A quick look at languages notes that 12 including Arabic and Hebrew are right-to-left written. These include Aramaic, Azeri, Divehi, Fula, Kurdish, N’ko, Persian, Rohingya, Syriac and Urdu. I often wonder if the inventors of these alphabets were left-handed which facilitated ease in writing them?
What determines whether you are born left-hand or right-hand dominant? An article appearing on April 2, 2024, in Nature Communications, describes a study by neuroscientists at MSH Medical School Hamburg in Germany that identified the genetic origins of handedness in humans implicating a specific group of proteins called tubulins. Tubulins are the proteins that build the skeleton.
Handedness has been studied because of its relationship with written languages. Left-handedness is also studied because it has been linked with several neurodevelopmental disorders including schizophrenia and bipolarism. In humans, 10% of us are left-hand dominant. Left-handedness is more predominant in males than in females. Left-hand dominance over right-hand is not seen as a predisposition for those who exhibit ambidexterity although it was often thought to be the case. The likely error in this belief comes from past behaviour to force left-handed people to use their right hand as happened to my father.
The Hamburg study points to tubulin proteins as determining left-right brain asymmetry. It notes that at the embryonic stage of human development, the brain hemispheres become wired differently determining many innate behaviours including:
A previous study in the United Kingdom pointed to 48 genetic variants in non-coding DNA regions associated with left-hand dominance. These areas of DNA contain the genes that control tubulins, a group of proteins with a tube-like appearance. One of these tubulins called TUBB4B is 2.7 times more common in people exhibiting left-hand dominance.
Why do tubulins cause some of us to write with our left hand versus our right? The theory described in the Nature Communications article points to how tubulins affect the hair-like protrusions in cell membranes called cilia. These hairs direct the flow of fluids in the developing embryo and in a small number of cases produce brain asymmetry variations. If unfamiliar with the term “brain asymmetry,” it refers to the two halves or hemispheres in the the brain that often perform very different functions. The Hamburg researchers call molecular handedness an “asymmetric twist” that occurs during early brain development.
This latest twist on handedness counters the preconceived notion supported by a 2009 published study appearing in Neuropsychologia which studied 30,161 U.S. adults and concluded that common and unique environmental effects to hand preference were likely the determining factor in left versus right-handedness and not genetic factors.
]]>The world has a plastic problem that we are late to the table to address. We have an ocean being filled with plastic and we are filling ourselves with it as well. Exposure to microplastic and nanoplastic (MNPs) is a health problem. MNPs are used widely in products. They are in the water we drink, and getting into our foods.
An observational study published in the New England Journal of Medicine recently describes the danger of MNPs found in plaque lining the carotid arteries of people. The study involved 304 patients and showed that 257, between ages 18 and 75, with asymptomatic artery disease had measurable levels of MNPs in their carotid arteries. Of these 58% had polyethylene and 12% had polyvinyl chloride in the plaque. Electron microscopy revealed visible, jagged-edged embedded MNP particles. The study concluded that those with detectable MNP levels were at a 4.5 times higher risk of heart attack or stroke at 34 months follow-up than those with no MNPs detected. Besides MNPs in arterial plaque, other studies have found plastic in breast milk, urine, blood, and lungs.
Microplastics today are everywhere. We are finding them in the deepest parts of the ocean and at the top of Mount Everest. It should be no wonder, therefore, that microplastics have invaded us.
Speaking of the ocean, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the North Pacific Ocean is a collection of marine debris the size of Texas and much of it is plastic. It is a collection of visible floating trash, microplastic and nanoplastic that has accumulated with origins from the countries of the Pacific Rim including North and South America, and Asia.
In 2019, the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, working with the Alfred Wegener Institute, conducted a five-week expedition across the Pacific Ocean and found significant amounts of plastic waste in marine protected areas. These sites were in addition to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Following a route drawn up by the SCUD (Surface Currents from Diagnostics) model, created at the Asia-Pacific Data-Research Center at the University of Hawaii, the expedition gathered surface water samples from Vancouver to Singapore (see image at the beginning of this article). The study noted wherever it went there was plastic. No sampling came up empty indicating the plastic pollution problem is much worse than previously thought.
