Quote:Researchers may not be far away from finding a way to put
low-cost, implantable electronic devices into humans that could
potentially aid in organ transplants.

According to researchers from Ohio State University, the device would work by providing direct contact inside the body with living tissue that could begin to detect the early stages of organ transplant rejection


Paul Berger, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and physics at the university, said that there are still certain obstacles that could prevent researchers from going forward with the device. For instance, he notes, according to a press release, that while most existing electronics are based on silicon, electrolytes in the body often interfere with electrical signals that may stem from the silicon circuits. And, other products used to create the device could be more expensive and harder to manufacture, according to Berger.

"Silicon is relatively cheap... it's non-toxic," Berger said, via the release. "The challenge is to bridge the gap between the affordable, silicon-based electronics we already know how to build, and the electrochemical systems of the human body."
However, Berger and his colleagues believe they can make it work.
According to their study, silicon circuits were coated with the technology and continued to function, even after a 24 hour period in a solution that mimicked typical body chemistry.

The body's electrolytes, which carry sodium and potassium, control nerves and muscles that help maintain hydration. These responses are important to various chemical reactions within the body. Yet these reactions attract the electrolytes attractive to silicon, which is ready to, in turn, absorb them. Berger notes that once silicon is inside the body, the charges alter the electronic behavior of the silicon so that the readings are inconsistent and possibly false.

In this case, Berger and his colleages set out to test whether electrolytes could be blocked from entering silicone with a layer of aluminum oxide.
To do this, they submerged coated sensors in fluid for a 24 hour period, removed them from the solution and then ran a voltage across to see if they were in proper working order. The tests showed that the oxide coating effectively blocked electrolytes from the solution so sensors could remain fully functional.

Berger and colleagues see this as a great success for the future. This device could be used to detect certain proteins that the body produces when it is preparing to reject a transplanted organ.
According to the release, doctors would "insert a needle into the patients body near the site of the implanted organ. Silicon sensors on the needle would detect the protein, and doctors would know how to tailor the patients dosage of anti-rejection drugs based on the sensor readings."
As organ rejection can even result in death, devices like these could help predict problems earlier, according to researchers, and help save lives.

Quote:The cardiovascular complication, which can result from renal failure, is often treated with phosphate binders, but they typically
require
a large number of pills each day to control potassium levels.

"Dialysis patients often have a dry mouth, and they tend to have
problems swallowing big pills. This is why the number 1 problem we
have is pill compliance," said Jürgen Floege, MD, professor of nephrology at the University of Aachen in Germany. "All the rest is more or less an academic discussion. We can talk about a binder's effect on vascular calcification, but if my patient doesn't take anything, it doesn't help him."

Dr. Floege presented the study results here at the European Renal Association-European Dialysis and Transplant Association 50th Congress.

In this long-term open-label study, Dr. Floege and his team compared PA21, which is a novel polynuclear iron(III)-oxyhydroxide phosphate binder, with sevelamer in patients undergoing hemo- or peritoneal
dialysis who had hyperphosphatemia.

The researchers randomized 710 of the 1059 study participants to
receive PA21 1.0 to 3.0 g/day and 349 to receive sevelamer 2.4 to 14.4 g/day. A 12-week period for dose titration was followed by 12 weeks of maintenance.

At 24 weeks, the effectiveness of PA21 and sevelamer was similar in hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis patients.

The researchers then enrolled 658 patients in a 28-week safety extension study.

For the extension study, the baseline serum phosphate level was 1.7 mmol/L in both groups. This was maintained throughout; after 28 weeks, the serum phosphate level was 1.8 mmol/L in both groups.

For the number of pills required to maintain the serum phosphate-
lowering effect, there was a significant difference between the PA21 and sevelamer groups (3.3 vs 8.7).

From the original to the extension study, treatment-emergent adverse events decreased in the PA21 group (83.2% vs 74.4%), but stayed the same in the sevelamer group (76.1% vs 76.8%).

Many of the treatment-emergent adverse events were gastrointestinal, but their incidence decreased with time in both groups.

Quote:Diabetes is the most common cause of chronic kidney disease worldwide, though herbal and environmental toxins are also to blame, especially in developing countries, researchers found.

Diabetes is behind at least a third of chronic kidney disease cases in countries such as the U.S., Australia, and Japan, Vivekanand Jha, MD, of the George Institute for Global Health in New Delhi in India, and
colleagues wrote online May 31 in The Lancet.

But in countries such as Taiwan and China, many cases appear to be tied to aristolochic acid, a compound used to promote weight loss, they wrote in an article published as part of the journal's global series on kidney disease.

