Bad sleep ups blood pressure risk

On BBC news: 

Elderly men who spend little time in deep sleep could be at risk of developing high blood pressure, according to US scientists.

A study on 784 patients, in the journal Hypertension, showed those getting the least deep sleep were at 83% greater risk than those getting the most. Researchers say they would expect a similar effect in women.

The British Heart Foundation said it was important for everyone to prioritise sleep.

High blood pressure - also known as hypertension - increases the risk of heart attack, stroke and other health problems.

Researchers measured the "sleep quality" of 784 men over the age of 65 between 2007 and 2009. At the start none had hypertension, while 243 had the condition by the end of the study.
The patients were split into groups based on the percentage of time asleep spent in deep, or slow wave, sleep. Those in the lowest group - 4% deep sleep - had a 1.83-fold increased risk of hypertension compared with those in the highest group, who spent 17% of the night in deep sleep.

One of the report's authors, Professor Susan Redline from Harvard Medical School, said: "Our study shows for the first time that poor quality sleep, reflected by reduced slow wave sleep, puts individuals at significantly increased risk of developing high blood pressure.

"Although women were not included in this study, it's quite likely that those who have lower levels of slow wave sleep for any number of reasons may also have an increased risk of developing high blood pressure."
The report said further studies were needed to determine if improving sleep could reduce the risk.
Natasha Stewart, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: "Whilst this study does suggest a link between lack of sleep and the development of high blood pressure, it only looked at men aged over 65.
"We would need to see more research in other age groups and involving women to confirm this particular association.

"However, we do know more generally that sleep is essential for staying healthy. It's important we all try to make sleep a priority and get our six to eight hours of shut-eye a night."

Sleeping Beauty

Are males necessary?

A recent article published on National Geographic talked about an insect species, known as cottony cushion scale, where females have begun to develop sperm-producing clones of their fathers—inside their bodies.
When baby girl cushion scales develop in the mother’s fertilized eggs, excess sperm from the father grows into tissue within her body. This tissue is genetically identical to the father. The “father’s sperms” lives inside the female and fertilize her eggs internally—rendering the female a hermaphrodite and making her father both the grandfather and father of her offspring.

Cottony Cushion Scale

Though this new form of reproduction hasn't replaced cottony cushion scale sex, "this parasitic male has taken off like an epidemic in population," said study leader Andy Gardner, an evolutionary theorist at the University of Oxford.

"Once [this trend] gets started, it's going to sweep through the population so all the females carry it. So there's no point for regular males to exist," Gardner added.
If the females begin passing on the parasitic male to their offspring, there may eventually be no more need for "baby boy" cushion scales that grow up and produce sperm and fertilize females, Gardner said.
This work, published in the August issue of American Naturalist, suggests that the females would benefit from this parasitic infection, negating the need for males.

WOW! That’s pretty interesting. Although I don’t think it will benefit the species in the long term. Sexual reproduction introduces genetic variation in the offsprings. This makes the population better able to keep up with changes in the environment. Asexual reproduction produces a genetically similar population, which may all be easily wiped out by the same disease.  

Furthermore, what’s the fun in reproducing if deprived of the joy of the mating process?:D

Hermaphroditus, the two-sexed son of Aphrodite and Hermes, was portrayed in Greco-Roman art as a female figure with male genitals. Hermaphroditus is a symbol of bisexuality or effeminacy,

very long but MUST READ entry

A news article from Boston.com

NEW YORK - He calls it innovative. Others call it a big risk. In any case, the stem cell procedure that Governor Rick Perry of Texas had last month was an unapproved experimental way of fixing a common malady: a bad back. 


Perry, the newest GOP presidential candidate, has access to the best possible care. Yet he and his doctor chose a treatment beyond mainstream medicine: He had stem cells taken from fat in his own body, grown in a lab, and then injected into his back and his bloodstream during a July 1 operation to fuse part of his spine.

The treatment carries potential risks ranging from blood clots to cancer and may run afoul of federal rules, doctors say. At least one patient died of a clot hours after an infusion of fat-derived stem cells outside the United States. It is not clear how much of this Perry might have known.

Gov Rick Perry

His doctor and friend, orthopedist Stanley Jones, could not be reached for comment despite repeated requests to the spokeswoman for his Houston-area hospital. Jones told the Texas Tribune that he went to Japan for a stem cell treatment that helped his arthritis and that he had never before tried the procedure he used on Perry. He also said it had no risks.

