domingo, 19 de julho de 2015
Researchers test bioartificial liver device to treat acute liver failure
Approximately 30,000-40,000 people die from liver disease each year, according to the American Liver Foundation. For people who experience acute liver failure, the only proven treatment has been liver transplantation. Researchers at Mayo Clinic have developed and are testing an alternative to liver transplantation called the Spheroid Reservoir Bioartificial Liver that can support healing and regeneration of the injured liver, and improve outcomes and reduce mortality rates for patients with acute liver failure -- without requiring a transplant.Developed by Scott Nyberg, M.D., Ph.D., principal investigator in the Artificial Liver and Liver Transplantation Laboratory at Mayo Clinic and liver transplant surgeon, the device uses healthy hepatocytes, or liver cells, from pigs to do the job of a normal, healthy liver, which aids in digestion and the removal of waste and toxins from the bloodstream. Treatment with the Spheroid Reservoir Bioartificial Liver (SRBAL) has been shown to reduce the severity of liver disease and improve survival in pigs. Future clinical studies are planned to assess the SRBAL as a less-invasive, long-term treatment option to liver transplantation. Results from a study using the device in a pivotal preclinical trial were published in the Journal of Hepatology. "Acute liver failure claims the lives of over 30 percent of people who are diagnosed with this condition. Liver transplantation has been the go-to option for treating acute liver failure, but it also comes with many risks and isn't always an option, due to compatibility and availability of donor livers," says Dr. Nyberg. "A bioartificial liver device could allow physicians to treat and extend the lives of more patients, safely and cost-effectively, with fewer risks." The study conducted by Dr. Nyberg was designed to serve as a preclinical trial on pigs with drug-induced acute liver failure. The animals were treated using the Spheroid Reservoir Bioartificial Liver and were injected with healthy donor hepatocytes to determine if this treatment method could reverse the severity of their disease. "This study demonstrated that animals treated using the bioartificial liver responded to the healthy hepatocytes and reached the study endpoint with less disease severity than animals that received other forms of treatment," said Dr. Nyberg. "Although the artificial liver is not yet cleared for use on humans, these findings show promise as an effective treatment option for diseases like liver cancer and hepatitis, which is becoming an increasingly common diagnosis." The rights to the SRBAL have been exclusively optioned to Liver Cell Technologies for commercial development. Mayo Clinic and Dr. Nyberg have a financial interest in the product and Liver Cell Technologies. According to the American Liver Foundation, there are more than 100 different types of liver disease that can compromise liver function and lead to chronic and life-threatening conditions such as hepatitis, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and liver cancer. Story Source: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Mayo Clinic. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference:
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Smartphone usage could be analyzed to warn of depression
| Although you might not realized you're depressed, your smartphone may know better (Credit: Shutterstock) One of the problems with depression is that because it often forms so gradually, many people don't even realize that they're suffering from it – they just assume that normal life is pretty dreary. With that in mind, researchers from Chicago's Northwestern University have devised a method of analyzing at-risk individuals' smartphone use, to see if they're developing signs of the disorder. In a study conducted at the university, the phone-usage of 28 test subjects (20 women and eight men, average age of 29) was monitored over a two-week period. They also all completed a PHQ-9 questionnaire, which is commonly used to assess depression by asking questions about symptoms such as sadness, hopelessness and sleep disturbances. When the smartphone-activity and PHQ-9 data was tabulated and cross-referenced, it was found that the 14 subjects who scored highest for depression on the questionnaire also had some phone-related traits in common. These included more overall use of their smartphones (an average of 68 minutes a day, as opposed to 17 for the other test subjects), spending more time at home or in fewer locations (as measured by their phone's GPS tracking feature), and a less regular day-to-day travel schedule. While increased phone usage might suggest more contact with other people, the researchers believe that it instead indicates non-social activity such as web-surfing and game-playing. These could be examples of "avoidance behavior," that people engage in to avoid dealing with mental anguish. The fact that the subjects left home less often is in keeping with the known fact that depressed people tend to lack the motivation to get out and do things, instead opting to remain sedentary. Likewise, not maintaining a consistent daily schedule has also been linked to depression. All told, the study matched smartphone use to subjects' level of depression with 87 percent accuracy. While approaches such as questionnaires are certainly helpful, the researchers believe that patients often lack accuracy when performing such self-assessment techniques. "The significance of this is we can detect if a person has depressive symptoms and the severity of those symptoms without asking them any questions," says Northwestern's Dr. David Mohr, senior author of a paper on the study. "We now have an objective measure of behavior related to depression. And we’re detecting it passively. Phones can provide data unobtrusively and with no effort on the part of the user." The paper was recently published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research. Source: Northwestern University
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The Dark Energy Survey
National Science Foundation |
How well can you focus your brain?
