05.28.08
Posted in Biology at the University of Virginia, Jacob Canon, The Oscar Show, U.Va. Patent Foundation, UVa College of Arts & Sciences, University of Virginia, pharmaceutical, physical health, technology at 12:04 pm by Jacob Canon
In today’s show, written by Morgan Ellen Estabrook, outreach and communications manager for the U.Va. Patent Foundation, we look at Dr. George T. Rodeheaver and PluroGel™, his patented gel which reduces suffering and improves the recovery of burn victims and patients with chronic wounds.
The Edlich-Henderson Inventor of the Year award, the highest honor bestowed by the U.Va. Patent Foundation, recognizes an inventor or team of inventors each year whose technology has proven to be of notable value to society. This year, Dr. George T. Rodeheaver was honored May 19th at the UVa Patent Foundation’s annual awards banquet at the Boar’s Head Inn in Charlottesville.
Rodeheaver and PluraGel [5:09m]:
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Robert S. MacWright, executive director of the UVa Patent Foundation, said, “…Dr. Rodeheaver was chosen for this top honor because of his work to reduce the suffering and improve the recovery of burn victims and patients with chronic wounds. This work has made a big difference for patients at the U.Va. Health System, and Dr. Rodeheaver’s continued efforts will bring its benefits to patients everywhere.”
Dr. Rodeheaver, the Richard F. Edlich Professor of Biomedical Research, said he is especially thrilled to have been selected as the winner of an award named in part for his friend and long-time collaborator. “This award is not only an honor for me but also a tribute to Dr. Edlich, who has made so many contributions to emergency medicine over the years.”
Dr. Rodeheaver’s most notable invention is an ahead-of-its-time antimicrobial gel that has proven significantly more effective than existing therapies in treating severe burns and chronic wounds, such as diabetic ulcers, pressure ulcers and venous leg ulcers.
Trade-named PluroGel™, the topical treatment is unique in that it thickens at high temperatures (such as body temperature) and liquefies at cooler temperatures. As a result, PluroGel effectively delivers healing medication when applied to the body but is easily removed by cool water, making it much less painful to remove than existing therapies.
Dr. Rodeheaver’s innovative technology, for which he received a full U.S. patent in 1997, has been used to treat patients throughout the U.Va. Health System. More than 2,000 patients — some referred from up to 400 miles away to receive the treatment — have benefited from the invention.
Rodeheaver said, “The technology has had a dramatic impact so far. The fact is that in our burn center, we have been able to eliminate infection, which was the leading cause of death 15 years ago. And we have had great success in healing chronic wounds, many of which, with traditional remedies, had not healed for numerous years.”
Because of the level of success achieved within the U.Va. Health System, Rodeheaver has worked diligently to commercialize the technology through a start-up company, PluroGen Therapeutics Inc., which he founded with associate professor Adam J. Katz, M.D., also of the Department of Plastic Surgery. PluroGen is currently seeking Federal Drug Administration approval on the product so that it can be made available commercially to the public, beyond the University hospital.
After 36 years at the University and over 200 journal articles, Rodeheaver, who was filling out a grant application when he received word of his award said, he continues to enjoy pushing forward on the frontiers of science. According to the faculty member-cum-inventor and now entrepreneur, who considers himself to be “old-school. It is a new paradigm for me; it’s unique and exciting. Entrepreneurship in particular is something I see as a brand-new adventure.”
You’ve been listening to the Oscar Show, I’m Jacob Canon. Join us next week when our topic will well look at Dorrie K. Fontaine, recently named Dean of UVa’s School of Nursing, and her career advocating better care for critically ill patients.
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05.21.08
Posted in Jacob Canon, Psychology, Social Psychology, The Oscar Show, UVa College of Arts & Sciences, University of Virginia, anxiety, pharmaceutical, physical health, sociology, stress at 11:04 am by Jacob Canon
In today’s show, adapted from an article published on the Oscar Web site written by Amber Davis, we look at UVA psychologist Amori Yee Mikami, her research of ADHD, and how intervening factors have made this disorder more complex and detrimental for young females.