Dr Stanley Jones

However, some scientists are questioning the safety and wisdom of Perry’s treatment, especially because it was not part of a clinical trial in which unproven therapies are tested in a way that helps protect patients and advances medical knowledge.

Perry “exercised poor judgment’’ to try it, said Dr. George Q. Daley of Children’s Hospital Boston and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. “As a highly influential person of power, Perry’s actions have the unfortunate potential to push desperate patients into the clinics of quacks’’ who are selling unproven treatments “for everything from Alzheimer’s to autism.’’

Daley is past president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, a group of 3,000 scientists and others in the field. He favors stem cell research. But of Perry’s treatment he said: “I would never in a million years accept for one of my family members to undergo this.’’

Dr George Daley

On the campaign trail Thursday in New Hampshire, Ray Sullivan, Perry’s chief of staff, said: “The governor consulted with his physician and decided the best course of action for him. He’s very pleased with the results of the surgery, with the rapid recovery, and with the procedure that he had.’’

Perry’s treatment was first reported by the Texas Tribune. The procedure was done by Jones, who works at Foundation Surgical Hospital, but Perry spokesman Mark Miner would not say where it took place.

It used Perry’s own “adult’’ stem cells - not embryonic stem cells, a controversial technology that involves destroying an embryo, which the governor opposes. Adult stem cells have long been used to treat cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma - they are what doctors use it bone marrow transplants. The cells are being studied for everything from heart disease to diabetes, but it is too soon to know if these approaches are safe or effective.
Some orthopedic surgeons are experimenting with stem cells to help bones heal. The cells usually are taken from bone marrow and injected or implanted in the trouble spot, such as a knee or shoulder. The theory is that these “master cells’’ will follow cues from cells around them and form bone or cartilage, though scientists worry they also might spur unwanted growth and cancer.

Perry, however, had an even more experimental procedure: stem cells from fat removed by liposuction and grown in a lab before they were put into his spine and bloodstream.

Dr. George Muschler, an orthopedic surgeon at Cleveland Clinic, said fat-derived stem cells are “an unusual choice’’ because they do not form bone as readily.

Using them as was done for Perry is “quite experimental and it’s quite controversial because there isn’t good evidence yet, at least in the medical literature, that fat cells work better or even work at all in repairing bones,’’ said Muschler, who has developed three patents on cell-related technologies.
Dr. Thomas Einhorn, orthopedics chairman at Boston University, has tested experimental stem cell therapies. He said one concern is that Perry’s cells were grown in a lab dish with other ingredients, where there is more of a risk they will transform into cancer and any breach in sterility could lead to an infection.
He also took issue with infusing the cells into Perry’s bloodstream. “I can’t think of any reason to do that. I wouldn’t want to cause a blood clot.’’
It also enters a gray area with the FDA, which does not regulate how doctors practice medicine but does oversee medical products. Growing the cells in culture and possibly mixing them with other substances may make these modified cells a product. FDA spokeswoman Shelly Burgess said the agency could not comment on Perry’s treatment.

Oh dear. This sounds like suicide to me. Or a conspiracy theory to thwart the public's trust in stem cell research. Or, just PLAIN STUPIDITY.

Nose

Everyone knows that people who live in cold countries like Siberia and Greenland have narrower and longer noses compared to those of us who live in countries like Singapore with hot humid climate.

Miss Siberia 2009

Miss Singapore 2009

A recent study by researchers in Germany explained why individuals from cold, dry climates had higher and narrower nasal cavities than those from hot, humid climates.


Narrow nasal passage enhances contact between the air and mucus in the nose, which helps to warm and humidify the air. People in cold climate have more space in the nose to warm up the incoming air.

Moreover, microscopic hairs called cilia, which line the nasal passage, help to keep out pathogens and dust that may infect or irritate the lungs, and the cilia work more efficiently when incoming air is moist. This explains why people from warm climates, moving into cold climates, could be more susceptible to nasal irritation, colds and other sinus-related problems.

Source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-shape-of-a-nose

Faithful gay birds

A study carried out by Julie Elie and colleagues at the UC-Berkeley found that zebra finches form same-sex monogamous relationships and are just as attached and faithful to each other as those paired with a member of the opposite sex. 

