Egg white soap has been loved by people all over the world for more than a century. Swedish soapmakers created the original egg white soap in the early 1900s. Egg whites are known for tightening skin, creating a healthy glow, and diminishing fine lines. Lecithin, found naturally in egg whites, may actually help heal skin conditions and is recommended by some experts in the treatment of psoriasis. The egg whites in my soap are fresh, not powdered.
This wonderful soap is now formulated with kaolin clay, which is rich in minerals and is one of the mildest of all clays. It is suitable for all skin types, even those with sensitive skin. Kaolin clay helps stimulate circulation to the skin while gently cleansing, detoxifying, exfoliating and softening. Since kaolin clay does not draw oils from the skin, it can be used on dry skin without negative results. It also brings silkiness to soap, and helps retain the soap's fragrance.
This egg white soap is an essential oils only soap, with orange, lemon, tangerine and ylang ylang essential oils (see below for more information about those essential oils). The lather in this soap is rich and has a light, delicious fragrance.
You can use it as a facial and body soap. It can also be used for a facial mask by allowing a generous application of lather to rest on your skin for a few minutes before rinsing.
GARDENIA: A very light gardenia fragrance.
ROSE QUARTZ: A bright, fresh take on a traditional rose scent. Top notes of bergamot, orange zest and grapefruit open to a heart of dried rose petals and jasmine. Soft sandalwood and musk round out this crisp rose scent.
ORANGE ESSENTIAL OIL: In addition to being helpful in lifting spirits, Sweet Orange Essential Oil has been shown to promote the production of collagen, as well as increase blood flow to the skin. It is helpful in soothing dry, irritated skin, as well as acne-prone skin.
LEMON ESSENTIAL OIL: Lemon essential oil is helpful with increasing the luster of dull skin. It is astringent and detoxifying in nature, and rejuvenates sagging or tired-looking skin. Its antiseptic properties help in treating pimples and various skin disorders. Lemon is also recommended for reducing excessive oil on the skin.
TANGERINE ESSENTIAL OIL: In addition to being helpful in lifting spirits, tangerine essential oil is highly beneficial to the skin and you will find it in many high end skincare products. Tangerine essential oil helps to regulate oil and moisture balance in the skin and supports tissue regeneration, leading to more vibrant and healthy skin. It can assist in the treatment of many skin conditions, including blemishes, acne, dryness, cracking of the skin and other skin issues. Its antiseptic properties make it an ideal choice to treat acne.
YLANG YLANG ESSENTIAL OIL: This essential oil is said to help regulate the production of sebum and skin's moisture level. Its antiseptic properties make it helpful with acne prone skin. Ylang ylang also has antimicrobial properties that can help reduce skin irritation and redness.


text:
Understanding Muscular Dystrophy
Rare Yet Growing Disease Makes It Hard
To Compute Exact Numbers
There are several definitions for the compound of diseases the medical establishment has grouped and classified as muscular dystrophy. One such definition identifies them as a group of genetic diseases that cause progressive weakness and loss of muscle mass. Yet others see it as a set of inherited muscle disorders that lead to progressive weakness in the muscles that control movement. Capping it at a third definition, the literature speaks of a group of muscle diseases caused by mutations in someone's genes.
Reasonably, this panoply of definitions mirrors the motley assortment of identified dystrophies, which top at well over 30, not including subgroups, which would make the final count skyrocket. Yet, all of them share a genetically-inherited component that causes a rare mutation affecting persons of all ages. Gravity spans from very mild —day to day movement or performance is not greatly affected— to extremely crippling. These see the muscles deteriorate rapidly while an onset of physical disabilities pile on, including, but not limited to, walking, speaking, even breathing. Ultimately, severe muscular dystrophies shorten patients' lifespans.
Diagnosis can start during childhood, but it is not rare to see development during teens, tweens, and adulthood. Symptoms vary from type to type, but also from person to person: two people affected by the same diagnosis often generate disparate symptomatology. This and their infrequency make it hard to compile statistics of affected patients across the US. There is no comprehensively reliable information to date.
Most Common Types of Muscular Dystrophy
Each class of muscular dystrophy affects a different set of muscle groups.
Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD): Diagnosed only in boys during childhood, this is the most common dystrophy. Fast progressing, it eventually leads to wheelchair-ridden children by age 12. Complications include scoliosis (potentially disabling curvature of the spine) and cardiomyopathy (weakened heart muscle). The cause is a lack of dystrophin, a skeletal muscle membrane protein.
Becker Muscular Dystrophy (BMD): Ranked second most common, it also only affects boys, progresses more slowly, and is diagnosed between 11-25 years old. It affects hips, thighs, pelvis and shoulders and is not life-threatening. Also caused by a lack of dystrophin.
Congenital Muscular Dystrophy (CMD): Over 30 muscular dystrophies affecting both sexes and diagnosed before the age of 2, including babyhood. Patients may experience seizures and the central nervous system may be affected, provoking vision or speech impediment.
Myotonic Muscular Dystrophy (DM): This is the most common dystrophy in adults of both sexes. Relaxing muscles becomes tough. May require pacemakers or cardiac defibrillators.
Limb-Gridle Muscular Dystrophy (LGMD): Over 20 types in this group that mainly affects upper arms, upper legs, shoulders, and hips of males and females aged 2 to 40.
Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy (FSHD): As this Latin-rooted word indicates, it affects the muscles of the face, the shoulder blades and the upper arms in both sexes.
Distal Muscular Dystrophy (DD): Generally mild, it affects muscles in hands, feet, lower arms, and lower legs, surfacing in men and women ages 40 to 60.
Oculopharyngeal Muscular Dystrophy (OPMD): Another Latinism covering the muscles of eyelids, face and throat. Diagnosed at 40-50, it is more prevalent among French-Canadian, Ashkenazi Jewish and Hispanic people.
Emery-Dreifuss Muscular Dystrophy (EDMD): Another group of disorders, mostly in adolescent and young men, though women may also be affected. Muscles stiffen near joints in shoulders, upper arms and shins. Although progress tends to be slow, it decreases spine flexibility, causes joint deformity, and severely compromises mobility. Heart conditions may arise.
Collagen Type VI-Related Disorders: Spectrum of ailments from infancy to adulthood. Low muscle tone, floppy or overly flexible joints, contractures in arms and legs, diminished spine flexibility, all of these may occur.
https://nyulangone.org/conditions/muscular-dystrophy/types
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/musculardystrophy/facts.html

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Don't miss GLAD's biggest event of the year! The evening brings together over 900 community members and allies to recognize and honor individuals whose achievements reflect a profound dedication to our ideal of a just society. Mark your calendar for a fun and fabulous night of celebration and inspiration, dinner and dancing.
Phill Wilson is the founder and the President & CEO of the Black AIDS Institute, which is a national HIV/AIDS think tank focused exclusively on Black people, founded in 1999. The Institute's mission is to engage and mobilize Black leaders, institutions, and individuals to stop the AIDS pandemic in the Black Community. His AIDS activism started when both he and his partner were diagnosed with HIV in the early 1980s. He became the AIDS Coordinator for the City of Los Angeles and served as Director of Policy and Planning at AIDS Project Los Angeles. He has been involved in national and international research efforts, and also co-founded the National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum and the National Task Force on AIDS Prevention.


text:
Richard Matheson Penning THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN Reboot
Original author adapting tale for modern times.
MGM is said to be moving ahead with a new adaptation of Richard Matheson's classic sci-fi novel 'The Shrinking Man.'
Published back in 1957, the novel centres Scott Carey, a man who begins to shrink in size after being exposed to a combination of radiation and insecticide.
According to Heat Vision, the studio has enlisted 87 year-old Matheson ('I Am Legend,' 'What Dreams May Come') and his son, Richard Matheson Jr., to provide the screenplay for the new film with plans to keep the tone of the original while updating the tale to reflect advancements in nanotechnology.
Matheson described his new take on the tale as "an existential action movie" adding, "My original story was a metaphor for how man's place in the world was diminishing. That still holds today, where all these advancements that are going to save us will be our undoing."


How Do I Know How Deep My Water Table Is?
The only way to really know is to dig a hole in the ground. If you want an approximate depth you can contact the Department of Water Resources in your area. They can get a well survey done for you. If wells are common in your area you can ask a neighbor how deep is their well. These methods will get you close because there can be a lot of variation over short distances depending on the sub-surface stratigraphy.


This N-Channel enhancement mode field effect transistor is produced using Fairchild's proprietary, high cell density, DMOS technology. This product has been. N-Channel 60V mA (Ta) mW (Ta) Surface Mount SOT MMBFF Diodes Incorporated MOSFET 60V mW datasheet, inventory & pricing.
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It looked small when I first opened the package, but when I put it on, it fits exactly the way I wanted it to! Flowy, not clingy. Comfortable for a full work day or weekend. This is my 6th PIKO shirt and I basically wear them every week to work.


text:
Addiction & Substance Abuse
Food Safety & Nutrition
Infectious Diseases & Vaccines
Injury Control & Violence
Occup Health News Roundup
Scientific Integrity & Ethics
State & Local Public Health
Transportation & Urbanization
US Healthcare System
Women's Health Study: Having an abortion does not increase the risk of depression
June 15, 2018 Kim Krisberg 1Comment
One of the many reasons policymakers often give for restricting abortion access is that the procedure causes depression. A new study finds no evidence of such claims.
Of course, it's not the only study to debunk this particular talking point. The difference is that this study, published May 30 in JAMA Psychiatry, is based on documented patient care records instead of patient self-reporting, which is susceptible to bias and the pressures of social stigma. In the new study, researchers found that while women who had an abortion did have a higher risk of antidepressant use than women who did not, that risk remained steady from the year before the abortion to the year after having had an abortion. They also found that the risk of antidepressant use steadily went down in the time following an abortion.
