What can high-iodine foods do for you?

 

iodine 

 

• Help ensure proper thyroid gland functioning

What events can indicate a need for more high-iodine foods?

• Goiter (enlargement of the thyroid gland)
• Fatigue
• Weakness
• Depression
• Weight gain

Concentrated food sources of iodine include sea vegetables, yogurt, cow's milk, eggs, strawberries and mozzarella cheese. Fish and shellfish can also be concentrated sources of iodine.

World's Healthiest Foods rich in
iodine

FoodCalsDRI/DV

 Sea Vegetables 11500%

 Yogurt 14947.3%

 Milk 7418.7%

 Eggs 7818%

 Strawberries 468.6%

For serving size for specific foods see the Nutrient Rating Chart.

Description

What is Iodine?

If you backpack in the mountains, you may have used iodine tablets to purify your drinking water. Or, perhaps you've used an iodine-based disinfectant to clean a minor skin wound. But did you know that iodine is essential to life?

Iodine, a trace mineral, is required by the body for the synthesis of the thyroid hormones, thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3). (T4 contains 4 iodine atoms. When one of the iodine atoms is stripped off of T4, it becomes T3, with 3 iodine atoms remaining.)

Under normal circumstances, your body contains approximately 20 to 30 mg of iodine, most of which is stored in your thyroid gland, located in the front of your neck, just under your voice box. Smaller amounts of iodine are also found in lactating mammary glands, the stomach lining, salivary glands, and in the blood.

How it Functions

What is the function of iodine?

As a component of the thyroid hormones thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3), iodine is essential to human life. Without sufficient iodine, your body is unable to synthesize these hormones, and because the thyroid hormones regulate metabolism in every cell of the body and play a role in virtually all physiological functions, an iodine deficiency can have a devastating impact on your health and well-being.

Regulating thyroid hormones

The synthesis of thyroid hormones is tightly controlled. When the amount of thyroid hormone in your blood drops, the pituitary gland secretes a hormone called thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH). As its name suggests, TSH then stimulates the thyroid gland to increase its uptake of iodine from the blood, so that more thyroxine (T4) can be synthesized. When necessary, thyroxine is then converted to the metabolically active triiodothyronine (T3), a process that involves removing one iodine atom from T4.

Several other physiological functions for iodine have been suggested. Iodine may help inactivate bacteria, hence its use as a skin disinfectant and in water purification. Iodine may also play a role in the prevention of fibrocystic breast disease, a condition characterized by painful swelling in the breasts, by modulating the effect of the hormone estrogen on breast tissue. Finally, researchers hypothesize that iodine deficiency impairs the function of the immune system and that adequate iodine is necessary to prevent miscarriages.

Deficiency Symptoms

What are deficiency symptoms for iodine?

In the early part of the 20th century, iodine deficiency was quite common in the United States and Canada. However, this problem has since been almost completely resolved by the use of iodized salt. In addition, iodine is now added to animal feed, which has increased the iodine content of commonly consumed foods, including cow's milk.

Unfortunately, in countries where iodized salt is not commonly consumed, iodine deficiency remains a signficant problem. Dietary deficiency of this vital mineral results in decreased synthesis of thyroid hormone.

Goiter, or enlargement of the thyroid gland, is usually the earliest visible symptom of iodine deficiency. (Goiter can occur for many other reasons as well, but iodine deficiency is among the most common causes worldwide.) The enlargement of the thyroid results from overstimulation of the thyroid gland by thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), as the body attempts to produce increased amounts of thyroid hormone.

Goiter is more common in certain geographical areas of the world where iodine is lacking in the diet and where selenium is lacking in the soil. (Selenium is directly involved with certain activities of the thyroid gland.)

Iodine deficiency may eventually lead to hypothyroidism, which causes a variety of symptoms including fatigue, weight gain, weakness and/or depression. Interestingly, iodine deficiency can also cause hyperthyroidism, a condition characterized by weight loss, rapid heart beat, and appetite fluctations.

Severe iodine deficiency during pregnancy or infancy causes cretinism, a condition characterized by hypothyroidism leading to failure of the thyroid gland and/or severe mental retardation, stunted physical growth, deafness, and spasticity. If discovered in its initial stages, cretinism can be corrected with iodine supplementation.

Toxicity Symptoms

What are toxicity symptoms for iodine?

Accidental overdose of iodine from medications or supplements in amounts exceeding one gram may cause burning in the mouth, throat and stomach and/or abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, dirarrhea, weak pulse, and coma.

It is difficult to take in too much iodine from food sources alone. It is estimated that men and women consume at most 300 mcg and 210 mcg of iodine per day, respectively. In general, even high intakes of iodine from food are well-tolerated by most people.

However, in certain circumstances, excessive consumption of iodine can actually inhibit the synthesis of thyroid hormones, thereby leading to the development of goiter (enlargement of the thyroid gland) and hypothyroidism. Excessive iodine intake may also cause hyperthyroidism, thyroid papillary cancer, and/or iodermia (a serious skin reaction).

In an attempt to prevent these symptoms of iodine toxicity, the Institute of Medicine established the following Tolerable Upper Intake Levels (TUL) for iodine:

• 1-3 years: 200 mcg
• 4-8 years: 300 mcg
• 9-13 years: 600 mcg
• 14-18 years: 900 mcg
• 19 years and older: 1,100 mcg
• Pregnant women 14-18 years: 900 mcg
• Pregnant women 19 years and older: 1,100 mcg
• Lactating women 14-18 years: 900 mcg
• Lactating women 19 years and older: 1,100 mcg

It is important to note that if you have an autoimmune thyroid disease (for example, Grave's disease or Hashimoto's disease) or if you have experienced an iodine deficiency at some point in your life, you may be more susceptible to the dangers of excessive iodine consumption, and may, therefore, need to monitor your intake of iodine more carefully.