When raised in male-only groups, more than half of the birds paired up in same-sex couplings.  The birds first displayed courtship behavior by singing and preening each other. When bonded, they perch side by side, nestled together and greet each other by "nuzzling" beaks. 

Interestingly, when females were introduced to the groups, five out of eight stuck with their gay partners and ignored the female. 

 “The findings indicate that, even in birds, the drive to find a mate is far more complicated than simply the need to reproduce. A pair-bond in socially monogamous species represents a cooperative partnership that may give advantages for survival," said Dr Elie. "Finding a social partner, whatever its sex, could be a priority."

We heart stem cells

 Recently, an article entitled "A*Star scientists closer to growing human heart from stem cells" was published in the Straits Times.

In this paper, researchers from the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology  
1) Decellularized mouse heart: i.e. removed the cells from the mouse heart, leaving only the scaffold
2) Seeded the scaffold with human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and heart progenitors derived from hESC
3) Implanted the heart back into the mouse

They found that the cells attached to the scaffold and developed into heart cells and blood vessel cells, both important for proper functioning of the heart.


However, this discovery is not entirely novel. In 2008, researchers from University of Minnesota already showed that the scaffold from decellularized heart supports development of heart progenitors into an adult heart.

Read the news release here. 

Novel or not, both studies deserve the spotlight as they remind us that building an organ with stem cells may not be that far-fetched an idea after all.

Satirical cartoon of China harvesting organs from Falun Gong prisoners. Source: http://nicholsoncartoons.com.au/falun-gong-organ-harvesting-china-550.html

Let there be aliens

Image from space by astronaut photographer. Source: Time Lightbox Photo Essay by Phil Bicker

An article in TIME magazine reported that meteorites contain a large variety of nucleobases, an essential building block of DNA.

According to Dr Michael Callahan, who published this finding in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, "Hydrogen cyanide, ammonia and water exist throughout the cosmos. When mixed together, they could make nucleobases."

More than 50 years ago, it was found that amino acids, which link up to form proteins, are present in space.

This discovery of the presence of DNA is the most convincing piece of evidence thus far that there is life in space. Not only is there life, but life that is perhaps not too different from us.

Read more: 

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2087758,00.html#ixzz1UjRn8ZaS

Image from space by astronaut photographer. Source: Time Lightbox Photo Essay by Phil Bicker

The Scientific Process

 Source: http://electroncafe.wordpress.com/ 

A friend of mine posted this on facebook. Love it.

10 years of science scholarship

Today, the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) celebrates its 10th year of giving out scholarships to young Singaporeans.

Guest of honor: Minister for Education Mr Heng Swee Keat giving his speech

I felt rather nostalgic looking at these young scholars receiving their awards.


10 years ago, I received the A*STAR National Science Scholarship, which paid for
1) My undergraduate studies in the US

Freshman year bonfire!

and

2) PhD studies in the UK

Rowing for Cambridge May Bumps

And now I am back in Singapore serving out THE BOND.


Of course, there have been times when I doubted my decision to take up the scholarship. Hey, I was only 19 when I signed my life away! But as the saying goes, "the grass is not always greener on the other side, but greener where you water it". 

This scholarship gave me the chance to study at top universities, let me spend the prime of my youth overseas, and took care of me financially. Importantly, I have an interesting job now and am optimistic about future career prospects.

For all of that, I thank A*STAR (and Singapore taxpayers' money!) for helping me get to where I am today.

So, thank you, and happy 10th anniversary.

The "heartless" man of Cambridgeshire.

There is now a man in the street without a human heart. 

Surgeons at Papworth Hospital  have given a man a plastic heart, powered by a portable driver in a backpack. AND THE MAN IS DOING WELL...


Read the BBC news report here.

It's real

When people ask me what I do, I often say, "I work on embryonic stem cells and I make them into various cell types of the body." 

Sometimes people look at me in disbelief. Sometimes people cringe or grimace. Well, it's not that scary actually. 

 

Embryonic stem cells made into neural cells (they look long and stringy). I stained with antibodies that make neural cells fluoresce red under the microscope.  

 

Beating heart cells made from embryonic stem cells.

Embryonic stem cells made into retinal pigmented epithelial (RPE) cells. RPE is a layer of pigmented cells found behind the retina. It plays very important role in the eye. It absorbs excess light, nourishes the retina etc.

These are just some of the many different cell types that have been made from embryonic stem cells!