All together, the findings suggest that the higher antidepressant risk isn't due to abortion, but to a pre-existing condition. In other words, there's no evidence that abortion is the cause of higher antidepressant use.
"There are a number of states that require that providers tell women that abortion causes mental health problems, but there's no scientific evidence for that," study co-author Julia Steinberg, an assistant professor of family science at the University of Maryland School of Public Health, told me. "There's an association — women who get an abortion are more likely to use antidepressants — but the association isn't due to abortion."
To bypass the problems of self-reported data, Steinberg and colleagues examined data from official Danish registries that capture information on prescriptions, hospital-based abortion care and childbirth. In all, the data included more than 396,000 women born in Denmark between 1980 and 1994. Researchers used antidepressant use as a proxy for depression. They found that among women who had an abortion, the likelihood of using antidepressants didn't change from the year before having an abortion to the year after, with that likelihood declining significantly in the five years following an abortion, which contradicts claims that abortion has long-term adverse impacts.
However, researchers did find differences among Danish women who had a child during the study period. According to the study, childbirth was associated with a decreased risk of antidepressant use in the year before childbirth and the year after birth when compared to other women. However, in the year after giving birth, absolute rates of antidepressant use went up among those women. That is to say, the risk of antidepressant use did not remain steady for women who gave birth, as it did for women who had an abortion, even though their post-birth likelihood of taking antidepressants was still lower than for other women. In fact, the study found that while the risk of antidepressant use declined in the years following an abortion, it increased in the years following childbirth.
Steinberg said those findings suggest that many women don't want to take medication during pregnancy, while post-birth surges in antidepressant use may reflect women struggling with post-partum depression. She and study co-authors Thomas Laursen, Nancy Adler, Christiane Gasse, Esben Agerbo and Trine Munk-Olsen conclude:
The differences in rates of antidepressant use between women who had an abortion and women who did not have an abortion were substantially reduced when adjusted for earlier mental health conditions, parental mental health conditions, parental educational level, and physical health. This suggests that, compared with women who do not have an abortion, women who have an abortion may be at higher risk of depression after undergoing the procedure because they were at higher risk to begin with. Consequently, policies based on the notion that having an abortion harms women's mental health may be misinformed.
Steinberg told me that she wasn't surprised at the findings, as two previous studies also based on Danish medical registries and looking for associations between abortion and psychiatric admissions revealed similar results. Those studies also found no difference in psychiatric admissions before and after abortion, whereas it did find that psychiatric admissions went up after childbirth. The new study also echoes findings from a report on abortion quality and safety released earlier this year from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, which found that abortion does not increase the risk of mental health illnesses such as depression or post-traumatic stress disorder.
While there are certainly differences between the Danish and American health systems, as well as differences in social stigmas related to mental illness and abortion, Steinberg said there's no reason to believe that American women don't have a similar experience.
"As a society, we can debate abortion laws, but we can't debate what the science says," she told me. "Laws based on the notion that abortion harms women's mental health are not based in scientific evidence."
To request a full copy of the new study, visit JAMA Psychiatry.
EPA's Scott Pruitt gives thumbs up to new uses of asbestos
ACA's rules on pre-existing conditions under threat from Trump administration
One thought on "Study: Having an abortion does not increase the risk of depression"
Sarah Henderson says:
Lol. I'm pretty sure that having babies is associated with much higher rates of depression than choosing not to have them! How many women get good counseling on post-partum depression during the same stage of pharmacy?
How to lose the war on cancer January 18, 2020
"The disregard for expertise in the federal government is worse than it's ever been" December 29, 2019
Remembering Jack Mitchell, a public health champion December 14, 2019
Worth reading: Reproductive justice, unsafe water, and EPA's awful rule November 30, 2019
Hot off the press! Worker health and safety yearbook 2019 November 21, 2019
Monforton, DrPH,
Borkowski, MPH
Krisberg


Did you have a great experience at Center of Gravity Chiropractic & Rehabilitation?
"I am absolutely grateful for the care that I and my husband receive from Doc Rocque! We cannot say enough about his professional demeanor, knowledge and expertise for solution-driven results. He has actually prevented me from having to seek out a surgeon—and he relieved my back. We will continue to trust Doc with the care of our family's needs. He's just a rock star as far as we are concerned. Thanks, Doc & Staff"
"Dr Rocque has always taken care of aches whenever they decide to show up. Usually one visit is all he needs to correct my issue. Thanks Dr Rocque!!"
"I have suffered from chronic headaches for over two years! I have been to several doctors, and had many diagnostic tests performed with no relief. My friend had recommended seeing Dr. Rocque to see if there was anything he could do. It was the best decision of my life. After six weeks I no longer suffered from any headaches and have not had one for the past three months! Thank you Dr. Rocque and the staff at Center of Gravity Clinic."
"I have suffered from lower back pain for over twenty years. I had seen two different Orthopedists who diagnosed me with lower back arthritis, and did not even take any x-rays! My daughter recommended seeing Dr. Rocque and his staff after I suffered a severe aggravation within my lower back after lifting a pail of water. It was so bad that my daughter had to come over and help me get up! Dr. Rocque performed an extensive exam, more than any other doctor had before. After the second visit, I felt better than I have in years and now I am more active than I have been in over twenty years. Dr. Rocque and his staff have given me my life back. I recommend him to all of my family and friends."
"I have suffered from Diabetes for most of my life, and the mediction is making me feel worse. Dr. Rocque recommended a diet plan including nutritional guidelines. After six weeks my blood sugar was stabilized and I don't have to take any medication."


text:
Orbix NV
Carbon-binding game changer
Portrait Orbix NV
Peter Van Mierloo is continuously motivated by the highly advanced valorization offered by Orbix
The realization is dawning that a circular economy is the way forward on our precious planet. Some visionaries have already been acting on this idea for quite some time. The founders and owners of Orbix NV, which is headquartered in Genk, Belgium, are among those inspiring people and have developed a CO2-binding technology that is ready to find new applications.
"In 2017 we participated in the international building and construction show The Big 5 in Dubai, and there was a huge interest in our game-changing Carbstone technology," enthuses Peter Van Mierloo, Head of Sales & Business Development at Orbix NV.
Together with research institute VITO, Orbix developed a powder called Carbinox from waste materials from stainless steel production, which binds CO2 with it to create very hard and sturdy bricks and other applications. "We give new value to waste materials and use CO2 that is emitted by industrial companies. This means that products made from Carbinox have a negative CO2 footprint."
The carbon-binding technology was patented in 2009 and 2016, and a 25 million EUR pilot plant was built in Farciennes in Wallonia to demonstrate it. Orbix is in touch with and looking for partners for the production and marketing of products using Carbinox and its CO2-binding technology, such as roof tiles, paving stones and facade materials.
Orbix developed carbon-binding technology that allows for products with a negative CO2 footprint
Carbstone technology exemplifies Orbix's intense focus on circularity and innovation
The first partner was found in De RuwBouw Groep in the Netherlands, which introduced a brick called the Compensatiesteen in 2016. Orbix was founded in 1994 by its two current owners Serge Celis and Danny Vanschoonbeek. They bought slag from a stainless steel producer, and with developer Dirk Van Mechelen, they started developing patented technologies for reclaiming metals from slag and other waste.
Architects, research institutes and governments alike crave products that use CO2. Our technology is already developed to be used in the market. Peter Van MierlooHead of Sales & Business Development
"Several other waste materials are left after the extraction of metal, and we make granulates and very fine sand out of those materials," Mr. Van Mierloo explains. "Our granulates have excellent properties for use in asphalt and concrete, allowing for a better grip on the road than natural products."
The company processes 300,000 t of slag per year and is investigating other applications of the valorized materials it produces, such as using its powders in 3D printing and plastics. It is interested in finding partners who want to implement and use those materials.
"Orbix is geared towards the new era, valorizing waste materials and contributing to sustainability and circularity," observes Mr. Van Mierloo. "What we do is so advanced, our very existence is unique."
Streit Groupe: Ready for the next generation of engines
From the entrance to the exit
The love of lenses
Interview with Jürgen Zosel, Managing Director of ORAFOL Fresnel Optics GmbH
Henry Fordlaan 84
info@orbix.be
www.orbix.be


text:
Tag Archives: multiple sclerosis
Café Scientifique Vancouver talk on January 30, 2018 and a couple of February 2018 art/sci events in Toronto
This could be a first for Café Scientifique Vancouver. From a January 28, 2018 Café Scientifique Vancouver announcement (received via email)
This is a reminder that our next café with biotech entrepreneur Dr.Andrew Tait (TUESDAY, JANUARY 30TH [2018] at 7:30PM) in the back room of YAGGER'S DOWNTOWN (433 W Pender).
COMBINING TRADITIONAL NATURAL MEDICINES WITH SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH: UNVEILING THE POTENTIAL OF THE MANDARIN ORANGE PEEL
The orange peel is something most of us may think of as a throw-away compost item, but it is so much more. Travel back in time 9,000 years to China, where orange peel was found in the first fermented alcoholic beverage, and return to today, where mandarin orange peel remains one of China's top selling herbs that promotes digestion. Now meet Tait Laboratories Inc., a company that was founded based on one chemistry Ph.D. student's idea, that mandarin orange peel has the potential to reverse incurable neurodegenerative diseases like multiple sclerosis. You will learn about the company's journey through a scientific lens, from its early days to the present, having developed a mandarin orange peel product sold across Canada in over 1,000 stores including 400 Rexall pharmacies. You will leave with a basic understanding of how herbal products like the company's mandarin orange peel-based product are developed and brought to market in Canada, and about the science that is required to substantiate health claims on this and other exciting new botanical products.