Impact of Cooking, Storage and Processing

How do cooking, storage, or processing affect iodine?

Food processing practices often increase the amount of iodine in foods. For example, the addition of potassium iodide to table salt to produce "iodized" salt has dramatically increased the iodine intake of people in developed countries. In addition, iodine-based dough conditioners are commonly used in commercial bread-making, which increases the iodine content of the bread.

Factors that Affect Function

What factors might contribute to a deficiency of iodine?

Since absorption of iodine from the digestive tract is very thorough, deficiency of iodine typically occurs from too little intake of iodine-containing foods. However, there has been some controversy surrounding the impact of diet not on iodine absorption, but on iodine utilization by the thyroid gland. Since the thyroid requires iodine to make thyroid hormones, this utilization is essential. Two groups of substances found in food - isoflavones, most commonly found in soy foods, and thiocyanates, most commonly produced in the body from glucosinolates found in cruciferous vegetables like broccoli - have been shown to interfere with iodine utilization by the thyroid gland, but only under very specific circumstances. These circumstances involve simultaneous dietary deficiency of iodine or selenium (or both) and imbalanced overall dietary intake. We're not aware of any evidence showing problems with iodine metabolism by the thyroid gland when either soy foods or cruciferous vegetables are eaten in moderate amounts in an overall balanced diet that also contains appropriate amounts of iodine and selenium. Since soy foods and cruciferous vegetables provide so many well-documented health benefits, we do not believe there is ordinarily any reason to eliminate these foods from the diet for iodine-related reasons. However, for individuals with a history of thyroid problems, poor dietary balance and deficient intake of iodine and/or selenium, we recommend consultation with a healthcare provider to decide about the role of these foods in health support.

Nutrient Interactions

How do other nutrients interact with iodine?

The conversion of thyroxine (T4) to triiodthyronine (T3) requires the removal of an iodine molecule from T4. This reaction requires the mineral selenium. The iodine molecule that is removed gets returned to the body's pool of iodine and can be reused to make additional thyroid hormones.

If your body is deficient in selenium , the conversion of T4 to T3 is slowed, and less iodine is available for the thryoid to use in making new hormones.

Animal studies have shown that arsenic interferes with the uptake of iodine by the thyroid, leading to goiter. In addition, dietary deficiency of vitamin A , vitamin E , zinc and/or iron can exaggerate the effects of iodine deficiency.

Health Conditions

What health conditions require special emphasis on iodine?

Iodine may play a role in the prevention and/or treatment of the following health conditions:

• Cognitive impairment
• Cretinism
• Fibrocystic breast disease
• Goiter
• Hyperthyroidism
• Hypothyroidism
• Multiple miscarriages

Food Sources

What foods provide iodine?

The amount of iodine found in most natural foods is typically quite small and varies depending on environmental factors such as the soil concentration of iodine and the use of fertilizers. Some of the richest food sources of iodine are often processed foods that contain iodized salt, and breads that contain iodate dough conditioners.

Sea vegetables are an excellent source of iodine. Yogurt, cow's milk, eggs, and strawberries are very good sources of idone. Good sources include mozzarella cheese.

Fish and shellfish require their own special category when it comes to iodine content, because the amount of iodine they contain is not always easy to predict. For example, the amount of iodine found in fish may not match up very predictably with the amount found in their home waters, or even with their diet. Four ounces of very low iodine fish might only provide about 70 micrograms of iodine, or less than half of the adult RDA. By contrast, four ounces of very high iodine fish might contain as much as 1,000 micrograms of iodine—an amount just below the Tolerable Upper Limit (UL, or safety level) of 1,100 micrograms.

Due to the great variability in fish iodine content, and the relative lack of good information for consumers to base their nutritional decisions in this area, we would not recommend reliance on fish alone to provide all of your dietary iodine needs. However, you can count on getting iodine from most fish, and on any one particular day, we would recommend thinking about a 4-6 ounce fish meal serving as providing at least 50% of your iodine needs. Conversely, if you are trying to greatly restrict your iodine intake, you might want to eat fish on a less frequent basis to lower your risk of iodine intake above the RDA level.

Nutrient Rating Chart

Introduction to Nutrient Rating System Chart

In order to better help you identify foods that feature a high concentration of nutrients for the calories they contain, we created a Food Rating System. This system allows us to highlight the foods that are especially rich in particular nutrients. The following chart shows the World's Healthiest Foods that are either an excellent, very good, or good source of iodine. Next to each food name, you'll find the serving size we used to calculate the food's nutrient composition, the calories contained in the serving, the amount of iodine contained in one serving size of the food, the percent Daily Value (DV%) that this amount represents, the nutrient density that we calculated for this food and nutrient, and the rating we established in our rating system. For most of our nutrient ratings, we adopted the government standards for food labeling that are found in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's "Reference Values for Nutrition Labeling." Read more background information and details of our rating system .

World's Healthiest Foods ranked as quality sources of iodine
Food	Serving Size	Cals	Amount (mcg)	DRI/DV (%)	Nutrient Density	World's Healthiest Foods Rating
Sea Vegetables	1 TBS	10.8	750.00	500.00	829.5	excellent
Yogurt	1 cup	149.4	71.05	47.37	5.7	very good
Milk	4 oz	74.4	28.06	18.71	4.5	very good
Eggs	1 each	77.5	27.00	18.00	4.2	very good
Strawberries	1 cup	46.1	12.96	8.64	3.4	very good

World's Healthiest Foods Rating	Rule
excellent	DRI/DV>=75% OR Density>=7.6 AND DRI/DV>=10%
very good	DRI/DV>=50% OR Density>=3.4 AND DRI/DV>=5%
good	DRI/DV>=25% OR Density>=1.5 AND DRI/DV>=2.5%

Public Health Recommendations

What are current public health recommendations for iodine?

