Drafts

Ultrasounds are frequently used in the medical field to examine a specific region in the body’s inside. A few purposes include diagnosing pain, infections, or to examine a baby fetus in a women’s uterus. Furthermore, the procedure to perform an ultrasound is simple and requires minimal preparation, making it favorable to practice by nurses and doctors for their patients. An ultrasound is a safe and painless process that involves a probe and an application of ultrasound gel on the skin’s surface to inspect inside the body. High frequency sound waves are then transmitted through the probe and penetrate through the gel into the body. The machine then collects the sound waves and transforms them to create an image on the screen that can be analyzed. Not only can an image be produced but the transducer can additionally show the image in real-time and capture movement in the body’s internal organs such as blood flow. Lastly, the physical features can be shown such as flexibility of tissues. These analytical features allow ultrasound machines to be efficient for monitoring and diagnosing while simultaneously being safe to operate.   

In the article “Effects of Deep Brain Stimulation in patients with Parkinson’s Disease” (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180828104023.htm) by Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, scientists found another way to mitigate the effects of the disease. Parkinson’s Disease is a disorder of the central nervous system that affects movement and causes tremors. Through deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus, which is responsible for motor processes and cognitive process such as decision making. Electrodes were used to stimulate the basal ganglia and the nerve tract that is connected. The stimulation allowed the scientists to see that there is another neural pathway that is responsible for unwanted tremors and cognitive effects. The publishing date of this article is back in August of 2018. The study that was conducted did have some important discoveries but it is still fairly new. If there is too much stimulation, it might have worse effects. Therefore, I would not recommend this intervention yet due to its novelty.

TP53 is the gene on chromosome 17 that encodes the p53 tumor suppressor protein.  Mutations in TP53 are present in 96% of high-grade serous ovarian cancer.  Many types of mutations in p53 have been characterized.  These include single base substitutions leading to missense or nonsense mutations and single base deletions or insertions leading to frameshift mutations or in-frame deletions or insertions.  80% of these mutations occur in the DNA binding domain, encoded by amino acid residues 102 to 292, leading to a loss of the ability to bind DNA and act as a transcription factor. Given the rate at which TP53 is mutated in HGSOC, it comes at no surprise that it is a hot target for therapy.  However, the wide range of TP53 mutations found in HGSOC present a major difficulty in TP53 targeted therapy because treatment must be specific for the mutation present. 

Extreme weather can worsen prenatal depression in mothers which could harm their (unborn) children. Things such as severe storms, floods, and wildfires classify as extreme weather and can leave their victims with PTSD. Since the climate is rapidly changing there is a growing threat to mental health. Scientists are exploring the idea that these symptoms caused by these natural disasters could move onto the next generation. Researchers are able to recognize that external factors can cause genetic changes in utero which are referred to as epigenetics. A scientist by the name of Patrizia Casaccia says that the effects might not be transient and could really take a toll on an entire family (mother and child). Hurricane Sandy and the California Wildfires are some examples of disasters that could have impacted unborn children and their mothers.

Today top tech companies are already in a constant race to change the way robotics are implemented into people’s everyday lives and how robotics can transform our future. Being able to explore how a robot can play an active or passive role in the learning process will allow for a better understanding and advancement of automation and mechanization of robotics. The global economy has grown an approximate of sevenfold, and technology has played an extremely large part in this growth.

The BIMROB project aims to improve the scientific foundation for better robot training, by combining intuition from both areas of motor control and learning in both humans and robots. The project utilizes interdisciplinary collaboration between scientists of both sports medicine and computer science, in which demonstrates the universities drive for cross-departmental collaboration. With ambition to yield new automated training and rehabilitation equipment, BIMROB and its researchers combine key insights of two essential research topics. The understanding of the ability of humans to learn to integrate perception and the approaches for robots to learn as well as execute precise movement. 

Mossy cells are fibers that contain unmyelinated fibers, which are found in the hypothalamus. Scientists are attempting to find if the mossy cells are linked to epilepsy. In order to do this an optic fiber was placed inside of a mouse. Mossy cells respond to light, which the scientists have control over with a switch. The deactivation of the light lead to the mice having epileptic seizures throughout the brain. The hippocampus is important for spatial recognition and for long term memory. Though there are mossy cells spread throughout the brain, the majority of the mossy cells reside in the hippocampus.

It is crucial for the selected antibodies on the liposome to work in conjunction with each other to bind to only pancreatic adenocarcinoma tumor cells. Although their respective antigens are overexpressed in tumors, they may be still present in lower concentrations in healthy cells. Therefore, the liposome would be best engineered for the antibodies to only bind to antigens when the displayed antigens are present in high enough concentrations. This threshold could be determined through titration experiments until the effective concentrations of antigens are achieved. The use of liposomal therapy also appeals to the researchers due to its adaptability and lower toxicity. In a study involving paclitaxel, the liposomal form induced fewer cardiovascular and hematologic complications than the standard form (Huang et al. 2018). Encapsulation efficiency has also been measured by injection of a doxorubicin liposomal solution into liquid chromatography (Yamamoto et al. 2018). The researchers would like to use this method to further assess liposomal drug delivery.

Triglycerides are also proposed to have an impact on the development of neuropathy. It has been hypothesized and studied that triglycerides and obesity correlate with diabetic neuropathy independent of glucose control. Smith and Singleton found that obesity and triglycerides were related to small axon loss whereas hyperglycemia was related to large fiber loss indicating that hypertriglyceridemia and obesity have an independent effect on peripheral neuropathy. Wiggin et al performed a double-blind placebo clinical trial which showed a correlation between elevated triglycerides and loss of sural nerve myelinated fiber density in diabetics with mild to moderate neuropathy.

Some further factors or ideas to consider include replacing a daily sedentary time with very light activity has been proposed to improve glucose and lipid metabolism, but does not greatly impact caloric expenditure. Also 1 hour of moderate daily physical exercise has not been shown to compensate for the negative effects of inactivity further implicating that replacing sedentary time with light activity may be beneficial. Exercise may also directly improve nerve function without the need to change metabolic syndrome. Also Trigylcerides may have a critical impact in affecting loss of small axons and nerve fiber density. A1C levels may also be linked to large fiber loss.