Dr. Andrew Tait is the founder of Tait Laboratories Inc., a company devoted to developing natural medicines from agricultural bi-products. After a B.Sc. in Biochemistry and M.Sc. in Chemistry from Concordia University (Montreal), he completed a Ph.D. in Chemistry at the
University of British Columbia [UBC].
Inspired by his thesis work on multiple sclerosis, he subsequently identified Traditional Chinese Medicines as having potential to treat a wide range of chronic diseases; he founded the company while finishing his graduate studies.
In 2012, he was invited to Ottawa to be awarded the NSERC [{Canada} Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council] Innovation Challenge Award, for successfully translating his Ph.D. research to an entrepreneurial venture. In 2014, he was awarded the BC Food Processors Association "Rising Star" award.
Dr. Tait is a regularly invited speaker on the topics of entrepreneurship and the science supporting natural health products; he was keynote speaker in 2012 at the Annual Symposium of the Boucher Institute of Naturopathic Medicine (Vancouver) and in 2016 at the
Functional Foods and Natural Health Products Graduate Research Symposium (Winnipeg).
Supported by the Futurpreneur Canada, the Bank of Development of Canada, the UBC's Entrepreneurship@UBC program, and the NSERC and NRC [{Canada} National Research Council] Industry Research Assistance Program (IRAP), he works with industrial and academic researchers developing safe, affordable, and clinically proven medicines. He successfully launched MS+ Mandarin Skin PlusÒ, a patent-pending digestive product now on shelf in over 1000 pharmacies and health food stores across Canada, including 400 Rexall pharmacies.
Dr. Tait mentors young companies as an Entrepreneur in Residence at both SFU [Simon Fraser University] Coast Capital Savings Venture Connection and also the Health Tech Innovation Hub and he also volunteers his time to mentor students of the Student Biotechnology Network.
Lest it be forgotten, many drugs and therapeutic agents are based on natural remedies; a fact often ignored in the discussion about drugs and natural remedies. In any event, I am surprised this talk is being hosted by Café Scientifique Vancouver which has tended to more 'traditional' (i.e., university academic) presentations without any hint of 'alternative' or 'entrepreneurial' aspects. I wonder if this is the harbinger of new things to come from the Café Scientifique Vancouver community.
Meanwhile, interested parties can find out more about Tait Laboratories on their company website. They are selling one product at this time (from the MS+ [Mandarin Skin Plus] product webpage,
MS+™ (Mandarin Skin Plus) is a revolutionary natural health product that aids with digestion and promotes gastrointestinal health. It is a patent-pending proprietary extract based on dry-aged mandarin orange peel, an ancient Traditional Chinese Medicine. This remedy has been safely used for centuries to relieve bloating, indigestion, diarrhea, nausea, upset stomach, cough with phlegm. Experience ULTIMATE DIGESTIVE RELIEF and top gastrointestinal health for only about a dollar a day!
A physician-approved treatment
A guaranteed clean ingredient
100% vegan product
Allergen FREE
Natural health product
Approved by Health Canada (NPN 80040015 #)
Directions: take one capsule twice a day, up to six capsules per day. Swallow capsule directly OR dissolve powder in water.
60 vegan capsules for ~ 1 month supply
I would have liked to have seen a list of research papers and discussion of human clinical trials regarding their 'digestive' product. Will Tait be discussing his research and results into what seems to be a new direction (i.e., the use of mandarin skin peel-derived therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases)?
I don't think I'm going to make it to the talk but should anyone who attends care to answer the question, please feel free to add a comment.
ArtSci Salon in Toronto
2018 is proving to be an active year for the ArtSci Salon folks in Toronto. They've just finished hosting a January 24-25, 2018 workshop and January 26, 2018 panel discussion on the gene-editing tool CRISPR/CAS9 (see my January 10, 2018 posting for a description).
Now they've announced another workshop and panel discussion on successive nights in February, the topic being: cells. From a January 29, 2018 ArtSci Salon announcement (received via email), Note: The panel discussion is listed first, then the workshop, then the artists' biographies,
FROM CELL TO CANVAS: CREATIVE EXPLORATIONS OF THE MICROSCOPIC [panel discussion]
From the complex forms of the cell to the colonies created by the microbiota; from the undetectable chemical reactions activated by enzymes and natural processes to the environmental information captured through data visualization, the five local and international artists presenting tonight have developed a range of very diverse practices all inspired by the invisible, the undetectable and the microscopic.
We invite you to an evening of artist talks and discussion on the creative process of exploring the microscopic and using living organisms in art, on its potentials and implication for science and its popular dissemination, as well as on its ethics.
Robyn Crouch
Mellissa Fisher
JULIA KROLIK
SHAVON MADDEN
TOSCA TERAN
FRIDAY, FEB 9, 2018
THE FIELDS INSTITUTE
222 COLLEGE STREET,
[Go to this page for access to registration]
FROM CELL TO CANVAS: CREATIVE EXPLORATIONS OF THE MICROSCOPIC [workshop]
THE EVENT WILL BE FOLLOWED BY A WORKSHOP BY: MELLISSA FISHER, SHAVON MADDEN AND JULIA KROLIK
AT HACKLAB,
1266 Queen St West
Design My Microbiome
Artist Mellissa Fisher invites participants to mould parts of her body in agar to create their own microbial version of her, alongside producing their own microbial portrait with painting techniques.
Cooking with the Invasive
Artist Shavon Madden invites participants to discuss invasive species like garlic mustard and cook invasive species whilst exploring, do species which we define and brand as invasive simply have no benefits?
Intoduction to Biological Staining
Artist & Scientist Julia Krolik invites participants to learn about 3 different types of biological staining and have a chance to try staining procedures.
BIOS:
The symbolic imagery that comes through Robyn's work invites one's gaze inward to the cellular realms. There, one discovers playful depictions of chemical processes; the unseen lattice upon which our macrocosmic world is constructed. Technological advancements create windows into this molecular realm, and human consciousness acts as the interface between the seen and the unseen worlds. In her functional ceramic work, the influence of Chinese and Japanese tea ceremony encourages contemplation and appreciation of a quiet
moment. The viewer-participant can lose their train of thought while meandering through geometry and biota, connected by strands of double-helical DNA. A flash of recognition, a momentary mirror.
Mellissa Fisher is a British Bio Artist based in Kent. Her practice explores the invisible world on our skin by using living organisms and by creating sculptures made with agar to show the public what the surface of our skin really looks like. She is best known for her work with bacteria and works extensively with collaborators in microbiology and immunology. She has exhibited an installation _ "Microbial Me"_with Professor Mark Clements and Dr Richard Harvey at The Eden Project for their permanent exhibition _"The Invisible You: The Human
Microbiome"._The installation included a living portrait in bacteria of the artists face as well as a time-lapse film of the sculpture growing.
Julia Krolik is a creative director, entrepreneur, scientist and award-winning artist. Her diverse background enables a rare cross-disciplinary empathy, and she continuously advocates for both art and science through several initiatives. Julia is the founder of Art the Science, a non-profit organization dedicated to facilitating artist residencies in scientific research laboratories to foster Canadian science-art culture and expand scientific knowledge communication to benefit the public. Through her consulting agency Pixels and Plans, Julia works with private and public organizations, helping them with strategy, data visualization and knowledge mobilization, often utilizing creative technology and skills-transfer workshops.
Shavon Madden is a Brampton based artist, specializing in sculptural, performance and instillation based work exploring the social injustices inflicted on the environment and its creatures. Her work focuses on challenging social-environmental and political ethics, through the embodied experience and feelings of self. She graduated from the University of Toronto Specializing in Art and Art History, along with studies in Environmental Science and will be on her way to Edinburgh for her MFA. Shavon has had works shown at Shelly Peterson, the Burlington Art Gallery and the Art Gallery of Mississauga, among many others. Website: www.greenheartartistry.com [4]
Working with metal for over 30+ years, Tosca was introduced to glass as an artistic medium in 2004. Through developing bodies of work incorporating metal + glass Tosca has been awarded scholarships at The Corning Museum of Glass, Pilchuck Glass School and The Penland school of Crafts. Her work has been featured at SOFA New York, Culture Canada,
Metalsmith Magazine, The Toronto Design Exchange, and the Memphis Metal Museum. She has been awarded residencies at Gullkistan, Nes, and the Ayatana Research Program. A long-term guest artist instructor at the Ontario Science Centre, Tosca continues to explore materials, code, BioArt, SciArt and teach Metal + Glass courses out of her studio in Toronto.
It seems that these February events and the two events with Marta de Menezes are part of the FACTT (transdisciplinary and transnational festival of art and science) Toronto, from the FACTT Toronto webpage,
FACTT Toronto – Festival of Art & Science posted in: blog, events
The Arte Institute, in partnership with Cultivamos Cultura and ArtSi Salon, has the pleasure to announce FACTT – Festival of Art & Science in Toronto.
The Festival took place in Lisbon, New York, Mexico, Berlin and will continue in Toronto.
Exhibition: The Cabinet Project/ Art Sci Salon / FACTT
Andrew Carnie
Elaine Whittaker
Erich Berger
Joana Ricou
Ken Rinaldo
Laura Beloff and Maria Antonia Gonzalez Valerio
Marta de Menezes and Luís Graça
Pedro Cruz
Dates: Jan 26- feb 15 [2018 {sic}]
Where: Meet us on Jan 26 [2018] in the Lobby of the Physics Department, 255 Huron Street
When: 4:45 PM
You may want to keep an eye on the ArtSci Salon website although I find their posting schedule a bit erratic. Sometimes, I get email notices for events that aren't yet listed on their website.
