ScienceBlog.com

Health

Mothers' high blood sugar in pregnancy is linked to children's reduced insulin sensitivity

Children of mothers whose blood glucose (sugar) was high during pregnancy are more likely to have low insulin sensitivity -- a risk factor for type 2 diabetes -- even after taking into consideration the children's body weight, a new study shows. The results will be presented Tuesday at The Endocrine Society's 92nd Annual Meeting in San Diego. "We know that children born to women with type 2 diabetes or gestational diabetes, or who have high blood sugar during pregnancy are at risk of becoming diabetic themselves. This study suggests that the children's increased risk appears to be due, at least in part, to their prenatal exposure to relatively high maternal blood glucose," said study co-author Paula Chandler-Laney, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Chandler-Laney and her colleagues studied 21 children ages 5 to 10 years and measured the children's sensitivity to insulin, the hormone that regulates sugar in the blood. They also evaluated the pregnancy medical records of the children's mothers to determine maternal blood sugar concentration during the oral glucose tolerance test. The researchers found an inverse association between maternal blood sugar during pregnancy and the child's insulin sensitivity, meaning that the higher the mother's blood sugar levels during pregnancy, the lower her child's insulin sensitivity. Low insulin sensitivity is a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes. Obesity lowers insulin sensitivity, but the children's reduced insulin sensitivity was independent of their amount of body fat, the authors reported. In addition, children exposed to high blood sugar levels in the womb also were more likely to have exaggerated insulin secretion after a meal, independent of their reduced insulin sensitivity. Relatively high insulin secretion is also associated with increased risk for later development of type 2 diabetes, Chandler-Laney explained. None of the children had high blood sugar, but puberty would further lower their insulin sensitivity, she noted. "High maternal blood glucose during pregnancy may have lasting effects on children's insulin sensitivity and secretion, potentially raising the risk for type 2 diabetes," Chandler-Laney said. "Obstetricians, pediatricians, and pregnant women should all be aware of the potential far-reaching consequences that elevated blood sugar during pregnancy can have on children's health."

Jun 22, 2010

Health

K-State chemical engineer patents enzymatic preparation to make natural ingredients in the lab

MANHATTAN, Kan. -- A Kansas State University chemical engineer has developed and patented a chemical structure to make all-natural personal care products and purer pharmaceuticals in the laboratory. K-State's Peter Pfromm, in collaboration with visiting scientist Kerstin Wurges, has engineered a way to use enzymes to efficiently catalyze chemical reactions to create things like scents for perfumes or to avoid the introduction of inactive ingredients in drugs. The process -- scientifically referred to as a lyophilizate of an enzyme and fumed silica -- is essentially an enzyme-covered nanoparticle of fumed silica. Traditionally, to add the scent of rose to a perfume or lotion, the rose was grown and then its scent compound was extracted through careful processing. Over the years chemists have devised ways to produce these quite valuable scent compounds in the lab in mass quantities. By law, however, compounds resulting from a purely chemical process are not considered natural. Pfromm's method uses enzymes to catalyze the reactions needed. Since enzymes come from natural organisms, the end product can be billed as natural. Also, no potentially harmful residues will be present in the end product, as may be the case with chemical catalysts. "That enzyme will do the job of making that rose scent out of two chemicals," Pfromm said. "Since the enzyme is derived from an organism, you end up with a product that is just as trustworthy as if you had taken a whole plant and extracted that molecule from it." In addition, the ability to make mass quantities in a reliable fashion isn't lost. "You can make the product much faster, in much larger amounts and at lower cost -- and it's exactly the same molecule made by the plant," Pfromm said. "You also then can say on the packaging that the product is natural." Enzymes also can be used to make a purer form of pharmaceuticals. Pfromm said that the active molecules in many drugs often come with an inactive twin that can be expensive and difficult to chemically separate. However, enzymes are very effective at only producing the active version of the molecule. "Most of the time the inactive twin molecule is harmless, but there is a trend toward making more pure pharmaceuticals," Pfromm said. "Enzymes are exceedingly good at taking reactants and making them into only one of the versions, not both. They are supremely selective in this way; chemical catalysts are not." The nanoparticle support is critical to the success, Pfromm said. Enzymes naturally work best in water, but the processes used to produce such compounds generally take place in some organic solvent. Though enzymes work in these solvents, they can easily clump, making enzymes inside of the tight clumps that are essentially wasted. Using an electrostatic process to coat the fumed silica nanoparticles with the enzyme exposes the maximum number of enzymes to the reaction mixture. This maximizes the amount of end product made and makes more efficient use of all of the enzymes. Fumed silica also is very cheap and is widely used in consumer products, including food, so any minute residues that may be left in the final product would be considered safe for drugs, foods or skin care. Pfromm already has fielded some interest from commercial entities. Wurges, listed as a co-inventor on the patent, worked with Pfromm on devising the preparation and did much of the lab work while visiting K-State. She is presently pursing her doctorate at Forschungszentrum Julich, Germany. The lyophilizate of an enzyme and fumed silica was officially patented April 20 by the U.S. Patent Office. More information is available at http://www.k-state.edu/tech.transfer/technologies/04-11.html. Editor's note: Pfromm is pronounced like prom with an f in front Also, images are available. Contact [email protected] or 785-532-2535

Jun 22, 2010

Health

Research from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute professor offers clues to Alzheimer's disease

