Robots may be Used for Blood Draws or the Placement of IV Lines

Blood collection may soon be automated! The world's first automated venipuncture medical device has been developed by a team of researchers from VascuLogic, LLC. The new medical device can perform the phlebotomy procedure with ease, either for blood draws or the placement of IV lines.
The device was found to have greater than 95% first stick accuracy, and performed better when compared to human phlebotomists. It enables faster blood drawing with accuracy. Difficult venous access is a common problem worldwide; multiple punctures is responsible for patient discomfort. This is particularly troublesome in case of children: 82% of pediatric population suffer from trypanophobia, the fear of needles. Multiple needle sticks are associated with increased pain, loss of time, and increased patient and parent anxiety. 

The new device can detect and perform the venipuncture usually in one stick and with great accuracy; it relies on detailed and high quality images of the vein and its surrounding area. Improved technology with ultrasound and 3D reconstruction of the vein has reduced the need of multiple attempts during venipuncture. 

"We are encouraged by the autonomous device as it demonstrates a solution to alleviate the anxiety both parents and children experience with a phlebotomy procedure," said Tim Maguire, Ph.D, the CEO of VascuLogic. "For children and their families having to bear difficult or multiple needle sticks, the fear of a visit to their doctor is very real. Therefore, any peace of mind we can provide, particularly when a child is fearful or needs ongoing venous access, would be of tremendous benefit." 

The innovation, though originally developed for pediatric hospitals, can also be applied to adult patients too by using appropriate gauge needles. 

The news is indeed promising; the new technology can revolutionize phlebotomy by providing safer, faster and more accurate venous access than manual method. But how long will it take to reach every nook and corner of the world? Will it be actually cost effective and practical when applied to the developing world? Well, let us wait and watch! 

Reference: Portable robot for autonomous venipuncture using 3D near infrared image guidance; Alvin Chen et a; Technology 

 

Discovery May Pave Way for New Osteoporosis Drugs

A potent stimulator of new bone growth has been discovered by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis scientists. The finding could lead to new treatments for osteoporosis and other diseases that occur when the body doesn't make enough bone.Osteoporosis affects 55 percent of Americans age 50 and older. Of that age group, one in three women and one in 12 men are believed to have osteoporosis, a condition responsible for millions of fractures each year, mostly involving the hips, wrist or lower back vertebrae. 

"We have been looking for new ways to stimulate bone formation," said principal investigator Fanxin Long, PhD. "The tools we already have are very good at slowing the breakdown of bone, but we need better ways to stimulate new bone growth." 

Studying mice, Long focused on a pathway involved in bone formation. The so-called WNT proteins carry messages into cells and regulate embryonic and adult tissue in mammals, including humans. The WNT proteins enter cells from the outside and then can activate multiple pathways inside those cells. 

Long''s team reports Jan. 30 in the journal PLOS Genetics that a specific member of the WNT family of proteins dramatically enhances bone formation, and it works through a mechanism that has not been well-studied in bone before. 

It''s called the mTOR pathway, and it interprets a cell''s surrounding environment, and nutritional and energy status. 

"By analyzing that information, mTOR can determine whether a cell should go into a mode to make lots of stuff, like proteins or, in this case, new bone," explained Long, a professor of orthopaedic surgery. "Bone formation is an energetically expensive process, so it makes sense that some regulator would tell a cell whether there is sufficient energy and material to manufacture new bone." 

Long and his colleagues studied mice that made either normal levels or an extra amount of WNT proteins. They found that a particular WNT protein, WNT7B, is a potent stimulator of bone formation in mice. Mice engineered to make additional WNT7B manufactured new bone at much higher rates than normal mice. 

The researchers also found that the protein created more bone by greatly increasing the number of bone-manufacturing cells in the mice. Our bones are in a constant state of flux as the number of bone-making (osteoblast) cells fluctuates, while the number of bone-degrading (osteoclast) cells also adjusts. 

