NASA Mars rover Opportunity reveals geological mystery: Spherical objects unlike previously found 'blueberries'

ScienceDaily (Sep. 14, 2012) ? NASA's long-lived rover Opportunity has returned an image of the Martian surface that is puzzling researchers.

Spherical objects concentrated at an outcrop Opportunity reached last week differ in several ways from iron-rich spherules nicknamed "blueberries" the rover found at its landing site in early 2004 and at many other locations to date.

Opportunity is investigating an outcrop called Kirkwood in the Cape York segment of the western rim of Endeavour Crater. The spheres measure as much as one-eighth of an inch (3 millimeters) in diameter. The analysis is still preliminary, but it indicates that these spheres do not have the high iron content of Martian blueberries.

"This is one of the most extraordinary pictures from the whole mission," said Opportunity's principal investigator, Steve Squyres of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. "Kirkwood is chock full of a dense accumulation of these small spherical objects. Of course, we immediately thought of the blueberries, but this is something different. We never have seen such a dense accumulation of spherules in a rock outcrop on Mars."

The Martian blueberries found elsewhere by Opportunity are concretions formed by action of mineral-laden water inside rocks, evidence of a wet environment on early Mars. Concretions result when minerals precipitate out of water to become hard masses inside sedimentary rocks. Many of the Kirkwood spheres are broken and eroded by the wind. Where wind has partially etched them away, a concentric structure is evident.

Opportunity used the microscopic imager its arm to look closely at Kirkwood. Researchers checked the spheres' composition by using an instrument called the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer on Opportunity's arm.

"They seem to be crunchy on the outside, and softer in the middle," Squyres said. "They are different in concentration. They are different in structure. They are different in composition. They are different in distribution. So, we have a wonderful geological puzzle in front of us. We have multiple working hypotheses, and we have no favorite hypothesis at this time. It's going to take a while to work this out, so the thing to do now is keep an open mind and let the rocks do the talking."

Just past Kirkwood lies another science target area for Opportunity. The location is an extensive pale-toned outcrop in an area of Cape York where observations from orbit have detected signs of clay minerals. That may be the rover's next study site after Kirkwood. Four years ago, Opportunity departed Victoria Crater, which it had investigated for two years, to reach different types of geological evidence at the rim of the much larger Endeavour Crater.

The rover's energy levels are favorable for the investigations. Spring equinox comes this month to Mars' southern hemisphere, so the amount of sunshine for solar power will continue increasing for months.

"The rover is in very good health considering its 8-1/2 years of hard work on the surface of Mars," said Mars Exploration Rover Project Manager John Callas of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Energy production levels are comparable to what they were a full Martian year ago, and we are looking forward to productive spring and summer seasons of exploration."

NASA launched the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity in the summer of 2003, and both completed their three-month prime missions in April 2004. They continued bonus, extended missions for years. Spirit finished communicating with Earth in March 2010. The rovers have made important discoveries about wet environments on ancient Mars that may have been favorable for supporting microbial life.

JPL manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

To view the image of the area, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/multimedia/pia16139.html

For more information about Opportunity, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/rovers and http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov .

You can follow the project on Twitter and on Facebook at: http://twitter.com/MarsRovers and http://www.facebook.com/mars.rovers .

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:


Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/strange_science/~3/SiMPWkZXqro/120914154003.htm

railgun jk rowling new book between two ferns ihop statins chardon sean young

Single gene cause of insulin sensitivity may offer insight for treating diabetes

Thursday, September 13, 2012

The first single gene cause of increased sensitivity to the hormone insulin has been discovered by a team of Oxford University researchers.

The opposite condition ? insulin resistance ? is a common feature of type 2 diabetes, so finding this cause of insulin sensitivity could offer new opportunities for pursuing novel treatments for diabetes.

Although mutations in the PTEN gene cause a rare condition with increased risk of cancer, the biological pathways the gene is involved in could offer promising targets for new drugs.

The Oxford University researchers, along with colleagues at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, UK, and the Churchill Hospital in Oxford, UK, report their findings in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study was funded by the Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council, the National Institute for Health Research Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.

'Insulin resistance is a major feature of type 2 diabetes,' says Dr Anna Gloyn of the Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of Oxford, who led the work. 'The insulin-producing cells in the pancreas may be working hard and pumping out lots of insulin, but the body's cells no longer respond.