In studies conducted on the effects of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in young children, researchers often turn to the most likely exhibitors of the impulsive and aggressive behaviors associated with the ailment — young males. What University of Virginia psychologist Amori Yee Mikami sought to uncover in researching ADHD, however, were the intervening factors that made this disorder more complex and detrimental for young females.
Girls and ADHD [4:59m]:
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Mikami said, “We know a lot about boys with ADHD, partially because the disorder is three times more common in boys. Many research studies on ADHD have focused on how the disorder affects young boys. What I became interested in was how ADHD affected girls’ behaviors, particularly in adolescence.”
Since her original research at the University of California Berkley — where she found evidence supporting the hypothesis that ADHD contributes to social isolation — Mikami has focused on untangling the gender differences in children suffering with ADHD. Her most recent study, published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, concludes that girls with ADHD are at a greater risk for the binge eating and purging behaviors associated with bulimia nervosa.
Mikami said, “We know that children with ADHD have increased risk for delinquency, aggressive behavior problems, drug use and depression in adolescence, and now this study suggests they may also be at risk for an eating disorder problem. Since eating disorders are 10 times more common in females, and the effects of ADHD on girls are not as widely understood, the link between eating disorders and ADHD may have gone unnoticed or untreated.”
According to Mikami, the impulsive behaviors common in ADHD can make it difficult to maintain healthy eating habits and a healthy weight, leading girls to become self-conscious about their body image. Meanwhile, current ADHD medications on the market such as Ritalin may actually exacerbate the problem.
Mikami, who is currently conducting research to determine potential effects of these medications on bulimia nervosa symptoms said, “These drugs tend to make youth a little thinner because a common side effect of stimulant medications is appetite suppression. What I’m testing is whether this medicine is something that might discourage or encourage eating disorder problems.”
Mikami’s research plans include studying whether young males with ADHD have similar potential to develop eating disorders.
In addition to her ongoing research, Mikami oversees the “Friendship Clinic” in Charlottesville, which offers children with ADHD and their parents an eight-week program in which both parents and children learn how to cope with the disorder together. The clinic allows Mikami to observe how children with ADHD interact with their peers while introducing them to an environment that encourages typical social behavior.
Mikami said, “Early intervention is one of the most effective ways to combat the negative effects of ADHD. Girls with ADHD are often teased and rejected by their peers. Childhood peer problems seem to predict eating disorder symptoms in adolescence. Getting parents and teachers involved might help prevent these instances.”
You’ve been listening to the Oscar Show, I’m Jacob Canon. Join us next week when our topic will well look at Dr. George T. Rodeheaver and PluroGel™, his patented gel which reduces suffering and improves the recovery of burn victims and patients with chronic wounds.
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02.20.08
Posted in Biology at the University of Virginia, Infectious Disease, Jacob Canon, Parasites, The Oscar Show, UVa College of Arts & Sciences, Uncategorized, University of Virginia, biology, biomedical engineering, immune, physical health at 12:10 pm by Jacob Canon
In today’s show, adapted from an article published this month on the Oscar Web site written by Mary Jane Gore, we look at the research of Dr. William Petri, chief of the UVa Division of Infectious Diseases and International Health, and his study of a voracious parasite that is said to kill nearly 100, 000 people each year.
Pathogens & Parasites [5:40m]:
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If you have ever contemplated working as a biological researcher then you would probably have considered these questions: what happens when a cell’s life ends? And, what are the mechanisms that control decay?
Contemplating just these types questions during a recent study, a UVa-led research team, directed by Dr. William Petri, chief of the UVa Division of Infectious Diseases and International Health, made discoveries which are helping to stop one of the world’s most voracious parasites.
The team included Douglas Boettner (now completing postdoctoral work in Miami), U.Va. graduate students Alicia S. Linford and Sarah Buss and faculty colleagues Dr. Eric Houpt and Dr. Nicholas Sherman of UVa and Dr. Christopher D. Huston of the University of Vermont.
Their work revolved around the hypothesis that identifying molecules involved in the corpse ingestion would provide insight into how the amoebae cause colitis in children. These amoebae, properly known as entamoeba histolytica, cause colitis, or inflammation of the colon. They do this by attacking and killing human immune cells in mere seconds. It then it hides the evidence by eating the cells’ corpses.
In doing so, per data from Dr. Gerald Mandell of U.Va. Infectious Diseases and editor of Mandell, Douglas and Bennett’s Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases, 6th edition, this murderous marauder “on a global basis, affects approximately 50 million people each year, causing diarrhea, malnutrition and nearly 100,000 deaths.
Dr. Petri’s team identified a particular protein on the surface of the ameba called a kinase, PATMK. Their work, published in the Jan. 18 issue of PLoS Pathogens, a peer-reviewed, open-access journal from the Public Library of Science, outlined a special technique called RNA interference, which inhibits the actions of this kinase, thus preventing the amoebae from eating the dead cells.
Dr. Petri, said, “by blocking this kinase, we have for the first time prevented the ameba from colonizing and invading the gut. This means that we are a step closer to preventing this disease, which wreaks havoc among children worldwide.”
The first author of the paper, Douglas Boettner said, “infection and further invasion into the gut require the clearance of dead cells in order to prevent immune recognition of the damaged tissue. PATMK is the first individual member of a large family of proteins to be assigned a function related to the clearance of dying tissue during pathogenesis.”
Boettner added, “this protein may be a pivotal vaccination target because these preliminary studies show that alterations in PATMK function reduced progression of amoebiasis in mice, a vaccine that ultimately would prevent this ameba from clearing the damaged host may draw in helpful immune cells, and thus help to clear this infection.”
Their work has shown how infection depends upon the ameba’s consumption of dead cells. By identifying the molecule that controls this consumption, scientists are one step closer to the ultimate goal of preventing the diseases caused by this parasite.
You’ve been listening to the Oscar Show, I’m Jacob Canon. Join us next week when our topic will be the research of Adrienne Felt, a fourth-year computer science major in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, concerning privacy issues surrounding social networking platforms such as Facebook.
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02.06.08
Posted in Cognitive Science, Jacob Canon, The Oscar Show, UVa College of Arts & Sciences, Uncategorized, University of Virginia, nuerology, physical health, physiology, sensory inputs, technology, visual processing at 12:06 pm by Jacob Canon
In today’s show, adapted from an article published on the Oscar web site written by Linda Kobert, we examine the work of Dennis Proffitt, Professor and Director of the Cognitive Science Program, whose research focuses on creating computer interfaces to help make life more bearable for patients with ALS and other diseases that are the cause of locked-in syndrome.
Locked-In Syndrome [6:23m]:
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Up to now, the most iconic connection to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease, is the famous farewell in Yankee stadium By Mr. Gerhig. Forced to retire from baseball, the profession he loved and was best known for, he became the personification of this devastating disease.
In 2002, Peggy Chun, a popular artist was diagnosed with ALS. This debilitating neurological disorder progressively destroys a person’s motor neurons. As a victim of this incurable disease, Chun can feel, see, smell, taste, think and imagine, but she can no longer move in any way. She is, in the parlance of the medical profession, “locked-in.” ALS is the most frequent cause of locked-in syndrome, which begins with numbness in the extremities and progresses upward until all motor function disappears.
Usually the last thing you lose is eye movement,” says Dennis Proffitt, U.Va. cognitive psychologist and Commonwealth Professor of Psychology. “When you lose that, you are cognitively alert, you can think, you can feel, but you can’t move a thing. As a result, you can’t communicate in any way. It’s awful.”