The WNT7B protein had no effect on the total activity of bone-degrading osteoclasts but substantially increased the number of bone-building osteoblast cells. And it did so by stimulating the mTOR pathway. 

"It''s still early, but our finding seems to point out that activating the mTOR pathway may be a good way to stimulate bone growth," said Long, also a professor of medicine and of developmental biology. "This is a new twist because much of the current focus in mTOR-related drug development has been on compounds that inhibit the pathway to shut down cancer cells." 

Drugs that inhibit the mTOR pathway also are used to suppress the immune response in patients undergoing organ transplants. Interestingly, bone problems are common in those patients. 

"Many develop bone problems within a few months of receiving transplants because of the heavy doses of immunosuppressors they receive," Long explained. "Scientists have not looked carefully at how drugs used to prevent organ rejection can have a detrimental effect on bone, but our study would suggest that if those drugs inhibit mTOR, they could disrupt bone formation." 

Next, Long plans to look more deeply at the mechanism through which the WNT proteins instruct bone cells to activate mTOR and stimulate bone growth. His goal is to learn what happens farther along in that pathway to create new bone. If more specific targets can be identified in the bone-formation process, drugs potentially could be developed to stimulate bone formation in people with osteoporosis without causing unwanted side effects. 

Funding for this research comes from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). 
Source:PLOS Genetics
 

Dutch Cities Strive to Decriminalise Cannabis Cultivation

While the cultivation of cannabis in Dutch cities is still illegal, despite of it being available in licensed coffee shops, Dutch cities have now called for the government to decriminalise the same.

 Eight of the Netherlands' 10 biggest cities, including Amsterdam and Rotterdam, signed a manifesto in central city Utrecht calling for "creating a national system of certified and regulated cannabis cultivation," they said in a statement. 

Although cannabis is technically still illegal in the Netherlands, the country in 1976 decriminalised possession of less than five grammes (around a sixth of an ounce) and it is widely available over the counter in coffee shops. 

However, growing and selling any quantity over five grammes is illegal, meaning the cultivation and wholesale of cannabis is in the hands of organised crime. 

Critics say government policy is hypocritical because it obliges coffee shop owners to buy their supplies from criminals. 

The government reaps hundreds of thousands of euros (dollars) a year in taxes from coffee shops, Dutch media reported. 

The Dutch finance ministry told AFP that it could not say how much money it made from licenced coffee shops. 

"We want cannabis cultivation to be regulated so the national market is manageable and more transparent, and to decrease the influence of organised crime," said the manifesto, signed by 35 municipal councils. 

"Organised crime supplies the coffee shops," it said. 

The manifesto, entitled "Joint Regulation" and supported by renowned Dutch politician and former defence minister Frits Bolkestein, also calls for better quality control of cannabis and safety norms for decriminalised weed plantations. 

"Virtually all illegal plantations are fire risks," the cities said, citing a report saying that a quarter of fires in Dutch urban areas are connected to the lighting and electrics of illegal cannabis plantations. 

The seat of government, The Hague, and Almere, east of Amsterdam, are the only big cities not to have signed the manifesto. 

Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten rejected the proposals: "I really don't think this is the solution," the Liberal minister told Dutch public television. 

"Mayors just have to learn to live with it," he said. 

He said that the proposed measures would not resolve the problem, claiming that around 80 percent of cannabis grown in the Netherlands is for export. 

Opstelten has offered to help municipalities to resolve problems of criminality related to cannabis in a different way, notably with more police. 

The minister has previously said that international treaties would prevent the government getting involved in cannabis cultivation in any way. 

The town councils noted that Uruguay last year became the first country to oversee the production and sale of marijuana, while US states Colorado and Washington in January legalised recreational cannabis shops.