What were the methodologies chosen for sampling? The first was an eye survey by teams of two scientists stationed on deck throughout the transit. The second used nets with mesh sizes of 0.3 millimetres that were towed to do sampling at nine locations. Those conducting the study noted an abundance of degraded smaller plastic fragments suggesting further degradation was likely which would mean large amounts of MNPs present. The limitations of the methodologies used meant MNPs were not captured.
One can assume MNPs were present throughout the ocean environment traversed. The amount and volume is unknown. If MNPs were abundant in the surface waters of the Pacific, what kind of threat did they pose to ocean life considering the noted threat to humans as described above in the New England Journal of Medicine study?
In 2022, the United Nations began working on a global plastic pollution agreement that will become legally binding this year. Called the Global Partnership on Plastic Pollution and Marine Litter, it is creating a database to track the lifecycle of plastic, analyze environmental, biological, and socio-economic impacts, look at technological innovation, share financial and capacity-building resources, and list action plans across the planet. Among the many resources created so far are a marine microplastics database and pollution map, a marine litter database and litter watch, a global plastic watch and more.
In 2022 the World Health Organization published a 156-page document covering dietary and exposure to MNP guidelines. I wonder, therefore, why the United Nations hasn’t incorporated MNPs into its global partnership strategy.
]]>Thirty-four years later work being done by a team at the University of California – San Francisco (UCSF) using advanced brain mapping may change the lives of those locked in. The technology uses a neural prosthetic and AI. It captures signals from the brain related to speech and uses generative AI to speak on their behalf.
The UCSF team is using a deep-learning AI and captured brainwaves to produce speech from locked-in test subjects who have demonstrated an ability to speak 78 words per minute. Normal speech is usually double that. Based on the UCSF published results that appeared in the last August edition of the Journal Nature, the median word error rate was 25% after the AI had trained for two weeks using the data produced by the test subjects. Given longer, the word error rate was expected to decline.
What and how does this neuroprosthetic device work? It consists of an electrode array that plugs into a port on the scalp. The port accesses brainwave activity related to speech. The activity appears as squiggly lines but the data content of these transmissions when fed through 253 channels to a computer using a generative AI tool not only creates words but also speech sounds and even avatar facial movements. The words can be printed to a screen or through voice synthesis be spoken aloud. The AI software is similar to the Large Language Models that have made news headlines for the last two years.
UCSF chose two locked-in test subjects and fitted them with the neuroprosthetic. Both were 15-year survivors of brainstem strokes. They could not speak and were nearly completely paralyzed. Having survived strokes it was an unknown whether their brain speech centres were still working or had atrophied.
Dr. Edward Chang, the Chair at the Department of Neurological Surgery at UCSF when interviewed by the JAMA Network described the reawakening of speech in the two locked-in subjects. He noted, “What we’ve learned now is there’s no question that those parts of the brain that haven’t been used for quite some time actually are still there, kind of like riding a bicycle in some sense, though it does take training.”
The UCSF team asked their test subjects to read text being viewed on a screen. Remember, these subjects appeared to be dramatically limited in displaying any kind of recognition of what was being requested. Nonetheless, they were told to try formulating and saying the words on the screen.
Dr. Chang says it took two months for the test subjects to produce enough responses that the AI could analyze. Two weeks later, the AI was up to speed. The test subjects could speak again through an onscreen avatar as seen in the image at the top of this article.
For multilingual speakers who have suffered a debilitating stroke that renders them speechless in many languages, the goal is to get the neuroprosthetic to distinguish between the languages from neural activity patterns and then pick the appropriate one for the avatar to speak.
The current neuroprosthetic is wired to the brain through a connecting port on the user’s scalp. The goal, however, is to fully embed the device and make connectivity wireless for speech and recharging.
One can imagine a future robot companion replacing the avatar to become more than just the voice of a locked-in person, providing many other valuable services.
The work at UCSF isn’t the only research being done using neuroprostheses. Elon Musk launched Neuralink intending to produce implantable brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) to address loss of motor function and to enhance human performance by mating us with AIs.
Current neuroprostheses can restore motor function, control prosthetic limbs and give wearers operational control over exoskeletons. Retinal and cochlear implants are two neuroprostheses used today to restore vision and hearing.
Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) devices are being used to send signals into parts of the brain to treat Parkinson’s Disease, idiopathic tremors (which I have), and dystonia a condition that causes involuntary muscle contractions and jerking.
Cortical prostheses are helping the paralyzed directly interact with their cerebral cortex to control robotic limbs. Peripheral nerve prostheses restore motor or sensory function by connecting to nerves outside the central nervous system including the brain and spinal cord.
]]>Since Semaglutide arrived on the pharmaceutical scene, a medication originally developed to treat diabetes, the drug has morphed into the anti-obesity medication of choice for millions.
Semaglutide, developed by the Danish pharmaceutical company, Novo Nordisk, is available under two names: Ozempic and Wegovy. A similar drug called Tirzepatide, from U.S.-based Eli Lilly, is sold as Mounjaro and Zepbound. The results of taking these drugs related to weight loss have been astounding.
For people classified as morbidly obese, the taking of these drugs has given them a new lease on life. Losing weight has reversed prediabetic diagnoses.
In 2021, an article in The New England Journal of Medicine described the results of a double-blind trial using semaglutide and a placebo. All participants fit the body-mass profile of obesity. Over 68 weeks, both semaglutide and the placebo were administered using subcutaneous injections. Weight loss results for those taking semaglutide averaged 14.9%. Those on the placebo lost 2.4%. Some participants went off the semaglutide during the trial because of its side effects.
The trial didn’t follow the participants after the 68 weeks. What would have been interesting is to see how many who stopped taking semaglutide saw their weight loss vanish.
In an article appearing on ABC News on March 6, 2024, health reporter Jonel Aleccia wrote about the trials of those who have been prescribed these weight-loss drugs and then gone off them.
Obesity is a chronic condition treated by doctors who are weight loss specialists. Obesity leads to chronic conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure. Obesity can lead to strokes, congestive heart failure, and heart attacks.
Currently, in the U.S. more than 3 million prescriptions of Semaglutide and Tirzepatide drugs are dispensed monthly. In worst cases, these drugs cause a condition called gastroparesis with symptoms including severe nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. That’s why many who have been prescribed these drugs try to get off them after achieving their targeted weight loss. Some try to combine exercise with reduced use of the drugs. Or they cut down to twice-monthly injections. However, obesity researchers note, that used intermittently, Semaglutide and Tirzepatide don’t work very well.
Administered weekly these drugs can cost$1,000 to $1,300 U.S. per month. This puts a financial strain on a segment of the population that is most susceptible to obesity, the poor. That’s because low-income diets often include cheap, high-fat, high-sugar fast foods. As well, low-income earners may not have health insurance coverage to pay for the drugs making their cost an added burden.
So going off the drugs and hoping the benefits will last ignores the reality of obesity as a chronic condition. The ABC article notes: “Many people dropping off the medications report a sharp rise in symptoms of obesity. They include so-called food noise or intrusive thoughts of food; raging hunger; and decreased feelings of fullness when they eat.”
Why is this happening? Dr. Amy Rothberg is a University of Michigan endocrinologist who directs a weight-management and diabetes treatment program. She told ABC News, “These drugs are just a super-suppressor of…native signals and we should expect that’s going to occur” referring to increased weight gain.
When I was diagnosed as being prediabetic, my doctor offered me Ozempic. I read the literature and decided to stick to portion control, less meat, and more exercise in my life. I haven’t been sorry.
]]>We returned from Costa Rica to Toronto on February 17th. I was scheduled for knee replacement surgery and had a pre-op appointment with the hospital on March 13, 2020. My operation was supposed to happen on April 30th. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a public health emergency, the SARS-COV2 pandemic. Our world began to shut down. Two days after my pre-op appointment, all surgeries were cancelled.
Today marks the fourth anniversary of the WHO’s pandemic declaration. COVID-19 remains with us but the world is wide open now with no restrictions on travel, or for public events. Yet the global count of infected and dead continues to rise.
The Worldometer website, the best source of COVID-19 statistics, as of this week, shows almost 704 million reported COVID-19 cases. The unreported numbers are much higher. Recent data indicates that 98% of Canadians have had COVID-19, with over 54% of adults having antibodies indicating a past infection. U.S. data is similar showing 94% of the population as having had COVID-19 at least once in the last four years.
