Naps and Caffeine as Countermeasures to Sleep Problems of Night-Shift Work

               As a person who has worked the night shift before, I can attest to how difficult it is to stay awake and perform duties on the same efficacy of day time work. Performance in regards to skills, reaction time, logical reasoning, and spatial orientation are heavily reduced, to approximately 10-35% of the mean level of performance in the daytime. Therefore, research into potential countermeasures for sleep problems associated with the night-shift is increasingly popular to those who suffer from reduced mean performance. In this examined study, napping and caffeine as a combined treatment was observed, with the goal of increasing work performance.

               Most of the causes for reduced work performance originate from the circadian rhythm and homeostatic sleep pressure preceding work time.  Night work inherently disrupts the critical temporal relationship of the circadian and homeostatic factors that mediate sleep and alertness; it does not allow for the circadian rhythm to counteract increasing homeostatic drive for sleep during work hours, while also interfering with attempted sleep during daytime. Furthermore, the ability of the body to adapt to such patterns of sleep does not occur even after two or three weeks of night time working. While napping and caffeine usage were previously studied before, no previous studies had combined the two measures and observed their effects before.

               The procedure involved 4 experimental groups: 1) A 2.5 hour nap prior to two of the four consecutive night shifts plus a caffeine placebo taken prior to all four nights (NAP); 2) Ingestion of 4 mg/kg of caffeine prior to all 4 night shifts (CAF); 3) A combination of the two prior groups (NAP+CAF); 4) A caffeine placebo prior to all 4 night shifts with no naps (PBO). Statistical analysis of the tests of executive functioning showed that caffeine, napping, and a combination of caffeine and napping improved both alertness and performance during all four night shifts, with the combination treatment being the most effective. Furthermore, the countermeasures were able to reduce sleep pressure during the sleep time after the night work, thus decreasing sleep deprivation by preventing disruptions to sleep during the daytime. Much of the study, however, contains methodological discrepancies, such as the varying ages of the participants. It does serve to show that combining naps and caffeine may be the optimal way to improve performance during night work. 

Schweitzer, P., Randazzo, A., Stone, K., Erman, M., Walsh, J. (2006). Laboratory and Field Studies of Naps and Caffeine as Practical Countermeasures For Sleep-Wake Problems Associated With Night Work. SLEEP. 29(1): 39-50. 

It Can Be As Simple As Thinking

Who knew that the way you think can impact your life and overall health? You can change your outlook on life and how your see others and yourself by simple changing how you think. Positive self-talk is a way to approach situations with a positive mind set, and helps solve problems in a productive manner; it can bring out an optimism that allows people to see life in a “better light”.

There are also health benefits to positive self-talk because it reduces stress by eliminating negative self-talk. Negative thinking and self-talk bring about a pessimistic mindset that forces you to think about the worst is going to happen. It places your body in a fight-or-flight mode that can be detrimental individual systems and the all in all functions of the body, especially while chronically stressed. According to the staff at the Mayo Clinic, positive thinking and self-talk can provide: lower rates of depression, lower levels, of distress, increased life span, greater resistance to the common cold, better psychological and physical well-being, reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, and better coping skills with stress.

From persona experience, I truly believe positive self-talk can influence all aspect of life, including school, sports, work, and health. During the time I played volleyball at Regis, we had someone come in and help us with positive self-talk and affirmations that helped us during the game and practices. On a weekly basis, we made individual and team affirmations based on the goals we wanted to achieve during that week of practices and games. We were required to say out loud, rewrite, and visualize our affirmations each day. The positive self-talk and affirmations helped me during the week because they kept me focused and positive even though I had a hard week in school or practice. An example of an affirmation I had included, “I am a great passer because I can pass 9 out of 10 ‘perfect’ service receive passes.” When I focused on the positive self-talk, it gave me confidence in practices and games because I believed whole-heartedly that I was a great passer.

Positive thinking and self-talk is a great and easy way to relieve stress. You can do with yourself or with others. It helps open many opportunities because it allows you to think with an open and optimistic mind set.

References

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/positive-thinking/SR00009

It's Stressful Being Intelligent!

