Tag Archives: Biology

It’s in the Blood

Posted on March 10, 2014 by | 7 comments

Breakthrough research was published on March 9th 2014 by Dr. Howard Federoff and a team of researchers in Washington DC. They developed a blood test that identifies 10 biological markers which has been shown to determine if healthy individuals will develop Alzheimer’s Disease within two or three years. This amazing stepping stone could help individuals receive treatment before developing symptoms of this horrible neurodegenerative disease.

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35 million people all over the world have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia, and this number is rising rapidly. The ripple effect of this disease touches many family members by having to care for them or put them in care-homes. Individuals with onset Alzheimer’s disease become confused, frustrated, and forgetful and eventually progress to where they cannot talk, feed, or even dress themselves. Alzheimer’s is a horrible disease affecting many innocent elderly people and hopefully in the near future, there will be tremendous progress in the treatment of Alzheimer’s; it may just start before symptoms even begin.

Visual representation of Alzheimer’s (Shuttershock)

“This is a very exciting time,” says Federoff, who leads the team. He states that the test could help patients at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and perhaps delay or even stop the progression. “We don’t really know the source of the ten molecules,” admits Federoff, but he suggests that they reflect the destruction of neurons in the brain, which ultimately leads to cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. When neurons are destroyed in the brain, they cannot come back online or be built again.

Simon Lovestone, a University of Oxford neuroscientist is also excited about the findings in this study. “We desperately need biomarkers which would allow patients to be identified – and recruited into trials – before their symptoms begin”, says Lovestone, who is also a coordinator of a European public-private partnership that searchers for new biomarkers for Alzheimer’s.

Blood Vials (Flickr: loscheiner)

Previous studies have emphasized treatment after diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, but no one has ever been completely cured. This new and important research uses blood that is easily accessible, and it has the ability to identify potential risk factors before any symptoms arise. Stopping the disease before it even happens could be an incredible advancement in this field.

Federoff highlights that larger studies must be done exploring a more diverse range of individuals including different races and ages. When these large-scale studies show positive results, perhaps early diagnoses can prevent the disease from becoming aggressive and debilitating to controlled and stable. Overall, this is very promising research that I see possibly flooding the medical field.

By Danielle Marcoux

Sources:

  • http://www.nature.com/news/biomarkers-could-predict-alzheimer-s-before-it-starts-1.14834
  • http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nm.3466.html
  • http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_what_is_alzheimers.asp
  • http://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers/publication/alzheimers-disease-medications-fact-sheet
  • http://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/guide/treatment-overview

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Posted in Biological sciences, Issues in science, Science in the news, Uncategorized

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Global Warming… and Smallpox?

Posted on March 4, 2014 by | 3 comments

    Heatwaves, droughts, freaky weather, and rising sea levels are just some of the extreme consequences we can expect as global temperatures continue to rise over the next few years. However, according to some scientists, we can add another potential disaster to that list: the introduction of new diseases.

    Researchers based in France and Russia retrieved and analyzed a 30,000 year-old permafrost core, in which was contained a sample of giant DNA viruses. These are viruses that are so big that some are visible underneath light microscopes. This giant DNA virus, which the researchers named Pithovirus sibericum, is believed to have been last active during the previous Ice Age.

The Chukotka region of Sibera, where the permafrost core was taken from. (Source: Wikipedia)

    Researchers were able to bring the sample “back to life” in the lab and believe that its protein coat was a factor in protecting it and ensuring that it could tolerate 30,000 years of being encased in permafrost.

 

    Although this virus only infects amoebas and is therefore harmless to humans, this does have grave implications for people: as permafrost begins to melt across the globe, more viruses with the same protective coating could be introduced again. Some of these viruses may in fact be able to infect humans and we may likely immunity to them (seeing as some have disappeared into the ground before Homo sapiens eventually came about).

