Science Quick Picks » Health and Science

Is Bioprinting the Pathway to Human Cloning?

Guest Blogger — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 10:05:45 +0000

Bioprinting uses a 3D printing device with biological material to create objects; such as replacement human organs. Scientists have already succeeded in printing skin and vertebral tissues, these two experiments have been tested on animals; like the ear growing out of the rats back scenario. However they are still yet to completely master replicating organs… turns out getting the internal vascular systems are a tad tricky!

So with the ever-changing world around us, I don’t think anybody would have predicted the possibility of actually being able to ‘make’ humans. Of course there has been a way found to create functional organs; therefore a scientists ‘logical’ second step is creating a fully functioning human! According to Vladimir Mironov, it is a “logical extension’’!

The idea is to learn how to produce individual limbs and body parts; subsequently building a whole body. The prospect of printing humans is that they can be created at specific ages using the various stems cells, erasing any need for puberty. Mironov believes that the hurdle will present itself when it comes to tackling the human brain as we will probably never understand it’s functions 100%.The idea behind this evolution is that human beings can be made and printed on demand, whether this defies the natural way life is a personal and separate debate; but we cannot deny that it is ultimately brilliant.

So is this a good idea!? It is clear that Bioprinting can and probably will lead to human cloning but is it really ethical!? The humans will be clones and not actually real people, therefore the strange and quite disturbing aspect (especially for those who knew the original human) is that they will look the same, but won’t be the same. And that is what I ponder on… how will the personalities differ? Will it have a personality!? There I just said the word myself… ‘It’.

The cloning of Dolly the Lamb was, yes a brilliant experiment. However Dolly died early… whether this is a result of cloning it was never proven, however this factor must be taken into consideration. Another issue is that Dolly was the only successful embryo to be created out of 300; a very low ratio causing a great loss of money through experiments… this will ultimately cost so much more for human experimentation.

So this phenomena really would alter the natural way of life, without producing life the ‘proper way’, what are we really here for!? The aspect of the grieving wishing to bring back loved ones, creating an empty shell of a body that simply resembles your loved one? Bizarre.

This article was written by London printing company, PrintExpress.co.uk; for business cards, magazines, brochures and other bespoke printing services.

Is Bioprinting the Pathway to Human Cloning? is a post from Science Quick Picks, a blog dedicated to the world of Science.

Proton Therapy

Guest Blogger — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 09:34:29 +0000

For certain types of cancer, standard X-ray radiation therapy may work well; but proton therapy may do the job better, more efficiently and with less potential for collateral damage to surrounding tissue and vital organs.

Also known as particle therapy, proton therapy works to kill certain types of cancerous tissue, especially in places in the body where the growth is isolated. Developed from the workings of scientist Robert R. Wilson, a noted physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project, proton therapy was in its mere infancy in the mid-1940s. Since that time, this cutting edge therapy has come to light as an effective way to isolate an abnormal growth, which is ideal for the treatment of many types of cancers that lie adjacent to vital organs, as well as in treating childhood cancers where it is protecting a child’s growing organs is critical.

Though X-ray therapy for cancer patients can be effective in expelling certain cancers, it can also create negative effects that leave the patient with other problems and side effects with which they must contend. Since X-ray radiation therapy affects a wider overall portion area of the body beyond the cancerous growth, this type of therapy is prone to spreading its radiation over a wider scope of a patient’s body during treatment, potentially damaging nearby, healthy tissue. Those administering X-ray radiation therapy are often left with the conflicting choice of whether to use an intense dosage of radiation to eradicate the body of the malignant growth, or to withhold the dosage to try to preserve the body’s healthy tissue.

No such conflict exists in proton therapy, which has a proven track record of effectively killing cancerous tissue. Patients suffering from brain cancers like meningioma, eye cancers like retinoblastoma and ocular melanoma, and spine tumors like chondrosarcoma, and prostate cancer have benefited from proton therapy. All of these cancers are in critical locations with delicate tissue surrounding the cancerous growth or vital organs lie nearby.

With over 200,000 men in the United States diagnosed with prostate cancer each year, the development and growing availability of proton therapy has made great strides to allay the anxiety that comes with such a diagnosis for men.

Though this type of cancer treatment can be costly – it’s expensive to build the necessary particle accelerator to speed up the protons – and there is a limited number facilities that provide such cancer eradicating therapy, the value of peace of mind for those who suffer from prostate cancer, as well as other cancers, it is well worth the effort, and is covered by insurance carriers. One facility that provides such treatment is IU Health Proton Therapy, a center in the Midwest.

The treatment sessions are relatively easy for the patient and cause few to no lingering side effects since proton therapy does not damage healthy tissue. This outpatient treatment takes place for a few minutes each day of treatment and goes on for approximately six to seven weeks. I may seem odd that a cancer treatment could be that quick, but it also gives hope to those looking for alternative cancer treatments.

Matt Herndon writes for Dose of My Own, a blog that discusses what’s happening in the medical field.

Proton Therapy is a post from Science Quick Picks, a blog dedicated to the world of Science.