 Source: AFP

Functional Cure of HIV/AIDS: International HIV/AIDS Symposium in India

From the time it was variously called "gay cancer" or gay related immunodeficiency (GRID) or community acquired immune dysfunction to its identification and establishment as one of the most feared and controversial diseases in modern history, the HIV/AIDS drama as it gradually unfolded and the current challenges in AIDS management were discussed in the inaugural session of the second International Science Symposium on HIV and Infectious Diseases in Chennai, South India (HIV SCIENCE 2014) organized by YRG CARE India.In her keynote address Prof François Barré-Sinoussi, Nobel Prize winner in Medicine-2008 for HIV discovery, President, International AIDS Society, Geneva, Director Regulation of Retroviral Infections Division, Institut Pasteur, France, elaborated on the journey from HIV discovery to HIV cure. She explained the evolution of technologies of research on retroviruses and how clinicians mobilized the retrovirologists at the Intituit Pasteur to arrive at the first report of LAV (lymphadenopathy-associated virus) in Science in May 20th 1983. 

Then began the crucial phase of convincing the scientific community and public authorities that LAV was the etiological agent of AIDS which had to be done on a war footing to identify the disease quickly and prevent its spread. Between 1984 and '85 collaboration with Sanofi Diagnostics Pasteur for production of viral antigens on site, saw a progression with first generation ELISA test and first generation Western Blot test.  

Prof Barré-Sinoussi outlined the challenging task of cloning and sequencing of HIV-1 genome at that time and how the dawn of a new era started with combined ART therapy. Listing the current updates on HIV research and the promises of a functional cure of HIV, the Nobel laureate summed up the 30 years of HIV/AIDS journey as a great example of translational research. 

What we need today in the search for a realistic "functional cure" for HIV/AIDS that promises life-long remission after stopping therapy or long term health with ART are novel, creative ideas, multi disciplinary collaboration partnerships between private and public sectors, international coordination and funding. Among the 35.5 million people living with HIV (PLWH) only 9.7 million are on ART therapy and there are an increasing number of patients in need of costly 2nd line and 3rd line regimen. 

Dr Jack Whitescarver, Director, Office of AIDS research National Institute of Health USA, gave the audience an insight into the initial challenges that the scientific community faced in the early 1980's when very young men were diagnosed with Pneumocytis Pneumonia Carinii (PCP), generally found only in people with seriously compromised immune systems. While the disease was yet unidentified it was thought to be the result of some infectious organism or something that went seriously wrong with the immune system. What was more frightening was the ghastly appearance of the patients as if they were starved for months and they were dying for unknown reasons and that was scary. 

Encouraging young scientists to think out of the box and continue to ask questions, however weird, Dr. Whitescarver said some of the initial guesses before HIV was discovered, were that it could be from a sort of fungus and one clinician even guessed "it could be from dogs because gay men sleep with their dogs!"  First cases were spotted among gay menHaitians and hemophiliacs, but the scenario changed with heterosexual infections and prompted a state of emergency to quickly diagnose the disease and find a cure. 

Highlighting HIV/AIDS research and treatment in India, Dr. Suniti Solomon Founder-director YRG CARE who documented the first evidence of HIV infection in India in 1986, said the legal system in India that labels homosexuality a criminal offence sends the most vulnerable group into hiding, seriously hampering health intervention for HIV/AIDS. 

Challenges in AIDS management that are India-specific revolve around socio-cultural issues such as marriage, fertility pressure and stigma. Very often parents of a homosexual person hide his sexual orientation, sometimes, even the fact that he is HIV infected and force him into marriage with an unsuspecting girl thus paving the way for heterosexual infection. A woman is often pressurized into having a baby as soon possible after marriage and even if she knows her husband is HIV +, the hapless woman gets pregnant to avoid the "barren woman" stigma and transmits HIV infection to the baby. 

On the brighter side, there is now the ART revolution in India where treatment for HIV is almost immediately available and there is counseling, universal precaution, advocacy, public-private partnerships, slight increase in proper sex education to teenagers and most importantly ethical guidelines in research were firmly established after AIDS was found in India. 

