Alice Cheong

Does the title sounds very funny? How in the world is a shutdown of nuclear plant related with medical imaging? You are mostly likely thinking that there must be a mix-up with the title. That the title should be something in line of celebrate xyz with 6-packs of beer and some wine. But… The title is correct.

Recently, the nuclear plant, in the Chalk River nuclear research facility near Ottawa, Canada had a temporary closure for scheduled maintenance. However, the nuclear plant remains closed due to problems. So, isn’t it celebration time?

Sadly. Those who need a nuclear medical imaging are more likely to bemoan the closure of the nuclear plant, as this nuclear plant, is one of the five worldwide, that produce the raw material for the radioisotopes used in nuclear medical imaging. These radioisotopes, due to it’s physical property of short half-life, cannot be stockpiled. As such, thousands of non-urgent tests (including heart, bone and kidney scans), which are required to decide on treatment have been cancelled.

NewScientist (15 Dec 2007) reported in its 60 seconds:

Titled: Gay “switch”
“Homosexuality in fruit flies can be switched on and off by using drugs to alter the strength of nerve-cell junctions in male flies’ brains. The changes makes males unable to sense a pheromone that normally stops them mating with other males. (Nature Neuroscience, DOI: 10.1038/nn2019)”

And interesting, the original author that published the paper in Nature Neuroscience stated in the abstraction of this paper the following:

Titled: A glial amino-acid transporter controls synapse strength and courtship in Drosophila
“Mate choice is an evolutionarily critical decision that requires the detection of multiple sex-specific signals followed by central integration of these signals to direct appropriate behavior. The mechanisms controlling mate choice remain poorly understood.”

However, sadly almost any reader based on the 60 seconds report by NewScientist will most likely conclude that homosexuality in human can be switch on and off by a ‘Gay “switch”‘.

Things are not so simply!
1) Human is different from fruit flies. Please don’t extrapolate the results directly to human.
2) The mechanisms remain poorly understood, so over-simplification by focusing on an experiment is going to mislead the layman to incorrect conclusion.
3) Arrrrrrgh!

A new kind of antibody consisting of single-domain has been reported to be found. This novel antibody is much smaller than the normal double-chained antibodies, and their key variable portion is able to work by itself. This ability to work individually without clamping, is of utmost importance.

It has the possibility of delivering the potential that was hype in the mid-1970s when the workings of the first antibody was discovered. For more information, read the NewScientist article “The Camel Factor”, 06 Oct 2007, pg 50-53.

An interesting article in New Scientist reported that people suffering from a newly coined bizarre disease, which is not officially a disease reports the following symptoms
1) Found tiny fiberous material of blue, red and black growing in lesions on skin.
2) The fiberous lesions are itchy and gives a biting and crawling sensation
3) Suffer from chronic muscle pain, joint pain and severe fatigue.
4) Suffer from cognitive problems.

Interestingy, but not unusual, these suffers encounter lots of obstacles in trying to get diagnosed. They are riddled, turn away or diagnosed as suffering from a psychological disorder “delusional parasitosis”.

Perhaps, the medical community needs to have a new way of looking at how they treat patients. Diseases that do not conform to their trusted medical text, should not be immediately discarded or riddled. Neither should the patient be given a diagnosis that do not fit their symptoms or one that is too general (I will blog about eczema when I am free).

Their symptoms should be taken seriously, and the observations be carefully noted into a center database. If there is possible supporting materials, these can also be obtained. In this case, the supporting material is the fiberous material.

With the current technology, the fiberous material can be analyzed to determine whether it contains genetic material. In the event that the fiberous material contains living cells, their genetic material might be extracted and sequenced. Sufficient genetic material has to be extracted in order for the sequencing to be successful. If we hit jackpot, this sequencing of the genetic material will provide us with the causative organism for the symptoms.

If the hypothesis is fungi as believed by Ahmed Kilami from Clongen Laboratories, each of the symptoms can have a possible explaination.
1) The growth of the fiberous material can be explained by their sending out of filaments called hyphae.
2) The itch, biting and crawling sensation is due to chemicals released by the fungi.
3) The pain and fatigue is due to body immune system fighting against the fungi growth.
4) The congnitive problems is due to neuro-toxic released by the fungi.

