Hidden signals in the heart

A recent study shows that abnormal cells in the human blood stream may signal hidden heart risk. Research has recently shown that endothelial cells are the possible candidate for the hidden signal of this heart risk. Patients that have had heart attacks recently have been tested for the amount of endothelial cells that were present in their blood. The results showed that there were a greater amount of endothelial cells in these victims.These cells, found by new blood-cell-sorting technology, are often packed tightly together with multiple nuclei per cell.

This Article appealed to me because I am very interested in new technology and how it is being used to help discover beneficial phenomenon such as this. The fact that such large findings are being discovered at such a small scale truly shows how probable it is that in the next few years everyone's life could change. The medical research field is striving and many more discoveries, such as the one mentioned in this article, are bound to be detected sooner or later.

Brain Patterns Mapped

Recent brain studies have resulted in a simpler way to look at the brain. This new brain scanning provides scientists with new clues to how the human brain is built and even how it evolved. The technique used by scientists from the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School is called diffusion magnetic resonance imaging. The mapping of these brain patterns in mammals may eventually lead to the ability for doctors to be able to diagnose brain disorders due to alterations in the patterns. An additional reason as to why this finding is so important is that studies can be performed to compare the evolutionary root of the brain to similar mammals to the human.

I found this article very intriguing because the brain is such a complex and unique organ. The unknown "mess" of structure the brain entails is actually a very organized system of patterns that can be related to other organisms to provide us with mind blowing information about our evolutionary heritage. It is very interesting to me that these sorts of discoveries are being made day after day. It makes me wonder how much we will be able to find out about the brain in the upcoming years.

First ever somatic stem cells obtained

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine in Münster, Germany, have successfully isolated and gathered somatic stem cells from skin cells. Hans Schöler and his team took unique protein growth factors that stimulated cell growth. The key was a growth factor never used before in this type of research, Brn4. Before this breakthrough, pluripotent stem cells were obtained from fully differentiated somatic cells. These cells can go as far to differentiate into every type of cell in the body. But, the pluripotency also presents many dangers. According to Schöler, "pluripotent stem cells exhibit such a high degree of plasticity that under the wrong circumstances they may form tumours instead of regenerating a tissue or an organ." Schöler's skin cells, however, can only be multipotent which eliminates the dangers of pluripotency. 


I found this very interesting because Schöler and his team found new stem cells that can be the cure to many fatal diseases and even cancer. These cells are multipotent which does not leave fear of tumors forming from them. It seems everyday we are coming closer and closer to the answer to many cellular diseases found commonly in humans. Each breakthrough is leading us to our goal of eliminating these horrible and deadly diseases.