Troy, N.Y. An organic compound found in red wine -- resveratrol -- has the ability to neutralize the toxic effects of proteins linked to Alzheimer's disease, according to research led by Rensselaer Professor Peter M. Tessier. The findings, published in the May 28 edition of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, are a step toward understanding the large-scale death of brain cells seen in certain neurodegenerative diseases. "We've shown how resveratrol has very interesting selectivity to target and neutralize a select set of toxic peptide isoforms," Tessier said. "Because resveratrol picks out the clumps of peptides that are bad and leaves alone the ones that are benign, it helps us to think about the structural differences between the peptide isoforms." Isoforms are different packing arrangements of a particular peptide. Deformations of a particular peptide - the Aβ1-42 peptide - have been linked to Alzheimer's disease. Improperly folded peptides have been shown to collect in accumulations called "plaques" within the brain. Those plaques are often found near areas of cell death in diseased brains. It is not clear that resveratrol is able to cross the blood-brain barrier, Tessier said. However, the molecule has garnered interest in recent years for its potential impact on cancer and aging. In their research, Tessier and his co-authors generated A peptides packed together in five unique isoforms, or "arrangements" (monomer, soluble oligomer, non-toxic oligomer, fibrillar intermediates and amyloid fibrils). In their experiments, three of these arrangements were toxic to human cells, two were not. Next, the researchers introduced resveratrol. The resveratrol reacted with the toxic arrangements of the Aβ1-42 peptide, neutralizing their toxicity. It did not affect the non-toxic arrangements. "The surprise is that this molecule can target some of these packing arrangements that are toxic and rearrange them into packing arrangements that are not toxic. For those forms that are non-toxic, it doesn't change them," Tessier said. Intriguingly, Tessier said, one of the toxic arrangements (the soluble oligomer) and one of the non-toxic arrangements (the non-toxic oligomer) were indistinguishable by various methods. And yet the resveratrol only affected the toxic arrangement. The point, Tessier concludes, is that the seemingly identical non-toxic and toxic arrangements must have some distinguishing feature yet to be discovered, raising questions for future study. "We have two things that look very similar, but one is toxic and the other isn't," Tessier said. "What is it that makes the bad one bad and the good one good?" The research produced several other findings, Tessier said, including reliable methods of generating the arrangements Tessier's team produced, and formation of one arrangement which had previously been unknown. Last week, Tessier was named as a 2010 Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences by the Pew Charitable Trusts.The distinction includes an award of $240,000 over four years and inclusion into a select community of scientists that includes three Nobel Prize winners, three MacArthur Fellows, and two recipients of the Albert Lasker Medical Research Award, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts. Tessier was also recently awarded a five-year, $411,872 Faculty Early Career Development Award (CAREER) from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for research in the related field of protein thermodynamics and aggregation. The CAREER Award is given to faculty members at the beginning of their academic careers and is one of NSF's most competitive awards, placing emphasis on high-quality research and novel education initiatives. Tessier joined the Rensselaer faculty in 2007 following a postdoctoral fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. He received his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Maine, and went on to earn his doctoral degree in chemical engineering from the University of Delaware. Contact Mary Martialay Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (518) 276-2146 (518) 951-5650 (mobile) [email protected]

Jun 22, 2010

Health

Study finds that caring for an elderly, sick spouse sometimes has positive elements

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Although long-term care of sick or disabled loved ones is widely recognized as a threat to the caregiver's health and quality of life, a new study led by University at Buffalo psychologist Michael Poulin, PhD, finds that in some contexts, helping valued loved ones may promote the well being of helpers. "Does a Helping Hand Mean a Heavy Heart?," published in the journal Psychology and Aging (2010, Vol. 25., No. 1), reports on a study by Poulin and five co-authors from the University of Michigan Department of Internal Medicine, which closely analyzed helping behavior and well-being among 73 spousal caregivers, many of them elderly. Poulin, an assistant professor of psychology, says the study team wanted to learn if there were some positive aspects of caregiving, aspects that did not provoke the burnout, high stress and poor health associated with being a caregiver. If so, they wanted to know why these aspects had a positive effect. They learned that despite the burdensome nature of their role, caregivers experience more positive emotions and fewer negative emotions when they engage in "active care" like feeding, bathing, toileting and otherwise physically caring for the spouse. "Our data don't tell us exactly what psychological processes are responsible," he says, "but we hypothesize that people may be hardwired so that actively attending to the concrete needs and feelings of others reduces our personal anxiety." The study found that passive care, on the other hand, which requires the spouse to simply be nearby in case anything should go wrong, provokes negative emotions in the caretaker, and leads to fewer positive emotions. The study involved 73 subjects (mean age was 71.5 years, age range was 35-89 years) who were providing full-time home care to an ailing spouse. Participants carried Palm Pilots that beeped randomly to signal them to report how much time they had spent actively helping and/or being on call since the last beep, the activities they actually engaged in and their emotional state at that moment. The researchers found no moderating effects of age on the association between helping and well-being. In other words, helping predicted positive and negative effects similarly for adults of all ages. One variable that did affect outcome was the level of perceived interdependence with the spouse experienced by the caregiver -- that is, the extent to which caregivers viewed themselves as sharing a mutually beneficial relationship with their spouse. "For interdependent couples, the positive effects of active care were particularly strong," Poulin says, adding that this outcome supports the prediction that "individuals should derive the greatest satisfaction out of helping those with whom they perceive a shared physical or emotional fate." Poulin says study findings have broad implications for research on caregiving and for research on helping behavior more generally, especially in the aging context. "Overall," he says, "we wouldn't say that caring for an ailing loved one is going to be good for you or healthy for you, but certain activities may be beneficial, especially in high-quality relationships." Researchers and social scientists want government or other agencies to provide respite for caregivers, which would be a good thing, Poulin says, "but as this study demonstrates, it is extremely important that caretakers receive the right kind of relief at the right time -- perhaps less time off from active care duties, and more time off from the onerous task of passively monitoring an ailing loved one." The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, a flagship institution in the State University of New York system and its largest and most comprehensive campus. UB's more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.