'Finding a genetic cause of the opposite ? insulin sensitivity ? gives us a new window on the biological processes involved. Such understanding could be important in developing new drugs that restore insulin sensitivity in type 2 diabetes.'

The PTEN gene encodes for an enzyme that is part of the insulin signalling pathway in the body. It is known to have a role in controlling the body's metabolism, and to play a part in cell growth. The Oxford team was interested in learning more about this dual role.

There is an inherited genetic condition called Cowden syndrome caused by faults in the PTEN gene. It is very rare and is thought to affect perhaps one in 200,000 people, with around 300 people with the condition in the UK. PTEN's role in cell growth sees people with Cowden syndrome develop many benign polyps in their skin, mouth and bowel, and have a higher risk than the general population of developing breast cancer, thyroid cancer and womb cancer.

'PTEN is a gene that is heavily involved in processes for both cell growth and metabolism,' says first author Dr Aparna Pal of the University of Oxford. 'Given PTEN's dual role, we were interested in understanding the metabolic profile of people with Cowden syndrome. It was possible that mutations in PTEN could improve metabolism.'

The team carried out glucose tolerance tests with 15 people with Cowden syndrome and 15 matched controls. Those with Cowden syndrome had significantly higher insulin sensitivity. In collaboration with their colleagues at the Babraham Institute, the team showed that this was caused by increased activity in the insulin signalling pathway.

The researchers also noticed that the body mass index of those with Cowden syndrome appeared greater than the controls. They carried out a comparison with a much larger control group of over 2,000 individuals from the Oxford Biobank, a data and tissue resource for research established by Professor Fredrik Karpe.

This confirmed that those with Cowden syndrome had higher levels of obesity as a group than the controls. The extra body weight appeared to be caused by extra fat, and there were no differences in where the fat was stored compared to controls.

'This was a surprise. Normally insulin sensitivity goes with being lean,' says Professor Karpe.

Dr Gloyn concludes: 'We now know that mutations that inactivate the PTEN gene result in increased cancer risk and obesity, but also increase insulin sensitivity which is very likely to protect against type 2 diabetes.

'The study shows how intimately the biological pathways governing cell growth and metabolism are linked. We need to thoroughly understand these pathways to identify which genes to target in the development of new drugs.'

She adds: 'While there are promising research avenues to pursue here, in the meantime the best way to avoid diabetes remains exercising more and eating less.'

###

University of Oxford: http://www.ox.ac.uk/

Thanks to University of Oxford for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 45 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/123453/Single_gene_cause_of_insulin_sensitivity_may_offer_insight_for_treating_diabetes

cloudy with a chance of meatballs the hobbit movie hanukkah gpa calculator menorah chanukah chanukah

Startup Alley: The Disrupt Mexican Pavilion Shows A Growing Tech Ecosystem

Screen Shot 2012-09-12 at 14.32.58The great thing about country-based pavilions at TechCrunch Disrupt is that one can see innovation and new tech companies coming from countries you might not have associated with startups before. As you will have read in this guest post by Eduardo Serrano last week, the shift toward emerging markets shows that Mexico is on its way up in tech. Mexico?s economy is growing 40 percent faster than Brazil?s, more than twice as fast as the United States, and is already the world?s 14th-largest economy (on a GDP-based scale). One out of five Mexicans now owns a smartphone, and the market will have grown 70 percent in the next two years. Some 40 million Mexicans are connected to the Internet today. Here's a run though of the companies in the pavilion:

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/jmF1sY9NGuc/

guy fieri ryan braun bryce harper may day stoudemire jordan hill tony nominations

The Online Business and Social Networking Sites Together ...

Social Media Networking

Now, we can see a large number of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter etc. that are almost over-subscribed with thousands of people, who have been continuing to join them every day. As we know, all the people have different backgrounds, varying interests, various preferences, and unusual goals in their life, most of them use the social networking websites to find the people with same interests and preferences and to connect with their friends to communicate with them. It is credible that most of the social web portals have millions of active users at the same time and this number is actually increasing every hour. There are many companies, which offer the services of E-commerce developers along with the services of social media Singapore.

?

Enlarge the Online Business via Social Networking Sites

These days, the use of social networking site is increasing, and with the help of it, people meet and interact with sellers and buyers alike. Most of the individuals or consumers prefer to see business on social networking platforms or say social media websites, so that the can easily connect with them. If you are looking to start your business at online platform and don?t make the use of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, then you would not be able to meet your full potential targets. In this internet-based business world, it is understood that having a perfect online presence is the key to success. Here, you don?t need to worry about the high costs, as these social networking tools are extremely cost-effective that make their approach to marketing and promotion. It would not be wrong, if we say that they are certainly more cost-effective than the offline marketing.