In 2000, the Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences developed new Dietary Reference Intakes for iodine. Adequate Intakes were established for children up to one year old, and Recommended Dietary Allowances were determined for all people over one year old. These recommendations appear below:

• 0-6 months: 110 mcg
• 7-12 months: 130 mcg
• 1-8 years: 90 mcg
• Boys 9-13 years: 120 mcg
• Girls 9-13 years: 120 mcg
• Boys 14-18 years: 150 mcg
• Girls 14-18 years: 150 mcg
• Men 19 years and older: 150 mcg
• Women 19 years and older: 150 mcg
• Pregnant women 14 years and older: 220 mcg
• Lactating women 14 years and older: 290 mcg

In an attempt to prevent these symptoms of iodine toxicity, the Institute of Medicine established the following Tolerable Upper Intake Levels (UL) for iodine:

• 1-3 years: 900 mcg
• 4-8 years: 300 mcg
• 9-13 years: 600 mcg
• 14-18 years: 900 mcg
• 19 years and older: 1,100 mcg
• Pregnant women 14-18 years: 900 mcg
• Pregnant women 19 years and older: 1,100 mcg
• Lactating women 14-18 years: 900 mcg
• Lactating women 19 years and older: 1,100 mcg

source: www.whfoods.org

Construa gráficos de funções matemáticas usando o buscador do Google

Link:

http://www.prof-edigleyalexandre.com/2011/12/construa-graficos-de-funcoes.html

"Gluten Sensitivity" May Be a Misnomer for Distinct Illnesses to Various Wheat Proteins

 

Gluten may not be the only wheat protein that can make people sick

Feb 1, 2014 |By Roxanne Khamsi

Two years ago, at the recommendation of a nutritionist, I stopped eating wheat and a few other grains. Within a matter of days the disabling headaches and fatigue that I had been suffering for months vanished. Initially my gastroenterologist interpreted this resolution of my symptoms as a sign that I perhaps suffered from celiac disease, a peculiar disorder in which the immune system attacks a bundle of proteins found in wheat, barley and rye that are collectively referred to as gluten. The misdirected assault ravages and inflames the small intestine, interfering with the absorption of vital nutrients and thereby causing bloating, diarrhea, headaches, tiredness and, in rare cases, death. Yet several tests for celiac disease had come back negative. Rather my doctors concluded that I had nonceliac “gluten sensitivity,” a relatively new diagnosis. The prevalence of gluten sensitivity is not yet clear, but some data suggest it may afflict as many as 6 percent of Americans, six times the number of people with celiac disease.

Although gluten sensitivity and celiac disease share many symptoms, the former is generally less severe. Compared with individuals with celiac disease, people with gluten sensitivity are more likely to report nondigestive symptoms such as headaches and do not usually suffer acute intestinal damage and inflammation. Lately, however, some researchers are wondering if they were too quick to pin all the blame for these problems on gluten. A handful of new studies suggest that in many cases gluten sensitivity might not be about gluten at all. Rather it may be a misnomer for a range of different illnesses triggered by distinct molecules in wheat and other grains.

“You know the story of the blind man and the elephant? Well, that’s what gluten-sensitivity research is right now,” says Sheila Crowe, head of research at the gastroenterology division at the School of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego. As doctors continue to tease apart the diverse ways that the human body reacts to all the proteins and other molecules besides gluten that are found in grains, they will be able to develop more accurate tests for various sensitivities to those compounds. Ultimately clinicians hope such tests will help people who have a genuine medical condition to avoid the specific constituents of grains that make them ill and will stop others from unnecessarily cutting out nutrient-dense whole grains.

Seeds of Sickness
Among the most commonly consumed grains, wheat is the chief troublemaker. Humans first domesticated the wheat plant about 10,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East. Since then, the amount of wheat in our diet—along with all the molecules it contains—has dramatically increased. Of all these molecules, gluten is arguably the most important to the quality of bread because it gives baked goods their structure, texture and elasticity. When bakers add water to wheat flour and begin to knead it into dough, two smaller proteins—gliadin and glutenin—change shape and bind to each other, forming long, elastic loops of what we call gluten. The more gluten in the flour, the more the dough will stretch and the spongier it will be once baked.

Until the Middle Ages, the types of grain that people cultivated contained far smaller amounts of gluten than the crops we grow today. In the following centuries—even before people understood what gluten was—they selectively bred varieties of wheat that produced bread that was lighter and chewier, inexorably increasing consumption of the protein. As technology for breeding and farming wheat improved, Americans began to produce and eat more wheat overall. Today the average person in the U.S. eats around 132 pounds of wheat a year—often in the form of bread, cereal, crackers, pasta, cookies and cakes—which translates to about 0.8 ounce of gluten each day.

Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development

 

 

Psychosocial Development in Infancy and Early Childhood 

By Kendra Cherry

Erik Erikson proposed a theory of psychosocial development that looked at development through the whole lifespan.

What is Psychosocial Development?

Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial development is one of the best-known theories of personality in psychology. Much like Sigmund Freud, Erikson believed that personality develops in a series of stages. Unlike Freud's theory of psychosexual stages, Erikson's theory describes the impact of social experience across the whole lifespan.

One of the main elements of Erikson's psychosocial stage theory is the development of ego identity. Ego identity is the conscious sense of self that we develop through social interaction. According to Erikson, our ego identity is constantly changing due to new experiences and information we acquire in our daily interactions with others.

When psychologists talk about identity, they are referring to all of the beliefs, ideals, and values that help shape and guide a person's behavior. The formation of identity is something that begins in childhood and becomes particularly important during adolescence, but it is a process that continues throughout life.Our personal identity gives each of us an integrated and cohesive sense of self that endures and continues to grow as we age.

