Monsters inside me

I tend to dislike Animal Planet, most of the people shown on the channel either treat their animals barbarically as in the animal cops style shows, or are pamper their pets to the point of inducing me to cringe or become nauseous. There is one series that I enjoy watching on this channel, however. I have always been drawn to medical reality series such as Mystery Diagnosis and wildlife documentaries such as Planet Earth so the conjunction of these two genres is certainly one of interest to me. I am writing of the series Monsters Inside Me which is entering its second season (unfortunately a season only has 6 episodes). The series focuses on the interaction of humans and their parasites. Past episodes have covered bed bugs (which are horribly nasty in their reproductive habits), strongyloides worms (I recently adopted one of the on The Parasite Pet Shop online) and botflies (they can inject their eggs into a human as host, the maggots can even infect the human head).

Animal Planet has also been kind enough to include 34 clips from this series on their website along with several other extras relating to the series such as the aforementioned Parasite Pet Shop where you can adopt a slightly more friendly version of several featured parasites. Perhaps a little stranger (and I think slightly humorous) are the parasite wallpapers and the email address to contact the show if you have been infected and would like to be on the second season (I think casting for this would be much easier than any other show, go to Indonesia, walk around barefoot and go home and be treated for an infection from strongyloides).

The next time you are channel surfing and you see a show entitled Monsters Inside Me maybe you should take a look. You'll be surprised by what you learn. I for one will never eat unwashed lettuce, will always thoroughly search any hotel room I am staying at and think twice before walking outside without Off or without shoes.

bio.Diaspora

The Vancouver Olympics allowed researchers Dr. Kamran Khan at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto and Dr. John Brownstein of the Informatics Program at Children's Hospital Boston a chance to study disease patterns by using the epidemiological informatics programs bio.Diaspora and HealthMap (the global disease alert map) to track global air traffic patterns helping to control and alert cities and countries of emerging infectious diseases. For the 2010 Olympics, the two researchers found that nearly two-thirds of all international travelers came from 25 cities. The infectious disease patterns of these cities are currently being monitored on an hourly basis.

When considering a contagious infectious disease, perhaps the worst thing humans can do is meet in large groups in small areas. As Dr. Khan puts it,

(m)ass gatherings can potentially amplify and disperse infectious disease threats globally because they can draw millions of people from around the world into a single space....By enabling our two systems to communicate in real-time, we are exploring new ways to generate actionable intelligence to organizers of mass gatherings.

This junction of infectious disease, epidemiology, biostatistics public health and other fields will compliment greatly the medical preparation for large events by identifying the possible sources of infection and narrowing the differential diagnosis of possible infections. It is hoped that through this furthered knowledge disease transfer may be slowed or even prevented in the cases of mass gatherings like the Vancouver Olympics.

Lester Bowie

A while ago I wrote a blog about jazz musicians whose music would be a good starting point for fans of more popular music. However, there are many musicians that do to their eccentricity are not such good starting points. Once one begins listening to more diverse types of music, though, many of these more eccentric jazz musicians open up new avenues for understanding music.

Wednesday while driving home from my Biomedical Ethics class I turned my radio to PSU's NPR station on 89.9 FM. I instantly recognized the first song being played. It was the jazz standard "I only Have Eyes for You" and it was being performed by Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy. If you have heard Lester Bowie once, then you will always be able to recognize his playing. To any song he performs, whether a standard or a funk song (Lester has even done a cover of the 70's song "Oh What a Night"), Lester brings a degree of playfulness that is seldom heard in music. Through his half valved playing, grunts, fluttering and squeals he never took himself seriously.

Perhaps we should have more musicians in the mainstream of the music industry like Lester Bowie. We have pop stars like John Mayer who break down on stage and rappers like Kanye West and 50 Cent who slander each other through the news and it grates on me how these are our models for a musician while Lester Bowie will never be. Perhaps we as a people will start being more critical of our role models in music, but with the present news industry I am doubtful.