This entry was posted in ethics, science communication, Vancouver, Visual Art and tagged . COMBINING TRADITIONAL NATURAL MEDICINES WITH SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH: UNVEILING THE POTENTIAL OF THE MANDARIN ORANGE PEEL, Andrew Carnie, Andrew Tait, art/sci, Arte Institute, ArtSci Salon, ArtSi Salon, Bank of Development of Canada, BC Food Processors Association, bioart, biotech, botanical products, Boucher Institute of Naturopathic Medicine, Café Scientifique Vancouver, Canada National Research Council, Canada Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Cell, China, chronic diseases, Cooking with the Invasive, CRISPR/Cas9, Cultivamos Cultura, Design My Microbiome, Elaine Whittaker, Erich Berger, ethics, FACTT – Festival of Art & Science, FACTT (Festival of Art & Science) Toronto, FROM CELL TO CANVAS: CREATIVE EXPLORATIONS OF THE MICROSCOPIC, Futurpreneur Canada, gastrointestinal health, gene-editing tool, herbal products, Industry Research Assistance Program (IRAP), Intoduction to Biological Staining, Joana Ricou, Julia Krolik, Ken Rinaldo, Laura Beloff, living organisms in art, Luís Graça, mandarin orange peel, Maria Antonia Gonzalez Valerio, Marta de Menezes, Mellissa Fisher, microbiota, microscopic, MS+ Mandarin Skin Plus, multiple sclerosis, Natural Health Products Graduate Research Symposium, neurodegenerative diseases, NRC, NSERC, orange peel, Pedro Cruz, Robyn Crouch, SciArt, SFU, Shavon Madden, Simon Fraser University, Tait Laboratories, Toronto, Tosca Teran, Traditional Chinese Medicines, UBC, University of British Columbia on January 29, 2018 by Maryse de la Giroday.
Sniffing out disease (Na-Nose)
The 'artificial nose' is not a newcomer to this blog. The most recent post prior to this is a March 15, 2016 piece about Disney using an artificial nose for art conservation. Today's (Jan. 9, 2016) piece concerns itself with work from Israel and 'sniffing out' disease, according to a Dec. 30, 2016 news item in Sputnik News,
A team from the Israel Institute of Technology has developed a device that from a single breath can identify diseases such as multiple forms of cancer, Parkinson's disease, and multiple sclerosis. While the machine is still in the experimental stages, it has a high degree of promise for use in non-invasive diagnoses of serious illnesses.
The international team demonstrated that a medical theory first proposed by the Greek physician Hippocrates some 2400 years ago is true, certain diseases leave a "breathprint" on the exhalations of those afflicted. The researchers created a prototype for a machine that can pick up on those diseases using the outgoing breath of a patient. The machine, called the Na-Nose, tests breath samples for the presence of trace amounts of chemicals that are indicative of 17 different illnesses.
A Dec. 22, 2016 Technion Israel Institute of Technology press release offers more detail about the work,
An international team of 56 researchers in five countries has confirmed a hypothesis first proposed by the ancient Greeks – that different diseases are characterized by different "chemical signatures" identifiable in breath samples. …
Diagnostic techniques based on breath samples have been demonstrated in the past, but until now, there has not been scientific proof of the hypothesis that different and unrelated diseases are characterized by distinct chemical breath signatures. And technologies developed to date for this type of diagnosis have been limited to detecting a small number of clinical disorders, without differentiation between unrelated diseases.
The study of more than 1,400 patients included 17 different and unrelated diseases: lung cancer, colorectal cancer, head and neck cancer, ovarian cancer, bladder cancer, prostate cancer, kidney cancer, stomach cancer, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, Parkinson's disease (two types), multiple sclerosis, pulmonary hypertension, preeclampsia and chronic kidney disease. Samples were collected between January 2011 and June 2014 from in 14 departments at 9 medical centers in 5 countries: Israel, France, the USA, Latvia and China.
The researchers tested the chemical composition of the breath samples using an accepted analytical method (mass spectrometry), which enabled accurate quantitative detection of the chemical compounds they contained. 13 chemical components were identified, in different compositions, in all 17 of the diseases.
According to Prof. Haick, "each of these diseases is characterized by a unique fingerprint, meaning a different composition of these 13 chemical components. Just as each of us has a unique fingerprint that distinguishes us from others, each disease has a chemical signature that distinguishes it from other diseases and from a normal state of health. These odor signatures are what enables us to identify the diseases using the technology that we developed."
With a new technology called "artificially intelligent nanoarray," developed by Prof. Haick, the researchers were able to corroborate the clinical efficacy of the diagnostic technology. The array enables fast and inexpensive diagnosis and classification of diseases, based on "smelling" the patient's breath, and using artificial intelligence to analyze the data obtained from the sensors. Some of the sensors are based on layers of gold nanoscale particles and others contain a random network of carbon nanotubes coated with an organic layer for sensing and identification purposes.
The study also assessed the efficiency of the artificially intelligent nanoarray in detecting and classifying various diseases using breath signatures. To verify the reliability of the system, the team also examined the effect of various factors (such as gender, age, smoking habits and geographic location) on the sample composition, and found their effect to be negligible, and without impairment on the array's sensitivity.
"Each of the sensors responds to a wide range of exhalation components," explain Prof. Haick and his previous Ph.D student, Dr. Morad Nakhleh, "and integration of the information provides detailed data about the unique breath signatures characteristic of the various diseases. Our system has detected and classified various diseases with an average accuracy of 86%.
This is a new and promising direction for diagnosis and classification of diseases, which is characterized not only by considerable accuracy but also by low cost, low electricity consumption, miniaturization, comfort and the possibility of repeating the test easily."
"Breath is an excellent raw material for diagnosis," said Prof. Haick. "It is available without the need for invasive and unpleasant procedures, it's not dangerous, and you can sample it again and again if necessary."
Here's a schematic of the study, which the researchers have made available,
Diagram: A schematic view of the study. Two breath samples were taken from each subject, one was sent for chemical mapping using mass spectrometry, and the other was analyzed in the new system, which produced a clinical diagnosis based on the chemical fingerprint of the breath sample. Courtesy: Tech;nion
There is also a video, which covers much of the same ground as the press release but also includes information about the possible use of the Na-Nose technology in the European Union's SniffPhone project,
Here's a link to and a citation for the paper,
Diagnosis and Classification of 17 Diseases from 1404 Subjects via Pattern Analysis of Exhaled Molecules by Morad K. Nakhleh, Haitham Amal, Raneen Jeries, Yoav Y. Broza, Manal Aboud, Alaa Gharra, Hodaya Ivgi, Salam Khatib, Shifaa Badarneh, Lior Har-Shai, Lea Glass-Marmor, Izabella Lejbkowicz, Ariel Miller, Samih Badarny, Raz Winer, John Finberg, Sylvia Cohen-Kaminsky, Frédéric Perros, David Montani, Barbara Girerd, Gilles Garcia, Gérald Simonneau, Farid Nakhoul, Shira Baram, Raed Salim, Marwan Hakim, Maayan Gruber, Ohad Ronen, Tal Marshak, Ilana Doweck, Ofer Nativ, Zaher Bahouth, Da-you Shi, Wei Zhang, Qing-ling Hua, Yue-yin Pan, Li Tao, Hu Liu, Amir Karban, Eduard Koifman, Tova Rainis, Roberts Skapars, Armands Sivins, Guntis Ancans, Inta Liepniece-Karele, Ilze Kikuste, Ieva Lasina, Ivars Tolmanis, Douglas Johnson, Stuart Z. Millstone, Jennifer Fulton, John W. Wells, Larry H. Wilf, Marc Humbert, Marcis Leja, Nir Peled, and Hossam Haick. ACS Nano, Article ASAP DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.6b04930 Publication Date (Web): December 21, 2016
This paper appears to be open access.
As for SniffPhone, they're hoping that Na-Nose or something like it will allow them to modify smartphones in a way that will allow diseases to be detected.
I can't help wondering who will own the data if your smartphone detects a disease. If you think that's an idle question, here's an excerpt from Sue Halpern's Dec. 22, 2016 review of two books ("Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy" by Cathy O'Neil and "Virtual Competition: The Promise and Perils of the Algorithm-Driven Economy" by Ariel Ezrachi and Maurice E. Stucke) for the New York Times Review of Books,
We give our data away. We give it away in drips and drops, not thinking that data brokers will collect it and sell it, let alone that it will be used against us. There are now private, unregulated DNA databases culled, in part, from DNA samples people supply to genealogical websites in pursuit of their ancestry. These samples are available online to be compared with crime scene DNA without a warrant or court order. (Police are also amassing their own DNA databases by swabbing cheeks during routine stops.) In the estimation of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, this will make it more likely that people will be implicated in crimes they did not commit.
Or consider the data from fitness trackers, like Fitbit. As reported in The Intercept:
During a 2013 FTC panel on "Connected Health and Fitness," University of Colorado law professor Scott Peppet said, "I can paint an incredibly detailed and rich picture of who you are based on your Fitbit data," adding, "That data is so high quality that I can do things like price insurance premiums or I could probably evaluate your credit score incredibly accurately."
Halpern's piece is well worth reading in its entirety.
