Shinya Yamanaka Wins 2012 Nobel Prize in Medicine

      I read the article Shinya Yamanaka Wins 2012 Nobel Prize in Medicine. This article was a bout how biologist Shinya Yamanaka received the Nobel Prize for his strides in stem cell research. Yamanaka discovered that you could change adult skin cells into cells that behave like embryonic stem cells.  Yamanaka‘s research showed that by adding four genes into adult skin cells in mice, he could induce the cells to become like embryonic stem cells. Later, Yamanaka found that he could successfully modify human cells into embryonic ones. These cells are now known as induced pluripotent stem cells, or IPS cells.

            This is an amazing breakthrough for the scientific community as well as the world. Embryonic stem cell research has been a controversial topic for years. However this discovery is a win for both sides since it enables doctors and scientist to find new ways in helping patients without harming human embryos. The author states, “Tremendous promise for regenerative medicine, in which damaged organs and tissues can be replaced or repaired. Many in the science community consider the use of stem cells to be key to the future treatment and eradication of a number of diseases, such as diabetes, blindness and Parkinson's disease.” The discover has already lead to creation of a human model of Huntington's disease from the skin cells of patients with the disease and the use of a single genetic factor to transform skin cells into cells that develop on their own into an interconnected, functional network of brain cells. Both announcements offer new hope in the fight against neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and Huntington’s disease.

            Over all I thought this article was well written and was easy to understand. The author did a nice job presenting all the benefits to society this find will make. The article was very clear and straightforward. I think the article was very interesting and gives us a glimpse into what medicine will be like in the future

A Chemist Comes Very Close to a MIdas Touch

In this article, by Hillary Rosner, a chemist from Princeton University has made a discovery in the science of alchemy. He may not have been able to turn iron into gold, but he had his own version of modern day alchemy. Paul Chirik, the chemist, managed to make iron function like platinum, which is crucial to the developing world. To create this, he dissolved catalysts, which are mixed into the end product; the molecules are then dissipated during the reaction.  Also, cobalt is being used to create a cheaper type of plastic. The only downside with iron is rusting can occur which might impact the metal.

            This is important to society because many of the elements used in everyday products are starting to become less abundant, so a discovery that makes an abundant metal have the properties of a less abundant metal will have a huge impact on saving the precious metals. Also, the products that harm the environment can start to be eliminated if we find ways to do this with other products. “If you can transition to a completely earth-abundant world,” he said, “you can have a huge impact.”

            I really liked this article because it was a very complex topic that was put into ordinary words that still allowed the impact of that topic to shine through. I also thought the way the author related this new discovery to things in our society and how this discovery can help our environment was very useful in understanding the article. 

Redefining Medicine With Apps and iPads

     I saw this article in the science section of the New York Times that seemed very interesting to me. Particularly that it covers all generations, new and old. The article is about a young Dr, Dr. Rajkamor who grew up in India but got all his training in the US and from age 12 he knew a lot about computer technology and felt very comfortable with it. Dr. Heineken, an older doctor who grew up and studied in the US. Dr. Heineken has a traditional training in medicine and interacts with the patients physiologically and physically in old traditional way. He likes to physically examine the patients, look in their eyes and talk to them and record his results on hospital pads. He also teaches the style of medicine to all of the young residents in the hospital and encourages them to use human judgment and intuitions to connect with the patients and their diseases. In one instance, when he was teaching a team of residents were working with a sick man with a heart problem, and asked them to tap the patients heart with their fingers and to understand and to feel his enlarged heart, rather than looking at a X-ray of the heart that would have obviously shown his enlarged heart.

            On the contrary, Dr. Rajkamor prefers his Ipad or iPhone to share information from medical sources for recording data or requiring pharmaceutical information. For instance, when he had to administer saline solution to a patient who’s salt concentration was low and was crucial to give the right amount in a short period of time he used his Ipad for an immediate answer for the right dosage. Because of his experience with technology at a very young age, he feels very much at ease to use the computer in most aspects of his practice of medicine. Even though computers can facilitate the process of gaining and transferring information at a faster pace and sometimes a more correct way it might cause shortage of relationship between a doctor and patients.

