Although I have a science degree, and the festival content is principally pitched at children, I’m not ashamed to say that I, once again, learned a lot. As I get older, I become increasingly fascinated with aspects of physics (a subject I hated at school!) and that is where the majority of my knowledge enrichment was centred.

As parents, we’re very keen that our children find and shape their own interests and passions in life and this festival is an excellent, eye-opening conduit of exposure to a fascinating world of the un/known. The festival is very visually stimulating and, in places, hands-on, coupled with a host of presenters whose passion for their chosen areas of expertise is wholly abundant, highly infectious and wonderfully engaging to children and parents alike.

My son showed a keen, and repeated, interest in building/mechanics/physics; an interest that manifested through intricately elaborate construction, intended to harness the motion and momentum of tinned meats, designed to ultimately inflict pain on “Action Man.” I’m sure that sentence conjures bizarre images; it sounds so much crueller than it actually was, believe me – it was all in the name of science after all! My favourite aspect was the Theremin, which was something that I had a) never heard of before, and b) certainly never heard the sounds it could produce (not knowingly anyway!!).

I also found opportunity to reflect on the work that Pfizer and the pharmaceutical industry continue to commit to. We listened to a very knowledgeable man talking about birds of prey and he referenced the hundreds of millions of years of “research and development” that had gone into the evolution of the birds (Harris Hawk, Bald Eagle and Barn Owl) he had brought to show us that day. Evolving subtleties in their make-up; adapting to survive. Whilst we cannot, in drug R&D, profess to compete with the number of years of investment in bird R&D, we can certainly cite commitment in terms of budgetary spend and investment in talented people with a vision of translating ground-breaking science into bringing forth novel medicines and vaccines. As with the birds, we are acutely aware that we cannot afford to dwell and stand still either, and so we continually adapt and evolve to meet the needs of an ever-changing world and population.

I would highly recommend the Kent Festival of Science. It is fun, thought-provoking and I sincerely hope it has started to nurture fervent curiosity for answers in future young scientists…

Marcin Chwistek, Fox Chase Cancer Center, PA, USA

To find out more about this exciting new study, click here to read the Faculty of 1000 evaluations of this article.

Sheinfeld Gorin S, Krebs P, Badr H, Janke EA, Jim HS, Spring B, Mohr DC, Berendsen MA, Jacobsen PB

J Clin Oncol. 2012 Jan 23

Abstract:

PURPOSE: Pain is one of the most common, burdensome, and feared symptoms experienced by patients with cancer. American Pain Society standards for pain management in cancer recommend both pharmacologic and psychosocial approaches. To obtain a current, stable, and comprehensive estimate of the effect of psychosocial interventions on pain-an important clinical topic-we conducted a meta-analysis of randomized controlled studies among adult patients with cancer published between 1966 and 2010. METHODS: Three pairs of raters independently reviewed 1,681 abstracts, with a systematic process for reconciling disagreement, yielding 42 papers, of which 37 had sufficient data for meta-analysis. Studies were assessed for quality using a modified seven-item Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) coding scheme. Pain severity and interference were primary outcome measures.ResultsStudy participants (N = 4,199) were primarily women (66%) and white (72%). The weighted averaged effect size across studies for pain severity (38 comparisons) was 0.34 (95% CI, 0.23 to 0.46; P < .001), and the effect size for pain interference (four comparisons) was 0.40 (95% CI, 0.21 to 0.60; P < .001). Studies that monitored whether treatment was delivered as intended had larger effects than those that did not (P = .04). CONCLUSION: Psychosocial interventions had medium-size effects on both pain severity and interference. These robust findings support the systematic implementation of quality-controlled psychosocial interventions as part of a multimodal approach to the management of pain in patients with cancer.