The official WHO total of deaths from COVID-19 is more than 7 million. The unofficial total is three times higher. There are tens of millions who have contracted COVID-19 and have never seen a doctor. Tens of millions still have symptoms or post-infection complications.
We still don’t know if COVID-19 will become an annual scourge or in time be seen as no more threatening than the common cold. As we have incubated the virus it has adapted to its human hosts, killing less of us although becoming more virulent in its spread. Evolution is working for SARS-COV2 to ensure it continues to thrive by not killing a lot of us.
The level of urgency that erupted with the arrival of COVID-19 marshalled the efforts of biopharmaceutical companies to develop rapidly, new vaccines and medications. Within a very short time window, new vaccines and medications were rushed out for use. The planet’s entire population became guinea pigs in short order as multiple companies rolled out ways to combat the virus.
Since the initial launch of these novel vaccinations and medications, the public has participated in publicly-funded vaccination drives. After multiple shots, vaccine fatigue is settling in.
Wearing masks in public indoor spaces was readily adopted at the beginning of the pandemic. Today, however, mask use like vaccination rates, is declining even in the face of reported spikes in infection rates.
There have always been vaccine naysayers. COVID-19 vaccine naysayers are not alone. They are joined by measles, mumps, rubella, whooping cough, chicken pox and many other vaccine naysayers. All of these diseases have run rampant in human populations. COVID-19 is just the latest and most dangerous because high levels of immunity were non-existent when the pandemic started.
Social media and the Internet have amped up the naysayer messaging to the crowd turning many away from life-saving vaccines and medications. Deadly measles outbreaks are on the rise today because of naysayer messaging.
Then there is a public perception that the threat of COVID-19 has been oversold. This is hard to believe as we enter the fourth year of the pandemic. For the scientific community and public health officials, there has to be better salesmanship to win community trust and larger engagement.
In a September 2022 WHO policy brief it listed the following actions needed to engage the public to better understand pandemic threats in light of what has been learned from COVID-19. These actions include:
]]>
Xuanhe Zhao, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT, in an MIT news release states: “We envision a few patches adhered to different locations on the body, and the patches would communicate with your cellphone, where AI algorithms would analyze the images on demand.”
This could mark the dawn of a new era of wearable imaging. Professor Zhao notes “With a few patches on your body, you could see your internal organs.” When applied to volunteers, the stickers produced live, high-resolution images of major blood vessels, the heart, lungs and stomach. The stickers performed well even when the volunteers were physically active. They remained attached to the skin on various parts of the body from the neck to the abdomen and arms producing clear images over 48 hours. The current version of the sticky patch is not wireless, and as of yet there is no smartphone app, but both of these innovations are in the works.
Current ultrasounds use a probe or transducer pressed against skin coated with a liquid gel to send sound waves into the body. These echo off internal structures which then are translated into images. Having had numerous ultrasounds after COVID-19 infected my heart four years ago, I can tell you that 45 minutes to an hour of this type of examination, although not invasive, is extremely uncomfortable.
A wearable imaging tool would be so much better. The one invented at MIT produces high-resolution images. The patch is made up of a stretchy adhesive layer with an underlying rigid array of transducers. MIT graduate student, Chonghe Wang, who worked on the project notes that the design “enables the device to conform to the skin while maintaining the relative location of the transducers.”
The stretchy adhesive consists of two thin layers of elastomer (the bottom has a sticky adhesive) separated by a solid hydrogel designed to transmit sound waves. The elastomer prevents the hydrogel from drying out which is a critical innovation because normal ultrasounds require constant application of gel to transmit images. The entire sticker is approximately 2 square centimetres and 3 millimetres in thickness.
Xiaoyu Chen, one of the co-authors of a paper the MIT team wrote and published in a recent edition of the journal, Science Advances, notes that the ability to obtain images during physical activity would be a major advance in ultrasound diagnostics. “We might be able to capture the moment in a workout before overuse and stop before muscles become sore. We do not know when that moment might be yet, but now we can provide imaging data that experts can interpret.”
