From Cells To Systems

An echocardiogram is a sonogram of the heart. Echocardiography uses standard two-dimensional, three-dimensional, and Doppler ultrasound to create images of the heart. Echocardiography has become routinely used in the diagnosis, management, and follow-up of patients with any suspected or known heart diseases. It is one of the most widely used diagnostic tests in cardiology. It can provide a wealth of helpful information, including the size and shape of the heart (internal chamber size quantification), pumping capacity, and the location and extent of any tissue damage. An Echocardiogram can also give physicians other estimates of heart function such as a calculation of the cardiac output, ejection fraction, and diastolic function (how well the heart relaxes).

Echocardiography can help detect cardiomyopathies, such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, dilated cardiomyopathy, and many others. The use of Stress Echocardiography may also help determine whether any chest pain or associated symptoms are related to heart disease. The biggest advantage to echocardiography is that it is noninvasive (doesn’t involve breaking the skin or entering body cavities) and has no known risks or side effects.

Signal may send cancer’s cellular factories into overdrive

A network of signals active in almost all types of cancer sends the protein factories in our cells into overdrive, and may help fuel a tumour’s uncontrolled growth, new research suggests.

Scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, one of the world’s most influential cancer research institutes, identified a molecular trigger responsible for ramping up activity of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) – the cellular factory that makes the building blocks cancer cells need to keep growing.

The findings may help to explain how cancer cells maintain their high levels of metabolism – and could uncover future targets for cancer treatment

The top three images show human hepatocarcinoma cells with the endoplasmic reticulum (blue) and nucleus (red). Copyright: Dr Chris Bakal, The Institute of Cancer Research, London.

The bottom image shows human epithelial cells from breast tissue treated with Torin, an inhibitor of TOR kinase, where the endoplasmic reticulum is (green), nuclei (red) and F-actin (grey) Copyright: Dr Chris Bakal, The Institute of Cancer Research, London.

Top: Uterine lining at 5 1/2 months, displaying thin maternal separation from fetus, and high level of placental implantation Center: Relation of placenta to uterus at 5 weeks and 8.5 months Bottom: Major arteries and veins of the placenta

Did you know that the placenta is a temporary organ that’s actually created by the fetus, and not the woman?

The human female is a curious creature; like our close great ape cousins, but unlike almost all other mammals, they build up a thick barrier in the uterine wall, to protect against any potential embryo that might implant itself. When there’s no embryo implantation, the thickened wall is shed, in the process known as menstruation.

The thing is, most mammals don’t menstruate. They go into heat, and occasionally shed uterine lining (if the uterus is scratched, or an egg tries to implant but fails, for example), but there’s no regular cycle of bloody discharge relating to breeding. This is because other mammals go through triggered decidualization (developing a uterine lining only when a fertilized egg begins to implant itself), while the great apes (and a couple other convergently evolved families, including bats) experience spontaneous decidualization, where they develop a thick uterine lining during every ovulation, before an egg can even attempt to implant itself.

Why the different linings? Well, it turns out that there are three types of mammal placentas (remember, placentas are developed by the embryo/fetus, not the mother):

Epitheliochordal, which is completely superficial, and does not connect in any significant way to the mother’s body. The endometrial epithelium, connective tissue, and uterine epithelium are all preserved and undisturbed in the mother. The fetus is separated from the mother by three layers of tissue. Nutrients and waste are delivered and eliminated through diffusion, rather than direct connection. This group includes equids, swine, and ruminants.

Endotheliochordal, which is slightly more invasive to the mother, only preserves the uterine epithelium. Nutrients and waste are not exchanged through direct connection to the mother, but the placenta only leaves one layer of tissue between it and the mother. This group includes cats and dogs.

Hemochorial is the most invasive form of placenta in the animal kingdom. The embryo directly hooks itself up to the host (mother’s) blood flow, and leaves no tissue layers between the female and the placenta. This allows much more efficient nutrient transfer to the embryo or fetus, but is also potentially the most harmful to the female since the embryo attaches itself so securely to the uterine wall. The female must develop preemptive measures (a thickened uterine lining) to protect herself from a life-form that is literally driven to take all of the nutrients it needs to develop, and which has adapted to connect itself directly to the host. This group includes elephant shrews, most bats, and most primates.