I’m sure that the majority of us have wondered what it’s like to be a dog. They have a balanced life of exercise, fun, and rest. Though dogs are smart, Sapolsky states that intellectual capacity is positively correlated with the amount of stressors (“Why do humans,” 2007; Sapolsky, 2007). So, it’s either live a relaxed and unattached life with minimal stressors, or be intelligent, emotionally connected, and possibly develop high blood pressure, gastrointestinal diseases, and diabetes from stress (“Why do humans,” 2007). Great.

Stress hormones are apart of the evolutionarily ancient stress response that are excreted in humans, as well as a variety of other animals such as fish, birds, and reptiles. These glucocorticoids are well adapted to alter our bodily systems in order to raise our chances of survival; they mobilize energy to your thighs, increase blood pressure, and turn off digestion, growth, and reproduction (“Why do humans,” 2007). However, these brilliantly adapted hormones are not well adapted for chronic psychosocial stress that more intellectual animals experience such as elephants, whales, and baboons (“Why do humans,” 2007). According to Wemmer and Christen, elephants experience stress, pain, and suffering just like humans (2008). You simply don’t see depression and other stress related disorders in fish and reptiles because they are not emotionally complex like the animals with higher levels of intelligence. Wonderful. So the reward for our survival is depression?

Sapolsky states that Baboon’s only concern is getting enough calories during the day (2007). As a college student living in America, I don’t even have to worry about that! Because we have nothing else to worry about, baboons and humans extend our emotions and find other things to worry about (whether I will finish this blog on time, children in Africa, the effects of global warming in the next 10 years, whether I will have a job when I graduate, etc).

But there’s hope! We could put our well earned intelligence to good use if we apply Sapolsky’s baboon research to our lives. Sapolsky states that social connectedness is highly correlated with the level of stress that baboons and humans experience (“Why do humans,” 2007; Sapolsky, 2007). Low-ranking baboons have a higher prevalence of stress related diseases because they are socially isolated and are constantly surrounded by higher ranking baboons. However, humans have more social flexibility than baboons (“Why do humans,” 2007; Sapolsky, 2007). Though we may be “low-ranking” in our family, we have the opportunity to be “high-ranking” in other aspects of life such as school, church, and athletics.

Looking back on my question that I asked my grandparents, I understand why they would want to be a dog. But, a dog’s intellectual capacity does not enable them to overcome their “hierarchy” if they are placed in a shelter or an abusive household. Humans are capable of overcoming stressful barriers by becoming more socially connected, active, and aware of the stressors in our lives.

Why do humans and primates get more stress-related diseases than other animals?. (2007, February 25). Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/02/070218134333.htm

Wemmer, C., & Christen, C. A. (2008). Elephants and ethics: Toward a morality of coexistence. Baltimore, MD US: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Sapolsky, R. M. (2007). Why zebras don't get ulcers. (3 ed.).

Fungus Among us.

When you think of fungus what’s the first thing that comes to mind?  Is it perhaps a scratchy rash on your foot?  A popular video game with fungus based Zombies?  What about Cryptococus Gattii, a form of yeast fungus.  This fungus was relatively unknown until a few years back when it began to infect dolphins, dogs, koalas, and finally people.  The strange thing, this fungus didn’t show up in the humid and hot south (as most fungal infections do) but instead Canada.  That’s right, Canada.

This fungus loves to live in the lungs of infected people, proliferating and reducing the amount of surface area available for gas exchange.  Roughly ¼ of the people infected with this disease die from respiratory failure.  C. Gattii hits those with compromised immune systems the hardest. 

You may be asking yourself, why do you care?  If it kills those with bad immune systems I should be fine.  Well, typically you will be.  Assuming you don’t smoke, have cancer, get a transplant, or contract HIV.   Granted, if you’re immune system is damaged then you probably have bigger things to worry about than a relatively uncommon fungus, but still it’s important to know what’s out there.

That being said,  I find it fascinating that there’s a fungus that not only thrives up north, but also is capable of being a deadly, and virulent pathogen to mammals.  Most of the time, between our immune system, temperature, and various other factors, fungi have a hard time maintaining an internal hold over us and typically infect easier/less defended creatures, such as ants.  It’s fascinating that this fungus has found such a hospitable environment in our lungs.  I wonder why such an infectious route isn’t more common.  What do you think?