Professor Zhao imagines doctors using a box of stickers designed for different body parts as the end product and describes their invention as “a breakthrough in wearable devices and medical imaging.”
]]>I’ve been taking statins for more than 14 years. Finding the right pill was torturous because of the side effects I experienced. The first statin I was prescribed made me feel like someone was punching me in the kidneys. It took several weeks after I stopped taking the statin for the pain to go away. When I was given a second option, the pain in my lower back was more manageable but it wasn’t until a pharmacist suggested I take a CoQ10 supplement along with the statin, that I finally found relief. My cholesterol levels have been under control now for a long time.
My wife recently was prescribed a statin for high cholesterol. Her side effects have been more alarming and she has had the prescription changed and twice has gone off the daily pill taking.
My brother-in-law uses an alternative injectable medication to control his cholesterol levels. He couldn’t tolerate statins either.
So much for putting the stuff in drinking water.
Combatting high cholesterol, however, is vital because as a chronic condition, it can double your risk of having a heart attack or stroke.
Recently, I read about an American company working on a vaccine to treat high cholesterol. The company is Vaxxinity, Inc., and so far, in non-human primate studies, their product, VXX-401, is demonstrating good results in treating hypercholesterolemia (high cholesterol) and preventing atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. The study results have recently been published in The Journal of Lipid Research. The company is now in Phase 1 clinical trials.
VXX-401 vaccine, when administered to cynomolgus monkeys, showed that it stimulated their immune systems to produce antibodies to target Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin/Kexin type 9 (PCSK9), a natural protein associated with the production of cholesterol in the body. By blocking PCSK9, the vaccine lowered cholesterol levels in the blood.
It is a waxy substance found in all cells in the body. It plays a significant role in the production of hormones, vitamin D, and bile acids. It comes in two forms: Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL-C) and High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL).
The former, LDL-C, has been given the moniker “bad cholesterol” because when there is too much of it, it can build up on arterial walls where it can block blood flow and compromise the heart. Both cholesterols are produced in the liver and small intestine.
HDL, the “good cholesterol” controls LDL-C levels in the blood helping the body to get rid of too much.
High LDL-C levels can have a genetic component, but most often lifestyle, diet, and weight are the cause.
VXX-401, so far, has demonstrated it reduces LDL-C levels on average by 44% in animal studies. It also appears to be well tolerated. Across three separate preclinical studies in cynomolgus monkeys, VXX-401 induced a strong and durable antibody response against PCSK9 and robust, sustained reduction of LDL-C over time. Prolonged exposure with VXX-401 resulted in an average of 44% LDL reduction. VXX-401 was well tolerated and did not induce any toxicity or pathology beyond mild injection site reactions. These results suggest that VXX-401 could be a safe and effective anti-PCSK9 immunotherapy.
VXX-401 was designed using Vaxxinity’s proprietary synthetic peptide vaccine platform Mei Mei Hu, Vaxxinity’s CEO, in a press release announcing the publication of the latest non-human primate results stated, “Despite multiple approved medications for LDL-C reduction, heart disease remains the number one killer in the world. A cholesterol vaccine like VXX-401 may provide a cost-effective and widely deployable solution that could potentially benefit hundreds of millions of people at risk. A well-tolerated intervention that people can start early in life, and remain on for many years, lowering the cholesterol ‘area under the curve,’ has the potential to help us win the fight against heart disease.”
Phase 1 of the clinical trial of VXX-401 is focused on determining the safety of its administration and how well it is tolerated in humans. We should see preliminary results by late summer.
Vaxxinity isn’t just looking at treating hypercholesterolemia. The company’s mission is to democratize healthcare through the pioneering of a new class of medicines aimed at disrupting existing treatments for several chronic diseases while reducing the cost to patients. The company is using its novel synthetic peptide immunotherapy vaccine candidates to treat Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, migraine, and COVID-19.
]]>Peter Diamandis has his take on how AI will positively disrupt medical practice. Peter is both a medical doctor and an engineer. He is convinced that AI is the answer to much of what is currently wrong in the state of medicine.
He writes that doctors today are overworked and drowning in data. He quotes data from a 2017 report that stated 30% of physicians spent between 17 and 24 minutes with a patient, and that 29% spent less time, between 13 and 16 minutes per patient. So the majority of patients who wait an average of 26 days to see their family doctor, end up with a face-to-face visit between 13 and 24 minutes.