Seven digits is the "magic number" for neuroscientists. It's just about the maximum your short-term memory can retain. Can you remember a seven-digit number? Find out with Barbara Shinn-Cunningham, head of the NSF-funded CELEST Science of Learning Center at Boston University.
Shinn-Cunningham and other leaders from the Science of Learning Centers provided a Capitol Hill briefing June 24, 2015 on their work studying how the brain learns and develops. Rep. Chaka Fattah hosted the briefing.
Find more information on CELEST (the Center for Learning in Education, Science, and Technology).
The other Science of Learning Centers are:
Credit: National Science Foundation
NIST Shows Organic Solar Industry Something New Under the Sun
| From NIST Tech Beat: July 16, 2015 Contact: Chad Boutin Hunting for the best material from which to build organic solar cells can be like seeking the proverbial haystack needle, but now scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Naval Research Laboratory may have a better search tool for the nascent industry. The team's research findings in Nature Communications* show it is possible to test a candidate material quickly and directly, using off-the-shelf laser technology. The method bypasses the costly, time-consuming step of constructing a prototype solar cell for each material to be evaluated. "We'd like to give companies and manufacturers an alternative to trial and error," says NIST research chemist Ted Heilweil. "It takes a long time to develop photovoltaic materials for market. Screening them using our method would be much faster." Organic materials (e.g. plastics) hold a particular attraction for the solar industry, largely because of their comparative low cost and physical flexibility. Organics inspire the possibility of one day painting an inexpensive solar array onto most any surface, even one that bends and moves, and simply replacing it with a fresh coat when it wears out. At this point, organics are far less efficient at converting sunlight to electricity than traditional silicon-based technology, but ideas for better materials come at a fast clip. Unfortunately, sifting through these candidates and zeroing in on the most promising ones is expensive and arduous. Because it entails building a prototype cell for each prospective material, relatively few candidates get tested. The team's new method sidesteps this problem by using ultrafast lasers to probe a candidate material's abilities directly—and without electrical contacts. They found that when shining pulses of visible light onto a sample to mimic the sun, they could probe the sample's electronic behavior with a second laser pulse near the microwave range of the spectrum. When the sample absorbs these "terahertz" waves, its properties change in easily detectable ways. Just how the terahertz pulse changes is dependent on the material's viability at converting light to electricity. To test their method, the team looked at a number of mixed organic molecules and polymers whose abilities were well-understood from conventional prototyping. "We looked at small organics and polymers that people in the solar industry have been using as benchmarks, and we saw the same relative behavior with our terahertz measurements," Heilweil says. "We're pretty confident that our method can tell you what is useful to know." The team is using the method as part of its own ongoing materials search, Heilweil says. * P. A. Lane, P. D. Cunningham, J. S. Melinger, O. Esenturk and E. J. Heilweil. Hot photocarrier dynamics in organic solar cells. Nature Communications, 6. Article 7558.Published online July 16, 2015. DOI:10.1038/ncomms8558
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7 Reasons You Should Go Barefoot for 15 Minutes a Day
| By Kevin Park
The more time we spend indoors and in shoes, the more important it becomes to make time in each day to get outside and get grounded. This growing health practice is called Earthing, and there are a whole host of benefits you can get for free. Earthing is the practice of literally grounding out your body to the electrical field of The Earth. Beneficial free electrons can transfer from The Earth’s electrical field into your body. It sounds a little scientific…but don’t worry it’s actually quite simple! Our ancient ancestors didn’t wear thick soled rubber shoes that insulated us from this energy, nor did they spend all day indoors up off of the ground, or on concrete surfaces. They also weren’t exposed to nearly as much EMF’s (electro-magnetic frequencies) as we are today. Earthing is essential for human health and the optimal function of our bodies It’s so easy do. All you have to do is take off your shoes and socks, go outside, and find a patch of grass or dirt to walk or stand on with your bare feet. It doesn’t take long but ideally you want to spend at least 15 minutes a day grounded, however you can receive the benefits from spending even just a few minutes a day barefoot