"Aristolochic-acid nephropathy is a progressive interstitial nephritis that leads to end-stage kidney disease and urothelial malignant disease," they wrote. "It was first reported in 1993, in young women who received a regimen containing an herb later identified as Aristolochia fangchi in Belgian slimming clinics. Epidemiological data from Taiwan and China show an association between use of herbs containing aristolochic acid and chronic kidney disease."

Other herbal supplements in Asia and Africa are also thought to be the cause of many chronic kidney disease cases, they added: "In Asian countries, traditional medicines are very popular and pharmaceutical medicines are frequently substituted or supplemented by botanical products that include herbs containing aristolochic acid."

In the report, the researchers found that Taiwan has the highest prevalence of end-stage kidney disease, at about 2,500 cases per million population, followed by Japan at about 2,300 cases and the U.S. at just under 2,000 cases per million population.

Chronic kidney disease is also quickly working its way up the global cause of death league table, moving from number 27 in 1990 to 18 in 2010, the researchers reported.

In a second study in the series, Kai-Uwe Eckardt, MD, of the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg in Germany, and colleagues noted that the global population prevalence of chronic kidney disease exceeds 10% in most countries, and is more than 50% in certain high-risk subpopulations.

That prevalence increases with age, they wrote, exceeding 20% in patients over age 60 and topping 35% in those over 70.

However, they noted that one in 25 patients age 20 to 39 also has chronic kidney disease, and black patients are twice as likely as white patients to develop it.

Also, the highest prevalence of chronic kidney disease is in patients with diabetes and cardiovascular disease, reaching 50% or higher, they wrote.

Quote:Diabetes is a disorder in the use of glucose, a sugar that serves as fuel for the body. When blood glucose levels rise, beta cells in the pancreas normally make the hormone insulin, which signals cells to take sugar from the blood. In type 1 diabetes, the body’s own immune system attacks and destroys beta cells. In type 2 diabetes, the most common form of diabetes, cells lose their sensitivity to insulin, and beta cells can’t make enough insulin to keep blood sugar levels in check. Over time, high levels of glucose can lead to heart disease, stroke, blindness and other problems.

Insulin-secreting beta cells comprise just 1% of a normal pancreas and normally divide very slowly. Drs. Peng Yi, Douglas A. Melton and colleagues at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute reasoned that, while the causes for type 1 and type 2 diabetes differ, treatments that encourage beta cells to multiply could benefit patients with both types of diabetes.

Quote:Scientists say they have managed to find mammoth blood during the excavation of a grown female animal on the Lyakhovsky Islands, the southernmost group of the New Siberian Islands in the Arctic seas of northeastern Russia.
The dark blood was found in ice cavities below the belly of the animal. When researchers broke the cavities with a poll pick, the blood came flowing out. The fact surprised them because the temperature was 10C below zero.

"It can be assumed that the blood of mammoths had some cryo-protective properties,” said Semyon Grigoriev, head of the Museum of Mammoths of the Institute of Applied Ecology of the North at the North Eastern Federal University as cited by Interfax news agency.

The blood was placed in a test tube and a bacteriological analysis of the sample is expected soon.
The muscle tissue of the animal was also well-preserved and had a natural red color of fresh meat, added the scientist. Such preservation can be explained by the fact that the lower part of the mammoth’s body was trapped in pure ice, while the upper part was discovered in the middle of the tundra. The trunk was found separately from the carcass.

The researchers established that the female mammoth was between 50 and 60 years old when it died. Grigoriev noted that this was a unique find likely to prompt international intrigue.

Quote:Highlights
• Among individuals with chronic kidney disease, adherence to a healthy lifestyle was associated with a greater likelihood of surviving over a 13-year period.
• The greatest survival benefits were related to nonsmoking.

60 million people globally have chronic kidney disease.
Certain lifestyle factors—such as not smoking, getting regular physical activity, and avoiding a low body weight—may help prolong the lives of individuals with chronic kidney disease (CKD)

More than 26 million individuals in the United States have CKD. In the general population, a healthy lifestyle is linked with a lower risk of dying prematurely, but little is known about such a link in individuals with CKD, who are at higher risk for developing heart problems and dying from heart disease.

To investigate, Ana Ricardo, MD (University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System) and her colleagues assessed the association of four lifestyle factors (diet, physical activity, body mass index (BMI), and smoking) with death among 2,288 participants with CKD in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
After an average follow-up of 13 years, 1,319 deaths occurred.