In addition to ego identity, Erikson also believed that a sense of competence motivates behaviors and actions. Each stage in Erikson's theory is concerned with becoming competent in an area of life. If the stage is handled well, the person will feel a sense of mastery, which is sometimes referred to as ego strength or ego quality. If the stage is managed poorly, the person will emerge with a sense of inadequacy.

In each stage, Erikson believed people experience a conflict that serves as a turning point in development. In Erikson's view, these conflicts are centered on either developing a psychological quality or failing to develop that quality.During these times, the potential for personal growth is high, but so is the potential for failure.

Psychosocial Stage 1 - Trust vs. Mistrust

• The first stage of Erikson's theory of psychosocial development occurs between birth and one year of age and is the most fundamental stage in life.
• Because an infant is utterly dependent, the development of trust is based on the dependability and quality of the child's caregivers.
• If a child successfully develops trust, he or she will feel safe and secure in the world. Caregivers who are inconsistent, emotionally unavailable, or rejecting contribute to feelings of mistrust in the children they care for. Failure to develop trust will result in fear and a belief that the world is inconsistent and unpredictable.
• Of course, no child is going to develop a sense of 100 percent trust or 100 percent doubt. Erikson believed that successful development was all about striking a balance between the two opposing sides. When this happens, children acquire hope, which Erikson described as an openness to experience tempered by some wariness that danger may be present.

Psychosocial Stage 2 - Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

• The second stage of Erikson's theory of psychosocial development takes place during early childhood and is focused on children developing a greater sense of personal control.²
• Like Freud, Erikson believed that toilet training was a vital part of this process. However, Erikson's reasoning was quite different then that of Freud's. Erikson believe that learning to control one's bodily functions leads to a feeling of control and a sense of independence.
• Other important events include gaining more control over food choices, toy preferences, and clothing selection.
• Children who successfully complete this stage feel secure and confident, while those who do not are left with a sense of inadequacy and self-doubt.
• Erikson believed that achieving a balance between autonomy and shame and doubt would lead to will, which is the belief that children can act with intention, within reason and limits.

 Psychosocial Stage 3 – Initiative vs Guilty

 

During the preschool years, children begin to assert their power and control over the world through directing play and other social interactions.

• Children who are successful at this stage feel capable and able to lead others.Those who fail to acquire these skills are left with a sense of guilt, self-doubt, and lack of initiative.
• When an ideal balance of individual initiative and a willingness to work with others is achieved, the ego quality known as purpose emerges.

Psychosocial Stage 4 - Industry vs. Inferiority

• This stage covers the early school years from approximately age 5 to 11.
• Through social interactions, children begin to develop a sense of pride in their accomplishments and abilities.
• Children who are encouraged and commended by parents and teachers develop a feeling of competence and belief in their skills. Those who receive little or no encouragement from parents, teachers, or peers will doubt their abilities to be successful.
• Successfully finding a balance at this stage of psychosocial development leads to the strength known as competence or a belief our own abilities to handle the tasks set before us.

Psychosocial Stage 5 - Identity vs. Confusion

• During adolescence, children explore their independence and develop a sense of self.
• Those who receive proper encouragement and reinforcement through personal exploration will emerge from this stage with a strong sense of self and a feeling of independence and control. Those who remain unsure of their beliefs and desires will feel insecure and confused about themselves and the future.
• Completing this stage successfully leads to fidelity, which Erikson described as an ability to live by society's standards and expectations.

 

   Psychosocial Stage 6 – Intimatcy vc Isolation 

• This stage covers the period of early adulthood when people are exploring personal relationships.
• Erikson believed it was vital that people develop close, committed relationships with other people. Those who are successful at this step will form relationships that are committed and secure.
• Remember that each step builds on skills learned in previous steps. Erikson believed that a strong sense of personal identity was important for developing intimate relationships. Studies have demonstrated that those with a poor sense of self tend to have less committed relationships and are more likely to suffer emotional isolation, loneliness , and depression.
• Successful resolution of this stage results in the virtue known as love. It is marked by the ability to form lasting, meaningful relationships with other people.

Psychosocial Stage 7 - Generativity vs. Stagnation

• During adulthood, we continue to build our lives, focusing on our career and family.
• Those who are successful during this phase will feel that they are contributing to the world by being active in their home and community.Those who fail to attain this skill will feel unproductive and uninvolved in the world.
• Care is the virtue achieved when this stage is handled successfully. Being proud of your accomplishments, watching your children grow into adults, and developing a sense of unity with your life partner are important accomplishments of this stage.

Psychosocial Stage 8 - Integrity vs. Despair

• This phase occurs during old age and is focused on reflecting back on life.
• Those who are unsuccessful during this stage will feel that their life has been wasted and will experience many regrets. The individual will be left with feelings of bitterness and despair.
• Those who feel proud of their accomplishments will feel a sense of integrity.Successfully completing this phase means looking back with few regrets and a general feeling of satisfaction. These individuals will attain wisdom, even when confronting death.

More About Erikson and Psychosocial Stages

The Strengths of Erikson's Theory

One of the strengths of psychosocial theory is that it provides a broad framework from which to view development throughout the entire lifespan. It also allows us to emphasize the social nature of human beings and the important influence that social relationships have on development. Researchers have found evidence supporting Erikson's ideas about identity and have further identified different sub-stages of identity formation. Some research also suggests that people who form strong personal identities during adolescence are better capable of forming intimate relationships during early adulthood.

Limitations of Psychosocial Theory

What kinds of experiences are necessary to successfully complete each stage?How does a person move from one stage to the next? One major weakness of psychosocial theory is that the exact mechanisms for resolving conflicts and moving from one stage to the next are not well described or developed. The theory fails to detail exactly what type of experiences are necessary at each stage in order to successfully resolve the conflicts and move to the next stage.