References.

Datta K, Bartlett K, Baer R, Byrnes E, Galanis E, Heitman J, Hoang L, Leslie M, Macdougal L, Magill S, et al. 2009 August. Spread of Cryptococcus Gattii into pacific northwest region of the United States. Emerging Infectious Diseases.  15(8):1185-1191

Frazer J. 2013 December. Strange fungi now stalk healthy people. Scientific American [Internet]. [cited 2013 Dec 2].  Available From: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=strange-fungi-now-stalk-healthy-people

What's your kidney worth?

What’s your kidney worth?

Thinking about all the things our bodies are capable of it is hard to put a price tag onto the form and function of the parts that make up our bodies.  Some of the most visible body parts such as an arm or a leg enable us to function as evolution intended, however losing one of these extremities will not directly threaten our ability to sustain life.  That being said, the Federal Employee Compensation Act, FECA, values the arm 8% above the leg, where the complete loss of function or amputation of the arm will land an individual 312 weeks of compensation (lawers.com).  That means that if you were making $44,322, the average wage index for 2012 (Official Social Security website), you would be entitled to $265,932.  That is assuming that some kind of negligence could not be proven which could quickly add large settlement payouts for the injury.  When it comes to internal organs, such as calculating the cost of a kidney, it might get a little trickier. 

Most people are born with two functioning kidneys that perform a wide range of functions within the renal system, which also includes the ureters that connect the kidney to the bladder and the urethra that drains the bladder to the external environment.  The main function of the kidney is filtration of body fluids, maintaining the composition, pH, osmotic pressure, and amount of the fluids within our body.  The kidney also shares responsibility in regulating blood pressure, the production of red blood cells, producing some of the glucose found in our bodies, and activating Vitamin D.  The kidney may be the most efficient organ within our body; the functioning of one kidney at 75% of its normal functioning is enough to properly filter the body’s fluids for many decades (Andrews 2002).

The kidney receives about 20% of the blood flow coming from the heart and nearly 120 liters of blood are filtered every day through the 1.2 million functioning nephrons.  Each nephron is made up of a Bowman’s capsule that encloses a glomerulus made up of a tuft of capillaries, a proximal convoluted tubule, the loop of Henle, a distal convoluted tubule and a collecting duct that drains about eight nephrons.  Filtration occurs nondiscriminately followed by selective tubular reabsorption and secretion. Kidney functioning is typically measured through glomerular filtration rate, GFR, with a normal rate of 100 mL per minute.  Chronic kidney disease is considered to be present when the GFR falls below 90 mL per minute along with proteinuria or hematuria, a genetic diagnosis of kidney disease, or structural abnormalities (The Renal Association).  

When the kidney fails to properly function only a few options for treatment exist.  Extremely minute kidney failure may be treated with a strictly prescribed diet limited in proteins, but most cases of kidney failure are treated through dialysis, a kidney transplant, or both.  Dialysis is available in two different forms, both of which require a minor surgery to gain access into the body.  Hemodialysis is performed through the use of a machine that filters your blood pumped through a dialyzer outside of your body.  Peritoneal dialysis utilizes a catheter placed inside of the peritoneal cavity of the abdomen and a dialysate is pumped into the abdomen and replaced several times a day removing extra solutes each time it is emptied.  Kidney transplants require a donor kidney that replaces the damaged kidney of the effected individual in a major organ transplant surgery.

It is when things go wrong that allows a price tag to be put on the kidney through the costs of dialysis or a kidney transplant.  When the kidney is not filtering the body’s fluids properly and dialysis is required a single emergency room visit for dialysis could run $9,900 for a single treatment, but outside of emergency room visits a typical peritoneal dialysis treatment will cost roughly $53,000 annually and hemodialysis will cost about $72,000 annually (How much does dialysis cost).   Americans have an average life span of 78.7 years (Hoyert D and Xu D 2011) and figuring an annual cost of dialysis at $72,000 means that throughout a person’s lifetime their kidneys will perform $5,666,400 worth of filtering the body’s fluids, but because this functioning could be performed by one kidney that cost could be split in half to a value of $2,833,200 per kidney.  A kidney transplant will cost the recipient of the kidney about $262,900 which covers treatment and medications before and after the surgery, the hospital transplant admission, the price of the surgeon, immunosuppressants, and the procurement of a kidney valued at $67,200 (transplantliving.org).  One final price for the kidney to be considered is the black-market, where in the United States a kidney could land a donor $25,000 and the person buying the donated kidney might be able to resell it for $150,000 if an illegitimate buyer and doctor can be found (Postrel 2012).