?

This is just short information on The Online Business and Social Networking Sites Together; we will be coming soon with add-on information on the same topic?

?

Source: http://www.innomaxmedia.org/blog/2012/09/10/the-online-business-and-social-networking-sites-together/

nba playoff schedule rondo morris claiborne mothers day gifts clippers lisa lampanelli lisa lampanelli

Health services management - HEALTH, BEAUTY & FITNESS

health services managementPumpkin Seed products Dietary Value Nutrient Amount DV (%) Nutrient Density World? s memphis mental health institute health services management Best Meals Rating mental Manganese 1. 04 mg 52 5. Lots of try to sell you went into selling anti- aging natural supplements, with promises of losing dark spots, stopping the organs from diminishing and stopping waste of muscles and libido. Second, learning encounters should be repeated frequently enough before the training be a natural and integral a part of their lives. Many of these issues come up if this involves bloodstream screening and values. One other way of hypnotic meditation is by using using Binaural Beats, that are sounds that really help induce certain states of mind to permit a far more spiritual connection. Mold Removal Polk FL is really a PuroClean of Polk Bay supplying mold removal services, home mold removal, mold cleaning services and mold inspection Polk with mold removal specialist available 24/ 7. This might make us active, memphis relax, and mindful simultaneously. 9- Don? t sign the documents without reading through them and make certain you have read and understood every single clause and recently been clarified on paper through the insurance provider. Your ft go ahead and take greatest beating during the day. Keep in mind that you simply cannot see VOCs. Hence, keeping personal files of each and every bit of particulars is becoming vital. Nutritional Vitamin Supplements for Preventive Health Going for a megadose of vitamins for preventive health continues to be investigated. Vijayakumar stated. Since individuals days, guy is becoming very conscious of the risks of dealing with radiation and it is effects on your body. Everyday Living Assistance The aide helps the individual with bathing, washing, grooming and dressing. health Individuals who would like low deductible comprehensive coverage can also get several plans to management select from. The colon has number of good bacteria or micro flora that helps in digestion, maintain pH balance, support vital nutrient production and stop the propagation of dangerous bacteria. Compare the benefits and drawbacks of the several intentions of the foundation of quantity of coverage, deductible amount, premium amount, accessibility to experienced doctors and hospitals nearby, customer support quality and so forth. Family Health Organizer ? Empower Your Loved Ones With Information Among the secrets to some effective healthcare experience would be to have total and accurate information to see your personal doctor. Other kinds of portable air conditioning units provide ionizers and Ultra violet lights that kill bacteria on impact. Key rivals ? health A listing of key rivals to the organization. Some collect your individual contact details and pass it onto any health services management agent that purchases their list. The condition adjusts the circumstances and coverage of those medical health insurance plans. Eco- friendly, or not- roasting coffees can lead to services 1 pound of roasting coffees. A lot of companies offer what is known a HRA. If you want to be a licensed health unit coordinator then you will have institute to take a test that? s distributed by the nation? s Association of Health Unit Planners.

Related Post Health services management

One? s heart does not need to pump as tough to pressure the bloodstream with the veins and arterial blood vessels. Some guidelines offer Many medical policy companies online offer many attractive medical health insurance plans online including instructors medical health email insurance, plans for seniors, seniors and With mental health disorders, however, umass illness is overlooked until it reaches a vital level. Without health no guy can perform anything in the Another alternative is thru colon skin cleansers. Assigning professional duties to someone once the specialist month knows or has reason to understand that such Health insurance plan isn? t just for a person only one can insure the healthiness of their family people too. You will find many

Source: http://curryrecipe-jp.net/health-2/health-services-management/

k cups best buy we bought a zoo we bought a zoo ipad accessories port charlotte florida kit homes