Jun 22, 2010

Health

Researchers create self-assembling nanodevices that move and change shape on demand

BOSTON, Mass. (June 20, 2010) -- By emulating nature's design principles, a team at Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has created nanodevices made of DNA that self-assemble and can be programmed to move and change shape on demand. In contrast to existing nanotechnologies, these programmable nanodevices are highly suitable for medical applications because DNA is both biocompatible and biodegradable. The work appears in the June 20 advance online Nature Nanotechnology. Built at the scale of one billionth of a meter, each device is made of a circular, single-stranded DNA molecule that, once it has been mixed together with many short pieces of complementary DNA, self-assembles into a predetermined 3D structure. Double helices fold up into larger, rigid linear struts that connect by intervening single-stranded DNA. These single strands of DNA pull the struts up into a 3D form -- much like tethers pull tent poles up to form a tent. The structure's strength and stability result from the way it distributes and balances the counteracting forces of tension and compression. This architectural principle -- known as tensegrity -- has been the focus of artists and architects for many years, but it also exists throughout nature. In the human body, for example, bones serve as compression struts, with muscles, tendons and ligaments acting as tension bearers that enable us to stand up against gravity. The same principle governs how cells control their shape at the microscale. "This new self-assembly based nanofabrication technology could lead to nanoscale medical devices and drug delivery systems, such as virus mimics that introduce drugs directly into diseased cells," said co-investigator and Wyss Institute director Don Ingber. A nanodevice that can spring open in response to a chemical or mechanical signal could ensure that drugs not only arrive at the intended target but are also released when and where desired. Further, nanoscopic tensegrity devices could one day reprogram human stem cells to regenerate injured organs. Stem cells respond differently depending on the forces around them. For instance, a stiff extracellular matrix -- the biological glue surrounding cells -- fabricated to mimic the consistency of bone signals stem cells to become bone, while a soupy matrix closer to the consistency of brain tissue signals the growth of neurons. Tensegrity nanodevices "might help us to tune and change the stiffness of extracellular matrices in tissue engineering someday," said first author Tim Liedl, who is now a professor at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich. "These little Swiss Army knives can help us make all kinds of things that could be useful for advanced drug delivery and regenerative medicine," said lead investigator William Shih, Wyss core faculty member and associate professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology at HMS and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. "We also have a handy biological DNA Xerox machine that nature evolved for us," making these devices easy to manufacture. This new capability "is a welcome element in the structural DNA nanotechnology toolbox," said Ned Seeman, professor of chemistry at New York University. This research was funded by the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, National Institutes of Health, Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst Fellowship, Swedish Science Council Fellowship and Claudia Adams Barr Program Investigator award. Written by Elizabeth Dougherty Citation: Nature Nanotechnology, online publication, June 20, 2010 "Self-assembly of 3D prestressed tensegrity structures from DNA" Tim Liedl, Bjorn Hogberg, Jessica Tytell, Donald E. Ingber, William M. Shih The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University (http://wyss.harvard.edu) uses nature's design principles to create breakthrough technologies that will revolutionize medicine, industry and the environment. Working as an alliance among Harvard's Medical School, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and in partnership with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Children's Hospital Boston, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, University of Massachusetts Medical School and Boston University, the Institute crosses disciplinary and institutional barriers to engage in high-risk, fundamental research that leads to transformative change. By applying biological principles, Wyss researchers are developing innovative new engineering solutions for healthcare, manufacturing, robotics, energy and sustainable architecture. These technologies are translated into commercial products and therapies through collaborations with clinical investigators, corporate alliances and new startups. Harvard Medical School (http://hms.harvard.edu) has more than 7,500 full-time faculty working in 11 academic departments located at the School's Boston campus or in one of 47 hospital-based clinical departments at 17 Harvard-affiliated teaching hospitals and research institutes. Those affiliates include Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Cambridge Health Alliance, Children's Hospital Boston, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Forsyth Institute, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Hebrew SeniorLife, Joslin Diabetes Center, Judge Baker Children's Center, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Massachusetts General Hospital, McLean Hospital, Mount Auburn Hospital, Schepens Eye Research Institute, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and VA Boston Healthcare System.

Jun 22, 2010

Health

Ben-Gurion U. professor develops computer program that detects depression in bloggers' texts

BEER-SHEVA, ISRAEL, June 22, 2010 -- Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) developed a software program that can detect depression in blogs and online texts. The software is capable of identifying language that can indicate the writer's psychological state, which could serve as a screening tool. The software, developed by a team headed by Associate Professor Yair Neuman in BGU's Department of Education, was used to scan more than 300,000 English language blogs that were posted to mental health Web sites. The program identified what it perceived to be the 100 "most depressed" and 100 "least depressed" bloggers. A panel of four clinical psychologists reviewed the samples, and concluded that there was a 78 percent correlation between the computer's findings and the panel's. Professor Yair Neuman will be presenting his BGU team's work at the 2010 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agency Technology in Toronto, Canada, August 31 -- Sept. 3, 2010. Prof. Neuman's findings will also be published in the conference's proceedings. "The software program was designed to find depressive content hidden in language that did not mention the obvious terms like "depression" or suicide," explains Prof. Neuman. "A psychologist knows how to spot various emotional states through intuition. Here, we have a program that does this methodically through the innovative use of 'web intelligence.'" For example, the program spots words that express various emotions, like colors that the writer employs to metaphorically describe certain situations. Words like "black" combined with other terms that describe symptoms of depression, such as sleep deprivation or loneliness, will be recognized by the software as "depressive" texts. Originally conducted for academic purposes, the findings could potentially be used to screen for would-be suicides. The software provides a screening process that raises an individual's awareness of his or her condition, enables mental health workers to identify individuals in need of treatment, and can then recommend they seek professional help. Because, "no one can actually replace excellent human judgment," says Neuman. In the United States, there is a big problem of undiagnosed people suffering from depression. The usual screening process is an online questionnaire, which is a self-selective process. If a person is completing a survey, he already suspects a problem. With this software, it is possible to analyze proactively. If the blogger agrees, he will know whether or not he needs to seek professional counseling. About American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (AABGU) plays a vital role in sustaining David Ben-Gurion's vision, creating a world-class institution of education and research in the Israeli desert, nurturing the Negev community and sharing the University's expertise locally and around the globe. With some 20,000 students on campuses in Beer-Sheva, Sede Boqer and Eilat in Israel's southern desert, BGU is a university with a conscience, where the highest academic standards are integrated with community involvement, committed to sustainable development of the Negev. For more information, please visit www.aabgu.org.