The Alzheimer’s Association is hoping to fill that gap by working with experts around the country to put quick and simple screening tools into the hands of primary care physicians to determine if more in-depth dementia evaluation is necessary.  Quick tests like the clock draw (ask the patient to draw a clock face and point the hands to 11:10 or 8:20) can help to assess whether or not a patient is experiencing cognitive challenges.  Also, a physician can tell a patient 3 different words and ask them to remember them.  A short time later, ask the patient to recite those 3 words – another quick assessment of a patient’s memory.

According to a recent report, American adults fear getting Alzheimer’s disease than heart disease, stroke or diabetes..  Since the disease attacks nearly 50% of individuals who live past age 85, early screening and intervention is key.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46284967/ns/health/#.TzvTHsVSR8E

http://seniorliving.about.com/od/alzheimersdementia1/a/alzheimer_fear.htm

Jerome Fleg, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, MD, USA.

To find out more about this exciting new study, click here to read the Faculty of 1000 evaluations of this article.

Almeida OP, Garrido GJ, Beer C, Lautenschlager NT, Arnolda L, Flicker L

Eur Heart J. 2012 Jan 31

Abstract:

AimsIt is unclear whether the cognitive dysfunctionassociated with heart failure (HF) is due to HF or comorbid conditions such as ischaemic heart disease (IHD). This study aimed to determine whether, compared with controls with and without IHD, adults with systolic HF show evidence of cognitive impairment and cerebral grey matter (GM) loss.Methods and resultsCross-sectional study of 35 participants with HF, 56 with IHD, and 64 controls without either HF or IHD. Subjects were older than 45 years and free of overt cognitive impairment. We acquired magnetic resonance images and used SPM8 to determine regional differences in cerebral GM volume. Participants with HF had lower scores than controls without IHD on immediate memory, long delay recall and digit coding, whereas those with IHD had lower long delay recall scores than controls without IHD. Compared with controls without IHD, participants with HF showed evidence of GM loss in the left cingulate, the right inferior frontal gyrus, the left middle and superior frontal gyri, the right middle temporal lobe, the right and left anterior cingulate, the right middle frontal gyrus, the inferior and pre-central frontal gyri, the right caudate, and occipital-parietal regions involving the left precuneus. The loss of GM followed a similar, less extensive, pattern when we compared participants with HF and IHD.ConclusionAdults with HF have worse immediate and long-term memory and psychomotor speed than controls without IHD. Heart failure is associated with changes in brain regions that are important for demanding cognitive and emotional processing.

Jacques Zimmer, Centre de Recherche Public de la Santé, Luxembourg

To find out more about this exciting new study, click here to read the Faculty of 1000 evaluations of this article.

Narni-Mancinelli E, Jaeger BN, Bernat C, Fenis A, Kung S, De Gassart A, …, Beutler B, Malissen B, Malissen M, Gut IG, Vivier E, Ugolini S

Science. 2012 Jan 20; 335(6066):344-8

Abstract:

Natural killer (NK) cells are lymphocytes involved in antimicrobial and antitumoral immune responses. Using N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea mutagenesis in mice, we identified a mutant with increased resistance to viral infections because of the presence of hyperresponsive NK cells. Whole-genome sequencing and functional analysis revealed a loss-of-function mutation in the Ncr1 gene encoding the activating receptor NKp46. The down-regulation of NK cell activity by NKp46 was associated with the silencing of the Helios transcription factor in NK cells. NKp46 was critical for the subsequent development of antiviral and antibacterial T cell responses, which suggests that the regulation of NK cell function by NKp46 allows for the optimal development of adaptive immune responses. NKp46 blockade enhanced NK cell reactivity in vivo, which could enable the design of immunostimulation strategies in humans.

Harry Ischiropoulos, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, PA, USA

To find out more about this exciting new study, click here to read the Faculty of 1000 evaluations of this article.

