of neuron found in the hippocampus. The mice with regular levels of DISC1 and reduced DISC1 had the same sized neurons. Meanwhile researchers at the University of Calgary did this same experiment on mouse newborns but induced stress on them, they did this by separating the newborns from their mothers for three hours a day. The mice with the reduced DISC1 levels had much larger disorganized neurons than the mice that had regular DISC1 levels. Finally they compared the DNA sequence of the mice with 2,961 patents with shizophrenia and they were able to pinpoint the gene that causes schizophrenia. "Now that we have identified the precise genetic risks, we can rationally search for drugs that correct these defects" says hongjun song, PH.D. co author, professor of neurology, and director of the stem cell program at the institute for cell engineering.
        I liked this article because mental illnesses such as shizophrenia confuse me like the cause of them and such. So hopefully if they find the cause they will be able to find a cure to this and other mental illnesses I find it interesting how they were able to find the protein in the brain that causes schizophrenia in mice; and tie that into humans.

Green neurons have reduced DISC 1 protein 

Antibody shrinks tumor

Researchers implanted human tumors into lab mice and studied the effects of this new antibiotic on the tumor.  This antibody masked a protein flag on cancer cells that protect them from the immune system cells.  This now allows the immune system cells to attack the tumor and break it down so it is not harmful anymore. So far they have tested ovarian, colon, bladder, brain, liver and prostate cancer samples with successful outcomes.  As researchers began to test different animals not all cases were successful.  The antibody did not harm the animal, but it did not reduce the tumor.  On the other side, in the successful cases, after the tumor disappeared, the mice showed no negative side affects and the tumor did not return.

I found this very interesting because any advancement in cancer studies is one step closer to finding a cure for all cancers.  This can be extremely useful for all types of cancer.  The only concerning factor is, would the immune system being to attack cells that are suppose to be there? Is the immune system going to weaken as a side effect of the antibody? These questions will hopefully be answered after the human clinical trials begin.

Napping Neurons

What happens in your brain as you get tired? This is the question researchers wanted the answer too.  The study preformed showed that when the rats began to get tired some of their neurons began to nap. To keep the rats awake for a long period of time, researchers constantly gave the rat new interesting toys to play with.  Some of the neurons began to nap and as time went on these naps occurred more frequently.  To study the brain functions a electroencephalography was used which is the reading of electrical current along the scalp. The whole time the rat seemed awake, but his whole brain was not awake like he was.

I found this interesting because when you begin to get tired sometimes you do not pay attention to what you are doing, which can lead to mistakes or forgetting to do something.  The neurons napping can be an explanation of why this happens.  It is also interesting that the overall behavior of the mice did not change as time when on.  The brain is not affected as a whole when these neurons are napping.  Maybe this can lead to further knowledge on how the brain develops and why sleep is needed.

One tree, multiple fruits

Farmers who would sometimes want the hardiness of one tree's roots but the fruit of another's in one tree can make a tree that is just that! Through a process called grafting, agriculture companies have begun producing large numbers of plants for farmers that are composed of some strong and disease resistant plant for the root system and branches that produce desired fruits. Seeing this, many people at home began trying grafting on their own to find that it isn't hard at all.

Start with two trees; We'll say an apple and a cherry. Cut a diagonal through the trunk of each tree where a large number of branches grow from. Now, put this wedge you cut from one tree onto the open space of the other tree. Secure with tape and some grafting compound and leave for a few weeks. Once the trees have spent some time getting to know their new branches, just take the bindings off. This will reveal one solid structure! Due to the abilities of plant vascular tissues to repair themselves if severed, pieces of one tree can be attached to another and begin to grow. In this case, you would be left with an apple tree that has some branches growing cherries on it and vice versa.

I found this topic particularly interesting because my grandfather had bought a tree that grows many different types of fruits; a product of grafting.

Babies Can Respond to Our voices

In this article researchers have discovered that infants are able to respond better to sounds and voices rather than "toys or water". This is do to the increased attention in the temporal lobe. The discovery alone tweaks our understanding of infant development.  The brain in the infant cortex is much more developed in the mothers womb than researchers have previously thought.

I found this interesting because I feel it can lead to an advanced way to teach children at a younger age even while in the womb, by using sounds and songs rather than just toys. The study of the early development of babies has also proven that they respond better to human speech like their mothers voices.

Exercise

Although everyone knows just how important exercise is to our bodies, not many realize the impact it can have on our brains. According to a study done at the University of Pittsburgh, we can decrease our risk to Alzheimer's and dementia by up to 60%. How can we achieve this? By taking a walk.

The study shows that people who take walks daily can reverse the shrinkage of the hippocampus by 3% as opposed to people who exercised and stretched daily. Normal shrinkage was seen in those who exercised daily.

I found this to be an interesting study because it shows that we can reverse some of the signs of aging in our brains at least. If we can improve our brains health maybe later on we will be able to find ways to make it even more powerful.

Controlling Mice

Scientist from the Scripps Research Institute have performed an experiment on mice where they have inputted harnessed neurons in the mice brains. They were initially  looking to find "How does the activity of the the brain represent the world" but neurologist Mark Mayford led a brand new study to use this experiment to "understand what goes wrong in situations where you have inappropriate perceptions. They started off by inserting two genes that manipulate memories in the mice which they tied to a natural gene that turns on and off in specific memories. 


I found this particular article interesting because just the brain itself is a very interesting topic to research. In addition, the way it works and everything just blows my mind. Its quite astonishing how the brain controls every aspect of your body and all the tiny components. Another reason I found this article interesting was because how it talked about memory and the active and inactive genes. 

The menstrual cycle graph

Accelerate Blood Vessel

Researchers are studying a way to enhance blood flow in ischemic diseases. A Ischemic disease is reduced blood supply of the heart muscle due to coronary artery disease.  The researches feel by blocking a protein in the white blood cells would speed up immature stem cells to cells with a specific function into a particular type of blood cell with a specific function.

I found this article interesting because the ischemic disease is the deadliest disease worldwide. If researches can find a way to cure this disease it could save a lot of lives and will be a new discovery for science and medicine. It may even contribute to cures for other diseases.