Gamma Knife Radiosurgery

Guest Blogger — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 18:26:40 +0000

This a guest post by Amanda who is a writer and blogger living in San Diego, CA. She writes on behalf of the San Diego Gamma Knife Surgery Center, and through this article, she hopes to spread the word about the benefits of Gamma Knife surgery for the treatment of brain tumors.

Brain tumors are a serious matter that affect more than 200,000 people in the U.S. every year. However, brain tumors do not discriminate against age or gender. Though brain tumors usually affect adults over 35 years of age, even children can get them. Although not all brain tumors are cancerous, benign tumors can still be life threatening which is why early detection and treatment is essential. Advances in technology have helped not only in the detection of brain tumors, but also to facilitate the creation of alternative brain tumor treatments that are non-invasive with little to no side effects. One such treatment, Gamma Knife radiosurgery, is becoming the most supported treatment for brain tumors and trigeminal neuralgia. Here is a look at how the Gamma Knife works.

Previous treatments for brain tumors often consisted of surgical resection of the tumor, or through the use of chemotherapy drugs which can have damaging side effects. However, Gamma Knife radiosurgery is a non-invasive brain surgery which allows many patients to be treated who would not have normally been able to survive an open brain surgery. Many of the common risks of brain surgery are reduced or completely eliminated, and the patient only needs one effective single session treatment. Long term studies have not shown that treating brain tumors with a gamma knife is unsafe or has any harmful side effects.

However, the Gamma Knife is not really a knife at all. Despite it’s name, the Gamma Knife is actually a non-invasive neurosurgical procedure that uses high doses of gamma radiation while leaving surrounding tissue intact. This type of stereotactic radiation, allows the beams of radiation to be focused on the tumor with extreme accuracy, thereby reducing the damage to healthy tissues. This method can be used in conjunction with surgical resection, to help improve the odds of survival for the patient.

Over 500,000 people have been treated with the Gamma Knife surgery and it is becoming the most widely used and accepting radiosurgery treatments in the world. Since it usually costs half that of open brain surgery and is often fully reimbursed by insurance, it is also considered one of the most financially cost effective treatments available as well.

The Gamma Knife is the only radiation therapy system approved by the FDA (Food & Drug Administration) for irradiating brain metastases and there have been 2,500 peer reviewed clinical papers supporting Gamma Knife Radiosurgery for the treatment of brain tumors. Additionally, there are currently about 125 Gamma Knife Centers in the US, making it more widely available throughout the country.

Some of the advantages of Gamma Knife Radiosurgery are:

The Gamma Knife tools are designed specifically for surgeries conducted on the brain.
The accuracy of the Gamma Knife prevents damage to nearby tissues in the brain.
With a success rate of about 90%, the gamma knife radiosurgery has proven to be the most effective treatment for brain tumors and trigeminal neuralgia.
Compared to other brain surgeries, Gamma Knife Radiosurgery is a more cost effective treatment.
There is little pain or discomfort and the patient is not required to use general anesthesia, reducing the risk of some medical complications.
Since the Gamma Knife tools does not make any incision, there is no chance of hemorrhage or infection.
Hospitalization is very short and usually the patient can leave the hospital within five hours to resume their normal daily activities.
The gamma knife offers treatment options to patients who were once diagnosed as untreatable without having open skull surgery.

Gamma Knife Radiosurgery is most effective for the following conditions:

Intracranial tumors such as acoustic neuromas, pituitary adenomas, pinealomas, craniopharyngiomas, meningiomas, chordomas, chondrosarcomas, metastases and glial tumors.
Vascular malformations including arteriovenous malformations.
Functional disorders such as trigeminal neuralgia and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

There are some risks associated with Gamma Knife surgery despite being seen as the safest, most effective treatment for brain tumors and AVMs. There are usually no immediate side effects of Gamma Knife surgery other than mild nausea or headache related to the application and removal of the guiding device. As with many new procedures, there is a possibility of delayed transient or persistent side effects, around 3 to 18 months after treatment, depending on the size and location of the tumor or AVM. Those side effects include problems such as numbness, weakness, imbalance, hearing loss, and worsening of vision. Nonetheless, the largest concern for patients is usually only the anxiety and nervousness leading up to the radiosurgery.

Gamma Knife Radiosurgery is a post from Science Quick Picks, a blog dedicated to the world of Science.

New Fluorescent Silicon Nanoparticles

Jorge Goncalves — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:39:53 +0000

University of Leicester researchers discover new fluorescent silicon nanoparticles. Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leicester have developed a new synthesis method, which has led them to the discovery of fluorescent silicon nanoparticles and may ultimately help track the uptake of drugs by the body’s cells.

Dr Klaus von Haeften explained: “A key advantage of the new method is the independent control of the nanoparticles’ size and their surface properties. The method is extremely versatile and produces the fluorescent suspensions in one go. The findings may revolutionise the performance of electronic chips while satisfying the increasing demand for higher integration densities.”