Radically modified cells may stunt brain tumor growth

 

February 3, 2014

Brain cancers hide behind a protective barrier in the brain and attack white blood cells.

For B-roll footage of this story please contact Cliff Braverman, cbraverm@nsf.gov.

The American Brain Tumor Association says this year nearly 70,000 people in the United States will be diagnosed with tumors that form in blood vessels, cranial nerves, lymphatic tissue and other parts of the brain. Of those, nearly 12,000 people will be diagnosed with a particularly deadly form of brain cancer called glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).

GBMs hide behind a protective barrier in the brain and, among other things, attack white blood cells that serve as the body's defense. Now, with some innovative science, National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded researchers are working to improve the ability of those same white blood cells to attack the cancer right back.

Stefan Bossmann and Deryl Troyer at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan., are developing a new materials treatment method that uses a type of white blood cell called a neutrophil to slip medications past the brain's protective barrier and strike down malignant tumors directly.

More than 100 years ago, when blue dye was injected into the bloodstream of an animal, scientists discovered that tissues in the animal's whole body turned blue, except in its brain and spinal cord. They determined that a "blood-brain barrier" protects the brain from extraneous materials in the blood. It was later determined that the blood-brain barrier also protects tumors in the brain from being readily exposed to anticancer drugs.

"Defensive cells--essentially, white blood cells--have the ability of moving through [the blood-brain barrier] to tumors and metastases," explains Bossmann. "The goal of our research is to use cells as transport ships for anticancer drugs."

In principle, using cells to carry drugs to intended targets is a pretty straightforward concept. However, creating a "cargo hold" within the cells that is sturdy enough to successfully carry a medicinal payload past the blood-brain barrier to a desired endpoint has been a challenge.

Previous efforts have resulted in cargo holds that leak, burst prematurely or fuse with the cells that carry them, causing the drugs to be released before reaching the target and killing the transport cells, not the tumors.

For doctors treating patients with GBM, new treatment methods are sorely needed.

"Innovation in designing new therapeutic strategies is urgently needed to tackle GBM, one of the most lethal human tumors and the most aggressive adult brain tumor," says Erwin Van Meir, a brain tumor researcher and director of the Winship Cancer Institute's Cancer Cell Biology Program at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga.

"The challenge has been that tumors have developed strategies to avoid immune detection, or they render the immune cells [helpless] or even switch them to a state that helps tumor growth," he says. "Developing cell-based therapeutics in new ways is certainly exciting."

A new class of "cages"

To solve the problem of getting drugs past the blood-brain barrier and directly to tumors, Bossmann and Troyer are developing a new class of protease-activatable polymer-caged liposomes (PPCLs). Liposomes essentially are artificial bubbles created within cells that can be used as vessels to carry and administer therapeutic medicines.

The researchers are creating self-assembling "cages" that wrap around liposomes--turning them into more secure cargo-holds. Their process involves loading caged liposomes with anticancer medicine before up-take by neutrophils that will self-destruct and release the drugs when they reach tumors.

The PPCLs proposed by the researchers are designed to be more stable than classic liposomes, prevent systemic leaking during transport and activate only once they integrate into tumors. This should facilitate the killing of fast growing tumor cells and slow growing cancer stem cells responsible for the reappearance of tumors and the formation of metastases that spread tumors to other parts of the body.

The proposed cell therapy method would work by taking whole blood from cancer patients, then loading redesigned cargo holds within the whole blood's neutrophils with anticancer drugs and afterwards re-injecting the modified neutrophils into the patient's blood stream.

"The advantage of using defensive white blood cells is that they are patient-derived. This means that they are available in sufficient numbers for repetitive treatments," explains Troyer, an expert in veterinary medicine and preclinical models of cancer at Kansas State. "It also means there are absolutely no issues of rejection of the transport cell by the patient's immune system."

Chemo, nano, cell

Currently physicians use two basic methods to deliver anticancer drugs: traditional chemotherapy and nanotherapy.

Chemotherapy delivers drugs via the infusion of liquid medicines directly into a vein, typically through an IV bag or drip chamber. The process also may involve delivering drugs by an injection into a layer of skin or orally as pills and capsules. Unfortunately, the process comes with potentially harmful side effects, including toxicity that can compromise liver, kidney and immune function. Chemo also may cause secondary malignancies or cancerous growths.

Meanwhile, nanotherapy uses nano-sized drug particles, on the order of about a billionth of a meter, to enhance drug-dosage performance. Particles at this size move more easily through the blood-brain barrier and can saturate tumors at higher rates, providing faster therapeutic action. Still, they deliver only about 10 percent of a therapeutic dose of anticancer drugs--better than the 1-2 percent delivered by chemotherapy, but still inefficient.

"Neither classic chemotherapy nor conventional nanotherapy is capable of delivering more than a fraction of a prescribed dosage of anticancer drugs to tumors and metastases," says Bossmann, a professor of chemistry at Kansas State. "Consequently, other cells of the body are damaged, including stem cells in bone marrow that form immune cells, as well as stem cells in the digestive system. Cell therapy offers the opportunity to transport more than 50 percent of anticancer drugs to their target, while leaving the patient's immune system intact."

"If they can actually do that and deliver the amount of drugs that they think they can, it could make a difference," says Mark Dewhirst, director of Duke University's Tumor Microcirculation Laboratory in Durham, N.C., "a big difference." Dewhirst, who has published more than 400 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and reviews, is one of a number of interested observers.

A new standard of care

The project, "Neutrophil Delivery of Apoptosis-Inducing Anticancer Drugs," is one of 40 projects funded in the first round of an NSF initiative that addresses extremely complicated and pressing scientific problems. Called INSPIRE, the initiative funds potentially transformative research that does not fit neatly into any one, scientific field, but crosses disciplinary boundaries.