In summary a few different prices are found to exist for the kidney.  A lifetime of dialysis in lieu of at least one functioning kidney will cost more than $5.5 million in a lifetime.  Buying a legitimate kidney through an organ transplant bank will run $67,000 plus roughly another $200,00 for the surgery.  The black market could produce a value of $150,000 for a sold kidney where the donor may see $25,000 of that amount.   Averaging all these numbers, the price of a kidney transplant, the price a donor would receive on the black-market, the price a seller on the black-market would get, and splitting the cost of a lifetime of dialysis in half to determine a per kidney cost produces a mean value of  $818,800.  Despite a large potential for profit I would not recommend the black market route.  However if a close friend or family member is in need of a new kidney and you are determined to be a match I would recommend considering donating your kidney to them since we really only need one to survive, but if that situation arises talk to the professionals to ensure that you are aware of all the risks and benefits.

Works Cited

Andrews M.A.  2002 Apr.  How can you live without one of your kidneys.  Scientific American.  [Internet].  [cited 2013 Dec 1].  Available from: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-can-you-live-without

How much does dialysis cost [Internet].  c2013.  San Jose (CA): CostHelper Inc. [cited 2013 Dec 2]. Available from: http://www.costhelper.com/about.html.

Life expectancy [Internet]. c2013.  Atlanta: Center for Disease Control; [updated 2013 May 30, cited 2013 Dec 2].  Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/lifexpec.htm

Lost limb award schedules [Internet].  c2013.  Lawyers.com.  Miamisburg (OH): Lexis Nexus. [cited 2013 Dec 2].  Available from: http://workers-compensation.lawyers.com/Lost-Limb-Award-Schedules.html

National Average Wage Index.  2012.  Social security: official social security website.  [cited 2013 Dec 2].  Available from:  http://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/AWI.html

Normal GFR [Internet]. c2013.  London: The Renal Association.  [cited 2013 Dec 2]. Available from: http://www.renal.org/whatwedo/InformationResources/CKDeGUIDE/NormalGFR.aspx

Postrel V: How much is your kidney worth? [Internet].  c2013.  New York City: Bloomberg. [cited 2013 Dec 2].  Available from: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-16/how-much-is-your-kidney-worth-.html

Transplant living: your prescription for transplant living [Internet].  c2013.  Richmond (VA): UNOS.  [cited 2013 Dec 1].  Available from:

http://www.transplantliving.org/before-the-transplant/financing-a-transplant/the-costs/