China's imports shrink in sign downturn worsening

Workers load goods on a truck near a wholesale market for fashion clothing in Beijing Monday, Sept. 10, 2012. China's imports shrank unexpectedly in August in a sign its economic slump is worsening and the Chinese president warned growth could slow further, prompting expectations of possible new stimulus spending. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Workers load goods on a truck near a wholesale market for fashion clothing in Beijing Monday, Sept. 10, 2012. China's imports shrank unexpectedly in August in a sign its economic slump is worsening and the Chinese president warned growth could slow further, prompting expectations of possible new stimulus spending. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Pedestrian look at various advertisement of job hunting and rooms, apartments and houses for rent on a public bulletin board in Beijing Monday, Sept. 10, 2012. China's imports shrank unexpectedly in August in a sign its economic slump is worsening and the Chinese president warned growth could slow further, prompting expectations of possible new stimulus spending. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

A vendor pushes a cart selling fried buns at a Hutong alley in Beijing, Sunday, Sept. 9, 2012. A jump in food prices pushed China's inflation rate to rise 2 percent in August compared with a year earlier, complicating efforts by the government to revive growth with further stimulus measures. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

(AP) ? China's imports shrank unexpectedly in August in a sign its economic slump is worsening, bad news for exporters elsewhere that count on the appetite of the world's second-largest economy for natural resources and industrial components to offset anemic Western markets.

The Chinese president warned growth could slow further, prompting expectations of possible new stimulus spending.

Imports declined 2.6 percent from a year earlier, below analysts' expectations of growth in low single digits, data showed Monday. That came on top of August's decline in factory output to a three-year low and other signs growth is still decelerating despite repeated stimulus efforts.

Analysts expect Chinese growth that fell to a three-year low of 7.6 percent in the latest quarter to rebound late this year or in early 2013. But they say it likely will be too weak to drive a global recovery without improvement in the United States, which is struggling with a sluggish recovery, and debt-crippled Europe.

President Hu Jintao cited slack exports and unbalanced domestic growth as challenges for a Chinese recovery.

"Pressure for economic growth to slow is obvious," Hu said at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Vladivostok, Russia, according to a text released by the Chinese government.

Hu's speech Sunday gave no growth forecast or details of possible new stimulus but promised to continue a "proactive fiscal policy," or government spending to pump up the economy.

Beijing has cut interest rates twice since early June and is pumping money into the economy through higher spending on building subways and other public works. Still, activity has weakened steadily, spurring some analysts to cut growth forecasts and push back the timing of a possible recovery.

"The comments made by President Hu yesterday made it clear that there will be more funding support for infrastructure investments," said Goldman Sachs economists Yu Song and Yin Zhang in a report.

The slowdown hit at a politically sensitive time for the ruling Communist Party, which is trying to enforce calm as it prepares to hand power to Hu's successor and other younger leaders in a once-a-decade transition.

The slump in global demand has forced thousands of Chinese exporters out of business, raising the threat of job losses and possible unrest.

August exports rose, but by only 2.7 percent over a year ago, down from the double-digit growth of recent years as Europe's debt woes and the sluggish U.S. recovery hurt demand for Chinese goods.

Exports to the 27-nation European Union, China's biggest trading partner, fell 4.9 percent from a year earlier. Sales of Chinese goods to Italy plunged 26 percent, while exports to France and Germany were off 8.6 percent and 7.9 percent, respectively.

Exports to the United States rose 10.2 percent.

The import weakness pushed China's global trade surplus to $26.7 billion, double the level of a year ago.

Imports in August totaled $178 billion while imports were $151.3 billion.

Adding to signs of weakening Chinese demand, growth in auto sales tumbled to 3.7 percent in August. That figure reported by the China Association of Auto Manufacturers extended a decline from July's 11 percent growth and June's 15.8 percent rate.

Chinese authorities have reacted cautiously to the current slowdown after their huge spending in response to the 2008 global crisis fueled inflation. They have approved a multibillion-dollar wave of spending on public works construction and investments by state companies but are reviewing projects carefully rather than indiscriminately throwing money at the economy.

In its latest move, the government announced 25 new subway construction projects last week budgeted at tens of billions of dollars. It also has approved construction of new highways, airports, steel mills and other facilities.

Despite that mini-stimulus, August growth in factory output weakened to 8.9 percent from July's 9.2 percent ? the weakest since May 2009 in the depths of the global crisis.

Analysts have trimmed their China growth forecasts for this year and in 2013, though to levels of 7.5 to 8 percent that still are robust by U.S., European or Japanese standards.

"Economic activity has remained weak as export growth slowed, policy support was not as rapid or aggressive as previously envisaged and industries continued with inventory adjustments," UBS economist Tao Wang said in a report last week.