Jun 22, 2010

Earth & Environment

Are you promotion- or prevention-focused and what does this mean when considering choices?

When consumers make choices, their style of pursuing their goals changes the way they search and decide what to purchase, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. A large number of consumer alternatives are arranged hierarchically, the authors explain. For example, a restaurant menu is typically organized by courses (appetizers, entrees) and by types of dishes within courses (soups, salads). "This research examines how consumers' style of goal pursuit influences the way they search for information and form their consideration sets in such decision environments," write authors Michel Tuan Pham (Columbia University) and Hannah H. Chang (Singapore Management University). When consumers have a promotion focus, a style of goal pursuit that is often used in the pursuit of dreams and aspirations, they tend to search for information in a more global, big-picture manner, devoting more time and effort to higher levels of information hierarchies (soups, appetizers, and other categories). "In contrast, when consumers have a prevention focus, a style of goal pursuit that is avoidance-oriented and often used in the fulfillment of duties and obligations, they tend to search for information in a more local, detail-oriented manner, such as specific descriptions of individual dishes," the authors write. Promotion-focused consumers tend to consider larger numbers of alternatives before making their final choices than do prevention-focused consumers. In one study, for example, participants who were put into a promotion or prevention focus were asked to make dinner selections from a restaurant's prix-fixe menu. Promotion-focused participants searched the menu in a more global manner, devoting a greater share of their efforts to higher levels of the menu hierarchy, whereas prevention-focused participants searched the menu in a more local manner, devoting a greater share of their efforts to lower levels of the menu hierarchy. In a subsequent study, the authors found that participants were willing to pay about 17 percent more when the restaurant menu was structured in a way that "fit" their search inclinations. "Prevention-focused participants were willing to pay significantly more when the menu was presented in a listing format, which presumably fits a 'detailoriented' search better," the authors explain. Michel Tuan Pham and Hannah H. Chang. "Regulatory Focus, Regulatory Fit, and the Search and Consideration of Choice Alternatives." Journal of Consumer Research: February 2011. A preprint of this article (to be officially published online soon) can be found at http://journals.uchicago.edu/jcr).

Jun 21, 2010

Health

Diabetes patients admitted for acute exacerbations of COPD have longer hospital stay

A new study in the journal Respirology reveals that patients with diabetes who are hospitalized with acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) experience longer time in the hospital and are also at an increased risk of death, compared to those without diabetes. High blood sugar may cause more severe infections due to impairment of immune responses. Researchers led by Dr. Ali Parappil of the Department of Respiratory Medicine, Liverpool Hospital in Australia reviewed records of patients admitted with acute exacerbations of COPD during 2007. They examined data on the presence of diabetes, length of stay, disease severity, and other co-morbidities. The results show a trend towards an increased length of hospital stay for patients with diabetes. The average length of stay for patients without diabetes was 6.5 days but, among the 53 (22%) admissions in patients with diabetes the average length of stay was 7.8 days, which was 10.3% longer (after adjusting for other co-morbidities). Diabetes patients were also at increased risk of death during the hospitalization (8% vs 4%). "Taken together with other studies, our study shows that diabetes was an adverse prognostic factor in COPD patients," said Parappil. "We believe that better control of diabetes in patients with COPD could improve outcomes; in particular, reducing length of hospital stays and risk of death." This study is published in the journal Respirology. Media wishing to receive a PDF of this article may contact [email protected] Full citation: "Effect of Comorbid Diabetes on Length of Stay and Risk of Death in Patients Admitted with Acute Exacerbations of COPD. Ali Parappil, Barbara Depczynski, Peter Collett, and Guy B. Marks. June 2010. About the Author: Ali Parappil is affiliated with the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Camperdown NSW. About the Journal Respirology is a journal of international standing, publishing peer-reviewed articles of scientific excellence in clinical and experimental respiratory biology and disease and its related fields of research including thoracic surgery, internal medicine, immunology, intensive and critical care, epidemiology, cell and molecular biology, pathology, pharmacology and physiology. The journal is published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology. About Wiley-Blackwell Wiley-Blackwell is the international scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons, with strengths in every major academic and professional field and partnerships with many of the world's leading societies. Wiley-Blackwell publishes nearly 1,500 peer-reviewed journals and 1,500+ new books annually in print and online, as well as databases, major reference works and laboratory protocols. For more information, please visit www.wileyblackwell.com or www.interscience.wiley.com.