"New ideas oftentimes come when researchers from disciplines other than the traditional ones attack a frustrating problem as they see it from a novel perspective and have different methodologies they can put to use," says Van Meir. "Cancer has been the realm of oncological and biological disciplines for decades and we need others to join in our efforts to solve the problem."

"More than half of the patients with GBM will die within a year, and more than 90 percent within three years," says the Director of NSF's Biophotonics program Leon Esterowitz. "The results from this project will exploit patient-specific, tumor-homing cells for treatment delivery and could lead to a new standard of care for brain cancers."

NSF's Biomaterials program in its Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) funds the research. It is also co-funded by NSF's Biophotonics program along with its Materials Surface Engineering program, both in the Directorate for Engineering.

"The focus of this INSPIRE project is to develop basic scientific knowledge of the materials that are being studied," says Joseph Akkara, director of the Biomaterials program in MPS. "In a larger sense, biomedical applications are at present supported by the National Institutes of Health."

Uphill challenges

Bossmann and Troyer already have successfully synthesized PPCL prototypes and used 4T1 breast cancer--a well-known mouse model for metastasizing cancer--to prove that tumors are capable of attracting large numbers of defensive white blood cells.

Still, these preliminary results face uphill challenges.

Pathology examinations, for example, reveal that neutrophils are rarely seen in human brain cancers, even though the cancers produce signaling molecules that attract neutrophils. In fact, research has shown another type of defensive cell, the macrophage, plays a more prominent role than neutrophils in the growth of brain cancers.

"So, the challenge is to figure out how to enable neutrophil trafficking into glioblastoma," says Dewhirst. "Using the cells by themselves, without some local stimulus to attract them may not work."

Van Meir, who has authored more than 140 scientific publications on brain tumor biology and genetics, posits the findings from the researchers' preliminary breast cancer model may not be directly applicable to brain cancers as a result.

Bossmann and Troyer are aware of the issue, and now in the second year of the research grant, their team is developing protocols to attract neutrophils to brain tumors in mice.

Creating a condition that causes tumors to attract white blood cells is only one of the remaining obstacles, however. Determining the optimum size of the PPCLs for effective drug delivery; reducing impediments to the health of delivery cells during transport; determining what to expect from white blood cells loaded with medicines that can become toxic when they do not reach the tumor and designing protocols that stimulate, not deactivate, the patient's immune system during cell therapy are some of the remaining concerns.

Still, "I am confident that our research will reach our goals," says Bossmann.

If successful, the strategy could expand to targeting other cell types. The researchers believe the method's principles could evolve into targeted therapies for viral, bacterial and protozoal infections. However, they acknowledge there is still a ways to go to truly beat cancer.

"Early recognition of cancer is vital, because early cancer is much easier to treat, compared to late stage cancer," says Troyer. "In addition, preventing or treating metastases and eradicating cancer stem cell populations by combined chemotherapy and immunotherapy are important keys to survival."

"Brain tumors remain a disease for which there are many challenges because of the eloquence of the site where they are," says Henry Friedman, an internationally recognized neuro-oncologist and deputy director of Duke's Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center. "No one therapy is going to be the magic bullet, but the more different interventions we have, the more likely we're going to be successful."

This new treatment method "is not going to be the only intervention necessary, but it certainly is going to be part of the spectrum of different therapies that we use," he says. "It is going to be one of additional weapons that may find a place in the treatment of malignant brain tumors."
--      Bobbie Mixon, (703) 292-8070 bmixon@nsf.gov

Producing insulin-secreting pancreas cells from skin cells gives hope to diabetics

 

Replenishing the insulin-secreting beta cells found in the pancreas could lead to a more permanent treatment for diabetes (Image: Shutterstock )

Type 1 diabetics suffer from a lack of beta cells in the pancreas, which are responsible for insulin production. Although glucose monitoring and insulin injections allows the disease to be managed, finding a way to replenish these beta cells would offer a more permanent solution. Scientists at Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco have provided hope for just such a treatment by developing a technique to reprogram skin cells into insulin-producing beta cells.

Because of their limited regenerative ability, researchers have had a hard time generating large quantities of beta cells. But now, thanks to stem cell technology, researchers in the lab of Gladstone Institutes’ Investigator Sheng Ding, MD, PhD, have managed to transform skin cells into insulin-secreting beta cells.

The team started with skin cells responsible for the structural framework of animal tissues known as fibroblasts, which were collected from laboratory mice. By treating them with a cocktail of molecules and reprogramming factors, the fibroblasts were transformed into cells resembling endoderm cells, which are cells found in very early embryos that eventually mature into the body’s major organs, including the pancreas.

“Using another chemical cocktail, we then transformed these endoderm-like cells into cells that mimicked early pancreas-like cells, which we called PPLC’s,” said Gladstone Postdoctoral Scholar Ke Li, PhD. “Our initial goal was to see whether we could coax these PPLC’s to mature into cells that, like beta cells, respond to the correct chemical signals and – most importantly – secrete insulin. And our initial experiments, performed in a petri dish, revealed that they did.”

When the researchers then transplanted PPLC’s into mice that had been modified to have hyperglycemia, which is a key indicator of diabetes, the same thing happened, and one week after the transplant, the animal’s glucose levels started to drop and gradually approach normal levels. When the transplanted cells were removed, the researchers saw an immediate spike in glucose levels.

Even more promising, when the team tested the mice eight weeks after the transplantation of the cells, they saw that the PPLC’s had led to the rise of functional, insulin-secreting beta cells.