The inaugural session was followed by a community training workshop on HIV cure: the basic facts and future direction. Interactions between participants and experts in the field were encouraged through question and answer sessions and a series of panel discussion and scientific paper presentations are scheduled for the next couple of days. Accepted abstracts will be published in the   PubMed indexed journal, BMC Infectious Diseases. 

The symposium attended by over 500 delegates from around the world is scheduled from 30th January - 1st February, 2014 organized by YRG CARE, India. Though we are now in the era of eradication, a lot of unanswered questions remain, in terms of HIV/AIDS eradication and cure. The symposium invites young researchers to think out of the box and come up with fresh ideas to take HIV/AIDS research to the next level to find a permanent cure and  maybe even an eradication of the dreaded HIV/AIDS. 

 

Protein Modifies Thyroid Hormone Levels According to Body Temperature: Research

The thyroid hormone thyroxine, which controls our day-to-day activity and was previously believed to remain at a constant level in the blood. 

It actually fluctuates as a result of a protein which modifies the release of the hormone depending on body temperature, new research reveals.The research was published today, 29 January, in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.The hormone thyroxine regulates metabolism in all mammals, including humans. If there is too much, it leads to hyperactivity, and if there is too little, it leads to dormancy. This essential hormone is carried and stored in the blood by the protein thyroxine-binding globulin (TBG). 

It was previously thought that the levels of the hormone remained constant. However, the new research, led by Robin Carrell, Emeritus Professor of Haematology at the University of Cambridge, found that when the body's temperature rises, TBG's affinity for thyroxine decreases, resulting in an increase of the available hormone and a subsequent increase in metabolism. If the body temperature drops, such as when an animal goes into hibernation, TBG's affinity for thyroxine increases, resulting in a decrease in the availability of the hormone and a decrease in metabolism.The findings provide insight into the changes that occur during fevers, when the body accelerates its metabolism to counter infection and inflammation. 

The research shows that TBG has an inbuilt booster which gives a surge in thyroxine release as the body temperature rises above 37ºC. The study found that a body temperature of 39ºC will result in a 23 per cent increase in concentration of thyroxine levels in the blood - temporarily moving into the range seen in patients with hyperthyroidism. Professor Carrell said: "The effect of temperature on thyroxine levels has been largely overlooked because most measurements of the hormone are carried out when the blood is at room temperature. As a result, blood samples taken from hypothermia or heatstroke patients, or from an infant with fever, would not show the change of free thyroxine in the blood. We are excited by our findings as they are directly relevant to better understanding fevers, which, although beneficial, can pose problems, especially to young children."

Evidence of the significance of this surge in thyroxine during fevers is demonstrated in a unique way - an environmental adaptation in the aboriginal Australian. The researchers discovered that a genetic modification in aboriginal Australians recalibrates the TBG protein's effect during fevers and so will cancel the fever-induced boost in metabolism.

The researchers believe that whilst being advantageous as a defence mechanism in temperate climates, such an increase will be a potential disadvantage in the arid climate of central Australia. There the historic survival risk has been not so much the infection itself, but rather the dehydration and heat exhaustion that accompany dysentery and other common illnesses in childhood. The two genetic mutations have become incorporated in the DNA of some 40% of West Australian aboriginals, to give a halving of the surge in metabolic activity that would otherwise take place in fevers.The research also sheds light on infant febrile seizures - convulsive episodes that often accompany the spiking fevers during early childhood. 

Although not typically life threatening, these seizures, which can occur in young babies, can be a terrifying experience for parents. The researchers believe that part of the reason these seizures may occur is because the brain is especially sensitive to thyroxine - rises in thyroxine result in increased brain activity, hyper-excitability and, in the extreme, convulsive seizures. The occurrence of the last in response to increased thyroxine can now be seen to have direct implications for the previously inexplicable febrile seizures which cease as soon as the infant's body is cooled. Additionally, the scientists believe their discovery helps explain the euphoric feeling some people experience after spending time in a sauna or hot-tub. 