This entry was posted in medicine, nanotechnology and tagged Alaa Gharra, Amir Karban, Ariel Ezrachi, Ariel Miller, Armands Sivins, artificial nose, artificially intelligent nanoarray, Barbara Girerd, bladder cancer, breath samples, breathprint, cancer, carbon nanotubes, Cathy O'Neil, China, CNTs, colorectal cancer, Crohn's disease, Da-you Shi, David Montani, Diagnosis and Classification of 17 Diseases from 1404 Subjects via Pattern Analysis of Exhaled Molecules, diagnostic techniques, Douglas Johnson, Eduard Koifman, Farid Nakhoul, France, Frédéric Perros, Gérald Simonneau, Gilles Garcia, gold nanoparticles, Guntis Ancans, Haitham Amal, head and neck cancer, Hippocrates, Hodaya Ivgi, Hossam Haick., Hu Liu, Ieva Lasina, Ilana Doweck, Ilze Kikuste, Inta Liepniece-Karele, irritable bowel syndrome, Israel, Ivars Tolmanis, Izabella Lejbkowicz, Jennifer Fulton, John Finberg, John W. Wells, kidney cancer, kidney disease, Larry H. Wilf, Latvia, Lea Glass-Marmor, Li Tao, Lior Har-Shai, lung cancer, Maayan Gruber, Manal Aboud, Marc Humbert, Marcis Leja, Marwan Hakim, Maurice E. Stucke, Morad K. Nakhleh, Morad Nakhleh, multiple sclerosis, Na-Nose, Nir Peled, Ofer Nativ, Ohad Ronen, ovarian cancer, Parkinson's Disease, preeclampsia, prostate cancer, pulmonary hypertension, Qing-ling Hua, Raed Salim, Raneen Jeries, Raz Winer, Roberts Skapars, Salam Khatib, Samih Badarny, Shifaa Badarneh, Shira Baram, stomach cancer, Stuart Z. Millstone, Sylvia Cohen-Kaminsky, Tal Marshak, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Tova Rainis, ulcerative colitis, USA, Virtual Competition: The Promise and Perils of the Algorithm-Driven Economy, Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy, Wei Zhang, Yoav Y. Broza, Yue-yin Pan, Zaher Bahouth on January 9, 2017 by Maryse de la Giroday.
Tattoo therapy for chronic disease?
It's good to wake up to something truly new. In this case, it's using tattoos and nanoparticles for medical applications. From a Sept. 22, 2016 news item on ScienceDaily,
A temporary tattoo to help control a chronic disease might someday be possible, according to scientists at Baylor College of Medicine [Texas, US] who tested antioxidant nanoparticles created at Rice University [Texas, US].
A Sept. 22, 2016 Rice University news release, which originated the news item, provides more information and some good explanations of the terms used (Note: Links have been removed),
A proof-of-principle study led by Baylor scientist Christine Beeton published today by Nature's online, open-access journal Scientific Reports shows that nanoparticles modified with polyethylene glycol are conveniently choosy as they are taken up by cells in the immune system.
That could be a plus for patients with autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis, one focus of study at the Beeton lab. "Placed just under the skin, the carbon-based particles form a dark spot that fades over about one week as they are slowly released into the circulation," Beeton said.
T and B lymphocyte cells and macrophages are key components of the immune system. However, in many autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, T cells are the key players. One suspected cause is that T cells lose their ability to distinguish between invaders and healthy tissue and attack both.
In tests at Baylor, nanoparticles were internalized by T cells, which inhibited their function, but ignored by macrophages. "The ability to selectively inhibit one type of cell over others in the same environment may help doctors gain more control over autoimmune diseases," Beeton said.
"The majority of current treatments are general, broad-spectrum immunosuppressants," said Redwan Huq, lead author of the study and a graduate student in the Beeton lab. "They're going to affect all of these cells, but patients are exposed to side effects (ranging) from infections to increased chances of developing cancer. So we get excited when we see something new that could potentially enable selectivity." Since the macrophages and other splenic immune cells are unaffected, most of a patient's existing immune system remains intact, he said.
The soluble nanoparticles synthesized by the Rice lab of chemist James Tour have shown no signs of acute toxicity in prior rodent studies, Huq said. They combine polyethylene glycol with hydrophilic carbon clusters, hence their name, PEG-HCCs. The carbon clusters are 35 nanometers long, 3 nanometers wide and an atom thick, and bulk up to about 100 nanometers in globular form with the addition of PEG. They have proven to be efficient scavengers of reactive oxygen species called superoxide molecules, which are expressed by cells the immune system uses to kill invading microorganisms.
T cells use superoxide in a signaling step to become activated. PEG-HCCs remove this superoxide from the T cells, preventing their activation without killing the cells.
Beeton became aware of PEG-HCCs during a presentation by former Baylor graduate student Taeko Inoue, a co-author of the new study. "As she talked, I was thinking, 'That has to work in models of multiple sclerosis,'" Beeton said. "I didn't have a good scientific rationale, but I asked for a small sample of PEG-HCCs to see if they affected immune cells.
"We found they affected the T lymphocytes and not the other splenic immune cells, like the macrophages. It was completely unexpected," she said.
The Baylor lab's tests on animal models showed that small amounts of PEG-HCCs injected under the skin are slowly taken up by T lymphocytes, where they collect and inhibit the cell's function. They also found the nanoparticles did not remain in T cells and dispersed within days after uptake by the cells.
"That's an issue because you want a drug that's in the system long enough to be effective, but not so long that, if you have a problem, you can't remove it," Beeton said. "PEG-HCCs can be administered for slow release and don't stay in the system for long. This gives us much better control over the circulating half-life."
"The more we study the abilities of these nanoparticles, the more surprised we are at how useful they could be for medical applications," Tour said. The Rice lab has published papers with collaborators at Baylor and elsewhere on using functionalized nanoparticles to deliver cancer drugs to tumors and to quench the overproduction of superoxides after traumatic brain injuries.
Beeton suggested delivering carbon nanoparticles just under the skin rather than into the bloodstream would keep them in the system longer, making them more available for uptake by T cells. And the one drawback – a temporary but visible spot on the skin that looks like a tattoo – could actually be a perk to some.
"We saw it made a black mark when we injected it, and at first we thought that's going to be a real problem if we ever take it into the clinic," Beeton said. "But we can work around that. We can inject into an area that's hidden, or use micropattern needles and shape it.
"I can see doing this for a child who wants a tattoo and could never get her parents to go along," she said. "This will be a good way to convince them."
The research was supported by Baylor College of Medicine, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, National Institutes of Health, the Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center, John S. Dunn Gulf Coast Consortium for Chemical Genomics and the U.S. Army-funded Traumatic Brain Injury Consortium.
That's an interesting list of funders at the end of the news release.
Preferential uptake of antioxidant carbon nanoparticles by T lymphocytes for immunomodulation by Redwan Huq, Errol L. G. Samuel, William K. A. Sikkema, Lizanne G. Nilewski, Thomas Lee, Mark R. Tanner, Fatima S. Khan, Paul C. Porter, Rajeev B. Tajhya, Rutvik S. Patel, Taeko Inoue, Robia G. Pautler, David B. Corry, James M. Tour, & Christine Beeton. Scientific Reports 6, Article number: 33808 (2016) doi:10.1038/srep33808 Published online: 22 September 2016
This paper is open access.
Here's an image provided by the researchers,
Polyethylene glycol-hydrophilic carbon clusters developed at Rice University were shown to be selectively taken up by T cells, which inhibits their function, in tests at Baylor College of Medicine. The researchers said the nanoparticles could lead to new strategies for controlling autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis. (Credit: Errol Samuel/Rice University)
This entry was posted in medicine, nanotechnology and tagged autoimmune diseases, Baylor College of Medicine, carbon clusters, carbon nanoparticles, Christine Beeton, chronic disease, Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center, David B. Corry, Errol L. G. Samuel, Errol Samuel, Fatima S. Khan, James M. Tour, James Tour, John S. Dunn Gulf Coast Consortium for Chemical Genomics, Lizanne G. Nilewski, macrophages, Mark R. Tanner, multiple sclerosis, nanoparticles, nanoparticles modified with polyethylene glycol, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Paul C. Porter, PEG-HCCs, polyethylene glycol with hydrophilic carbon clusters (PEG-HCCs), Preferential uptake of antioxidant carbon nanoparticles by T lymphocytes for immunomodulation, Rajeev B. Tajhya, Reactive Oxygen Species, Redwan Huq, Rice University, Robia G. Pautler, Rutvik S. Patel, superoxide molecules, T cells, Taeko Inoue, temporary tattoo, Thomas Lee, traumatic brain injuries, U.S. Army-funded Traumatic Brain Injury Consortium, US, US National Institutes of Health, William K.A. Sikkema on October 19, 2016 by Maryse de la Giroday.
Trojan horse nanoparticle for asthma
A brand new technique for dealing with asthma is being proposed by researchers at Northwestern University (US), according to an April 18, 2016 news item on ScienceDaily,
In an entirely new approach to treating asthma and allergies, a biodegradable nanoparticle acts like a Trojan horse, hiding an allergen in a friendly shell, to convince the immune system not to attack it, according to new Northwestern Medicine research. As a result, the allergic reaction in the airways is shut down long- term and an asthma attack prevented.
The technology can be applied to food allergies as well. The nanoparticle is currently being tested in a mouse model of peanut allergy, similar to food allergy in humans.
"The findings represent a novel, safe and effective long-term way to treat and potentially 'cure' patients with life-threatening respiratory and food allergies," said senior author Stephen Miller, the Judy Gugenheim Research Professor of Microbiology-Immunology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "This may eliminate the need for life-long use of medications to treat lung allergy."
An April 18, 2016 Northwestern University news release (also on EurekAlert) by Marla Paul, which originated the news item, expands on the theme,
It's the first time this method for creating tolerance in the immune system has been used in allergic diseases. The approach has been used in autoimmune diseases including multiple sclerosis and celiac disease in previous preclinical Northwestern research.
The asthma allergy study was in mice, but the technology is progressing to clinical trials in autoimmune disease. The nanoparticle technology is being developed commercially by Cour Pharmaceuticals Development Co., which is working with Miller to bring this new approach to patients. A clinical trial using the nanoparticles to treat celiac disease is in development.