Jun 21, 2010

Technology

Marines to use autonomous vehicles built by Virginia Tech engineering students using TORC products

Four unmanned autonomous vehicles designed and built by a team of engineering students at Virginia Tech using the TORC Robotic Building Blocks product line, are headed to Hawaii to participate in the 2010 Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) war games in July. Fourteen nations, 34 ships, five submarines, more than 100 aircraft, and 20,000 personnel will participate in the biennial RIMPAC exercise June 23 through Aug. 1. The Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory worked closely with Virginia Tech and TORC in the creation of the four Ground Unmanned Support Surrogates (GUSS) that will be used for their ability to support a platoon of U.S. Marines. The unmanned vehicles can carry up to 1800 pounds and can move at the speed of a troop on foot, or about five miles per hour. The vehicles are designed to re-supply troops, to reduce the actual loads manually carried by Marines, and to provide an immediate means for the evacuation of any casualties in combat. A Marine unit will operate GUSS during the Naval Laboratory's enhanced company operations experimentation that coincides with RIMPAC. Virginia Tech and TORC, a company founded by alumni of the university's robotics program, http://www.torctech.com/ share a very successful track record on their collaborations. Together, they developed autonomous vehicles for the Urban Challenge competition sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in 2006 and in 2007. "The focus of the collaborations is to leverage the research capabilities of the university with the commercialization capabilities of a small business," said Al Wicks, professor of mechanical engineering (ME) at Virginia Tech and faculty advisor to the team. http://www.me.vt.edu/people/faculty/wicks.html They took home third place honors in 2007 when their vehicle completed DARPA's 60-mile course in less than six hours, with no human intervention allowed past the starting line. The four GUSS vehicles headed to Hawaii are an outgrowth of the technology developed for these DARPA competitions, Wicks said. The sensors have been greatly improved, as well as the perception, planning, and control algorithms to navigate complex environments. The Urban Challenge featured a cooperative environment with well-defined roads for the competition. When the GUSS vehicles are used by the Marine Corps in Hawaii, they will be "off-road and not in a cooperative environment," Wicks said. "This is a big step forward in autonomous vehicles." Michael Fleming, a Virginia Tech ME graduate and the founder and chief executive officer of TORC, explained the team synergism, saying "I believe our team of government, academia, and industry all working together has provided the Marine Corps with a well-balanced solution." As an example, existing algorithms developed by students under previous TORC/Virginia Tech partnerships, were used to create a customized version of the TORC AutonoNav (autonomous navigation system) product to provide the advanced off-road tactical behaviors required to meet the needs of the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab. The rapid development and experimentation on the GUSS project was made possible through the use of TORC's Robotic Building Blocks product line, said David Cutter, marketing manager at TORC. This enabled Virginia Tech engineers to leverage off-the-shelf technologies and focus on system integration challenges. The entire development process was completed in less than a year, with the first prototype delivered for testing in six months. The additional three vehicles were produced in the next five months to be shipped to the RIMPAC exercises. The WaySight, developed by TORC, is the primary operator interface for controlling the GUSS vehicles. Using the one-pound handheld unit, Marines are able to command the unmanned vehicles in several modes depending on the mission. The operator may use the WaySight to rapidly plan a new path, take remote control of the vehicle, or direct it to follow at a safe distance with the autonomous navigation system taking over. The project is part of a five-year contract between the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division and Virginia Tech that is supporting a number of different projects. The contract is an on-going agreement between Dahlgren and Virginia Tech's Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS) to foster innovative research. The engineering students who participated in the project and their hometowns are: Patrick Currier of Murfreesboro, Tenn., Phillip Tweedy of Lynchburg, Va., James May of Atlanta, Ga., Jason Doyle of Blue Ridge, Va., and Everett Braden of Roanoke, Va.

Jun 21, 2010

Health

Violence, not overdose, the likely method of suicide in veterans with substance use disorders

Veterans with substance use disorders who die by suicide are more likely to use violent means (such as a firearm) rather than nonviolent means (such as a drug overdose), new research suggests. In a study of more than 5,000 Veterans Affairs (VA) patients with substance use disorders, researchers found that, despite having access to potentially lethal substances, 70% of those who died by suicide used violent means. The study was reported in the July issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. This research is the largest known study of risk factors for suicide in individuals with alcohol or drug problems and one of the first to examine risk factors for suicide based on method of attempt. To perform the study, the researchers looked at two distinct groups. They identified 854 VA patients who died by suicide and had substance use disorders, as well as a control group of 4,228 VA patients with substance use disorders who did not die by suicide. The researchers found that the people who committed suicide by overdose had more -- and more severe -- mental disorders such as depression or posttraumatic stress disorder than people who used violent means. "What's troubling about these findings is that some of the predictors that we typically think of as good indicators of suicide risk were not as closely related to violent suicide as nonviolent suicide, although violent suicide was the most common type of suicide," said lead researcher Dr. Mark Ilgen, a psychologist at the Ann Arbor VA Health Care System and an assistant professor in the psychiatry department at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. "It's potentially scary if there's a group of patients that is somewhat large in number that we might be missing by paying attention only to psychiatric problems." The researchers say the findings highlight the importance of suicide prevention in people with substance use disorders. Previous research has found that people with substance use disorders are about 10 to 14 times more likely to die by suicide than people without these problems. Ilgen said that substance use disorders and suicide are probably linked in several ways: First, people who develop a drug or alcohol addiction may already be at higher risk for suicide. Second, having a substance use disorder can cause problems at work and in relationships, which may increase suicide risk. Third, being under the influence of alcohol or drug can make someone more likely to engage in impulsive behaviors -- such as a suicide attempt. "Care providers should be aware of the high risk of suicide in this group and do an initial screening for current suicidal thoughts and plans," said Ilgen. "It's easy to wait to think about suicide prevention until someone is depressed, but it's really a conversation worth having with someone who has a substance use disorder, since they're already at risk." Ilgen also suggested that reducing access to lethal means, which is often an effective suicide-prevention strategy in psychiatric patients, should be applied to drug and alcohol patients as well. Ilgen, M. A., Conner, K. R., Valenstein, M., Austin, K., and Blow F. C. (July 2010). Violent and Nonviolent Suicide in Veterans With Substance-Use Disorders. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 71 (4), 473-479. Available at: www.jsad.com/jsad/link/71/473