However, there can also be other explaination. It can be due to any other micro-organism with growth pattern that display filaments. And the chemicals they release causes point (2) and (4). The body immune system will explain for point (3).

Several hurdles will be encountered by the suffers.
1) The sequencing of the micro-organism is still impossible for many of these micro-organism that reside on our body. This is due to the fact that we are unable to isolate [very tough and often impossible] and obtain sufficient genetic material [also very tough and often impossible] pertaining to the micro-organism we are interested in.

2) Who is going to pay for the cost of these test?

3) Medical is based on what is know and not what is unknown. Research is in the backroom, and it requires funding. Moreover, sharing of samples and knowledge is always weighted against personal gains in terms of copyrights, patents and publications.

4) The suggested causative micro-organism may be present, but it may not be real culprit. Guilt by association with the symptoms is not concrete prove. We need to isolate. [Grow/Culture.] Sequence. And sequence has to be proved to contain genes to produce the fiberous compound, the compound that causes itch and the neuro-toxics.

Thus, we might be able to associate certain micro-organism with the disease, but as long as the genetic sequence has not been proven to contain genes that provide the fiberous compound, the compound that causes itch and the neuro-toxics, we have not shown that the micro-organism cause the disease.

Transsexual! Ops, did I mentioned a taboo word? Males are spotted with the female “part”, while some female are spotted with look-alike male “part”. Really, they have been spotted in this world. Truely. Spotted on earth, and not in the game ‘Second Life’. So, would you like to know where to find them? (more…)

The gene expression in fat, liver, muscle and brain for 334 male and female mice shows that more than half of the 23,574 genes expression are different[1]. So, is it proven that man and woman are different?

[1]Xia Yang, Eric E. Schadt, Susanna Wang, Hui Wang, Arthur P. Arnold, Leslie Ingram-Drake, Thomas A. Drake and Aldons J. Lusis, “Tissue-specific expression and regulation of sexually dimorphic genes in mice”, Genome Research, Vol 16, PP995-1004, 2006.

The paper[1] reported that gene activity in tissues of different ages in humans and rats varied as we age. So, perhaps the regulation of gene expression weakens as we get older? 

[1]M. Somel, P. Khaitovich, S. Bahn, S. Pääbo, M. Lachmann, “Gene expression becomes heterogeneous with age”, Current Biology, Volume 16, Issue 10, Pages R359-R360, 2006.

Dichloroacetate (DCA) has been reported in the media, and had been hyped as the possible elixir for cancer patients. To the layman, especially the desperately ill cancer patients, this seems to be their only ray of hope. However, is it right for the media to hype such news?

The DCA is a chemical compound that has been available for a number of years to treat rare metabolic disorders. However, it has not undergo careful scrutiny nor large-scale clinical testing as a cancer drug. Thus, the drug’s effect on human is not throughly understood. So, is one responsible to offer hope that is not proven?

On the other note, it has been implied by some that commercial pharmaceutical company will not research on it, as it can no longer be patent as a drug. At such, is the news being hyped to gather more research funds, or is it just the usual media news marketing tactic?

It is reported in 30 May 2007 New Scientist magazine that in a study back in 1930s, a biologist John Bittner observed that in a strain of mice in which breast cancer ran in the family, pups that were taken away from their mothers at birth and fostered by other females did not develop breast cancer. In this study, the cause is directed to a virus called the mouse mammary tumour virus (MMTV).

So, what is the current research on the possible link of virus causing certain cancer?

Reading the 26 June 2007 NewScientist article, titled “Genes won’t work round the clock“, the immediate reaction is “Of course!”. However, how many researchers that analyse gene(s)-related studies ever ponder about the effects of clock timing and their results?

Moreover, clock timing is not the only variable! A gene(s) analysis of a lung tumor that is graft onto the rump of the mouse, will surely give different expression, since the rump consists of different tissue from the lung.

In addition, the barren crowded “standard” cage that the experimental mouse dwell in within a usual working animal housing which is typical far too noisy for small animals stress the mouse into the equivalent of burnt-out near heart attack patient. So, how do the researchers ever get a reliable reading? Perhaps, giving the mouse some “welfare” might help.