"It's a universal treatment," Miller said. "Depending on what allergy you want to eliminate, you can load up the nanoparticle with ragweed pollen or a peanut protein."
The nanoparticles are composed of an FDA-approved biopolymer called PLGA that includes lactic acid and glycolic acid.
Also a senior author is Lonnie Shea, adjunct professor of chemical and biological engineering at Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering and of obstetrics and gynecology at Feinberg, and chair of biomedical engineering at the University of Michigan.
When the allergen-loaded nanoparticle is injected into the bloodstream of mice, the immune system isn't concerned with it because it sees the particle as innocuous debris. Then the nanoparticle and its hidden cargo are consumed by a macrophage, essentially a vacuum-cleaner cell.
"The vacuum-cleaner cell presents the allergen or antigen to the immune system in a way that says, 'No worries, this belongs here,'" Miller said. The immune system then shuts down its attack on the allergen, and the immune system is reset to normal.
The allergen, in this case egg protein, was administered into the lungs of mice who have been pretreated to be allergic to the protein and already had antibodies in their blood against it. So when they were re-exposed to it, they responded with an allergic response like asthma. After being treated with the nanoparticle, they no longer had an allergic response to the allergen.
The approach also has a second benefit. It creates a more normal, balanced immune system by increasing the number of regulatory T cells, immune cells important for recognizing the airway allergens as normal. This method turns off the dangerous Th2 T cell that causes the allergy and expands the good, calming regulatory T cells.
If I understand this rightly, they're rebalancing the immune system so it doesn't treat innocuous material (dust, mould, etc.) as an allergen.
Biodegradable antigen-associated PLG nanoparticles tolerize Th2-mediated allergic airway inflammation pre- and postsensitization by Charles B. Smarr, Woon Teck Yap, Tobias P. Neef, Ryan M. Pearson, Zoe N. Hunter, Igal Ifergan, Daniel R. Getts, Paul J. Bryce, Lonnie D. Shea, and Stephen D. Miller. PNAS 2016 doi: 10.1073/pnas.1505782113 Published ahead of print April 18, 2016,
This paper is behind a paywall.
This entry was posted in medicine, nanotechnology and tagged allergies, asthma, autoimmune diseases, Biodegradable antigen-associated PLG nanoparticles tolerize Th2-mediated allergic airway inflammation pre- and postsensitization, biodegradable nanoparticle, biopolymer, celiac disease, Charles B. Smarr, Cour Pharmaceuticals Development, Daniel R Getts, Igal Ifergan, Lonnie D Shea, Lonnie Shea, Marla Paul, multiple sclerosis, Northwestern University, Paul J. Bryce, PLGA, Ryan M. Pearson, Stephen D Miller, Stephen Miller, Tobias P. Neef, Trojan horse, Woon Teck Yap, Zoe N Hunter on April 20, 2016 by Maryse de la Giroday.
Nanotechnology delivery system for skin disease therapies
A Feb. 29, 2016 news item on ScienceDaily announces a new development concerning free radicals that may be helpful with skin diseases and pathologies,
Researchers at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem have developed a nanotechnology-based delivery system containing a protective cellular pathway inducer that activates the body's natural defense against free radicals efficiently, a development that could control a variety of skin pathologies and disorders.
A Feb. 29, 2016 Hebrew University of Jerusalem press release on EurekAlert, which originated the news item, expands on the theme,
The human skin is constantly exposed to various pollutants, UV rays, radiation and other stressors that exist in our day-to-day environment. When they filter into the body they can create Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) – oxygen molecules known as Free Radicals, which are able to damage and destroy cells, including lipids, proteins and DNA.
In the skin – the largest organ of the body – an excess of ROS can lead to various skin conditions, including inflammatory diseases, pigmenting disorders, wrinkles and some types of skin cancer, and can also affect internal organs. This damage is known as Oxidative Stress.
The body is naturally equipped with defense mechanisms to counter oxidative stress. It has anti-oxidants and, more importantly, anti-oxidant enzymes that attack the ROS before they cause damage.
In a review article published in the journal Cosmetics, a PhD student from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, working in collaboration with researchers at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, suggested an innovative way to invigorate the body to produce antioxidant enzymes, while maintaining skin cell redox balance – a gentle equilibrium between Reactive Oxygen Species and their detoxification.
"The approach of using the body's own defense system is very effective. We showed that activation of the body's defense system with the aid of a unique delivery system is feasible, and may leverage dermal cure," said Hebrew University researcher Maya Ben-Yehuda Greenwald.
Ben-Yehuda Greenwald showed that applying nano-size droplets of microemulsion liquids containing a cellular protective pathway inducer into the skin activates the natural skin defense systems.
"Currently, there are many scientific studies supporting the activation of the body's defense mechanisms. However, none of these studies has demonstrated the use of a nanotechnology-based delivery system to do so," Ben-Yehuda Greenwald said.
Production of antioxidant enzymes in the body is signaled in the DNA by activation of Nrf2 – a powerful protein that exists in every cell in our body. This Nrf2 cellular-protective signaling pathway is a major intersection of many other signaling pathways affecting each other and determining cell functionality and fate. Nrf2 is capable of coordinating the cellular response to internal as well as external stressors by tight regulation of phase-II protective enzymes, such as the antioxidant enzymes.
Ben-Yehuda Greenwald has also discovered a new family of compounds capable of activating the Nrf2 pathway. Moreover, by incorporating them into the unique delivery system she has developed, she managed to efficiently stimulate the activation of the Nrf2 pathway and mimic the activity of the body's' natural way of coping with a variety of stress conditions.
"The formula we have created could be used in topical medication for treating skin conditions. Our formula could be used both as preventive means and for treatment of various skin conditions, such as infections, over-exposure to UV irradiation, inflammatory conditions, and also internal disease," she said.
While the researchers focused on the skin, the formulation could prove to be effective in enhancing the body's natural protection against the damaging effects of ROS in other parts of the body, such as inflammation in cardiovascular diseases, heart attack, cancer, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's.
Here's an image provided by Ben-Yehuda Greenwald illustrating the team's work,
Caption: These are the consequences of skin exposure to stressors. Credit: Maya Ben-Yehuda Greenwald
Skin Redox Balance Maintenance: The Need for an Nrf2-Activator Delivery System by Maya Ben-Yehuda Greenwald, Shmuel Ben-Sasson, Havazelet Bianco-Peled, and Ron Kohen. Cosmetics 2016, 3(1), 1; doi:10.3390/cosmetics3010001 Published: 15 January 2016
This entry was posted in medicine, nanotechnology and tagged Alzheimer's Disease, cardiovascular diseases, free radicals, Havazelet Bianco-Peled, heart attack, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, inflammatory diseases, Israel, Maya Ben-Yehuda Greenwald, multiple sclerosis, nanotechnology-based delivery system, oxidative stress, pigmenting disorders, reactive oxygen species (ROS), Ron Kohen, Shmuel Ben-Sasson, skin cancers, skin disorders, skin pathologies, Skin Redox Balance Maintenance: The Need for an Nrf2-Activator Delivery System, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, wrinkles on March 4, 2016 by Maryse de la Giroday.
Parvus Therapeutics (Calgary, Canada) and reprogramming immune cells
An international collaboration of Canadian, Spanish, and US scientists has announced a new therapeutic approach which could reverse autoimmune diseases in a Feb. 17, 2016 news item on Nanotechnology Now,
• Nanotechnology Approach Restores Glucose Regulation and Motor Function in In Vivo Preclinical Models of Diabetes and Multiple Sclerosis, Respectively; Joint Swelling and Destruction Resolved in In Vivo Model of Rheumatoid Arthritis
• Parvus' Approach Can Be Tailored to Treat Diverse Diseases
A Feb. 17, 2016 Parvus Therapeutics news release (also on EurekAlert), which originated the news item, provides more detail and a strong orientation to marketing communication,
Parvus Therapeutics today announced the publication in Nature of a seminal paper describing the discovery and applications of a novel therapeutic approach employing nanomedicines, referred to as "Navacims"TM, to reprogram white blood cells to become regulatory cells capable of blunting autoimmune responses and restoring the equilibrium of the immune system. Navacims are nanoparticles (NPs) coated with disease-relevant peptide-major histocompatibility complexes (pMHCs) that alter the behavior of pathogenic T lymphocytes by binding directly to their antigen receptors. The peer-reviewed article, titled "Expanding antigen-specific regulatory networks to treat autoimmunity" reports on a body of work, including results in multiple in vivo disease models, built on more than eight years of research by Parvus Founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Pere Santamaria, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Santamaria commented, "Autoimmune diseases, including type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis, are extraordinarily complex responses of our immune system against some of our own tissues (e.g. pancreas, brain and joints, respectively), leading to chronic organ inflammation, organ dysfunction, and, in some cases, premature death. Blunting these incompletely understood immune responses without suppressing the normal components of our immune system that protect us against infection and cancer is not currently possible."
"However, our work offers a pharmaceutical solution to this fundamental problem," Dr. Santamaria continued. "Navacims essentially re-program disease-causing white blood cells to become disease-suppressing cells, known as regulatory cells, leading to sustained therapeutic effects in various spontaneous and experimental autoimmune diseases, as reported in our article in Nature. Essentially, we have found that Navacims can be tailored to treat a wide range of autoimmune diseases, while sharing a common structure. Importantly, they have been shown to affect human white blood cells in the same manner as they do murine cells. Furthermore, Navacims have shown promising safety findings in preclinical in vivo models. Based on our results to date, we believe Navacims represent a therapeutic platform with broad-ranging health care implications."