Wang cut her growth outlook for this year from 8 to 7.5 percent and from 8.3 percent next year to 7.8 percent.

The government also could face trouble from an upturn in inflation that could make it harder to cut rates without the risk of igniting a new price spike.

Inflation in August rose to 2 percent from July's 1.8 percent, driven by a 3.4 percent gain in food prices, up from the previous month's 2.4 percent.

Despite that, China announced Monday it is raising the retail price of gasoline and diesel in the wake of rising crude prices.

The National Development and Reform Commission said gasoline will go up by 550 yuan ($87) per ton and diesel by 540 yuan ($85) per ton starting Tuesday. It said the benchmark retail price of gasoline will increase by 0.41 yuan ($.06) per liter and diesel by 0.46 yuan ($.07) per liter.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-09-10-China-Economy/id-a39f4e3f9cd64b2ba72dccb4efc9c232

Morgan Freeman Dead Stand Up to Cancer earthquake miley cyrus miley cyrus peyton manning Azarenka

iMore show 311: Storytelling

Rene talks to Clayton Morris of Fox News about the recent Nokia and Amazon events, then dives into next week's iPhone 5 event. How does Apple engage mainstream consumers, what's the competitive landscape, and what surprises are in store for us? This is the iMore show Sunday edition!

Show notes

Guests

  • Clayton Morris (@claytonmorris) of [Fox News](http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/personalities/clayton-morris/bio/#s=m-q)

Hosts

Credits

You can reach all of us on Twitter @iMore, or you can email us at podcast@imore.com

or just leave us a comment below.

For all our podcasts -- audio and video -- including the iMore show, ZEN and TECH, Iterate, and more, see MobileNations.com/shows

Thanks to the iMore Accessory Store for sponsoring this week's show. Your one-stop-shop for everything iPhone and iPad, including cables, cases, chargers, Bluetooth and much more, check out store.imore.com.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/hs-1GlYzadc/story01.htm

ke$ha earl csco big bend national park leon russell meredith vieira prop 8

Breast-Feeding in Infancy May Shield Adults from Depression

People who were breast-fed as infants may have a lower risk of depression in adulthood, a new study from Germany suggests.?

Researchers looked at 52 people, whose average age was 44, who were being treated for major depression at ?an inpatient facility, and compared them with 106 healthy people who had never been diagnosed with depression. Participants were considered to have been breast-fed if either they or their mothers said they had nursed for at least two weeks.

Results showed that 73 percent of those without depression had been breast-fed, whereas 46 percent of people with depression were breast-fed. The association held when researchers took into account factors that could affect participants' risk of depression, such as age, gender and mother's level of education.

Additionally, the researchers found that how long a person had been breast-fed did not matter in terms of their depression risk.

While the finding suggests a link, it does not suggest a cause-and-effect relationship between breast-feeding and depression, the researchers said.

However, there are ways that such an effect from breast-feeding might be explained. Breast-feeding could indicate the general quality of the mother-infant relationship, and other aspects of this relationship could be protective against depression, the researchers said. Or breast-feeding could increase the behaviors in mothers that have been linked with the hormone oxytocin. Such behaviors are believed to protect against stress, they said.

It could also be that components of breast milk promote brain development in a way that helps prevent depression, they said.

Previous studies have linked breast-feeding with a lower risk of conditions such as hypertension and obesity later in life. It's also been shown early weaning is linked with an increased risk of alcohol dependence, the researchers said.

The researchers announced their findings Sept. 5; the study was published in the April issue of the journal Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics.

Pass it on: People who were breast-fed as infants may have a lower risk of depression in adulthood.

FollowMyHealthNewsDaily?on Twitter?@MyHealth_MHND. We're also on?Facebook?&?Google+.

Copyright 2012 MyHealthNewsDaily, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/breast-feeding-infancy-may-shield-adults-depression-130434654.html

arsenic and old lace leslie varez ward solar storms uganda the parent trap invisible children kony 2012

AP IMPACT: Surprising methods heal wounded troops

(AP) ? Scientists are growing ears, bone and skin in the lab, and doctors are planning more face transplants and other extreme plastic surgeries. Around the country, the most advanced medical tools that exist are now being deployed to help America's newest veterans and wounded troops.

?In Los Angeles, surgeons used part of Michael Mills' forehead to rebuild his nose after a bomb disfigured him in Iraq.