Why? One of the reasons is the fallout from COVID-19 which has witnessed since 2020 a large number of doctors, particularly general practitioners, retiring. In 2021, 20% of healthcare workers resigned with 117,000 physicians in the United States leaving. That same year only 40,000 got their medical license.
Another reason for physicians drowning in data is the sheer volume of medical information being published today. It is a wonder that doctors can keep up with the 28,000 peer-reviewed medical journals that publish more than 1.8 million articles per year, or roughly 5,000 new papers every day.
Then there is the paperwork and patient record keeping. Patient diagnostic testing results, consult reports, patient visit notes, prescriptions, phone calls to referring specialists, and more fill a doctor’s daily workload. The billing and other administrative tasks of a medical practice add even more to this.
As a patient, you have to ask, can my family physician keep up-to-date in the face of this incoming and outgoing information overload?
Should doctors feel threatened by the arrival of AI in their profession? Some may feel that their expertise is not to be trifled with. AI algorithms, some believe, are committing systematic theft on a mass scale using physicians’ online records in the large datasets that AIs use for training.
Others, however, welcome AI for its enhanced capability, speed, consistency, and accuracy in diagnoses. AI algorithms can consume images, test results, case notes and more and do it with blinding speed. An AI can train on hundreds of thousands if not millions of cases. A physician, even a specialist, will only have knowledge and exposure to a fraction of that number.
AIs see subtle patterns that humans miss. AIs can think outside the box and make associated links among data that indicate a disease may be starting. A physician may never see the links at all.
Some physicians fear that dependence on medical AIs will decrease the knowledge possessed by doctors and other health professionals and that the AI black box will take over. A Viewpoint article on the JAMA Network last month entitled “AI’s Threat to the Medical Profession,” notes that fear:
“Most of today’s knowledge on disease mechanisms will be forgotten and we will be ruled by systems that only focus on intervention strategies that will provide the best possible outcome. This era will show a decrease in intellectual debates among colleagues.”
Peter Diamandis argues that knowledge, nor methodologies, will not be forgotten when a medical AI starts working with a general practitioner or specialist. He states the transformation to a partnership between physician and AI co-pilot is to be celebrated and not feared.
Along with the arrival of the Internet-of-Things (IoT) and the proliferation of smart connected sensors and medical devices, medicine is entering a transformative moment with the patient being a partner in achieving healthy outcomes.
I’ll give you an example. When COVID-19 infected my heart I developed arrhythmias (rhythm disturbances) that in my case were considered life-threatening. I bought a Kardiamobile, a device that I could use at home to test my heart. Whether I felt a change or not, the use of this device once a day gave me a 30-second electrocardiogram that I could share with my doctor. I didn’t need an appointment or a lab requisition for me to know my heart’s status, and for my doctor to be kept informed.
The arrival of medical AI and this sensory revolution of medical devices means that wait time issues will no longer be all that relevant. Instead, medical AIs will continually monitor the sensors a patient has on hand and the data produced to assist a doctor without being intrusive.
Peter writes:
“Rather than waiting a month to book your annual medical checkup, sensors on your body, in your body, and your environment (bedroom, bathroom, office, and car) will be constantly monitoring your physiology and uploading data to your medical AI.”
Continuous monitoring will catch diseases at their earliest stages, allow for rapid intervention, and forego medical appointments, hospital visits, or prolonged hospital stays.
Medical AIs will fill the gap created by retired and missing healthcare workers. It will give physicians the means to provide continuous healthcare without being overwhelmed.
]]>The science behind its disease prevention program revolves around Wolbachia, an intracellular bacteria found in insects, other arthropods, arachnids (spiders and mites), and crustaceans.
Wolbachia is present in between 50 and 65% of all insect species. It provides its insect hosts with an important benefit, blocking other pathogens from infecting them including all the ones mentioned above. Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes, therefore, when released into the wild to mate with native Aedes aegypti mosquitoes help reduce the spread of vector-borne diseases. Although Aedes aegypti mosquitoes originated in Africa, today they can be found across the world.