Findings being reported in Nature include:
pMHC class II Navacims expanded cognate CD4+ T-cells that consistently have a TR1-like, regulatory T cell surface phenotype, transcriptional pattern and cytokine profile (mouse=human TR1 cells) systemically.
pMHC class II-Navacims designed to target T cells in newly diabetic nonobese (NOD) mice restored normoglycemia (normal blood sugar regulation) in the majority of the mice tested.
Tailored pMHC class II Navacims restored motor function to paralyzed C57BL/6 mice at the peak of Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis (a model of Multiple Sclerosis).
pMHC class II Navacims, targeting disease-causing T cells in joints, resolved joint swelling and destruction in arthritic mice.
"The findings being reported in Nature represent a scientific advance for Parvus and also a major achievement in the field of Immunology," said Janice M. LeCocq, CEO of Parvus. "We believe that Dr. Santamaria's work has the potential to transform the treatment of many of the more than 80 major autoimmune diseases affecting humankind, alleviating the suffering of millions of patients and their families. Over the coming year, we will be dedicating much of our in-house efforts to the advancement of our two lead programs for type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis."
"Dr. Santamaria's work to target the immune system dysfunction that causes type 1 diabetes represents the kind of innovative work that JDRF believes will eventually get us to a cure for this disease," said Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Vice President of Discovery Research Julia Greenstein, Ph.D. "He and his colleagues have made exciting progress towards possibly developing a new class of drugs that could rebalance certain T-cells and ultimately provide a cure for type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases as well." The JDRF has funded the work of Dr. Santamaria and his colleagues at Parvus to explore Navacim-based treatments for diabetes.
Parvus' strategy is to establish partnerships with major pharmaceutical companies to undertake the clinical and commercial development of many of its product pipeline candidates while also reserving rights to others suitable for its own development and commercialization. Parvus currently is engaged in late stage discussions with multiple pharmaceutical companies with regard to the type 1 diabetes (T1D) program. Manufacturing scale-up is now underway to supply upcoming preclinical and clinical studies.
The work being reported in Nature was led by Dr. Pere Santamaria and largely executed at the University of Calgary, Cumming School of Medicine (animal models of disease) and the Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS) (humanized mouse work), with significant contributions from investigators at Institutions in Europe and the US. Further, Innovate Calgary, the technology-transfer and business-incubation center for the University of Calgary, provided early support for the transfer of the Navacims technology to and incubation of Parvus Therapeutics, which was organized as a separate entity in 2012.
It should be noted that this intervention has been tested on 'humanized' mice and, at this point, there don't seem to have been any human clinical trials. At a guess I'd say we're still several years away from this therapeutic intervention reaching the market, should it prove to be successful in humans.
Expanding antigen-specific regulatory networks to treat autoimmunity by Xavier Clemente Casares, Jesus Blanco, Poornima Ambalavanan, Jun Yamanouchi, Santiswarup Singha, Cesar Fandos, Sue Tsai, Jinguo Wang, Nahir Garabatos, Cristina Izquierdo, Smriti Agrawal, Michael B. Keough, V. Wee Yong, Eddie James, Anna Moore, Yang Yang, Thomas Stratmann, Pau Serra, & Pere Santamaria. Nature (2016) doi:10.1038/nature16962 Published online 17 February 2016
This entry was posted in medicine, nanotechnology and tagged Anna Moore, autoimmune diseases, Canada, Cesar Fandos, Cristina Izquierdo, Eddie James, Expanding antigen-specific regulatory networks to treat autoimmunity, Innovate Calgary, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Janice M. LeCocq, Jesus Blanco, Jinguo Wang, Julia Greenstein, Jun Yamanouchi, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Michael B. Keough, multiple sclerosis, Nahir Garabatos, nanoparticles (NPs) coated with disease-relevant peptide-major histocompatibility complexes (pMHCs), Navacims TM, Parvus Therapeutics, Pau Serra, Pere Santamaria, Poornima Ambalavanan, rheumatoid arthritis, Santiswarup Singha, Smriti Agrawal, Spain, Sue Tsai, Thomas Stratmann, type 1 diabetes, University of Calgary, US, V. Wee Yong, Xavier Clemente Casares, Yang Yang on February 19, 2016 by Maryse de la Giroday.
Herbicide nanometric sensor could help diagnose multiple sclerosis
This research into nanometric sensors and multiple sclerosis comes from Brazil. According to a June 23, 2015 news item on Nanowerk (Note: A link has been removed),
The early diagnosis of certain types of cancer, as well as nervous system diseases such as multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica, may soon be facilitated by the use of a nanosensor capable of identifying biomarkers of these pathological conditions ("A Nanobiosensor Based on 4-Hydroxyphenylpyruvate Dioxygenase Enzyme for Mesotrione Detection").
The nanobiosensor was developed at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), Sorocaba, in partnership with the São Paulo Federal Institute of Education, Science & Technology (IFSP), Itapetininga, São Paulo State, Brazil. It was originally designed to detect herbicides, heavy metals and other pollutants.
A June 23, 2015 Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo news release on EurekAlert, which originated the news item, describes the sensor as it was originally used and explains its new function as a diagnostic tool for multiple sclerosis and other diseases,
"It's a highly sensitive device, which we developed in collaboration with Alberto Luís Dario Moreau, a professor at IFSP. "We were able to increase sensitivity dramatically by going down to the nanometric scale," said physicist Fábio de Lima Leite, a professor at UFSCar and the coordinator of the research group.
The nanobiosensor consists of a silicon nitride (Si3N4) or silicon (Si) nanoprobe with a molecular-scale elastic constant and a nanotip coupled to an enzyme, protein or other molecule.
When this molecule touches a target of interest, such as an antibody or antigen, the probe bends as the two molecules adhere. The deflection is detected and measured by the device, enabling scientists to identify the target.
"We started by detecting herbicides and heavy metals. Now we're testing the device for use in detecting target molecules typical of nervous system diseases, in partnership with colleagues at leading centers of research on demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system"
The migration from herbicide detection to antibody detection was motivated mainly by the difficulty of diagnosing demyelinating diseases, cancer and other chronic diseases before they have advanced beyond an initial stage.
The criteria for establishing a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis or neuromyelitis optica are clinical (supplemented by MRI scans), and patients do not always present with a characteristic clinical picture. More precise diagnosis entails ruling out several other diseases.
The development of nanodevices will be of assistance in identifying these diseases and reducing the chances of false diagnosis.
The procedure can be as simple as placing a drop of the patient's cerebrospinal fluid on a glass slide and observing its interaction with the nanobiosensor.
"If the interaction is low, we'll be able to rule out multiple sclerosis with great confidence," Leite said. "High interaction will indicate that the person is very likely to have the disease." In this case, further testing would be required to exclude the possibility of a false positive.
"Different nervous system diseases have highly similar symptoms. Multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica are just two examples. Even specialists experience difficulties or take a long time to diagnose them. Our technique would provide a differential diagnostic tool," Leite said.
The next step for the group is to research biomarkers for these diseases that have not been completely mapped, including antibodies and antigens, among others. The group has begun tests for the detection of head and neck cancer.
A Nanobiosensor Based on 4-Hydroxyphenylpyruvate Dioxygenase Enzyme for Mesotrione Detection by P. Soto Garcia, A.L.D Moreau, J.C. Magalhaes Ierich, A.C Araujo Vig, A.M. Higa, G.S. Oliveira, F. Camargo Abdalla, M. Hausen, & F.L. Leite. Sensors Journal, IEEE (Volume:15 , Issue: 4) pp. 2106 – 2113 Date of Publication: 20 November 2014 Date of Current Version: 27 January 2015 Issue Date: April 2015 DOI 10.1109/JSEN.2014.2371773
This entry was posted in medicine, nanotechnology and tagged A Nanobiosensor Based on 4-Hydroxyphenylpyruvate Dioxygenase Enzyme for Mesotrione Detection, A.C Araujo Vig, A.L.D Moreau, A.M. Higa, Alberto Luís Dario Moreau, Brazil, cancer, demyelinating diseases, F. Camargo Abdalla, F.L. Leite, Fábio de Lima Leite, Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, G.S. Oliveira, heavy metals, herbicides, J.C. Magalhaes Ierich, M. Hausen, multiple sclerosis, nanobiosensor, nanometric sensor, nanosensors, nervous system diseases, neuromyelitis optica, P. Soto Garcia, São Paulo Federal Institute of Education, Science & Technology (IFSP), sensing on June 30, 2015 by Maryse de la Giroday.
Multiple sclerosis stopped by a biodegradable nanoparticle?
Researchers at Northwestern University (Chicago, Illinois) have halted the progress of multiple sclerosis in mice. The Nov. 18, 2012 Northwestern University news release on EurekAlert provides more details,
In a breakthrough for nanotechnology and multiple sclerosis, a biodegradable nanoparticle turns out to be the perfect vehicle to stealthily deliver an antigen that tricks the immune system into stopping its attack on myelin and halt a model of relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (MS) in mice, according to new Northwestern Medicine research.
In MS, the immune system attacks the myelin membrane that insulates nerves cells in the brain, spinal cord and optic nerve. When the insulation is destroyed, electrical signals can't be effectively conducted, resulting in symptoms that range from mild limb numbness to paralysis or blindness. About 80 percent of MS patients are diagnosed with the relapsing remitting form of the disease.
The Northwestern nanotechnology does not suppress the entire immune system as do current therapies for MS, which make patients more susceptible to everyday infections and higher rates of cancer. Rather, when the nanoparticles are attached to myelin antigens and injected into the mice, the immune system is reset to normal. The immune system stops recognizing myelin as an alien invader and halts its attack on it.