Depression and Grey Hair

      You are going to be old one day. Yes, it's true. In time, your skin will wrinkle, your vision will worsen, your bones will grow frail, and your hair color will change to white or grey. You feeling sad yet? Well, you may want to think twice before you dwell on that sadness. In other words, don't let yourself fall into depression. Unfortunately, sometimes we have about as much a choice of whether we become depressed as we do of whether we get old. However, that doesn't mean we can't try our best to avoid one unfortunate happening in order to avoid the other.
      Let me explain. According to an article by the Huffington Post, a recent study performed in the Netherlands tested 1,900 individuals who experienced major depressive disorders at some point in their lives (and 500 individuals who had not), to find that people who had depression had shorter telomeres. Experts at the University of Utah reveal that telomeres, located at the ends of chromosomes, are stretches of DNA that are analogous to the plastic tips on the ends of our shoelaces; they keep our DNA from "fraying". When we are born, our telomeres are long, with about 8,000 base pairs made of the nucleic acid bases guanine, adenine, thymine, and cytosine. Over time, though, as our cells undergo cell division multiple times, our telomeres shorten. Long story short, if telomeres become too short, a cell will die, and cells getting closer to death over time essentially leads to organisms aging. Going back to the Netherlands study, researchers found that individuals who had experienced depression had shorter telomeres than their counterparts in the control group. Moreover, a higher severity of depression, along with a longer duration of symptoms tended to correlate with shorter telomeres, even when researchers controlled for weight, age, smoking, drinking, and other lifestyle-related factors. It was also suggested that telomere shortening could result from an impairment in the body's stress system. This, to me, would be reasonable, given that individuals with major depressive disorder may have experienced some huge stressful event or psychological stressor and not been able to handle it well enough, which could ultimately lead to depression; thus, an impaired stress system may be to blame for both the short telomeres and the depression (uh oh).
      Overall, the shorter your telomeres are, technically, the older your cells are and the closer they are to dying. When our cells die, we die. The question has been raised, then, whether this aging caused by telomeres progressively shortening can be stopped or reversed. Research is currently being performed on the enzyme, telomerase, that adds nucleotides to the ends of telomeres in order to reverse their shortening. There has not yet been a clear solution to this problem of stress and/or depression potentially increasing the rate of telomere shortening besides living a healthy lifestyle. Eating right, abstaining from abuse of alcohol and drugs, not smoking, and exercising may be even more important for depressed individuals than others. Gotta protect those telomeres!

References:

 Gholipour, B. (2013, Nov 12). Depression linked with shorter telomeres, a sign of cell aging. Huffington post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/12/depression-aging-cell-telomeres-shorter_n_4260476.html

Siegel, L. (2013). Are telomeres the key to aging and cancer?. Retrieved from http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/traits/telomeres/

How reliable are animal studies?

When new animal studies come out reporting that they have found  the cure for a disability or disease, many rush to excitement because they believe it to be true. Its a published research article so it must be true right? Most people would be inclined to say yes because many do not look closely to the details or simply do not research into it farther. I'm guilty of that every time. From an article that I found, it turns out that many times a lot of information is left out of research articles simply because it didn't correspond to the researchers objectives. 

In the article When Mice Mislead, described an experiment that was done that resulted in a new drug that helped protect a rodent's brain after a stroke. At the beginning of the study 10 mice were accounted for. At the end only 7 were reported in the results. What happened to the other 3 mice? The editor of the paper said that they died after experiencing a massive stroke so the authors just left them out. Are they allowed to do that? 

Well according to Couzin-Frankel this is what the editor told her,"This isn't fraud...Dropping animals from a research study for any number of reasons is an entrenched, accepted part of the culture...You look at your data, there are no rules...People exclude animals at their whim, they just do it and they don't report it."

This definitely makes it hard for me to believe in any animal research study now which alters my hope in studies that are being done now for new cures. 

Reference:

Couzin-Frankel J. 2013. When mice mislead. Science. 342: 922-925

Calm Down! It may save your life.

With thanksgiving behind us and finals rapidly approaching I’m sure we have all felt our fair share of stress these past few weeks.  However, we as students do not have the market cornered on stress, shocking I know. 

Just a handful of weeks ago the news broke that John Fox, coach of the Broncos, would require hospitalization for the replacement of his aortic valve.  This surgery is required for those who, one way or another, have damaged their aortic valve and have regurgitation back into their left ventricle.  This is a fairly dangerous condition with results in decreased cardiac output as some of the blood that has been freshly pumped out of the ventricle flows back during ventricular diastole. 

And what might be one of the major factors that result in arotic regurgitation?  You guessed it, stress.  Specifically, the hypertension that results from chronic stress.   Sadly, Fox is only one of many coaches that have fallen prey to the stress that plagues coaches of many sports.  There is a whole list of coaches who have succumbed to stress and lifestyle related heart disease: ranging from Bo Schembechler who had a heart attack the day his team played in the rose bowl to Mike Ditka, who also suffered a heart attack during the season.

So, next time you’re sitting and stressing out about an upcoming final, remember to take a deep breath and relax.  You don’t what that stress to hurt you any more than it has to.