Copper on the brain

Copper is the third most abundant transition metal in the human body after iron and zinc and is used as a cofactor in enzymes such as cytochrome c oxidase and dopamine b-monooxygenase. However, too much copper can be highly toxic leading to cognitive deterioration and palsy and can be fatal. In order to control the amount of copper, cells are able to regulate uptake and are also able to excrete copper. Dysfunction of enzymes controlling levels of calcium have been linked to diseases such as Wilson's and buildup of copper has also been indicated in studies of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.

A recent article in Neurochemistry International (the abstract only is viewable here) sought to study how copper was absorbed in astrocytes as these cells are involved in clearing residue from the synapse between neurons. It was suggested by this study that understanding how copper homeostasis is thrown off during certain diseases during their progression may lead to a better understanding of the diseases themselves. This study hints that we should focus more on the astrocyte with the concluding statement that astrocytes may be responsible for the protection of neurons by uptaking copper by several different methods (astrocytes themselves seem fairly copper stable).

In neuroscience it has been stated that 99% of the research has been focused on 1% of the brain (the neurons). There has been some research lately to correct this overemphasis. However, if we are to understand highly complex disease such as Alzheimer's, we must look from all aspects of the problem including cells we normally ignore such as the astrocyte.

The blancmange

Thus far I have written about two of my passions, medicine and music. I chose for this installment to venture into other territory, food. I have been expanding my cooking skills of late and stumbled onto a very simple and elegant dessert, the blancmange. A blancmange (pronounced bləˈmɑnʒ) is essentially a dairy gelatin. When coupled with honey and good dessert cheeses and topped with a fresh fruit mixture a blancmange is one of the most palatable desserts I have eaten and I have had my fair share.

The blancmange recipe I use is a variation on one that I found on Epicurious.com. Some important changes to the method of cooking and specific types of ingredients are of importance. This is a straight forward recipe and I will note the only difficult points when they arise. Perhaps this may be of use to impress someone on Valentine's Day.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups cold skim milk

• 1 tbs powdered gelatin
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 6 oz. goat cheese
• 2 oz. mascarpone, white stilton or other dessert cheese
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tbs white honey
  
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

• fresh fruit
• powdered sugar
• balsamic vinegar

Directions

Pour the skim milk into a double boiler (best choice so as to not curdle later) or a saucepan. Sprinkle contents of the unflavored gelatin over the milk and let sit for about 10 minutes. Bring the milk to a simmer and whisk until the gelatin dissolves. The only difficulty in the recipe comes here, you must let the milk cool enough so that the goat cheese will not denature and the honey (which contains mostly fructose) will not break down. Goat cheese and honey are both very unstable with temperature (which is why it seems that when honey is added to hot tea it takes large amounts to reach the desired sweetness) so the milk should be warm, not hot. At this point the rest of the blancmange ingredients should be whisked in (the half-and-half, cheeses, honeys, and vanilla). After the ingredients dissolve completely transfer the mixture to ramekins or miniature cake or bundt pans that have been sprayed with cooking spray (martini glasses work as well). Cover the pans or glasses with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours. To make the topping for the blancmanges mix equal amounts of powdered sugar and a sweet balsamic vinegar (about two tablespoons of each) and add in the fresh fruit.

I hope that this recipe may be of use. I always enjoy making it.

Noninvasive neurosurgery

Tumors in the central nervous system (CNS) pose a major challenge despite advances in cancer treatment due to risks of radiotherapy and neurosurgical resection. Chemotherapy is difficult due to the low permeability of the blood-brain barrier and for chemotherapy to be undertaken Ommaya reservoirs are typically implanted which requires a neurosurgical procedure. Less invasive treatments are needed. The most recent development is a modification of thermal ablation to suit the CNS.

The University Children's Hospital Zurich has performed the first human clinical trials utilizing a low frequency ultrasound machine (700 kHz as opposed to 1 to 4 MHz) and a hemispherical shape. These design changes address the problem of overheating. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is also utilized for quantitative temperature measurement. To further reduce the risk of overheating the scalp is actively cooled. The treatment was performed on three patients with otherwise inoperable gliobastomas (primary malignant brain tumors).