The nanoparticles contain just a few hundred silicon atoms and their fluorescence were discovered after mixing them with water. This resulted in stability in fluorescence intensity over more than a three month period.

New Fluorescent Silicon Nanoparticles is a post from Science Quick Picks, a blog dedicated to the world of Science.

Enviro-Health Links – 2009 H1N1 Flu

Jorge Goncalves — Mon, 11 May 2009 22:11:21 +0000

Enviro-Health Links – 2009 H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu) is a huge collection of links to H1N1 Flu related materials. These links are presented in several categories like Federal and Local Response, International Resources, Guidance for Professionals, Maps, News, Twitter, Webcasts, Information from the National Library of Medicine (drugs information, consumer health information, biomedical journal literature, influenza virus sequence database), Veterinary Resources and Full text Journals and Books.

This valuable collection of links was compiled by the Specialized Information Services (SIS) of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM).

Enviro-Health Links – 2009 H1N1 Flu is a post from Science Quick Picks, a blog dedicated to the world of Science.

Christine Laine Named Editor of Annals of Internal Medicine

Jorge Goncalves — Thu, 07 May 2009 11:12:25 +0000

The American College of Physicians (ACP) has named Christine Laine editor of its flagship journal, Annals of Internal Medicine. A former vice president and senior deputy editor of Annals, Christine Laine succeeds Harold C. Sox who will retire in July.

The Annals of Internal Medicine New Editor is the youngest editor in the history of Annals of Internal Medicine and brings a unique perspective to the journal. She plans to continue the tradition of excellence established by her predecessors, while striving to chart new and innovative courses that will help to make the journal invaluable to general internists and subspecialists alike.

Christine Laine, a widely respected name in the field of medical journalism, is Secretariat for the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, the Vice President of the Council of Science Editors, and a member of the Ethics Committee of the World Association of Medical Editors. She is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Internal Medicine at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia where she continues to teach and see patients.

Established in 1927 by the American College of Physicians (ACP), the Annals of Internal Medicine is the leading journal for studies in internal medicine. The purpose of the journal is to promote excellence in the clinical practice of internal medicine. Annals of Internal Medicine is one of the most widely cited peer-reviewed medical journals in the world. The journal accepts only 7 percent of the original research studies submitted for publication.

Christine Laine Named Editor of Annals of Internal Medicine is a post from Science Quick Picks, a blog dedicated to the world of Science.

FluTracker: Tracking the Progress of H1N1 Swine Flu

Jorge Goncalves — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:19:01 +0000

FluTracker: Tracking the Progress of H1N1 Swine Flu. The map and the data behind it were compiled by Dr. Henry Niman, a biomedical researcher in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, using technology provided by Rhiza Labs and Google. The map was compiled using data from official sources, news reports and user-contributions.

FluTracker: Tracking the Progress of H1N1 Swine Flu is a post from Science Quick Picks, a blog dedicated to the world of Science.

All H1N1 Related Articles Published in PNAS Freely Available Online

Jorge Goncalves — Mon, 04 May 2009 15:08:57 +0000

Seen on Liblicense – All H1N1 (swine flu) related articles published in PNAS are now freely available online: In light of the current alert about H1N1 (swine flu) issued by the World Health Organization and the public health emergency declared by the United States government, PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) has made related research articles free online at www.pnas.org to assist with research on this topic.

Twelve research articles published within the past 6 months are now freely available online. All PNAS articles are accessible at no charge after 6 months.

All H1N1 Related Articles Published in PNAS Freely Available Online is a post from Science Quick Picks, a blog dedicated to the world of Science.

HealthMap – Global Disease Alert Map

Jorge Goncalves — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:38:07 +0000

HealthMap brings together disparate data sources to achieve a unified and comprehensive view of the current global state of infectious diseases and their effect on human and animal health. This freely available Web site integrates outbreak data of varying reliability, ranging from news sources (such as Google News) to curated personal accounts (such as ProMED) to validated official alerts (such as World Health Organization). Through an automated text processing system, the data is aggregated by disease and displayed by location for user-friendly access to the original alert. HealthMap provides a jumping-off point for real-time information on emerging infectious diseases and has particular interest for public health officials and international travelers.

Also from HealthMap: Swine flu alerts on Twitter.

HealthMap – Global Disease Alert Map is a post from Science Quick Picks, a blog dedicated to the world of Science.

NIEHS: Environmental Health Science Education

Jorge Goncalves — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:59:03 +0000

The Environmental Health Science Education website provides educators, students and scientists with easy access to reliable tools, resources and classroom materials. It seeks to invest in the future of environmental health science by increasing awareness of the link between the environment and human health.

Resources for Teachers, Students and Scientists.

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). The NIEHS is one of 27 research institutes and centers that comprise the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The mission of the NIEHS is to reduce the burden of human illness and disability by understanding how the environment influences the development and progression of human disease.

NIEHS: Environmental Health Science Education is a post from Science Quick Picks, a blog dedicated to the world of Science.

Science Quick Picks » Health and Science

Is Bioprinting the Pathway to Human Cloning?

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