Jun 21, 2010

Health

Scholar calls for a new legal, ethical framework for research with human tissue specimens

A lawyer and researcher at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics says a new legal and ethical framework needs to be placed around the donation and banking of human biological material, one that would more clearly define the terms of the material's use -- and address donor expectations before research begins. In a new law review article, "Why Not Take All of Me? Reflections on The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and the Status of Participants in Research Using Human Specimens," Gail Javitt, J.D., M.P.H., uses the story of a woman whose cancerous cells revolutionized medical research as the launching point for an exploration of the flaws in the current legal approach to the use of human specimens in research. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by science journalist Rebecca Skloot, has stoked public interest in the ethical obligations owed to tissue contributors. Javitt says the "story is a powerful reminder that, behind every tissue sample in a laboratory, is the person it came from." Recently, Skloot announced that her book will be adapted and turned into a cable-television movie. Javitt applauds moving the discussion of these issues into the public forum. As she writes, "by telling the Lacks family's story in such an engaging, accessible way, Skloot has moved the discussion beyond the narrow confines of courtrooms and academia and into the public domain, where all those with a stake in the answers can participate." Published in the Minnesota Journal of Law, Science and Technology, Javitt's article reports that human tissue and DNA are increasingly being collected and used in research. Yet they are obtained and stored under a patchwork of policies -- some broad, some specific -- that dictate how they may or may not be used in the future. Many in the legal and scientific arenas say this is because federal and case law have fallen behind modern research demands and techniques. The federal human subject protection law known as the "Common Rule" requires informed consent be obtained from participants in all federally funded research, and that includes tissue research. However, if identifying information has been removed, the law doesn't apply. Even where informed consent is required, Javitt says, the human subject paradigm is not an adequate one for this type of research. She points out that informed consent is a mechanism aimed at protecting subjects from the type of harm and abuse that unwitting participants experienced in past research -- such as the Tuskegee studies -- and was never meant to be the process by which researchers negotiate to engage in a legal transaction. "Informed consent was not conceptualized as a contract between two individuals with equal bargaining power," says Javitt, who has closely examined some of the best-known court cases involving the rights and expectations of human tissue contributors. "Rather, informed consent is an ethical duty that the researcher owes the human subject under conditions that historically have involved unequal power." In contrast, the concept of donation "presumes an individual who understands that he is giving away something of value and the consequences of making that choice." Javitt's article cites legal cases that she says show the courts' failure to appreciate that those who contribute tissue for research are owed duties as research subjects to be informed that their tissue will be used for research. For instance, in Moore v. Regents of the University of California, the court ruled that a physician violated informed consent obligations to his patient (Moore) by performing surgery and ordering follow-up blood draws without disclosing that he was also developing a potentially lucrative cell line from the patient's specimens. "The court's reasoning with respect to informed consent is flawed," Javitt says, because "the court failed to distinguish between Moore as patient and Moore as research subject." The cases also show a failure to appreciate the dual role of the tissue contributor as both research subject and participant in the legal transaction of donation, according to Javitt. So, she argues for a bifurcation of the process: As research subjects, participants must be informed of the risks and benefits of the research, and consent to participation. As donors of tissue, participants also must be informed that they are entering into a legal transaction -- donation -- and made aware of the terms of that transaction. "Although requiring separation ... may seem like a proposal for adding yet another piece of paper to an arguably already cumbersome process, the small piece of paper is performing a huge ethical and legal task," Javitt writes in her article. Javitt also says she was troubled by what she sees as the courts' consistent preference for the needs of the research enterprise over the claims of the tissue contributors. Although the public generally is supportive of research, Javitt says, this may change if prospective contributors of tissue samples feel deceived. For example, in February, angry parents in Texas sued over the state's use of their babies' blood samples for research. Just two months later, the Havasupai tribe in Arizona succeeded in reclaiming their DNA samples from researchers at the state university system. Meanwhile, the book about Henrietta Lacks has amplified the frustration of her descendants in Baltimore over the use of her cells without their knowledge. Across the board, mistrust was fueled by a lack of transparency and the discovery of details only after samples were used. "How fitting it would be," Javitt's article concludes, "if the development of a new, transparency-based framework for tissue donation, one that is premised on the simple notion that tissue contributors should be asked -- within a context that allows a meaningful answer -- was Henrietta Lacks's true legacy." Gail Javitt, J.D., M.P.H. http://www.bioethicsinstitute.org/mshome/?id=92

Jun 21, 2010

Technology

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute develop new method for mass-producing graphene