 

Niesen J. 2013, November.  A look back: coaches and heart health scares, heart problems, heart attacks. The Denver Post [Internet]. [cited 2013 Dec 2]. Available From: http://blogs.denverpost.com/broncos/2013/11/03/a-look-back-coaches-and-heart-health-scares-heart-problems-heart-attacks/22932/

Steward B. Siscovick D, Lind B, Gardin J, Gottdiener J, Smith V, Kitzman D. Otto C. 1997 March. Clinical Factors Associated with calcification aortic valve disease fn1. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 29(3):630-634.

Novaro G.  2010, August. Aortic valve disease. Cleaveland Clinic [Internet]. [cited 2013 dec 2]. Availible from: http://www.clevelandclinicmeded.com/medicalpubs/diseasemanagement/cardiology/aortic-valve-disease/#references

Freeing Chimps From Research as a Declaration of Them as People

In a recent article published by ScienceInsider reveals a plan of action by the Nonhuman Rights Project that has filed a lawsuit in the New York Supreme Court on the grounds that chimps and other cognitively advanced animals, such as whales and dolphins, "...are so self-aware that keeping them in captivity—whether a zoo or research laboratory—is tantamount to slavery." Their argument for the legal action to freeing these animals is to have court action that "...the being imprisoned is a legal person," and must therefore be set free. Although it is is no secret that these animals are extremely intelligent, what is also no secret is that they're physiological systems and nervous systems are the closest to that of a human. Therefore, research involving these animals is to be expected in order to further advance behavioral research and advancements in vaccinations. Further, in order for the FDA to approve any sort of human-model testing of perspective drugs, the scientists must show a promising model on intelligent mammals such as chimps and other primates because of the undeniable cognitive similarities to humans. Frankie Trull, the president of the National Association for Biomedical Research in Washington, D.C.,agrees stating that "Assigning rights to animals akin to what humans have would be chaotic for the research community.” Even though legal action is just beginning, NhRP plans on taking similar lawsuits to multiple states whether or not they are successful New York. If they win they case they will advise the research animals to be transported to a sanctuary in Florida; however, if they lose they plan to appeal the decision immediately. References Grimm, D. (2013). Lawsuits could turn chimpanzees into legal persons. Science Insider, Retrieved from http://news.sciencemag.org/plants-animals/2013/12/lawsuits-could-turn-chimpanzees-legal-persons

Three-Dimensional Printing Technology for the Future

There might come a day when we all have three dimensional (3D) printers in our homes. This could happen very soon in fact. Currently at Staples a 3D printer called the Cube is being sold for $1,299. Although this is a commercial grade printer that will only print an object about a foot high, most 3D printers these days cost up to $60,000 or more. The way these 3D printers work is through computer aided design (CAD) software that tells the printer what to make based on customization. The 3D printer takes the object created in the CAD software and then uses essentially any material you choose, but most people use plastic or metal. The printer takes the information from the computer software and begins printing the object layer by layer using the material of your choice. One of the most interesting aspects about 3D printing is that you can make moving parts. The printer will include the essential moving parts as it prints (some assembly required).

It is because of 3D printings diverse properties that it has become increasingly popular over the past few years. 3D printing was originally used to make prototypes for manufacturers before going to production. For example, the car or cell phone you own today was first built by a 3D printer before it was mass produced and bought by you. Now not only is this technology used by business, but it is becoming commonly used by people in industries like the medical field. There are doctors you can go to today that can use a 3D printer to customarily print you a new piece of tissue or even an organ. This is known today as bioprinting. Recently scientists at Princeton have created a bionic ear that can hear better than a normal human ear can (Huffington Post). With this technology, the medical field can advance far beyond anything we could ever image. However, there are also controversial components to 3D printing that can one day cause regulation on what people can and cannot make.

This was brought to the government’s attention when Defense Distributed founder Cody Wilson made the first ever working 3D printed gun called the Liberator. This gun was made completely out of plastic and was able to shoot live rounds. One of the main problems with this came when Wilson decided to upload the CAD file for the gun onto the internet for free. It was only up for a short period of time before the government shut it down, but it still was able to be downloaded approximately 100,000 times. Many of those people who downloaded the file probably do not have access to a 3D printer right now, but who knows what the future of 3D printing will hold and like I said previously we could all own one someday. In my opinion, even with all of its controversy surrounding the 3D printed gun, 3D printing could help us look at other problems differently like medicine.