Wang Z, Klipfell E, Bennett BJ, Koeth R, Levison BS, Dugar B, …, Smith JD, Allayee H, Tang WH, DiDonato JA, Lusis AJ, Hazen SL

Nature. 2011 Apr 7; 472(7341):57-63

 Abstract

Metabolomics studies hold promise for the discovery of pathways linked to disease processes. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) represents the leading cause of death and morbidity worldwide. Here we used a metabolomics approach to generate unbiased small-molecule metabolic profiles in plasma that predict risk for CVD. Three metabolites of the dietary lipid phosphatidylcholine–choline, trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) and betaine–were identified and then shown to predict risk for CVD in an independent large clinical cohort. Dietary supplementation of mice with choline, TMAO or betaine promoted upregulation of multiple macrophage scavenger receptors linked to atherosclerosis, and supplementation with choline or TMAO promoted atherosclerosis. Studies using germ-free mice confirmed a critical role for dietary choline and gut flora in TMAO production, augmented macrophage cholesterol accumulation and foam cell formation. Suppression of intestinal microflora in atherosclerosis-prone mice inhibited dietary-choline-enhanced atherosclerosis. Genetic variations controlling expression of flavin monooxygenases, an enzymatic source of TMAO, segregated with atherosclerosis in hyperlipidaemic mice. Discovery of a relationship between gut-flora-dependent metabolism of dietary phosphatidylcholine and CVD pathogenesis provides opportunities for the development of new diagnostic tests and therapeutic approaches for atherosclerotic heart disease.

Let’s take a look at Star Wars this time (although I will return to Star Trek in a future blog – see  Healthcare Tech From Star Trek  and  Star Trek Health Care Part 2)

As George Lukas stated “A long time ago… in a galaxy far, far away…”  Luke Skywalker lost his hand at his father’s light saber. If you recall a 2-B1 surgical droid replaced Luke’s hand with a mechanical one that functioned as his own.

Luke’s new hand was difficult to distinguish from his natural one. He was able to handle a light saber with ease using it and it had the flesh tones to match his own. These days we have the Michelangelo hand created by Otto Bock.

The hand may not be exactly as indistinguishable from a natural hand as Luke’s, but surely advances have been made towards a solution for a lost limb.

There are also bionics that have advanced healthcare toward the ability to create a hand for someone who’s lost one.

With regards to 2-1B units, there have been advances in this space too. Robotic surgery is seeing advancements. One such technology is called da Vinci Surgical System.  From Intuitive Surgery, da Vinci allows a human to direct a robot in performing intricate surgeries.  Perhaps, in the future, we will see robots armed with artificial intelligence perform surgeries independently.

Note that both the prosthetic hand and the robotic surgical system are named after exquisite artists. The Michelangelo hand perhaps after the artist’s Sistine Chapel ceiling section called The Creation of Adam. And perhaps the da Vinci surgical system reflects on the visionary who drew the anatomical figure 3-dimensionally.

I’m not surprised at the convergence of art and science, for the creative mind can think outside traditional norms and give us ideas that will truly change the world.

Henrietta Lacks was a poor tobacco farmer who lived in poverty. But Henrietta’s legacy is remarkable. Her cells, taken from her cervix without her knowledge, live on until today and have saved countless lives. Because HeLa cells continue to reproduce at an extraordinary rate, they have helped develop drugs to treat leukemia, influenza, hemophilia, and Parkinson’s disease, among other conditions. And, Henrietta’s cells were instrumental in helping create the polio vaccine.

Read the book. I found it enlightening and appreciate this important piece of black history about a woman who changed the world.

To learn more about Henrietta and Rebecca’s book follow this link.

Let me warn you: I work on reproduction in animals, so I get to say things like “testicular toxicity” and “epididymis” in polite company.  Which brings me to this month’s musings.

There’s a program here which has been bedeviled by epididymal inflammation.  Every compound they would put into rats produced some inflamed epididymides, completely in the absence of any bacterial infection.  Since this cannot be monitored in the clinic, this sort of effect kills every compound which produces it.

