Can You Diagnose Dementia from a Gaming App?

Can You Diagnose Dementia from a Gaming App?

More than two million healthy people played a game that could detect declining navigation skills, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s

By: Bahar Gholipour

             I randomly selected one of the sources were approved to use, browsed the articles, and chose an article that struck my eye in the scientific American. It was titled “Can you Diagnose Dementia from a Gaming App”. This to me was not only relevant to the world seeing many elderly individuals suffer with this disease but it was also personal because Dementia and Alzheimer’s runs in my family.

In this article, the author Bahar Gholipour goes into depth about a source that could potentially diagnose signs of Dementia and Alzheimer’s. It was a mobile app that allowed the users to use spatial navigation for memory purposes and then scientists would be able to analyze the performance based on age, race, location, etc. We learn in the article that people usually decline with navigational skills as age increases, but they don’t know exactly why that is. As the scientists analyzed the results of the game the younger the participant was the more memory they retained in the game, and the older they got the more significantly that memory dropped. Men performed better than women. It was also shocking that certain countries surrounded by each other all had the highest navigational skills versus other countries. Scientists are thinking that location may have something to do with spatial navigation but don’t know the cause as of yet. Scientists are hoping to use this app as a replacement for the language based memory tests, because it would take out the concern of different languages yielding different results. All in all this was a very basic, but informing article.

I personally loved reading this article. Whenever there is a way for someone to help prevent a disease or to find it in the early stages that means that we can try to stop it and see what is causing it by doing greater research. Personally I am not sure how beneficial this app will be for children since they are still growing and my not be able to comprehend the app. I bring this up because what if there was a correlation with Alzheimer’s and dementia at a younger age than the age people would be able to take this test? None the less it is still great they are doing something to diagnose this disease.

I learned that there is a lot of research and behind the scenes that can go on when a person plays an app. It is usually in the comfort of one’s own home and the scientists behind the scenes can analyze the performance for mostly unbiased results and use that in furthering research and gaining statistics for that purpose. This was an eye opening article for me and something that I am very passionate about helping find a cure. I have had loved ones pass away from this awful disease and it would be amazing if an app was able to diagnose it from an earlier age and help prevent it from taking over the patient’s mind!

-Joseph P

Gholipour, B. (2016). Can You Diagnose Dementia from a Gaming App? Retrieved November 23, 2016, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-you-diagnose-dementia-from-a-gaming-app/

Shark fins and meat contain high levels of nuerotoxins linked to Alzheimer's disease-Jacob Kearns

                  Shark fins and meat contain high levels of neurotoxins linked to Alzheimer's disease

Ever since I was young I always had a fascination with the ocean and ocean life. Of all of the animals in the sea I always loved watching documentaries of sharks. I would often find myself waiting anxiously for shark week on discovery channel to come ever summer. While looking at scientific articles, one article in particular caught my attention. An article that claimed that in the fins, meat, and cartilage of sharks exists neurotoxins that can cause consumers to be diagnosed with diseases such as Alzheimer's.

This study was performed at the University of Miami in which they found neurotoxins linked to neurodegenerative diseases in 10 different species of sharks. Fins and muscle tissues were collected from the different species of shark found both in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. What they found were two specific toxins that are linked with neurodegenerative diseases. They found high concentrations of mercury and BMAA. Deborah Mash a professor of neurology said, "Recent studies have linked BMAA to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)".

Researchers at the University of Miami detected high enough concentrations of mercury and BMAA in the fins and tissues of shark that would make the consumption of such products a health hazard. Shark products are becoming more and more desirable around the globe. The fins and meat are mostly consumed in Asian countries, but the supplements that contain shark cartilage are consumed all over the world. With this knowledge, we now know that we can avoid having neurological diseases as we avoid consuming the products that contain shark. This knowledge is important both for personal health and safety as well as the conservation aspect for sharks. 16 percent of the worlds population of sharks are now facing extinction, which means we can greatly conserve the population of sharks if we don't consume products made of them.

For more information:<a href="http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2016/08/29/study_finds_shark_fins_meat_contain_high_levels_of_neurotoxins_linked_to_alzheimers_disease.html">Study finds shark fins & meat contain high levels of neurotoxins linked to Alzheimer\'s disease</a>

Purest Yet Liver-Like Cells Generated From Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells-- Ashley

Purest yet liver-like cells generated by induced pluripotent stem cells

I remember learning about stem cell research back in high school and at the time it was a fairly new and highly controversial topic I recall us having a debate on whether stem cell research should be done or not. Recently we talked about stem cells in class, which lead me to do more research on the subject and while scanning articles I came across one from biologynews.com about the treatment of patients with liver disease with induced pluripotent stem cells (IPS cells).

