New research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) suggests an unexpected effect of global warming: a future expansion of the US “kidney stone belt”.
According to the research, increasing global temperatures will result in more cases dehydration and low urine production leading to kidney stones (calcium deposits).
The US already has a “kidney stone belt” in which occurences of the painful condition are twice as common as in the rest of the country. The research predicts:
“The fraction of the U.S. population living in high-risk zones for nephrolithiasis will grow from 40% in 2000 to 56% by 2050, and to 70% by 2095.”
If the research findings are correct then millions of Americans could literally feel the pain of global warming.
Photo Credit: Trevor Blake (Creative Commons)
July 15th, 2008
Posted by
trevor |
Health |
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New research suggests that nanotechnology could give a “second chance” to drugs that had previously been abandoned.
Researchers at the Children’s Hospital Boston have been investigating an angiogenesis inhibitor drug called TNP-470. Clinical trials in the 1990s found that TNP-470 “suppressed a surprisingly wide range of cancers, including metastatic cancers, and produced a few complete remissions”. However the drug was abandoned because of the neurological side-effects.
Using nanotehnology the researchers have produced a novel, slow-release version of the drug which is called Lodamin. In trials with mice, Lodamin “appears to retain TNP-470’s potency and broad spectrum of activity, but with no detectable neurotoxicity and greatly enhanced oral availability”.
Lodamin essentially takes TNP-470 and surrounds it with nanoparticle polymer strands. These hold the TNP-470 in and protect it from stomach acid until the Lodamin reaches the tumour and water breaks down the polymer strands.
It’s still early days yet - the new version of Lodamin has only been tested on mice. However if the technique turns out to be generally applicable then the future could see a greater choice of medication as older drugs have their side-effects removed.
The research was published in Nature Biotechnology and is dedicated to the memory of senior author Judah Folkman who died unexpectedly in January this year.
Picture Credit: Kristin Johnson
July 15th, 2008
Posted by
trevor |
Health, Nanotechnology |
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New research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA have given a boost to the fledgeling field of nutrigenomics: tailoring nutrition according to genetic make-up.
The research has identified genetic variations that can impair the operation of a particular enzyme. That in turn can lead to heart problems and birth defects. However there are certain nutritional substances that can counter this problem.
This suggests that in the future it might be possible to advise people with the relevant genetic variations to take additional vitamins. As more such genetic-enzyme links are discovered it leads to the possibility of a future where we all have a specially tailored “cocktail” of optimal vitamins we take daily.
Of course this is still in the future, nutrigenomics is in the early stages. There are also privacy, social and political issues: widespread availabilty of such individual DNA-based treatments presumes mass DNA testing at an early age. What would governments, insurance companies and employers do with such information?
Photo copyright © cre8tive_studios / iStockphoto
July 5th, 2008
Posted by
trevor |
Health |
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