The article states that TcMRgFUS (I think a better acronym may be in order, it's a little less concise than PET or CT) may be an alternative to radiosurgery or a treatment option for patients with recurrence after radiotherapy and may offer a larger benefit with brain tumors such as metastases or benign tumors with clearly defined boundaries. I hope that other hospitals or universities will be able to replicate the results from this study. If so we may have a much needed noninvasive method of treating brain tumors.

America's music

It would be difficult to find a person who believes that they know something about music who did not say that jazz is an art music or perhaps more derogatorily a highbrow music. This may indeed be the case, you can't dance particularly well in 20/8 time like some music by the Mahavishnu Orchestra or sing along with an improvisation (perhaps I should take that back, I have been known to do that with songs I love in the genre). However, even if jazz is an art music that is no barrier to its popularity. For example, consider Johann Pachelbel's "Canon in D Major," Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album or even Trans-Siberian Orchestra rock operas. All three are art music, are widely popular and do not have a binding genre.

I am going to suggest some groups or musicians that I feel deserve much more attention than they currently have. Some of these names are well known in the realm of jazz or are well-known in general, yet I very seldom meet someone who has actually listened to them.

1. Miles Davis - The first name (in my opinion) in jazz. He encompassed every genre from the 1940s to the 1990s and originated a few of them. His Kind of Blue album is a very nice starting point.
   
2. John McLaughlin - He has performed with Miles and his best work was with the group the Mahavishnu Orchestra and in the group the Trio of Doom (blame the bass player Jaco Pastorius of the trio for that name).
3. Bill Frisell - A newer guitarist who has played hardcore jazz and thrash jazz with John Zorn in the group Naked City and folk and country influenced jazz on albums where he is the leader.
4. Marcus Miller/Victor Wootin - Both are electric bass players and the play together with another bassist in the SMV group. On their own the former plays more smooth and funk oriented jazz and the latter plays incredibly difficult solo bass music.
   

Jazz is a very diverse genre and as one of the United States only art forms that was formed with little outside influence it deserves more listening than it is given. It would be nice to see a few albums by groups like the Bad Plus and the Mahavishnu Orchestra placed in the Rock/Pop section for once.

PVC7 vaccine benefits and problems

Pneumococcal meningitis is one of several forms of acute purulent meningitis and is caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, a normal inhabitant of the upper respiratory tract in humans and can be detected in 5% to 70% of the population (seasonal differences and age play as factors in this wide range), that passes through the blood-brain barrier and into the subarachnoid space followed by neutrophils (white blood cells). The pediatric pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) which is recommended for use in children aged 5 and younger and immunizes the child for seven strains of pneumococcal bacteria has been found to reduce the incidence of pneumococcal meningitis.

However, before we celebrate this new vaccine we may want to consider the troubling findings also reported in this study. PVC7 immunizes as stated above for th seven most common types of pneumococcal bacteria in humans. The various strains not immunized for by PCV7 have increased 60.5% from the 1998-1999 period to 2004-2005. Also penicillin resistant strains have increased from 19.4% to 30.1% between 2003 and 2005. Due to our widespread use of broad-spectrum antibiotics we have increased drug-resistant bacteria in uncommon organisms as well so as we eliminate the common bacteria through methods such as immunization, other strengthened bacteria will fill the vacant niche. Dr. Harrison author of the study in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health stated:

PCV7 has been highly successful in preventing pneumococcal meningitis, but it remains a very serious and deadly disease. Of the patients in our study, 8 percent of children and 22 percent of adults died. These findings indicate the need to continue to explore new methods of prevention with a special emphasis on strains that are not covered by PCV7 and strains that are drug resistant. Next-generation vaccines are in development and patients and physicians need to avoid unnecessary use of antibiotics.

We must be more vigilant in our use of treatment and we must consider potential problems of treatment such as the overuse of antibiotics leading to drug-resistant strains of bacteria and of vaccines leaving us open to infection by other non-covered microorganisms.