Professor Carrell added: "In everyday life, the accelerated release of thyroxine that will take place as the body core temperature rises to 39ºC in a sauna or hot-tub will contribute to an enhancement of the activity of body and mind: to the euphoria and to the occasional Eureka! Old figures of speech - 'hot headedness' and 'fevered imagination' - can now be seen to have a basis in science."
Source: journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B
 

Thyroid Cancer Cells Become Less Aggressive in Outer Space

For people who think that space exploration offers no tangible benefits for those of us on earth, a new research involving thyroid cancer may prove otherwise.In a new report appearing in the February 2014 issue of The FASEB Journal, researchers from Germany and Denmark show that some tumors which are aggressive on earth are considerably less aggressive in microgravity. By understanding the genetic and cellular processes that occur in space, scientists may be able to develop treatments that accomplish the same thing on earth. 
"Research in space or under simulated microgravity using ground-based facilities helps us in many ways to understand the complex processes of life and this study is the first step toward the understanding of the mechanisms of cancer growth inhibition in microgravity," said Daniela Gabriele Grimm, M.D., a researcher involved in the work from the Department of Biomedicine, Pharmacology at Aarhus University in Aarhus, Denmark. "Ultimately, we hope to find new cellular targets, leading to the development of new anti-cancer drugs which might help to treat those tumors that prove to be non-responsive to the currently employed agents." 
To make their discovery, Grimm and colleagues used the Science in Microgravity Box (SIMBOX) experimental facility aboard Shenzhou-8, which was launched on October 31, 2011. Cell feeding was automatically performed in space on day five and automated cell fixation was conducted on day 10. Inflight control was achieved by using a centrifuge in space. On November 17, 2011, Shenzhou-8 landed and the experimental samples were analyzed. Additional cells were analyzed using a random positioning machine which aims to achieve simulated microgravity conditions on the ground by rotating a sample around two axes operated in a random real direction mode. Both cell types were investigated with respect to their gene expression and secretion profiles, employing modern molecular biological techniques, such as whole genome microarrays and multi-analyte profiling. Results suggested that the expression of genes indicating a high malignancy in cancer cells may be down-regulated under altered gravitational stimulation. 
We are just at the beginning of a new field of medicine that studies the effects of microgravity on cell and molecular pathology. Space flight affects our bodies, both for good and bad," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. "We've known that microgravity can cause some microorganisms to become more virulent and that prolonged microgravity has negative effects on the human body. Now, we learn that it's not all bad news: what we learn from cells in space should help us understand and treat malignant tumors on the ground."  

Source:The FASEB Journal

Study Finds Hempseed Oil Packed With Health-Promoting Compounds

Cannabis is making a comeback, not just as a source of fiber for textiles, but also as a crop packed with oils that have potential health benefits.
Cannabis is long stigmatized because of its "high"-inducing cousins, hemp derived from low-hallucinogenic varieties. A new study, which appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, details just how many healthful compounds hempseed oil contains. 

Maria Angeles Fernández-Arche and colleagues note that for millennia, people around the world cultivated cannabis for textiles, medicine and food. Hemp has high levels of vitamins A, C and E and beta carotene, and it is rich in protein, carbohydrates, minerals and fiber. In the early 20th century, many countries banned cannabis because some varieties contain large amounts of the high-inducing compound THC. And although Colorado recently legalized recreational marijuana use — and some states have passed medical marijuana laws — the drug remains illegal according to U.S. federal law. But the European Union has legalized growing low-THC versions of hemp, and it's making its way back into fabrics and paper. With increasing interest in plant oils as a source of healthful compounds, Fernández-Arche's team wanted to investigate hempseed oil's potential. 

They did a detailed analysis of a portion of hempseed oil. They found it has a variety of interesting substances, such as sterols, aliphatic alcohols and linolenic acids, that research suggests promote good health. For example, it contains α-linolenic acid, which is an omega-3 fatty acid that some studies suggest helps prevent coronary heart disease. The findings could have implications in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, food and non-food industries, they state. 

  Source: ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry,