Sunday, April 8, 2012

Starvation Linked To Cardiac Complications?

I love to post timely and factually correct information to this forum.  I am not sure the following article is correct.  I will merit the authors for doing research, but in my opinion, starvation in the animal experiments I have seen prolongs life to a certain extant. Who am I to judge?  Your opinions are welcome.  Happy Easter.

Starvation linked to greater risk of cardiac complications

London -- Russians born during the Leningrad Siege in World War II, which was responsible for some of the greatest losses of civilian life in history, are giving scientists new strategies to identify people who experienced intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and starvation during childhood at greatest risk of developing long term heart complications. The abstract study¹, presented at the Frontiers in CardioVascular Biology (FCVB) meeting, in London, UK, 30 March to 1 April 2012, makes use of a unique population of people exposed to extreme starvation both as foetuses and during childhood. 

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Polymer Releases Drugs Using Ultrasound

An interesting application of ultrasound has been discovered.  Certain polymers can change shape when ultrasound is present and the morphological change can release substances bound within these polymers.  This may be useful in delivery of drugs to certain targeted diseases.

28 March 2012
Scientists from China and Canada have found that a drug-loaded shape memory polymer can be manipulated by ultrasound and that they can control when and how the drugs are released.
Shape memory polymers (SMPs) can be deformed and fixed into a temporary shape and then recover their original permanent shape under external stimuli such as heat, explains lead researcher Hesheng Xia from Sichuan University, Chengdu. 'When a piece of polymer is placed in the body, it is subjected to heating at 37°C everywhere and the whole piece undergoes shape recovery,' he says. Xia and co-workers directed an ultrasound beam on a selected area of a polymer, causing a local rise in temperature and triggering shape recovery only in that area. Xia adds that ultrasound has the advantage of easily penetrating body tissue.