Among the major findings:

• Compared with individuals with the lowest healthy lifestyle score, participants with the highest score (nonsmokers who exercised regularly, had a healthy diet, and kept a BMI above 22 kg/m2) were 53% less likely to die from any cause.
• Individuals with a BMI of 18.5 to <22 had a 30% increased mortality rate compared with those with a BMI of 22 to <25 kg/m2. (Normal BMI is 18.5 to 24.9 kg/m2.)
• There was a 46% decreased mortality with never vs current smoking, and 20% decreased mortality with regular vs no physical activity.
• Diet was not significantly associated with mortality.

Quote: Dr. Megan Levings is one of the researchers chosen to play
a key role in a new national organ transplant research program
announced last month by the federal government.

Levings is presently studying the application of stem cell technology to liver transplants in an effort to reduce the need for anti-rejection drugs.

This research will have positive ramifications for all organ transplant patients who take these medications to ensure their organs do not reject.

Quote:The water might contain microbes that evolved independently from the surface world, and it's a finding that gives new hope to the search for life on other planets.

The water samples came from holes drilled by gold miners near the small town of Timmins, Ontario, about 350 miles north of Toronto. Deep in the Canadian bedrock, miners drill holes and collect samples. Sometimes they hit pay dirt; sometimes they hit water, which seeps out from tiny crevices in the rock.

Recently, a team of scientists (who had been investigating water samples from other mines) approached the miners and asked them for fluid from newly drilled boreholes.

Greg Holland, a geochemist at Lancaster University in England, and his colleagues wanted to know just how long that fluid had been trapped in the rock. So they looked at the decay of radioactive atoms found in the water and calculated that it had been bottled up for a long time — at least 1.5 billion years.

"That is the lower limit for the age," Holland says. It could be a billion years older. That means the water was sealed in the rock before humans evolved, before pterosaurs flew and before multicellular life.

Quote:The Bessemer Kidney Center was shut down on May 8 by
Fresenius Medical Care North America, a chain with 2,100 dialysis
facilities in North America, said spokesman Kent Jarrell.

"Last week, over the span of a few days, several patients were hospitalized, some of whom had infections, which were treated by antibiotics," Jarrell said. "Sadly, two patients died. Our deep feelings
of sympathy go out to their families and loved ones."

Jarrell said the Alabama Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been notified.

Dialysis patients who were using the 36-station center have been redirected to other facilities, he said. He didn't have the number of patients affected by the move.

Names, ages hometowns, and other details on the patients who died were not available due to patient privacy issues, he said. He said he couldn't immediately report how many others were hospitalized due to infections as the investigation continues.

"We do not know the cause," Jarrell said. "So far, we have not found a common thread between the patient issues but our investigation continues."

It is uncertain when the clinic at 950 Medical Center Drive will re-open, he said.

"Similar events have not occurred at any other Fresenius Medical Care dialysis facilities," he said.

Quote:The research found that current marijuana users had considerably lower fasting insulin and had a lower probability of being insulin resistant, even after excluding patients with diabetes mellitus.

For centuries, people have been using marijuana to improve mood, increase appetite, and alleviate pain. However, a study from earlier this year demonstrated that a pill form of marijuana provides greater pain relief than when a person smokes it.

A synthetic form of its active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol, referred
to as THC, has already received approval to treat the side effects of chemotherapy, nausea, AIDS-induced anorexia, and other medical problems.

Doctors will start to see more and more marijuana users among their patients due to the recent legalization of recreational marijuana in 2
states and the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes in 19
states and the District of Columbia.

Current users had 16% lower fasting insulin levels

For the current study, a team of investigators examined data gathered from the National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES) between 2005 and 2010.

A total of 4,657 had completed a questionnaire regarding their drug use.
Of these subjects, 579 were current marijuana users, 1,975 were not current users but used marijuana in the past, and 2,103 had never used marijuana.

Quote:German research on 397 10-year-olds found that living close to a major road increased resistance by 7% per 500m.

Air pollutants are known to be oxidisers that can impact on lipids and proteins in the blood.

But some experts say the results should be treated with caution.

The children in the study were invited for blood sampling at the age of
10, and glucose and insulin measurements were taken.

Their level of exposure to traffic pollution was estimated using air
pollution figures from 2008-09 for their birth address neighbourhood.

The results were adjusted to take into account birth weight, body mass index (BMI) and exposure to second-hand smoke at home.

The study concluded that levels of insulin resistance were greater in children with higher exposure to air pollution, such as nitrogen dioxide
and fine particulate matter.

It also found a larger effect in children with higher BMIs.