When a mosquito hosting Wolbachia bites a human is there any danger to the latter? The WMP states the bacteria “poses negligible risk to humans and the environment.” It poses no danger to other animals as well. That’s why the WMP has received regulatory approval from the governments of countries where it is breeding and releasing Wolbachia mosquitoes in areas where vector-borne diseases are prevalent.
This method of vector-borne disease control is cost-effective and self-sustaining. It is cheaper and less harmful to ecosystems than trying to eradicate disease-spreading mosquitoes using insecticides. It is far less expensive than programs involving the breeding and release of genetically modified sterile male mosquitoes.
The diseases Wolbachia mosquito release programs are targeting have wreaked havoc on human populations.
The WMP release program was recently highlighted in Brazil. A technical worker for the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Waldeir Barbosa da Silva, described what’s involved. da Silva has been releasing between 150,000 and 200,000 Wolbachia mosquitoes in Niterói, in Southeast Brazil almost daily. The program for rearing Wolbachia-hosting mosquitoes has even involved schools where students observe the eggs and larvae of the insects nurturing them until the adults emerge from the pupae state. The program is called Wolbito, the name given to the Wolbachia mosquitoes. In Brazil, Wolbito is in high demand in five cities. Plans to build a mosquito factory this year are underway.
Is Wolbachia a panacea for mosquito-borne diseases? No. You’ll notice malaria is not in the mix. But along with the other techniques mentioned in this posting to control the spread of vector-borne diseases, it is a highly desirable program and doesn’t involve chemical sprays that have deleterious effects on other wildlife and humans.
]]>Today, we have tools to cut out faulty genes and replace them with healthy ones. We can 3D-print human tissue. Does this mean we will soon be able to direct cells to build almost any human organ or part to then integrate into our bodies? What’s holding us back from a Frankensteinian future?
We may face two different outcomes:
It is no longer just imagination. The neuroscience researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are 3D printing functional human brain tissue describing their work as opening a new window into tackling neurological and psychiatric disorders and creating re-engineering treatments for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. What’s not to like?
Sy-Chun Zhang is a professor of neuroscience at Wisconsin’s Waisman Center. He describes what 3D-printing human brain tissue could lead to: “This could be a hugely powerful model to help us understand how brain cells and parts of the brain communicate in humans. It could change the way we look at stem cell biology, neuroscience and the pathogenesis of many neurological and psychiatric disorders.”
Zhang and his associates have used a bio-ink containing human pluripotent stem cells to print stacking layers of brain tissue allowing “the neurons to grow into each other and start talking.” The printed brain tissue includes the cerebral cortex and the striatum. The cells from different brain parts when printed start communicating with each other.
Work being done on tissue regeneration at Tufts University is leading us to the potential to regrow severed or damaged limbs. Michael Levin is a biologist and professor at the university studying cell tissue regeneration and bioelectricity. He runs the Levin Lab with research that goes well beyond uncovering the cellular and genetic mechanisms responsible for tissue growth.
Levin is integrating biological electrical signalling into experiments when working with stem cells to regenerate complex tissues. He sees bioelectricity as the next big step in human tissue regeneration. It’s not quite Frankenstein, but it sounds a lot like it.
Levin theorizes that genome editing technology has limitations. He states by understanding the bioelectricity that binds cellular networks we will start untangling the software code of life.
When the Wisconsin researchers printed the brain cell tissue, the neurons and other cells started communicating using electrical signals. They didn’t understand how this happened, nor did they understand the shared messages being sent by the brain cells.
Levin wants to do a deep dive into the nature of bioelectric messaging in living things. He is co-editor of the journal Bioelectricity, where leading-edge research in this field is being published. He believes that we limit our scientific understanding of how biology works by studying only the genome and DNA. By manipulating bioelectric signals, he believes, it will give our bodies the equivalent of what we do when we adjust the thermostat in our homes to change a room temperature. Today in biology to make that type of adjustment we do the equivalent of rewiring the entire house.
Levin along with serial entrepreneur, Jess Mah, have founded Astonishing Labs, a company that plans to do more research in this area to understand bioelectric messages and the role they play in the body. Can they help to regrow worn and broken parts and extend our body’s healthy lifespan?
]]>