If you would like to learn more about 3D printing please watch this video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QD2Rdeo8vuE&feature=c4-overview&list=UUC552Sd-3nyi_tk2BudLUzA

Works cited

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/may/13/3d-printed-guns

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/07/bionic-ear_n_3224379.html

Another Reason Why Breakfast is So Important

People are constantly on the go. I’m sure you have heard that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” but who has time for breakfast these days? More importantly, a substantial, nutritious breakfast to start the day? I know many times when I’m rushed, breakfast is the last thing on my mind.

A study out of Harvard University shows that skipping breakfast and eating late at night is correlated with an increase in coronary heart disease in male US health professionals. 26,902 male dentists, veterinarians, pharmacists, optometrists, osteopaths, and podiatrists aged 45 to 70 years old enrolled in a study in 1986 and completed questionnaires assessing diet every two years ending in 1992. After adjusting for variables including age, marital status, smoking, alcohol, stress, health, and other factors, results showed that men who skipped breakfast and ate late at night were at a higher risk for coronary heart disease. Men who skipped breakfast were also 15% more likely to have significant weight gain and 21% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes.

Although this study only studied males, the researchers believe that if women and other ethno-cultural groups (besides mainly Caucasians) were studied the results provide evidence that eating breakfast can decrease the risk of coronary heart disease at the individual and population level.

So do yourself a favor, don’t skip out on the most important meal of the day. Your heart will be grateful.

Reference:

Cahill LE, Chiuve SE, Mekary RA, Jensen MK, Flint AJ, Hu FB, Rimm EB. Prospective study of breakfast eating and incident coronary heart disease in a cohort of male US health professionals. Circulation 128: 337-343, 2013.

Elapsed Time: Did you make it to class on time today?

I know the feeling of rushing around to get somewhere on time is common among my peers and I. Admittedly, it's a terrible habit; I have some sort of inner voice, not necessarily an internal clock, that tells me I can get anywhere in Denver in less than or equal to 15 minutes. Thankfully, we, as humans, have an internal clock that helps us tell time, maintain circadian rhythm, etc. However, recent research has shown that it's not one internal clock that helps us tell how much time has passed, i.e. if you've been driving too long or if you've been spending too much time eating breakfast, but that there is a secondary clock that interacts with our main internal clock.

For a great period of time, the striatum was thought to be the crux of our inner clock, using the brain's surrounding cortex to integrate temporal information. New research published in the Journal of Neuroscience has expanded on this and found that the hippocampus actually plays the main role in remembering how much time has passed, which makes sense, given the hippocampus' role in memory. To assess this role, researchers trained rats to discriminate between different time intervals and rewarded the rats based on what odor they chose, correlating to a specific time interval. To make things more interesting, these researchers selectively inactivated the hippocampus with a GABA-A agonist, and found that without an active hippocampus, rats were only able to tell the difference between largely different time intervals, such as 2 minutes versus 10 minutes.

This research highlights a new take on telling time: we don't necessarily think of memory when it comes to telling how much time has elapsed, do we? It's really clever, really, that our brain uses episodic memory to assist with determining how much time has elapsed. The brain identifies when specific events occurred, then uses the internal clock (striatum) to determine how long ago that event occurred from the present.

Given the role of the hippocampus and striatum in memory and time telling, it would be interesting to assess the effects of neurodegenerative diseases on the brains ability to tell time/elapsed time. It is known that patients with Parkinson's Disease have trouble telling time, but what of their ability to tell how much time has passed since they started eating their bagel?

What do you guys think? My hippocampus and striatum tell me I'm late to class...again.

References:

Jacobs NS, Allen TA, Nguyen N, F ortin NJ. 2013. Critical role of the hippocampus in memory for elapsed time. J Neurosci. 33(34):13888-13893.