Interested in more about the science behind reproduction and how amazingly efficient the human embryo is at sucking its host clean, just to obtain its needed resources for development?

PZ Meyers at Pharyngula has an understandable explanation of the article I referenced for this post.

There is also a great site by R. Bowen about the pathophysiology of the reproductive system.

Splice Variants Reveal Connections Among Autism Genes 

A team of researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the Center for Cancer Systems Biology (CCSB) at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has uncovered a new aspect of autism, revealing that proteins involved in autism interact with many more partners than previously known. These interactions had not been detected earlier because they involve alternatively spliced forms of autism genes found in the brain. 

In their study, published in the April 11, 2014 online issue of Nature Communications, the scientists isolated hundreds of new variants of autism genes from the human brain, and then screened their protein products against thousands of other proteins to identify interacting partners. Proteins produced by alternatively-spliced autism genes and their many partners formed a biological network that produced an unprecedented view of how autism genes are connected. 

"When the newly discovered splice forms of autism genes were added to the network, the total number of interactions doubled," said principal investigator Lilia Iakoucheva, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UC San Diego. In some cases, the splice forms interacted with a completely different set of proteins. "What we see from this network is that different variants of the same protein could alter the wiring of the entire system," Iakoucheva said. 

"This is the first proteome-scale interaction network to incorporate alternative splice forms," noted Marc Vidal, PhD, CCSB director and a co-investigator on the study. "The fact that protein variants produce such diverse patterns of interactions is exciting and quite unexpected."

The new network also illuminated how multiple autism genes connect to one another. The scientists found that one class of mutations involved in autism, known as copy number variants, involve genes that are closely connected to each other directly or indirectly through a common partner. “This suggests that shared biological pathways may be disrupted in patients with different autism mutations,” said co-first author Guan Ning Lin, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in Iakouchevaís laboratory.

Beyond providing greater breadth and depth around autism proteins, the network represents a new resource for future autism studies, according to Iakoucheva. For example, she said the physical collection of more than 400 splicing variants of autism candidate genes could be used by other researchers interested in studying a specific protein variant. Some of the highly connected network partners may also represent potential drug targets. All interaction data will reside in the publicly available National Database of Autism Research.   

"With this assembled autism network, we can begin to investigate how newly discovered mutations from patients may disrupt this network,î said Iakoucheva. "This is an important task because the mechanism by which mutant proteins contribute to autism in 99.9 percent of cases remains unknown."

Did your heart just skip a beat? Then you must love this heart anatomy print. This Valentines day print is a great gift for any one that you love who loves human anatomy!

In a non-displaced fracture, the bone cracks with the broken pieces still in alignment. The injury is not visible from the outside, but shows up as a line or crack on a x-ray.

In a displaced fracture, the bone breaks in two or more pieces that have moved out of alignment. The distortion is visible from the outside and the break often causes severe pain.

An open fracture [often called a compound fracture] is one in which the bone breaks through the skin; it may then recede back into the wound and not be visible through the skin. There is a risk for deep bone infection here.

A closed fracture is when the bone breaks but there is no puncture or open wound in the skin.

Remember: increased ICP has symptoms opposite of shock

Increase in blood pressure

Smart Contact Lenses, Microchip Pills are the Future of Health

Google announced that it is testing smart contact lenses that can help Diabetes patients monitor glucose levels, but they’re not the only ones working on building tiny microchips into health management systems. “Bionic contacts” are already used in Europe, and swallowable microchips that complement drug regimens are already approved for use the United States.

Nanomotors Operate Inside Living Cells 

For the first time, researchers from Penn State University have created “nanomotors” that can be controlled while inside a living cell. These microscopic synthetic motors can move inside a cell, spin around and bump against cell membranes.

According to the researchers, this breakthrough has the potential to improve cancer treatments and change the way medicine is administered, and could one day help treat diseases by mechanically manipulating cells.