Artificial anatomy November 26, 2006
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Anatomy.2 comments
I’ve found a website highlighting the National Museum of American History’s varied collection of papier-mâché anatomical models. There is also an interesting game : we have to choose the right body parts on a model.
By the early 20th century, the study of anatomy had moved beyond the domain of medical students and doctors. Schoolchildren learned about anatomy by playing with multilayered male and female paper dolls. Inexpensive plastic anatomical models that could be assembled and painted became popular with students in the 1950s and 1960s. Students today have both the models that were available in the past and modern computer programs that can demonstrate both the structure and functions of the human body.
NEXTgencode Videos November 26, 2006
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in genetics, Invention.5 comments
Michael Crichton’s newest book is Next. It is to be published by HarperCollins on 28 November and will have a first printing of two million copies. Next investigates the future of genetic engineering. There’s a series of NEXTgencode YouTube videos online, including this one called PermaPuppy.
A catch from Genetics and Health blog.
The biggest questions ever asked November 26, 2006
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Invention, science.add a comment
To celebrate New Scientist magazine’s 50th birthday, the editors have decided to tackle the truly big questions, with the help of some of the leading lights in science.
- What is reality? By Roger Penrose
- What is life? By Robert Hazen
- Do we have free will? By Patricia Churchland
- Is the universe deterministic? By Vlatko Vedral
- What is consciousness? By Paul Broks
- Will we ever have a theory of everything? By Michio Kaku
- What happens after you die? By Mary Roach
- What comes after humans? By James Hughes
Update: these are just abstract. Subscription is required for full texts.
Online Physical Exam Teaching Assistant November 26, 2006
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Medicine.add a comment
I’ve found a site with plenty of videos on medical examinations. You can download full videos on vital signs, chest exam, abdomen exam and many more.
Guinness medical marvels November 25, 2006
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Medicine, Sciencefun.11 comments
Here are some interesting facts, records about medical extremities in the Guinness Book of Records.
- Garry Turner, of Caistor, Lincolnshire, England, stretched the skin of his stomach to a distended length of 15.8 cm. He has a rare medical condition called Elhers-Danlos Syndrome, a disorder of the connective tissues (collagens) affecting the skin, ligaments and internal organs.
- The UK’s Tony Collins holds longest wait on a hospital trolley after spending 77 hours and 30 minutes stuck outside the toilets in the Princess Margaret Hospital, Swindon, UK, between February 24 and 27, 2001.
- Peter Baulman (Australia) had a kidney stone removed from his right kidney weighing 356 g and measuring 11.86 cm
- The longest living hydrocephalic: Theresa Alvina Schaan (USA) was born on the March 17, 1941 and diagnosed with having congenital hydrocephalus. It is a condition in which there is extra cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) around the brain and spinal cord. A shunt has been inserted beneath her skull to drain the spinal fluid accumulating in her head.
- The biggest tumor ever weighed 137.6 kg and had a diameter of 1 m.
Journal of Visualized Experiments November 25, 2006
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Invention, Medicine.add a comment
Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE) is an online journal publishing visualized (video-based) biological research studies. This is a new journal with a novel never-tried-before approach for scientific publication. The first issue is due to be published on the 30th of November. You can find some featured videos here.
Making Babies Genetically Correct (part one) November 25, 2006
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in genetics.2 comments
After IVF, they remove one cell of the 6-8 cell stage and examine that searching for genetic diseases. Interesting video:
A heart outside the body November 24, 2006
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Medicine.4 comments
Naseem Hasni underwent surgery to put his heart inside his chest hours after being delivered by Caesarean section. When a baby is born with his heart outside the body, it’s called ectopia cordis.
Before the surgery, Naseem’s heart looked like a peeled plum sitting atop his pink chest, with the aorta diving back underneath the skin. Nevertheless, the heart was beating away normally.
Ectopia cordis occurs 5.5 to 7.9 times per 1 million live births, and the survival rate after surgery is less than 50 percent.No exact cause has been identified but this condition has also been seen more frequently in Turner Syndrome and Trisomy 18; however so far there is no evidence that it is a genetically transmissible disease.
See also the Ancora Imparo post about the same case.
Scientist of the Year November 24, 2006
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Medicine.2 comments
The winner of this year’s Discover’s Scientist of the Year award is Jay Keasling. His research interest is the metabolic engineering of microorganisms.
Instead of the simple manipulation of single genes, he plans to engineer many genes to work together, like transistors wired in a circuit.
In 2002, he synthesized artemisinin, a compound derived from the sweet wormwood plant, which is 90 percent effective against the parasite that causes malaria (malaria kills some 3 million people a year). His team reported that they had pieced together bacterial, yeast, and wormwood genes and converted yeast into a chemical factory, yielding artemisinic acid.
So the next step will be the mass-manufacture. Anyway, artemisinin also could be used in cancer treatment (it reduces angiogenesis in some tissue cultures).
Synthetic biology is one of the most developing subjects. Don’t forget about Keasling, we should all watch closely his work.
References:
- Artemisia Annua L.: the Hope Against Malaria and Cancer
- Research on the use of Artemisinin for cancer treatment
- Ro DK and Paradise EM et al. Production of the antimalarial drug precursor artemisinic acid in engineered yeast. Nature. (2006) 440: 940-943.
The Elephant Man and a new treatment November 23, 2006
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Medicine.3 comments
Joseph Carey Merrick (1862 – 1890), also known as “The Elephant Man” was famous for the extreme deformity of his body. He thought to be suffering from elephantiasis (the name was inspired by the “Elephant Man”), but he actually suffered from proteus syndrome, a congenital disorder that causes skin overgrowth and abnormal bone development, often accompanied by tumors on over half the body.
For proteus syndrome, there is no known cure this time, but regarding elephantiasis, there is a new hopeful treatment. Elephantiasis generally results from obstructions of the lymphatic vessels. It is most commonly caused by a parasitic disease known as lymphatic filariasis.
But, Mark Taylor (Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK) and colleagues tried doxycycline as an effective antibiotic. The parasites responsible for elephantiasis have a population of symbiotic bacteria, Wolbachia, that live inside the worm. When the symbiotic bacteria are killed by the antibiotic, the worms themselves also die.
The result: complete elimination of adult worms 14 months after treatment. It may mean a new ray of light for people suffering from filariasis induced elephantiasis. Currently, more than 120 million people are affected by lymphatic filariasis, including 25 million men who suffer from the genital swellings associated with the disease and 15 million people who suffer from severe lymphodema or elephantiasis of the leg.