"This is a highly significant breakthrough in translational immunotherapy," said Stephen Miller, a corresponding author of the study and the Judy Gugenheim Research Professor of Microbiology-Immunology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "The beauty of this new technology is it can be used in many immune-related diseases. We simply change the antigen that's delivered."
"The holy grail is to develop a therapy that is specific to the pathological immune response, in this case the body attacking myelin," Miller added. "Our approach resets the immune system so it no longer attacks myelin but leaves the function of the normal immune system intact."
The nanoparticle, made from an easily produced and already FDA-approved substance, was developed by Lonnie Shea, professor of chemical and biological engineering at Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science.
There are human clinical trials taking place now (from the news release),
The study's method is the same approach now being tested in multiple sclerosis patients in a phase I/II clinical trial — with one key difference. The trial uses a patient's own white blood cells — a costly and labor intensive procedure — to deliver the antigen. The purpose of the new study was to see if nanoparticles could be as effective as the white blood cells as delivery vehicles. They were.
For interested parties, here's the full citation for the article and a link,
"Microparticles bearing encephalitogenic peptides induce T-cell tolerance and ameliorate experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis" by Daniel R Getts, Aaron J Martin, Derrick P McCarthy, Rachael . Terry, Zoe N Hunter, Woon Teck Yap, Meghann Teague Getts, Michael Pleiss, Zunrong Luo, Nicholas JC King, Lonnie D Shea and Stephen D Miller in Nature Biotechnology (2012) doi:10.1038/nbt.2434
The article is behind a paywall. I found these details in the news release about how the antigen and nanoparticles work with the immune system particularly interesting,
In the study, researchers attached myelin antigens to the nanoparticles and injected them intravenously into the mice. The particles entered the spleen, which filters the blood and helps the body dispose of aging and dying blood cells. There, the particles were engulfed by macrophages, a type of immune cell, which then displayed the antigens on their cell surface. The immune system viewed the nanoparticles as ordinary dying blood cells and nothing to be concerned about. This created immune tolerance to the antigen by directly inhibiting the activity of myelin responsive T cells and by increasing the numbers of regulatory T cells which further calmed the autoimmune response.
"The key here is that this antigen/particle-based approach to induction of tolerance is selective and targeted. Unlike generalized immunosuppression, which is the current therapy used for autoimmune diseases, this new process does not shut down the whole immune system," said Christine Kelley, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering director of the division of Discovery Science and Technology at the National Institutes of Health, which supported the research.
All in all, this seems a gentler approach to the disease.
This entry was posted in medicine, nanotechnology and tagged Aaron J Martin, Christine Kelley, Daniel R Getts, Derrick P McCarthy, Lonnie D Shea, Meghann Teague Getts, Michael Pleiss, Microparticles bearing encephalitogenic peptides induce T-cell tolerance and ameliorate experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, multiple sclerosis, Nicholas JC King, Northwestern University, Rachael . Terry, Stephen D Miller, Woon Teck Yap, Zoe N Hunter, Zunrong Luo on November 19, 2012 by Maryse de la Giroday.
More than the "Emperor's New Clothes" insight
Happy 2010 to all! I've taken some time out as I have moved locations and it's taken longer to settle down that I hoped. (sigh) I still have loads to do but can get back to posting regularly (I hope).
New Year's Eve I came across a very interesting article about how scientists think thanks to a reference on the Foresight Institute website. The article, Accept Defeat: The Neuroscience of Screwing Up, by Jonah Lehrer for Wired Magazine uses a story about a couple of astronomers and their investigative frustrations to illustrate research on how scientists (and the rest of us, as it turns out) think.
Before going on about the article I'm going to arbitrarily divide beliefs about scientific thinking/processes into two schools. In the first there's the scientific method with its belief in objectivity and incontrovertible truths waiting to be discovered and validated. Later in university I was introduced to the 2nd belief about scientific thinking with the notion that scientific facts are social creations and that objectivity does not exist. From the outside it appears that scientists tend to belong to the first school and social scientists to the second but, as the Wired article points out, things are a little more amorphous than that when you dig down into the neuroscience of it all.
From the article,
The reason we're so resistant to anomalous information — the real reason researchers automatically assume that every unexpected result is a stupid mistake — is rooted in the way the human brain works. Over the past few decades, psychologists [and other social scientists] have dismantled the myth of objectivity. The fact is, we carefully edit our reality, searching for evidence that confirms what we already believe. Although we pretend we're empiricists — our views dictated by nothing but the facts — we're actually blinkered, especially when it comes to information that contradicts our theories. The problem with science, then, isn't that most experiments fail — it's that most failures are ignored.
The DLPFC [dorsolateral prefrontal cortex] is constantly censoring the world, erasing facts from our experience. If the ACC [anterior cingulate cortex, typically associated with errors and contradictions]] is the "Oh shit!" circuit, the DLPFC is the Delete key. When the ACC and DLPFC "turn on together, people aren't just noticing that something doesn't look right," [Kevin] Dunbar says. "They're also inhibiting that information."
Disregarding evidence is something I've noticed (in others more easily than in myself) and have wondered about the implications. As noted in the article, ignoring scientific failure stymies research and ultimately more effective applications for the research. For example, there's been a lot of interest in a new surgical procedure (still being tested) for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). The procedure was developed by an Italian surgeon who (after his wife was stricken with the disease) reviewed literature on the disease going back 100 years and found a line of research that wasn't being pursued actively and was a radical departure from current accepted beliefs about the nature of MS. (You can read more about the MS work here in the Globe and Mail story or here in the CBC story.) Btw, there are a couple of happy endings. The surgeon's wife is much better and a promising new procedure is being examined.
Innovation and new research can be so difficult to pursue it's amazing that anyone ever succeeds. Kevin Dunbar, the researcher mentioned previously, arrived at a rather interesting conclusion in his investigation on how scientists think and how they get around the ACC/DLFPC action: other people. He tells a story about two lab groups who each had a meeting,
Dunbar watched how each of these labs dealt with their protein problem. The E. coli group took a brute-force approach, spending several weeks methodically testing various fixes. "It was extremely inefficient," Dunbar says. "They eventually solved it, but they wasted a lot of valuable time."The diverse lab, in contrast, mulled the problem at a group meeting. None of the scientists were protein experts, so they began a wide-ranging discussion of possible solutions. At first, the conversation seemed rather useless. But then, as the chemists traded ideas with the biologists and the biologists bounced ideas off the med students, potential answers began to emerge. "After another 10 minutes of talking, the protein problem was solved," Dunbar says. "They made it look easy."
When Dunbar reviewed the transcripts of the meeting, he found that the intellectual mix generated a distinct type of interaction in which the scientists were forced to rely on metaphors and analogies [my emphasis] to express themselves. (That's because, unlike the E. coli group, the second lab lacked a specialized language that everyone could understand.) These abstractions proved essential for problem-solving, as they encouraged the scientists to reconsider their assumptions. Having to explain the problem to someone else forced them to think, if only for a moment, like an intellectual on the margins, filled with self-skepticism.
As Dunbar notes, we usually need more than an outsider to experience a Eureka moment (the story about Italian surgeon notwithstanding and it should be noted that he was an MS outsider); we need metaphors and analogies. (I've taken it a bit further than Dunbar likely would but I am a writer, after all.)
If you are interested in Dunbar's work, he's at the University of Toronto with more information here.
This entry was posted in science, science communication and tagged ACC, anterior cingulate cortex, cognitiion, DLPFC, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, Jonah Lehrer, Kevin Dunbar, metaphors, MS, multiple sclerosis, neuroscience, scientific thinking, surgery, University of Toronto on January 4, 2010 by Maryse de la Giroday.


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Kim Kardashian Reacts After Longtime Best Friend Paris Hilton Welcomes Baby No. 1: 'So Happy'
Jan 25, 2023 9:40 am·
Best friends forever! Kim Kardashian shared a sweet message of love and congratulations to Paris Hilton and her husband, Carter Reum, after the couple announced on Tuesday, January 24, that they welcomed their first baby together via surrogate.
"So happy for you guys!!!" the Kardashians star, 42, wrote in a comment on Paris' Instagram announcement. Kim has been friends with the hotel heiress, 41, since they were both kids growing up in California. Before becoming star in her own right, the reality star even organized Paris' closet back in the day.
Alex Berliner/BEI/Shutterstock
Paris revealed that she and Carter, 41, welcomed a son by posting a picture of her hand with their baby boy's fingers wrapped around her thumb.
"You are already loved beyond words," Paris captioned the post, pairing it with a blue heart.
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"It's always been my dream to be a mother and I'm so happy that Carter and I found each other," she told People following the baby announcement. "We are so excited to start our family together and our hearts are exploding with love for our baby boy."
While this is the "Stars Are Blind" singer's first child, Carter shares a daughter with ex Laura Bellizzi. News of his child went public following his and Paris' October 2021 wedding. A rep for the venture capitalist shares that "the people who this story matters to have known about it for 10 years," in a statement to Page Six in November 2021.
From 'The Simple Life' to Now: Paris Hilton's Transformation Is Hot
"Carter supports this child," the statement continued. "While he does not have a traditional father-daughter relationship with her, he has provided for her since she was born and will continue to do so."
Paris, for her part, has been vocal about her wish to become a mom. In December 2022, the "This Is Paris" podcast host even teased that they "were always planning on 2023" to start welcoming kids.
"We've just, you know, getting the eggs all ready. They're all ready and they're all waiting and excited for them," she told E! News at the time. "I always loved kids, but I just never found the person that I could trust to do that with. But now that I did, I just can't wait, and he's gonna be the best father and we're just gonna have the most magical life together."
Months prior, in a separate interview with the outlet from January 2022, Paris even teased that she "maybe" wanted "a boy first," adding, "I always wished I had an older brother because I feel like if I did, they would protect me and things like that in school."