?In Pittsburgh, doctors used an experimental therapy from pig tissue to help regrow part of a thigh muscle that Ron Strang lost in a blast in Afghanistan.

?In Boston, scientists are making plans for the first implants of lab-grown ears for wounded troops after successful experiments in sheep and rats.

?In San Antonio and other cities, doctors are testing sprayed-on skin cells and lab-made sheets of skin to heal burns and other wounds. The ingenuity is impressive: One product was developed from foreskin left over from circumcisions.

Much of this comes from taxpayer-funded research. Four years ago, the federal government created AFIRM, the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine, a network of top hospitals and universities, and gave $300 million in grants to spur new treatments using cell science and advanced plastic surgery.

"The whole idea is to bring all these researchers together to develop these great technologies that were in early science to eventually be ready for the troops," said AFIRM's recently retired director, Terry Irgens.

Now those who served are coming home, and projects that once had been languishing in labs are making strides and starting to move into clinics.

Strang is among those benefiting. The 28-year-old Marine sergeant from Pittsburgh lost half of a thigh muscle to shrapnel, leaving too little to stabilize his gait. "My knee would buckle and I'd fall over," he said.

Now, after an experimental treatment at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, "I'm able to run a little bit" and play a light football game with friends, he said. "It's been a huge improvement."

It's one example of the "new medicine" in the works for troops. The Associated Press conducted more than a dozen interviews and reviewed the latest medical research to measure the progress and extent of novel treatments under way for wounded warriors. The results point to some surprising feats of surgery and bioengineering.

___

Growing new ears

Up to a thousand troops might need an ear, and prosthetics are not a great solution. A rod or other fastener is required to attach them to the head. They don't look or feel natural and they wear out every couple of years. A matching ear grown from a patient's own cells would be a huge improvement.

"People have been working on this for 20 years" but haven't been able to overcome obstacles to making it practical, said Cathryn Sundback, director of the tissue engineering lab at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Her lab thinks it's found the solution. Using a computer model of a patient's remaining ear, scientists craft a titanium framework covered in collagen, the stuff that gives skin elasticity and strength.

They take a snip of cartilage from inside the nose or between the ribs and seed the scaffold with these cells. This is incubated for about two weeks in a lab dish to grow more cartilage. When it's ready to implant, a skin graft is taken from the patient to cover the cartilage and the ear is stitched into place.

Scientists in her lab have maintained lab-grown sheep ears on those animals for 20 weeks, proving it can be done successfully and last long-term. They also have grown anatomically correct human ears from cells. These have been implanted on the backs of lab rats to keep them nourished and allow further research. But that wouldn't happen with ears destined for patients ? they would just be grown in a lab dish until they're ready to implant.

"We've solved all the technical problems," Sundback said, and now they are ready to seek approval from the Food and Drug Administration to implant these into patients ? probably in about a year. "It's amazing how much progress we've made with the AFIRM funding."

___

Bioengineering muscles, bone and skin

A soldier lucky enough to keep his arms and legs after a bomb blast still might lose so much of a key muscle, like biceps or quadriceps, that the limb can't be used properly. In some cases, "the patient has lost so much muscle that there's nothing left for the surgeon to sew together," said Dr. Stephen Badylak, a regenerative medicine specialist at the University of Pittsburgh.

He is testing implants of "extracellular matrix" ? connective tissue that holds cells together ? to boost muscle mass. The matrix is thought to release chemical signals that promote regrowth of healthy tissue instead of scar tissue.

"It changes the body from thinking, 'I need to respond to injured tissue,' to 'I need to rebuild this tissue,'" Badylak said.

The material is supplied by a private company ? ACell Inc. of Columbia, Md. ? and comes from pigs. The immune system tolerates it because it doesn't contain cells. It comes in multi-layered sheets like slightly stiff gauze and can be cut or molded to fit the needed shape.

Strang, who lost half of a thigh muscle, is among the five patients treated so far in an 80-patient study. Doctors wait at least six months after an injury to make sure all natural healing has occurred, and put patients through intensive physical therapy before implanting the matrix.

"We want to be able to say after the surgery that they were as good as they could be" and that the matrix accounted for any improvement, Badylak explained.

In early testing, "They've shown up to 10 to 20 percent improvement" in strength of the muscle after treatment, said Irgens, the director of AFIRM, which funded some of the early work. The Department of Defense is sponsoring the study under way now, which includes non-military patients as well as former troops. The new study is measuring changes in strength and muscle volume, and doctors are aiming for the kind of quality-of-life improvement Strang has enjoyed.