“I am particularly excited about the prospect of translating these findings to the human system,” said Matthias Hebrok, PhD, who is one of the study’s authors and director of the UCSF Diabetes Center. “Most immediately, this technology in human cells could significantly advance our understanding of how inherent defects in beta cells result in diabetes, bringing us notably closer to a much-needed cure.”

The team’s study is published in the journal Cell Stem Cell .

Source: Gladstone Institutes

Smart Tech Firearm Challenge offers US$1m to advance gun safety

 

• Its a catch 22 for smart weapons, because ownership and intent are separate things. So incorporating fingerprint scanner into the handle will only make a firearm work for the individual. But it does not control how he will discharge it and at whom.
• Additionally, in a self defense scenario with a quick draw, will the scanner succeed in authorizing the user in time to defend himself.
• The best way is all new firearms built with removable dongles. Dongle will only work if inserted into the firearm.
• Dongle is highly detectable through a radiological print (radium source). Coded for the user. Detectable from a distance.
• Then you can have firearm free zones where you leave your dongle at the door and hold on to your piece.
• Of course people will modify firearm to bypass the dongle which is their given right. But that can be managed administratively through long jail sentences.
• For ‘touching you from afar’ weapons like rifles, impose a dongle free zone from beyond its usable range. Make them forbidden in towns and cities.
• As for old firearms and sharp sticks, required aftermarket modifications to continue to hold license. Failure to comply is managed administratively.

Hero’s 2WD diesel-electric RNT radically rethinks the motorcycle as an all-purpose utility vehicle

 

Hero Motocorp suddenly seems more than capable of replacing Honda’s technology, it also seems capable of producing machinery better suited for the emerging market it currently serves, but also of producing truly ingenious solutions that existing long term manufacturers with deeply-rooted R&D structures could simply never envisage.

Hero Motocorp’s presentation of the RNT hybrid turbo-diesel-electric motorcycle prototype at Auto Expo in New Delhi last week might well begin a whole new phase in the development of the motorcycle as an all-purpose utility vehicle. Most significantly, the RNT offers a range of life solutions well beyond mobility – it’s designed to pull a plow or a harvester, carry heavy loads safely and adapt to play a practical role, particularly in rural areas and the developing world.

The RNT has an ultra-frugal 13.5 hp, 150 cc diesel engine which produces 35 Nm of torque at just 1600 rpm, with an optional turbocharger which will more than double both those figures. There’s also an optional front wheel hub motor producing 1.3 hp, giving the bike two-wheel drive. Even more significantly, the RNT’s powerful generator can output 1500 W of 230 V electrical power continuously, making it ideal as a portable power source, and the LED headlight unclips to offer a portable and powerful light source. Large flat loading surfaces front and rear plus numerous mounting handles indicate a long overdue rethink of how the scooter is used in many parts of the world.

The low-cost, cheap-to-run, step-thru scooter has become the default family transportation in many developing countries due to its light weight, low running costs and ease-of-use. While the cost of a scooter in these areas often represents many months, sometimes years of wages, it is still a relatively affordable form of transport and has become an enabler in many ways, playing the dual role of family car and all-purpose haulage vehicle for goods.

In many parts of Asia, Africa, South America and India, the scooter represents more than 90 percent of two-wheel sales, with two-wheelers significantly outselling cars, which are the domain of the wealthy elite.

Hence, Hero Motocorp’s ingenious rethink of the scooter form factor offers significantly more practicality than the existing scooters in the marketplace which have, until now, been adapted from their western design for the many needs of the markets they serve.

The 150cc diesel engine is a first in that it uses a commonly available fuel which is much cheaper than petrol in India, and will likely produce remarkable fuel consumption figures in such a small capacity engine, especially when used in a motorcycle weighing just 136 kg. It’s no coincidence that the only diesel motorcycle which has ever been produced in real numbers was produced by Royal Enfield in India.

The low-grade technology employed by Royal Enfield in making the bikes resulted in noxious halitosis and the model was discontinued some 12 years ago, but the need remains, and with more than a billion people, the Indian Government is in no position to subsidize fuel prices as governments do in the rest of the world. A little known fact is that globally, governments collectively subsidize fuel prices to the tune of half a trillion US dollars annually. This is a machine designed to have a low environmental footprint, not just because it’s good for the planet’s respiratory system, but because as fuel prices rise, it will offer the lowest possible practical running costs.

Diesel engines are also extremely durable and reliable and the very few examples of diesel motorcycles that have made it to commercial production (see prior examples below) are surrounded by tales of ultra-low running costs and extreme high mileage.

Rural roads in developing areas rarely have good surfaces, so speeds beyond 35-40 mph (60-75 km/h) are often impractical or unsafe, and the further you get from big cities, the worse those roads get. So the RNT’s modest 13.5 hp is entirely adequate for these environments, even though it gives the bike a top speed of just 70 km/h. As scooters in such places are often pressed into service for carrying ridiculously heavy loads, the RNT’s diminutive but torquey motor is again ideal, producing 35Nm of torque at just 1600 rpm. That’s a level of torque that sports bikes of double the capacity make at four to five times the RNT’s engine speeds.

Revisiting the Nexus 7 (2013): Still one of the best tablets?

 

 

More than six months after it launched, Gizmag revisits and re-reviews the 2013 Nexus 7

 

It’s been more than six months since we reviewed the 2013 Nexus 7 . Since then it’s received a big software update, along with some new competition. Join Gizmag, as we revisit the 2nd-gen Nexus 7 half a year later.

When the latest Nexus 7 launched, it was without peers as the first mini-tablet with a high-resolution display. We knew that its rivals would show up soon after, but we still appreciated Google’s and Asus’ giving us a “Retina Display” (to borrow Apple’s marketing) on a small slate a few months before the rest of the herd did.