Microscopic image of Pithovirus sibericum. (Source: Julia Bartolia and Chantal Abergel of UGS and CNRS-AMU)

    One concern expressed in the comments section is smallpox: although the last case of smallpox was in 1977, many smallpox victims of the 1800’s were buried in northern Canada, where they are encased in permafrost. As temperatures continue to rise and ice continues to melt, many of these bodies may be exposed to the surface. Could smallpox survive? Hopefully not. But in a worst-case scenario, we could see the re-emergence of smallpox and although it would be relatively brief (because of our access to vaccines), it would still be devastating to many.

    However, people must be wary of these alarmist attitudes. For example, we don’t know how likely it is that smallpox could survive. Even if it could, could it be re-animated? Pithovirus sibericum needed the help of a lab to start functioning again. So even if these viruses were exposed to the surrounding environment, could they function and infect people? The ability to infect people is an adaptation: many of these viruses would be older than us, so how would they have to ability to infect humans?

   Global warming is a frightening thought, but we don’t need to scare ourselves silly thinking about things that may be more suited for the script of a science fiction movie.

 – Nicholas MacDonald

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Posted in Biological sciences, Issues in science, Science in the news

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Marius the Giraffe: In Loving Memory

Posted on February 10, 2014 by | 6 comments

This past weekend, Marius, a healthy two-year old giraffe was shot, dissected, and fed to the lions at the Copenhagen Zoo in Denmark. A horrendous act for what? The zoo claimed it was protecting the breeding program associated with the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA). The zoo stated their actions were merited as this giraffe had genes too similar of the herd. Their reasoning was that it would increase the negative effects of inbreeding. Could the zoo or EAZA have done something to prevent the slaughtering of this perfectly healthy giraffe?

Marius the Giraffe (Imgur: hdow)

Breeding programs have been implemented in zoos world wide with a common goal to preserve global biodiversity especially for endangered or rare species. An important consideration is the genetic composition of the animals that are in captivity. If the animals are too genetically similar, inbreeding can occur and negative effects can become prominent in the population. Just like with humans, inbreeding, or incest, happens when you conceive a child with a close relative such as your cousin or your sibling. The child may have an increased mortality rate and a higher rate of being disabled. Mother nature has a way of making sure this rarely happens in the wild.

This phenomenon is called “inbreeding depression”. Offspring are more susceptible to be born with diseases and mutations resulting in decreased fitness. Fitness refers to the ability of the organism to survive and successfully produce healthy offspring. The most recent research on inbreeding depression in mammals discovered that it significantly impacts birth weight, survival, and reproduction.

Giraffes in the wild (Wikipedia)

Breeding programs, such as the one implemented by EAZA, aim to retain reproductive fitness while increasing genetic diversity, and overall growing the population. This means, they must have measures that prevent animals from becoming too genetically compromised. In the case at the Copenhagen Zoo, their standard operating procedures are elimination by death.

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CNN reports on Copenhagen Zoo’s decisions 

Many other zoos were willing to pay to take the giraffe to prevent the slaughtering. Even a petition with 20,000 signatures was not enough to stop this event from happening. EAZA’s rules and regulations do not allow other zoos to take animals that aren’t a part of their breeding program. Perhaps it is time for a review of this archaic practice.

Dissection of Marius (Imgur: Snailoid)

From an ecologist’s perspective, other options should have been considered. Why not look into cross-continent breeding programs? It would increase genetic diversity with a lower chance of inbreeding while expanding the gene pool. However, shipping animals across continents is expensive and may not be a viable option. Retrieving gametes, sperm and ova, from another population would also increase genetic diversity within that population, with a potential lower cost.

The carnage of Marius the giraffe seemed rash and other options could have been considered. What was even more disturbing was how they let the children watch the so-called educational portion of their program.

Something needs to change before another Marius fiasco ensues.

Written by Danielle Marcoux

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Posted in Biological sciences, Issues in science, Science communication, Science in the news

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