In other efforts, Pittsburgh and Rice University scientists are working on growing bone to fix jawbone and other facial defects. Researchers at Massachusetts General and Rutgers University are trying to grow eyelid muscles. Blindness can result from not being able to close an eyelid.

Doctors also are testing various ways to make skin. In one method, doctors take a postage stamp-sized piece of a patient's skin, process it in the lab and spray these cells onto a burn or other wound. The sprayer device that is used for this treatment is already licensed in seven countries, and AFIRM is sponsoring a study aimed at winning U.S. approval so the treatment can be offered here.

The second approach uses sheets of skin developed from cells in the lab that originally came from foreskin after circumcisions.

"That's in clinical trials now and they're having tremendous results," Irgens said.

___

Beyond "bionic arms" to transplants

For all the advances that have been made in modern prosthetics, the arms and hands are not as effective as the legs and feet. Dozens of wounded troops would rather try a transplant.

The government also estimates that up to 200 troops might need face transplants, although Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, a Boston surgeon who has done four face transplants on non-military patients, thinks only 50 to 100 ultimately will get one.

One reason is the lifelong drugs needed to prevent rejection. They have side effects and raise the risk of cancer.

Dr. W.P. Andrew Lee, plastic surgery chairman at Johns Hopkins University, has been working to minimize those risks. Previously, at the University of Pittsburgh, he led hand transplants on five patients with minimal immune suppression, giving them bone marrow taken from their donors along with the hands to help them better tolerate the new tissue. All five patients have done well and four now take just one anti-rejection drug.

"There's really no reason to think faces will be any different," he said.

He also showed that rejection can often be stopped by rubbing on a cream containing immune-suppressing medicine.

"Skin is the primary target of the rejection," he explained, so with a hand transplant, "we can detect rejection much earlier than we can for organ transplants. The patient literally calls us. They notice a rash on the skin first thing in the morning. We just tell them to put the cream on."

With military funding, a host of doctors are evaluating troops as potential face transplant candidates. Pomahac told of one man who lost much of his face, jaw and lips in a bomb blast. Despite 25 operations, he still can't move one side of his face or lips and drools all the time.

"He walks around with a towel on his shoulder. It's a major quality-of-life issue," Pomahac said.

___

Advancing reconstructive surgery

Many troops remain disfigured or impaired despite multiple reconstructive operations. Tackling the toughest cases is the goal of Operation Mend, a program of the UCLA Medical Center, Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio and the Veterans Affairs-Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System.

Army Staff Sgt. Michael Mills, 47, who lives in Freeport, Minn., northwest of Minneapolis, is one such patient. He was injured in Iraq in 2005 by a bomb that left him with major burns and broken bones all over. He lost a finger and thumb. He has a dozen pins in bones and a plate in his hip. He was missing part of an ear and part of his nose.

Mills had 10 surgeries with Operation Mend, including three on his hands. Surgeons repaired his nose with part of his forehead.

"I'm very happy with the new look I have now," Mills said. "I don't let my disability run my life. I run my disability."

Some wounds remain, though. Mills said he suffers from a mild traumatic brain injury, depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Counseling through the Department of Veterans Affairs has helped him cope, and he said he no longer has flashbacks and night sweats and is more able to control anger.

"I have more good days now than I do bad days," he said. Doctors can fix his bones and his nose, but "they can't heal what's inside," Mills said. "Only I can do that."

___

Online:

Army regenerative medicine:

http://www.afirm.mil/index.cfm?pageid=home

and http://www.afirm.mil/assets/documents/annual_report_2011.pdf

VA medical research: www.research.va.gov

Operation Mend http://operationmend.ucla.edu/

___

Follow Marilynn Marchione at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-09-09-Coming%20Home-New%20Medicine/id-afef045985d2492890847c825d07ece8

clive davis cause of whitney houston death the watchmen whitney houston dies beverly hills hotel beverly hills hotel whitney houston national anthem

MyNews_CJ: MyNews.in @@ Weber State vs Brigham Young Live streaming NCAA Football online HD TV on your PC, MAC, i... http://t.co/U6npAJQN MyNews.in

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source:

gisele bundchen turbotax the bourne legacy roland martin suspended lake vostok montgomery county public schools the river