"Gene mutation 'hotspots' linked to better Breast Cancer outcomes."

I choose the article, "Gene mutation 'hotspots' linked to better breast cancer outcomes." This article explained the relationship of Breast Cancer and Kataegis, a new development in cancer research. Kataegis is a group or cluster of mutations in a localized spot of a genome. Research done at the University of California School of Medicine suggests that the presence of Kataegis has some positive indications in patient outcomes. The location of Kataegis on certain chromosomes, and the presence of Kataegis are linked to longer life spans.

One of the researchers, Matteo D'Antonio, said in the article, "We think kataegis mutations are dampening the abnormal expression of neighboring genes that might otherwise contribute to tumor development and invasiveness." Kataegis in breast cancer patients could also contribute to better and more individualized treatments for patients. While there is still a lot to discover in regards to kataegis, over 170 clinical trials are in progress to better understand the role of Kataegis in breast cancer treatment. 

This article was particularly interesting to me because my paternal grandmother passed away from breast cancer fifteen years ago. Because of my family history, I am hyperaware of research that has to do with breast cancer prevention or treatment, as I could be more prone to develop this type of cancer. The positive implications of Kataegis on breast cancer patients is very encouraging and as scientists discover more about Kataegis, I hope that new ways of prevention or treatment will also be discovered. 

Caitlin McGrath

http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2016/06/30/gene_mutation_hotspots_linked_to_better_breast_cancer_outcomes.html

Human kidney progenitors isolated, offering new clues to cell renewal

Human kidney progenitors isolated, offering new clues to cell renewal

After reading through many articles, this one in particular grabbed my attention because one of my good friend's father has suffered with kidney failure most of his life receiving two kidney transplants and being on dialysis most of his adult life. In this article it discusses how researchers at The Saban Research institute of Children’s Hospital in LA have been able to isolate certain cells called Nephron Progenitor cells, or NP cells for short. These cells eventually become renal cells in the kidney, which from my understanding are cells that play a major role in filtering in the kidney. Being able to understand how progenitor cells become renal cells in a developing fetus could potentially help medical professionals provide a way to encourage renal regeneration after kidney diseases or injury.

Like neurons, nephrons can not be regenerated in the human body. The article clearly explains that a nephron is a tiny structure in the kidney that filters waste and that about five hundred thousand to one million of these nephrons are created before week 34-36 of fetal gestation. If for some reason a loss of these nephrons occurs or not enough are generated, cell repair or regeneration can not occur therefore affecting the functionality of the kidney and could lead to kidney failure.

In order to isolate the human NP cells, Scientists used RNA labeling probes to find the NP expressing SIX2 and CITED1 which are transcriptional regulators that can specify self renewing nephron progenitor cells of the embryonic kidney. Identifying theses genes could help regulation of renal development.

Laura Perin, PhD, co-director of CHLA's GOFARR Laboratory for Organ Regenerative Research and Cell Therapeutics in Urology states "In addition to defining the genetic profile of human NP, this system will facilitate studies of human kidney development, providing a novel tool for renal regeneration and bioengineering purposes.”..."This technique provides a 'how to' of human tissue during development,"

This is fascinating and if this could be perfected could ultimately change the way we distinguish medicine. Being able to harness the regenerative property of these cells in embryos could open up a door to all other types of research to use this technique to regenerate other organ cells changing current medical practices.

http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2016/09/12/human_kidney_progenitors_isolated_offering_new_clues_to_cell_renewal.html

Eating Turkey Does Not Really Make You Sleepy

In the spirit of Thanksgiving I have chosen to analyze the article “Eating Turkey Does Not Really Make You Sleepy”. As defined by the name of the article, it discusses how turkey does not make you sleepy while seeking out the real culprit of the Thanksgiving snoozes. Dr. Howard Markel of the University of Michigan explains how the amino acid called L-tryptophan, which is in fact found in high levels in turkey, does not quite have the same affects as were previously thought. He explains the common place high levels of L-tryptophan have among meats other than turkey and that in order for L-tryptophan to have the “sleepy” affect (which many believe to be naturally occurring upon the eating of turkey) one must take it on an empty stomach and without any other type of amino acid than that of L-tryptophan. 

Dr. Howard then goes on to explain some of the reasons that are most likely to be the case for people to become very tired after the annual Thanksgiving. He states that one reason most likely being due to the fact that such carbohydrate rich foods are served, this triggering the pancreas to release insulin which breaks down and utilize sugar, however the use of insulin causes the muscles in the body to utilize nearly all of the amino acids (except L-tryptophan) to provide energy, leaving a large quantity of L-tryptophan unu which then transfers to the brain creating serotonin that then becomes melatonin, creating sleepiness. Dr. Howard also states alcohol naturally creates sleepiness in those who drink it. 

I was very interested to learn the ‘real source’ of Thanksgiving sleepiness, putting the turkey tryptophan wives-tale to rest. I was also fascinated by the many components involved in a person becoming drowsy after a heavy set meal. I am still very interested in the fact that this reoccurrence of “turkey tryptophan” seems to back every year especially on the day of Thanksgiving. I was able to learn that if I would like to avoid being tired after a meal then I need to eat less high carb foods at one setting. I found it interesting in which it seemed to reiterate the fact that the food we put into our bodies vastly determines what our body will look like, how we will feel mentally/physically, and how we will see ourselves. (along with other things)    

-J.A.

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.