Funded by the National Science Foundation, Proffitt, his colleagues at Georgia Tech and a company called Archinoetics in Hawaii are working to develop computer interfaces that may one day make life for locked-in patients more bearable.
Scientists know different parts of the brain are activated when a person performs different functions. For example, moving the left arm activates an area on the right side of the brain, the back of the brain is active with visual imagery and the frontal lobe is active when one tries to focus attention on something. Proffitt’s system simply detects whether or not a particular area of the brain is actively engaged at the time.
With this in mind, researchers are currently testing a technology that allows Chun and other locked-in patients to answer simple yes/no questions. An interface using functional near infrared imaging (fNIR) assesses activity in Broca’s area, a part of the brain where verbal working memory occurs. They strap a device, just above the left ear that projects a light beam through the skull measuring changes in blood volume and oxygenation when Broca’s area is engaged.
With the device in place, subjects are asked to count in their head when they want to activate the verbal working memory and initiate a “yes” response. When they want to say “no,” subjects think of clouds or rest or think “la la la.” It’s a process that most people can engage easily without having to spend a long time training to do it.
Proffitt said, “it was hard for us to think of something we could ask a person to do — something easy to control, something you can turn on and off — that we could measure in this way. What we came up with was sub-vocal speech … talking to yourself. You could be counting, or you could be reciting a poem. We couldn’t tell the difference. We have no idea what you’re doing. We just know the kind of thing you’re doing.”
He stresses, “It’s not reading your thoughts, we can’t do that.”
Proffitt admitted, “at this time the system is primitive, but it’s a start. Right now it’s an on/off switch. What we want to do is to get continuous control so the person is not just activating … Not just ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ but small to large, continuous control within some range. If we could achieve that in the next few years, that would be a huge improvement in what we will be able to do with the technology.”
For the half million people in the world with locked-in syndrome, having the ability to communicate, even in this primitive fashion, can make the difference between suffering in silence and a meaningful life.
But Peggy Chun isn’t waiting for the technology to evolve. This future icon of the human spirit refuses to be shut down. She uses the system now as a tool for creativity. With the sensor in place over her left ear, the artist activates Broca’s area to select shades from a palette that show up on a computer screen as horizontal gradations of color. She calls it “brain art,” and it may be simple, but it’s selling like hotcakes.
You’ve been listening to the Oscar Show, I’m Jacob Canon. Join us next week when our topic will be the research of Jared Harris, assistant professor at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business concerning business ethics and strategy, as he looks to answer the questions, “What motivates a company to cook the books? And, what happens to businesses that get caught committing financial fraud?”
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01.23.08
Posted in Atherosclerosis, Cardiology, Jacob Canon, MRI, Skalak, The Oscar Show, UVa College of Arts & Sciences, Uncategorized, University of Virginia, biomedical engineering, pharmaceutical, physical health at 12:12 pm by Jacob Canon
A new device invented by researchers at the University of Virginia could save pharmaceutical companies significant time and money in screening potential new drug compounds. Brett Blackman, an assistant professor in biomedical engineering and Brian Wamhoff, assistant professor in the department of medicine; cardiovascular division, teamed up to create a novel system, the HemoShear 2.0, which, for the first time, offers researchers the ability to observe the behavior patterns of human vascular cells under a variety of blood flow conditions that occur inside the body’s cardiovascular system.
The HemoShear 2.0 [6:29m]:
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Dr. Blackman said, “We want to help the pharmaceutical industry identify effective therapeutic compounds by allowing them to fail early, fail fast and fail cheap before going to very expensive animal studies.”
Atherosclerosis, hardening or narrowing of the arteries, is considered the most important underlying cause of heart attack or stroke. The HemoShear 2.0 models the early indicators of atherosclerosis by placing actual human endothelial cells, the cells lining the interior of blood vessels, and smooth muscle cells, the cells found in the wall of blood vessels, in an environment that mimics an artery with blood flowing through it. Data from these exposures are recorded and measured to help test the efficacy of therapeutic compounds and aid in early stage toxicity studies. Instead of testing drug compounds on isolated cells, which can produce false negatives, drug companies can use the device to test compounds in a more realistic environment.