Troy, N.Y. -- Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a simple new method for producing large quantities of the promising nanomaterial graphene. The new technique works at room temperature, needs little processing, and paves the way for cost-effective mass production of graphene. An atom-thick sheet of carbon arranged in a honeycomb structure, graphene has unique mechanical and electrical properties and is considered a potential heir to copper and silicon as the fundamental building block of nanoelectronics. Since graphene's discovery in 2004, researchers have been searching for an easy method to produce it in bulk quantities. A team of interdisciplinary researchers, led by Swastik Kar, research assistant professor in the Department of Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy at Rensselaer, has brought science a step closer to realizing this important goal. By submerging graphite in a mixture of dilute organic acid, alcohol, and water, and then exposing it to ultrasonic sound, the team discovered that the acid works as a "molecular wedge" which separates sheets of graphene from the parent graphite. The process results in the creation of large quantities of undamaged, high-quality graphene dispersed in water. Kar and team then used the graphene to build chemical sensors and ultracapacitors. "There are other known techniques for fabricating graphene, but our process is advantageous for mass production as it is low cost, performed at room temperature, devoid of any harsh chemicals, and thus is friendly to a number of technologies where temperature and environmental limitations exist," Kar said. "The process does not need any controlled environment chambers, which enhances its simplicity without compromising its scalability. This simplicity enabled us to directly demonstrate high-performance applications related to environmental sensing and energy storage, which have become issues of global importance." Results of the study, titled "Stable Aqueous Dispersions of Non-Covalently Functionalized Graphene from Graphite and their Multifunctional High-Performance Applications," were published online Thursday, June 17, 2010, by the journal Nano Letters. The study, available at http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nl903557p, will also be the cover story of the November print edition of Nano Letters. Graphene eluded scientists for years but was finally made in the laboratory in 2004 with the help of a common office supply -- clear adhesive tape. Graphite, the common material used in most pencils, is made up of countless layers of graphene. Researchers at first simply used the gentle stickiness of tape to pull layers of graphene from a piece of graphite. Today, graphene fabrication is much more sophisticated. The most commonly used method, however, which involves oxidizing graphite and reducing the oxide at a later stage in the process, results in a degradation of graphene's attractive conductive properties, Kar said. His team took a different route. The researchers dissolved 1-pyrenecarboxylic acid (PCA) in a solution of water and methanol, and then introduced bulk graphite powder. The pyrene part of PCA is mostly hydrophobic, and clings to the surface of the also-hydrophobic graphite. The mixture is exposed to ultrasonic sound, which vibrates and agitates the graphite. As the molecular bonds holding together the graphene sheets in graphite start to weaken because of the agitation, the PCA also exploits these weakening bonds and works its way between the layers of graphene that make up the graphite. Ultimately, this coordinated attack results in layers of graphene flaking off of the graphite and into the water. The PCA also helps ensure the graphene does not clump and remains evenly dispersed in the water. Water is benign, and is an ideal vehicle through which graphene can be introduced into new applications and areas of research, Kar said. "We believe that our method also will be useful for applications of graphene which require an aqueous medium, such as biomolecular experiments with living cells, or investigations involving glucose or protein interactions with graphene," he said. Using ultrathin membranes fabricated from graphene, the research team developed chemical sensors that can easily identify ethanol from within a mixture of different gases and vapors. Such a sensor could possibly be used as an industrial leakage detector or a breath-alcohol analyzer. The researchers also used the graphene to build an ultra-thin energy-storage device. The double-layer capacitor demonstrated high specific capacitance, power, and energy density, and performed far superior to similar devices fabricated in the past using graphene. Both devices show great promise for further performance enhancements, Kar said. Co-authors on the Nano Letters paper are Rensselaer Post Doctoral Research Associate Xiaohong An; Assistant Professor Kim M. Lewis; Clinical Professor and Center for Integrated Electronics Associate Director Morris Washington; and Professor Saroj Nayak, all of the Department of Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy; Rensselaer doctoral student Trevor Simmons of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology; along with Rakesh Shah, Christopher Wolfe, and Saikat Talapatra of the Department of Physics at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. The research project was supported by the Interconnect Focus Center New York at Rensselaer, as well as the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems. For more information on Kar's research, visit his website at: http://www.rpi.edu/dept/phys/faculty/profiles/kar.html For more information on graphene research at Rensselaer, visit: Graphene Outperforms Carbon Nanotubes for Creating Stronger, More Crack-Resistant Materials - http://news.rpi.edu/update.do?artcenterkey=2715 Student Inventor Tackles Challenge of Hydrogen Storage - http://news.rpi.edu/update.do?artcenterkey=2690 Light-Speed Nanotech: Controlling the Nature of Graphene - http://news.rpi.edu/update.do?artcenterkey=2528 Graphene Nanoelectronics: Making Tomorrow's Computers from a Pencil Trace - http://news.rpi.edu/update.do?artcenterkey=2253 Contact Michael Mullaney Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, NY 518-276-6161 (office) 518-698-6336 (mobile) [email protected]

Jun 21, 2010

Health

Encouraging results from the largest clinical study ever conducted on treating depression with Omega-3