IPS cells  are a type of pluripotent cell that can be generated directly from adult cells. They are derived from skin or blood cells that have been reprogrammed back into an embryonic-like pluripotent state. Using these types of cells would allow treatment of patients with disease-causing mutations in their livers to be transplanted with unmutated liver cells derived from their own stem cells. This article talked about the use of a new technology called chemoprotemic cell surface capture (CSC), that allowed mapping of proteins on the surface of liver cells that were most highly produced during the final stages of differentiation of stem cells to liver cells. After identifying theses cells through CSC, the most abundant protein was targeted by an antibody labeled with fluorescent marker and used to sort mature liver cells from the rest.

The procedure was highly successful, when they were done they had a population of highly pure, homogeneous, and mature liver-like cells. Labeled cells shared more similar traits of mature hepatocytes than unlabeled cells. Pluripotent stem cells that had not differentiated were excluded from the group of labeled cells, because when transplanting cells into someone with liver disease these pluripotent cells form tumors called teratocarcinomas. Though the IPS cells are not yet ready to be used in clinics, the technology for sorting homogeneous liver cells can be used now to successfully and accurately model and study disease in the cell culture dish. Which is helpful in identifying and treating disease.

It's incredible to think that research that is being done with stem cells right now, will probably one day very soon be used wide scale to treat liver disease. This will impact how diseases are treated world wide, and not just liver diseases but heart disease and many other conditions; will all be greatly impacted.

more information can be found http://www.biologynews.net/IPS

Elise Smith--- "Ebola’s West African Rampage Was Likely Bolstered by a Mutation"

Elise Smith

6 November, 2016

With the recent Ebola outbreak in the past year, tensions have run high with paranoia, but as of recently, the panic seems to have diffused itself. This is mostly attributed to the fact that only this year has someone come into the United States infected with the lethal disease, however, this outbreak has continued to occur in the reaches of Africa both prior to and after the domestic scare. It was found in recent research by two independent sources that the most recent strain of Ebola has evolved to become a more infectious agent than ever. According to the article by Maron, both studies sequenced over 1000 isolated viral genomes, which lead to the discovery of a very small mutation that had changed during the most recent outbreaks, which had gone undetected. The mutation, according to Ball and Luban, affected how the gene encodes surface proteins that aided in how the virus binds to the surface of human cells. The exact change in function caused by this mutation is still unknown, but it is hypothesised by both studies that it leads to higher “viremia” (presence of viruses), therefore, increasing transmission of the disease, leading to higher death tolls. In addition to this, with this second generation virus, it was shown that it was less likely to enter non-primate animals because it enabled Ebola to thrive in human hosts, making it less likely travel between animal species to survive. If infected with this newest strain of Ebola, the host is twice as likely to die than those infected with past strains, as reflected in the current outbreak in Western Africa, which has affected over 28 thousand people, which is more cases and deaths than all previous outbreaks combined, potentially propagating new mutations in the virus. 

This article piqued my interest because it looks into Ebola, a very debilitating and lethal disease, which I was initially very fascinated with in high school my freshman year. Compounding upon this, it was principally engaging because of the (unfortunate) relevance of the topic after seeing how easily it can infiltrate international borders. Additionally, with my major being in biotechnology, I was also engrossed with its reference to mutations in genome sequences, especially concerning a mutation so small that causes such a potent effect on its hosts. Another aspect I learned and found interesting was the behaviors the virus took on in order to survive, regarding how it would transfer to different species until it could thrive in its ideal host. Although the reality of the situation in Western Africa still remains very grim in the face of this epidemic, the science behind it is still very much complex and intriguing.

Source: Maron, Dina Fine. "Ebola’s West African Rampage Was Likely Bolstered by a Mutation." Scientific American. Nature America Inc., 3 Nov. 2016. Web.

Identifying How Radiation Causes Cancer in DNA Sequence.

Biology Blog

 Majhor Cheel

11/1/16

Identifying How Radiation Causes Cancer in DNA Sequence.

            Researchers for the first time are identifying the part in a DNA genome sequence that is affected by radiation. The findings and specifics of cancer causing mutations have never been identified really until recently by a team of scientists in Wellcom Trust Sanger Institute. Cancer cells and tumors are abnormally growing cells that have some sort of mutation that allows them to become uncontrolled growth. DNA is the main regulator of all cellular life. From what and how tumor cells arise has been an ongoing research.