Now, the epididymis is a single tube 18-19 feet long in humans  (9-10 ft in rats). Sperm leave the testis entirely immotile, utterly incapable of swimming.  Its only by bathing in the secretions along the epididymis and incorporating those into their outer membrane that sperm become motile. 

And interestingly, sperm are viewed as foreign by the male body.  They’re not around in the first few days after birth when the immune system looks around and says “OK, what’s here is ME, and everything that’s not here is not me and therefore foreign, and therefore I should be on guard against it!!”  Sperm are in that latter category of “WAY foreign objects.”

But they’re OUR sperm…. the key to species survival. The testis makes ‘em and the epididymis processes and stores them.  But they’re foreign.   So we have a delicate balance between activation and tolerance.  We make them and process them behind specialized cell junctions that prevent immune cells from knowing they’re there.  Both the testis and the epididymis are like other tissues in that they have some resident macrophages and neutrophils, just hanging out, surveying the environment, looking for bugs and other bad actors (i.e., anything foreign). I’m reminded of Elmer Fudd, hunting Buggs, when he turns to Buggs and says “Shhhh, I’m hunting wabbits.  We must be veeeewy qui-et!”

And the epididymal epithelium, which is otherwise given over to secreting these mobility proteins, has a few cells from the immune system embedded in it (T cells and (in mice) dendritic cells), hanging out, looking for troublemakers… the quiet cop on the beat.

So back at the drug program: with the help of some other groups here in Drug Safety, we identified some markers of inflammation that we could use to find the bad actor compounds and separate ‘em from those which do not cause inflammation.  And we developed a cell culture assay with which we think we can separate the bad compounds from the good compounds. 

But in the course of that project, I was reading about the epididymis and some lab reported finding a pretty specialized immune cell type (dendritic cells) in the *mouse* epididymis.  “Whoa”, I thought, “that’s new.  I wonder what role the dendritic cells are playing in our inflammation?”  If they are very active, that would help us focus our future work.  So I bought some of the cell-specific antibody that the mouse people had used, and tried applying it to some sections of rat epididymis.  

What I saw knocked my socks off. Instead of just a few specialized cells staining with this marker (as in the mouse), the main cells that comprise the bulk of the epididymal epithelium (also known, boringly, as the “principal cells”) stained with this antibody.  The staining was quite specific, and thousands of these reproductive cells had it.

What this told me was that in rats, these cells which were thought to have strictly reproductive functions (secreting those motility proteins) might also have taken over some immune functions.

OMG.  BOTH my neurons spun into overdrive: what OTHER immune functions or proteins might these cells have acquired over the course of evolution? It makes perfect sense in that these cells make up a tube full of foreign bodies. But could we use this to find a biomarker for these cells which would be useful in the clinic (thus removing a huge roadblock for occasional programs) ??  The list of immune-system-specific proteins is lengthy, but all of a sudden, it’s plausible that ANY of them could be in epididymal principal cells, opening up a new appreciation where these reproductive cells are really repro-immune cells.

It’s at times like this, where I get a glimpse of something that no one else has seen, and spin forward into the possibilities, that I do my Excited Puppy Dance… sitting in my chair, literally bouncing up and down, *quivering* with excitement.

And I get PAID for this??  oh Man, Life Is SO Good.

Through a process known as lysogenization, viruses that can infect bacteria called bacteriophages are used by scientists to invade resistant bacterial cells and restore their sensitivity to antibiotics. Initial experiments have been conducted on the older antibiotics streptomycin and nalidixic acid with resistant E. coli bacteria.  Genes from the resistant bacteria were genetically engineered to reverse the resistance mechanism.  The lysogenization process resulted in E.coli becoming significantly more sensitive to the tested antibiotics than control phages carrying mock genes.

Although the process hasn’t been tried on superbugs like MRSA, this novel mechanism appears to hold some promise in reversing antibiotic resistance.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204331304577144853241744454.html