Now the Nexus 7 has a growing gaggle of competitors. The most prominent is Apple’s own iPad mini with Retina Display , but there’s also the 7-in Kindle Fire HDX, LG G Pad 8.3 (including the preferred Google Play Edition ), and SamsungGalaxy Tab Pro 8.4 . These tablets all pack 270+ PPI screens, and fall within that 7- to 8.4-in compact size range. With so many strong rivals breathing down its neck, can we still, in good faith, recommend the 2013 Nexus 7?

You bet. The biggest factor in the Nexus 7′s resilience is the overall value it provides. Starting at US$230, it’s tied with the Kindle Fire HDX for the cheapest in that bunch. If you just want a basic media tablet, then the Fire gives you a faster processor and longer battery life. But if you’re looking for a more versatile operating system and a more robust app selection, the Fire’s software can be a deal-breaker. The Nexus 7 gives you the latest version of stock Android (4.4.2 KitKat ) along with the Play Store and all of Google’s services. The Fire HDX has none of the above.

As for the others? Well, the G Pad 8.3 starts at $350, and the Retina iPad mini and the Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 start at $400. That’s a $120-170 savings that the Nexus 7 gives you. Of course it also has a smaller screen, but if you can live with its 7-in display then its balance of hardware and software is hard to beat.

Six months later, that screen size is still the biggest compromise that the Nexus 7 begs of you. In the standard configuration, with navigation bar (like you see above) firmly planted on the bottom of the screen and status bar living on top, it’s pretty cramped. I personally find this too small to use as my main tablet – especially with all of these great 8-in tablets with razor-sharp screens now sitting next to it.

But if you’re comfortable with a little hacking, you can vastly improve the Nexus 7′s available real estate. I rooted the tablet (fairly easy if you’re familiar with these things, pretty difficult if you aren’t) and added a few tweaks that let every app use 100 percent of the screen. I use pie controls (familiar to anyone who’s ever run a Cyanogenmod or Paranoid Android ROM) for navigation, which I find to be quicker and easier to use than the stock navbar. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen, slide your finger towards the home, back, or recent apps button on the small half-wheel that pops up, and enjoy the best of both worlds: easy navigation and ample screen real estate.

If you’re considering such a tweak, then there are several ways to go about it.The best and easiest way I found was, after rooting, to install the device-liberating Xposed Installer along with a feature-filled Xposed module calledGravityBox . GravityBox let me set the status bar to immersive mode (it stays hidden until you swipe down from the top of the screen) and hide the standard navigation bar completely. That’s also where I set up that aforementioned pie launcher.

All in all, it’s a terrific setup. And though rooting isn’t for the faint of heart, if you proceed carefully it can basically take all compromise out of the Nexus 7′s smallish screen. If you aren’t comfortable with such hacking (and the warranty-breaking risk that always accompanies it) then you might want to first play with a Nexus 7 in a store to see if its available screen area – after accounting for the navbar and status bar – is too small for you.

The Nexus 7 is very light (290 g) and pretty comfortable to hold. My biggest beef is that it has very thin side bezels (similar to the iPad mini), but Google didn’t add any code that rejects accidental touches on the edge of the screen. Apple did that with both the iPad Air and iPad mini and it makes a huge difference. You can get a good grip on the side of the tablet (in portrait mode) without any worry. On the Nexus 7 you have to hold onto only the bezel, or end up registering your grip as a touch on the screen.

A huge deal? No way – and you can always hold it in landscape to avoid this problem altogether. But I think it’s still significant enough to note.

As for the update to Android 4.4.2 KitKat (it ran 4.3 Jelly Bean when it launched), I don’t think it makes a huge difference on the user end. KitKat’s most obvious experiential upgrade, the Google Now launcher, isn’t yet on the Nexus 7. And Android’s new immersive mode, similar to the full-screen hack I mentioned, only pops up in a short list of select apps (Google Play Books, YouTube, and Instapaper, to name a few). KitKat also gives you some performance tweaks, as well as some nice features like built-in cloud printing.But don’t expect a radically different experience from the Jelly Bean-running Nexus 7 we reviewed last July.

Battery life still isn’t amazing, though it’s probably going to last long enough for most typical use. We ran it through a test where we streamed video with brightness set at 75 percent, and it only lasted about three hours and 20 minutes. That’s way off the pace set by the Retina iPad mini in the same test (it lasted almost 11 hours). Fortunately the Nexus 7′s screen is very bright – significantly brighter than the iPad mini’s – so that likely accounts for some of the discrepancy. I usually find about 30-50 percent brightness on the Nexus 7 to be plenty light, even during daytime. This lower setting really extends those uptimes. Even with my heavier-than-typical use, I rarely have any problems getting through a full day with the Nexus 7.

Performance wasn’t an issue when we originally reviewed the Nexus 7, and it still isn’t. Sure, its Snapdragon S4 Pro is a generation behind record-settingSnapdragon 800 devices like the Kindle Fire HDX and Nexus 5 , but in terms of experience I’d say they’re both well past the point of concern. I’ve never noticed any lag, choppiness, or frame rate issues in any app I’ve used on the Nexus 7.

So to answer the question we posed in the title – is the 2013 Nexus 7 still one of the best tablets – the answer is still an unequivocal “yes.” It has a terrific, sharp, and bright display. It’s very compact and light. It runs the latest version of Android – with no custom skins or bloatware in sight. Its battery life could be better, it could be more comfortable to hold in portrait mode, and if left unhacked its screen can be cramped. But there are ways around all of these minor issues. And with a $230 starting price, it’s really hard to be too picky. Six months later the 2nd-gen Nexus 7 is still a high-end tablet with a low-end price tag. Still great, still highly recommended – with only a few minor caveats.

You can pick up the Google/Asus Nexus 7 (2013) from Google’s product page below, or from a variety of online and brick & mortar retailers.

Product page: Google Play