            The goal Dr. Heineken is to get these young residents more involved with the human aspects of the Dr. and patients relationship while he respects the affect of the computers in the medical world. Although he uses his cell phone and most definitely computer machineries in all aspects of his personal and medical life, he likes to weigh his work heavily on his knowledge of medicine in a more organic way. It seems form the article that the patients enjoy having a doctor like him. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/09/science/redefining-medicine-with-apps-and-ipads-the-digital-doctor.html?pagewanted=all

Posted for J. Sears

Nausea may help create new leads to cancer treatment

'Disgusted' Rats Teaching Scientists About Nausea, Work May Lead to New Cancer Treatments

In the article I’ve read about rats, I’ve found something particularly interesting about them. Not because they come in just two colors but they give us information about how nausea is caused. Generally speaking, all this time numerous people throughout the world don’t exactly know why nausea is caused. Apparently rats have a similar sign of nausea but it’s not clearly seeing the rat in a nausea state. When they’re in a nausea state they tend to make a disgusted reaction called “gaping” when re-exposed to a taste that made them nauseous, as Guelph PhD student Katharine Tuerke stated. The article also states that rats and humans have similar models to understand the brain mechanism that produces nausea. Using this model, Guelph scientist, have discovered that serotonin, the central nervous system, released in the visceral insular cortex may be the cause of nausea. What the insular cortex is is a site of taste and illness input in the brain. Knowing this, scientist examined the effects of delivering drugs that either activates serotonin-3 receptor or block serotonin-2 receptors to specific regions of the insular cortex. The serotonin-3 receptor are a class of medications that act receptor antagonist, a drug that doesn’t provoke a biological response itself upon binding the receptor which are large protein molecules that can be activated by the binding of a ligand (hormone). They discovered that the insular cortex activates the serotonin that causes nausea and blocking the serotonin that reduces serotonin. Given this information, both PhD students may be able to use this valuable process to, maybe, lead a better understanding of basic neural processes that may help control nausea or vomiting caused by cancer chemotherapy.

                I, honesty, believe that this article is important. This is because cancer chemotherapy is extremely toxic can kills many people throughout the world. I mean, come on, the word cancer explains it all. Any type of cancer is really toxic to the body. If we can at least try to cure on, then maybe we can have a better understanding how other parts of cancer really works. I’ve learn a lot of interesting details in this article overall and I think the author did a fantastic job introducing and ending the article itself. Nothing should be changed because even a student like me could understand it. Not to mention, all the facts are concrete materials and no assumptions added. Articles like this can inspire many people throughout the world to help solve cancer. Future research depends on these kinds of articles.

Kenny Xue

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121005123858.htm 

High Stress Can Make Insulin Cells Regress

       

High Stress Can Make Insulin Cells Regress

     This article describes the recent advances in research regarding diabetes and insulin production. Scientists formerly thought that people with diabetes became resistant to insulin, which would in turn cause their insulin-producing beta cells to overwork and die out. Now researchers are hypothesizing that the reduction of insulin in the body is actually due to a change in the beta cells’ form, not their death. They believe that the beta cells revert to a “progenitor” state in which they are unable to produce insulin, and reversing this process could help cure diabetes. New research also shows that a protein called FOXO1, which disappears as beta cells stop producing insulin, is vital to keeping the production of insulin in beta cells running. Researchers found that mice that were subject to stress and lacked the protein ended up developing signs of Type 2 diabetes. Some of their beta cells were found to have reverted to the progenitor state, similar to the findings of the earlier study.

            These findings are important because they show that physiological stresses cause an increase in the demand on beta cells for insulin, in turn causing the progression of diabetes. Currently, treatments for diabetes are pushing the production of insulin, which could actually be speeding up the transformation of beta cells to progenitor cells. We could use this information to try to change our methods of treating diabetes and create more efficient and successful drugs.

            I believe that the author could have done a better job explaining the transition between beta cells and progenitor cells. She also doesn’t explain the idea about stress to well; it seems more like an assumption of her own than an idea based on concrete evidence. Other than this, I think she did well summarizing the results of the experiments and describing the future plans on the continuation of this research. 

Schaffer, Amanda. "IN THEORY; Under Stress, Insulin-Making Cells Revert to Nascent State." The New York Times. The New York Times, 02 Oct. 2012. Web. 01 Oct. 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/02/health/under-stress-insulin-making-cells-revert-to-nascent-state.html?ref=science>.

"Scientists Find Way to Control Sugars"

Jimmy Purdy                                                                                     Article Review

“Scientists Find Way to Control Sugars”

            The article I read about goes into detail about how scientists at Simon Fraser University are finding out that enzymes responsible for processing starch into glucose can be turned on and off, helping to control blood sugar.  This process is called “toggling” where inhibitors, which are chemically designed, can be placed in the body to regulate starch digestion.  In a nutshell you need 4 types of enzymes to produce sugars from starch and scientists can now take away an enzyme with these inhibators.

            This is a huge accomplishment for scientists and doctors because it can be used to help regulate type 2 diabetes.  It can also lea to solutions in people who are obese because one of the main culprits that cause obesity is sugar.  If this technology is applied the right way, the contributions can be endless.

            After reading this article I think it was very well written because it is a complex process, but the author made it easy to understand.  Also, I liked how he related the technology to an applied solution.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120927104307.htm