The Future of Organ Replacements

For anyone who may watch Grey’s Anatomy, you might have seen Dr. Meredith Grey’s three-dimensional printer that she obtained for her latest research feat in order to produce a liver model. Now, even though this is just a TV show, 3D-printed organs are real and are leading the way for the future of organ replacement. 

Tony Atala, director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in North Carolina, was a pioneer in developing artificial scaffolds to form organs by nourishing them with living cells in a lab.  In 1999, these findings allowed his team to develop tissue-engineered bladders, which were then implanted into young volunteers.  While his innovations were successful, Atala desired to generate the most sought after organ for replacement, the kidney.  Currently, more than 120,000 Americans are waiting for organ transplants, with kidneys topping the list.  By utilizing 3D-printing scientists intend to build replacement organs like kidneys, livers and hearts layer by layer with live human cells. 

However, it is obvious that printing a 3D kidney is not an easy task.  In fact, limitations arise in the printer technology utilized, especially for kidneys given the nature of their complex and intricate structures.  Engineers have not developed a 3D printer advanced enough yet to produce such a model that will be capable of what a natural kidney can do, that being absorption of nutrients, filtration of waste chemicals and excretion via urine.  Scientists in this field hope to employ stem cells extracted from patients capitalizing on their abilities to differentiate in order to ameliorate these details that limit their kidney models.

The first model of a 3D-printed kidney caught a lot of attention when it was presented at a conference in 2011. Progress has been made since then, but many findings are yet to be discovered. Hopefully in the next several years we will see more 3D-printed replacement organs to shrink the list of those waiting in line.  In the meantime, check out Grey’s Anatomy (in all the spare time you have) for more hot topics in science!  

References:

Hsu J. 2013. 3D-printed kidneys take small steps toward organ replacement. Live science. [Internet] Available from: http://www.livescience.com/41480-3d-printed-kidneys-take-small-steps.html

Parlez-vous français?: The Potential Benefits of Learning a Second Language

            When I was in grade school, I remember being taught songs and phrases in French by a hand puppet named Henri (attached to a teacher).  In high school everyone was required to take two years of a foreign language and in college it became two semesters.  At some point many people have had to learn at least one additional language, whether in a school environment or at home.  Unless you really love languages or have a natural ability to pick them up, learning one can be frustrating.  Besides the obvious advantage of being able to communicate and participate more fully in different cultures, why is learning a second language so important?

            Well, based on a study published by the American Academy of Neurology, being able to speak a second language could potentially delay the onset of certain forms of dementia, specifically Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, and vascular dementia.  In the study 648 individuals diagnosed with some form of dementia were evaluated.  According to one of the researchers, Suvarna Alladi, individuals who spoke more than one language exhibited later onset forms of dementia (1).

            Dementia is characterized by the degeneration of neural functioning, impeding certain activities controlled by the brain.  Acquiring a second language could potentially slow the progression of dementia by prompting more brain activation, preventing a more rapid degeneration due to the process of aging.  In a study performed on Chinese school children learning English as a second language, MRIs were used to analyze their level of brain activity when reading in a second language.  Researchers found that children reading in the second language demonstrated high levels of brain activity in various regions of the brain (3).  Perhaps this increased level of activation in different regions of the brain keeps the neurons healthy for a longer period of time.  This makes sense because one common treatment for neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's, is the use of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors.  These prevent acetylcholinesterase from breaking down acetylcholine, which allows a longer duration of activation in neurons (2).  So, if you have learned or plan to learn a second language keep in mind that it could potentially be beneficial to your health.

1. American Academy of Neurology. Nov. 2013. Speaking a second language may

delay different dementias. ScienceDaily [Internet]. [cited 2013 Dec 2]. Available from: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131106162529.htm.

2.  Molina I, Colucci L, Fasanaro AM, Traini E, Amenta F. 2013. Efficacy of Memantine, Donepezil, or Their Association in Moderate-Severe Alzheimer’s Disease: A Review of Clinical Trials. The Scientific World Journal: 1-8.

3. Tan LH, Chen L, Yip V, Chan AHD, Yang J, Gao JH, Siok WT. Feb. 2011. Activity levels in the left hemisphere caudate-fusiform circuit predict how well a second language will be learned. PNAS 108(6): 2540-2544.