            The researchers from their finding from comparing caner cells with other tumors have found that the DNA sequence in where they are changed. It seems that their findings have found a match in the same spot. They concluded that from the different cells that were mutated they found the same signatures in genome. The way a mutation In DNA from x-rays can occur by high energy wavelengths rotating a piece of DNA to a different orientation that can cause the misreading of the cell to produce different proteins that are different from the intended protein. High-energy radiation can also delete sequences or cause balanced inversion. Balance inversion is when DNA is cut into two three pieces and the middle piece rotates backwards then gets reconnected.

            Professor Adrienne Flanagan, a collaborating cancer researcher from University College London and Royal National Orthopaedic hospital, said: "This is the first time that scientists have been able to define the damage caused to DNA by ionising radiation. These mutational signatures could be a diagnosis tool for both individual cases, and for groups of cancers, and could help us find out which cancers are caused by radiation. Once we have better understanding of this, we can study whether they should be treated the same or differently to other cancers."

            Reading this article gives hope for the ongoing research of cancer and gives new light to how might the future of cancer treatment can become. We are one step closer to curing an big problem.

Source-

http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2016/09/12/study_reveals_how_ionising_radiation_damages_dna_and_causes_cancer.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+biologynews%2Fheadlines+%28Biology+News+Net%29

           

Artificial Intelligence Expedites Breast Cancer Prediction

            A team of researchers led by Wong and Jenny C. Chang, M.D created an artificial intelligence software that scans patient’s medical charts and mammograms, interprets it, and accurately predicts if the patient needs a breast biopsy.

            Currently, women are tested thru mammograms for breast cancer with 50% yield of false positives. This leads to numerous erroneous diagnoses and unnecessary breast biopsies. Not to mention the emotional distress on patients. The new software has an accuracy of 99% and is 30 times faster than human doctors. 

            This new technology means faster and more accurate results. Doctors would benefit greatly from having the help from this AI software. All fields of study benefit greatly with the help of computers and machines to process information faster and more accurately than the human brain. This development is exciting for the medical field, especially in the field of diagnostics. Enabling physicians to enter the data from patients charts into a software that accurately diagnoses patients should be the future of medical practice.

            Personally, I want to go into Physician Assistant school and work with plastic surgeons. Lately, I have had the chance to shadow plastic surgeons and I met quite a few breast cancer patients. After witnessing first-hand how traumatic the experience can be, I believe our society would benefit greatly of more tools such as this software that increases accuracy and speed which diagnoses are given. This is an amazing medical development.

Post by SRH.

Hair Testing for Drug Use- Michael Maestas

I read the article “Hair Testing for Drug use gains Traction: Critics say the practice, which may lead to possible racial bias, has outpaced the science” on the Scientific American website. This article written by Leah Samuel, a reporter in Chicago, is about the focus that many employment offices are taking on the drug tests their employers are participating in. many use the saliva test but now, the hair test is being used to get an             “Accurate” response to know if the individual being tested is a user of illegal substances or not.

Have you ever been tested for drugs as part of the interview process for a job? The tests that are normally done are very noninvasive, but that may change as more and more federal employers are begging to use hair follicles for drug tests. The process of this type of drug test is fairly simple but has some pros and cons to it. The individual being tested needs about a cotton ball size of hair if it is curly, or at least 120 strands of hair in order for the test to be properly done.

Right now there is a case waiting for a ruling at the federal Court of appeals to know if this type of testing is racially discriminating towards individuals. This topic easily comes up based on studies they have done in what type of analysis is received from the types and color of hair. Individuals with lighter hair and lower melanin have less of a chance of than individuals with darker hair and more melanin in finding the use of drugs in their system. Studies show that even though an individual may not have done illegal drugs, they can have it in their system from being around the substance. The smoke within the area will attach to their hair follicles and will give them a permanent positive on the tests “Employers are interested in hair testing as a kind of lifestyle test,” said Barry Sample, a pharmacologist and head of science and technology for Quest. I can see how this can be considered a lifestyle test, if an employee tests positive for drugs but has never done them personally, the employer will know the type of individuals the employee surrounds his/herself with.

There was a case, where six officers from the Boston Police department were fired because there were traces of cocaine in their hair. Having a job like an officer, they are constantly around illegal substances, and there is that possibility that they tested positive because they were in an enclosed area where it was being used and it entered into their blood system which makes the test give a positive for their results. This test can be great in many ways, but until they find a way to do it to make it more accurate, then it shouldn’t be used.