on the ground. In addition to Earthing, there are other reasons to go barefoot each day as well. I’ve included them in these 7 reasons to go barefoot every day: 1. Reduce InflammationEarthing has been shown to drastically reduce inflammation in our bodies, or to put it another way, the lack of daily earthing increases inflammation. With so many inflammatory diseases that we are plagued with today (asthma, IBS, arthritis etc.) earthing could be a really quick, easy, zero cost, and side effect free way of managing symptoms by reducing inflammation in the body. 2. Stronger Feet and AnklesWalking around without shoes on strengthens our feet and ankles because it allows them to move unrestricted, and in a natural way. Shoes can bind out feet, causing them to weaken, and our muscles to atrophy. When the muscles in your feet and ankles are activated on a regular basis, you will develop a stronger connection between your brain and your feet, giving you better overall strength, balance, and body awareness, as well as making you more resistant to injuries. 3. Reduce Free RadicalsThe free electrons you receive from the earth when grounded reduce free radicals. Free radicals are damaging to healthy cells in your body, and cause accelerated aging. Eating a diet high in anti-oxidants, and daily earthing are the best way to defend against free radical damage. 4. Improve PostureGoing barefoot helps put your body back into proper alignment. Your feet are designed to sit flat on the ground. Most shoes have a raised heel for extra cushioning or fashion and can really distort your posture and inhibit your natural movement when walking, running, or standing. Wearing high heels is one of the worst things you can do for your posture. As a trainer, one of the first things I do is get my clients to take their shoes off before working out. Their posture and form improves right away! Better posture can also help eliminate aches and pains that are caused by poor posture. 5. Stimulate Reflexology PointsYou have over 7000 nerve endings on each foot, and according to the ancient therapy of reflexology these points correlate to different organs and bodily systems. When your feet spend all day bound up in shoes they aren’t getting stimulated. Taking your shoes off and walking on uneven surfaces puts pressure on these points and can improve your overall state of health. 6. EnergizeHave you ever gone swimming in a lake, river or the ocean? Do you ever notice how energized you feel afterwards? This is due in part to the grounding effect of being in a natural body of water. You can get this same boost in energy by earthing with your bare feet on the ground. If you feel tired or groggy mid-day then spending a few minutes earthing can really help you re-energize without having to turn to stimulating drinks like coffee that can tax your adrenals and make you feel even more tired in the long run. 7. Connect to NatureThe practice of earthing helps enhance our connection to the natural world. We come from the earth, we eat from the earth, and we are made of the earth, and going barefoot can act as a simple reminder of this. It re-calibrates are senses so that we get more information from the environment, giving us a heightened sense of awareness in nature. Being barefoot in nature can make you feel more wild and free again…reducing stress levels and balancing out our busy modern-day lives. What if you can’t get outside?Getting outside and touching your bare feet to the ground on a daily basis is ideal, but we often just can’t help but spend long periods of time indoors i.e. at home, in bed sleeping, at work, in the office etc. There are some good indoor earthing solutions out there to help you get the grounding benefits of earthing but without having to go barefoot outside. There are special conductive mats, bed sheets, and other devices that you can plug into the ground plug-in any electrical outlet (don’t worry, you can’t get electrocuted), or by plugging a provided metal ground stake directly into the ground with a wire running to the device. Your whole household electrical system is grounded into the earth this way, and your electricity wouldn’t work properly without it. Grounding is essential for electricity…and our bodies. Using these earthing devices is a good way to negate the harmful effects of indoor EMFs from computers, appliances, cell phones, televisions etc. For indoor earthing solutions check out earthing.com If you want to get the benefits of going barefoot outside while still wearing something on your feet check out Earthrunners conductive earthing sandals. Kevin ParkFounder at ReWild Your Body Kevin is the founder of rewildyourbody.com and the creator of The Wild Body Program. He's passionate about teaching natural movement, natural nutrition, and living a more nature connected lifestyle.
source : http://www.youngandraw.com/7-reasons-spend-15-minutes-day-barefoot/ |
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