The use of Omega-3 supplements is effective among patients with major depression who do not have anxiety disorders, according to a study directed by Dr. François Lespérance of the Centre de recherche du Centre hospitalier at the Université de Montréal (CRCHUM), head of CHUM's Department of Psychiatry and a professor at the Université de Montréal. The study was published June 15 in the online Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. This was the largest study ever conducted assessing Omega-3's efficacy in treating major depression. It was carried out in conjunction with researchers from centres affiliated with the UdM's Réseau universitaire intégré de santé (RUIS), from McGill University, Université Laval in Quebec City and Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. The study was supported by the European firm isodisnatura, the Fondation du CHUM and the CRCHUM. Initial analyses failed to clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of Omega-3 for all patients taking part in the study. Other analyses, however, revealed that Omega-3 improved depression symptoms in patients diagnosed with depression unaccompanied by an anxiety disorder. Efficacy for these patients was comparable to that generally observed with conventional antidepressant treatment. From October 2005 to January 2009, 432 male and female participants with major unipolar depression were recruited to take part in this randomized, double-blind study (neither patients nor researchers knew which capsules patients received). For eight weeks, half of the participants took three capsules per day of OM3 Emotional Balance, a fish oil supplement containing high concentrations of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). The other half took three identical capsules of a placebo consisting of sunflower oil, flavoured with a small quantity of fish oil. In contrast with typical clinical studies designed to assess the effectiveness of antidepressants, this study included a high proportion of patients with complex and difficult-to-treat conditions, including patients resistant to conventional antidepressant treatments and patients also suffering from an anxiety disorder. The aim was to assess the value of Omega-3 supplementation in a group of individuals more like those treated in outpatient clinics. Need to assess the impact of Omega-3 supplements Some 11% of men and 16% of women in Canada will suffer from major depression at some point in their lives, making this disorder one of our society's leading public health issues. Depression, which is now the world's fourth leading cause of morbidity and death is expected to move up to the number two position by 2020. "Despite significant progress in neuroscience over the past two decades, depression is difficult to treat," Dr. Lespérance noted. In view of the large number of patients who stop taking their medications in the first few months of treatment and those who refuse such treatment due to fear of stigmatization or side effects, it comes as no surprise that a large number of patients suffering from major depression use alternative treatments offered outside the healthcare system. "Many of these treatments have not been adequately evaluated. That is why it was important to assess the efficacy of Omega-3, one of the most popular alternative approaches," he added. Epidemiological and neurobiological studies have suggested that a relative deficit in polyunsaturated fatty acids of the Omega-3 group may predispose individuals to psychological disorders such as depression. Further, several preliminary clinical studies based on small numbers of patients have suggested that Omega-3 supplements with high concentrations of EPA can help to reduce symptoms of depression among patients who fail to respond to an initial antidepressant treatment. These studies have not, however, convinced the entire scientific community. A broader study was needed to acquire further knowledge about the properties and efficacy of high-quality Omega-3 supplements among patients suffering from major depression. "We are proud that OM3 Emotional Balance, with its high concentration of EPA at unexcelled levels of purity delivers the dose of EPA needed for effective treatment," said Claire Bertin, head pharmacist for isodisnatura, the laboratory producing the Omega-3 supplement used in the study. It is important to note that the study assessed use of Omega-3 for eight weeks, at doses of 1050 mg of EPA and 150 mg of DHA each day. It is currently unknown whether taking higher doses or taking supplements over a longer period would yield different results. These encouraging results show that use of EPA is effective among patients with unipolar depression unaccompanied by an anxiety disorder. Additional research directly comparing Omega-3 with conventional antidepressants could more clearly confirm their usefulness for patients suffering from depression. The Efficacy of Omega-3 Supplementation for Major Depression: A Randomized Controlled Trial, The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry -- François Lespérance, MD, PhD; Nancy Frasure-Smith, PhD; Élise St-André, MD; Gustavo Turecki, MD, PhD; Paul Lespérance, MD, MSc; and Stephen R. Wisniewski, PhD. Please contact one of the media representatives named below to obtain a copy of the study. Product information sheet: www.isodisnatura.ca About: CRCHUM: www.chumtl.qc.ca/crchum.en.html / CHUM: chumtl.qc.ca isodisnatura: isodisnatura.ca Université de Montréal: umontreal.ca RUIS de l'Université de Montréal: ruis.umontreal.ca Université Laval: ulaval.ca McGill University: mcgill.ca Queen's University: queensu.ca Source: Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal FFI and for interviews: Thomas Bastien, Coordinator, Morin Relations Publiques 514-289-8688, p. 237 / Cell: 514 625-5451 [email protected] Nathalie Forgue, Communications Advisor, CHUM 514-890-8000, ext. 14342 / Pager: 514-801-5762

Jun 21, 2010

Health

New research shows peer drug use may increase an individual's genetic tendency to use drugs

The nature-nurture debate is usually about how much of something is due to our genes and how much is caused by our environment. New research just published in the academic journal Addiction shows that the case is more interesting for young women who smoke, drink, or use drugs, for two related reasons. First, a young woman with a genetic predisposition to substance use is also predisposed to choose friends who smoke, drink, or use drugs, thereby altering her environment in a way that encourages substance use. Second, a young woman's exposure to substance-using friends not only changes her environment but also increases her genetic inclination to use these drugs regularly, thereby raising even higher her already increased likelihood of substance use. Using a sample of over 2,000 female twins, researchers from Washington University in St. Louis looked for links between two types of data: 1) women in the sample who regularly used tobacco, alcohol, or drugs and 2) women whose friends were involved in regular substance use. The links they found showed that genetic vulnerability to regular use of alcohol, cigarettes and cannabis is exacerbated by exposure to friends who use alcohol, cigarettes and drugs. It is well known that adolescents often select peers who engage in behaviors similar to their own. But this study showed that peer selection has a genetic basis whereby one's genetic predisposition to regular substance use is correlated with the likelihood of choosing friends who also use psychoactive substances. The genetic factors that influence our own likelihood of using drugs thus also modify our likelihood of associating with friends who do the same. However, exposure to these drug-using peers has a second, important influence on our own liability to use drugs. The study found that heritable influences on an individual's own regular substance use increased as they affiliated with more drug-using peers -- in other words, affiliations with substance-using peers enhances the role that heritable factors play in our own regular substance use. Put simply, increasing affiliations with drug-using peers is correlated with a more 'genetic' form of regular substance use. According to lead author Dr. Arpana Agrawal, "Nature and nurture don't just combine to produce a woman who smokes, drinks, or uses drugs -- nurture can also increase the effect of nature." For editors: Agrawal A., Balasubramanian S., Smith E., Madden P., Bucholz K., Heath A., and Lynskey M. Peer substance involvement modifies genetic influences on regular substance involvement in young women. Addiction 2010; 105: DOI: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2010.02993.x For a full text copy of the article please contact: Molly Jarvis, Editorial Manager, Addiction, [email protected], tel +44 (0)20 7848 0014 or Jean O'Reilly, Deputy Editorial Manager, Addiction, [email protected], tel +44 (0)20 7848 0853 Addiction (www.addictionjournal.org) is a monthly international scientific journal publishing more than 2000 pages every year. Owned by the Society for the Study of Addiction, it has been in continuous publication since 1884. Addiction is the top journal in the field of substance abuse and is number one in the 2008 ISI Journal Citation Reports © Ranking in the Substance Abuse Category. Addiction publishes peer-reviewed research reports on alcohol, illicit drugs and tobacco, bringing together research conducted within many different disciplines, as well as editorials and other debate pieces.

Jun 21, 2010