This kind of modeling offers unique opportunities to observe the cells and their interaction. This interaction is important because the cells lining the interior of the blood vessels recognize different blood flow patterns imposed upon them and respond by expressing or repressing genes. This, in turn, influences their interactions with the cells found in the walls of blood vessels. The researchers found these cell interactions may lead to the onset of early-inflammation-associated atherosclerosis in certain arteries.
MRI’s were used by researchers to determine the rhythmic pattern that blood flows through different arteries in human subjects. Blackman said, “We are then able to simulate the same flow patterns in those areas that are more or less susceptible to atherosclerosis and observe how the cells respond to these flow patterns in HemoShear.”
Using a synthetic elastic layer that is similar to a real blood vessel wall, endothelial cells are plated on the top surface and smooth muscle cells on the bottom surface. Then, the different blood flow patterns modeled from human circulation are applied to the endothelial cells through rotation of a motor-driven cone system. The findings: the blood flow can influence both endothelial and smooth muscle cell behaviors.
When subjected to atheroprotective blood flow patterns, the endothelial cells aligned with the direction of the blood flow, and the smooth muscle cells aligned perpendicularly to the flow as is true in a healthy blood vessel. In stark contrast, the atheroprone type of flow caused the endothelial cells to move away from their parallel structure while smooth muscle cells moved away from their perpendicular structure.
This remodeling mimics the early phases of the diseased state of the artery; the blood flow pattern associated with atheroprone areas resulted in inflammation in both cells reminiscent of early hallmarks of atherosclerosis. This was confirmed through evaluating gene and protein expression profiles in both cell types.
Thomas Skalak, professor and chair of the U.Va. Department of Biomedical Engineering said, “the results of this study validate the use of this novel co-culture system as a relevant biomimetic vascular model for studying early atherosclerotic events. The cells’ responses to these carefully controlled models of blood flow can now be used to develop therapeutic interventions for detection and treatment of vascular diseases. It has the potential to be revolutionary.”
You’ve been listening to the Oscar Show, I’m Jacob Canon. Join us next week as we again delve into the election season, when our topic will be the work of Bryan Pfaffenberger, associate professor at the University of Virginia’s School of Engineering and Applied Science and his study of mechanical-lever voting machines, their history and understanding the interaction between technology and culture that has been going on for more than a century…
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01.19.08
Posted in Magnetic therapy, Skalak, The Oscar Show, UVa College of Arts & Sciences, Uncategorized, University of Virginia, biomedical engineering, physical health at 3:45 pm by Jacob Canon
In today’s show, adapted from an article published this month on the Oscar web site written by Melissa Maki, we examine the continuing studies of UVa professor and chair of biomedical engineering Thomas Skalak and his efforts to develop real scientific evidence about the effectiveness of magnetic therapy.
Magnetic therapy, touted for healing properties since ancient Greece, is still widely used today as an alternative method for treating a number of conditions, from arthritis to depression. Yet, in spite of no scientific proof that magnets can heal, a lack of regulation and widespread public acceptance based on anecdotal evidence, hopeful consumers have created a $5 billion world market as they buy bracelets, knee braces, shoe inserts, mattresses and other products embedded with magnets, hoping for a non-invasive and drug-free cure to what ails them.
Magnetic Therapy [6:05m]:
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Thomas Skalak, professor and chair of biomedical engineering at U.Va., has carefully studied magnets for a number of years in order to develop real scientific evidence about the effectiveness of magnetic therapy. His lab leads the field in the area of micro-circulation research - the study of blood flow through the body’s tiniest blood vessels. With a five-year, $875,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Skalak and Cassandra Morris, former Ph.D. student in biomedical engineering, set out to investigate the effect of magnetic therapy on micro-circulation.
Initially, they sought to examine a major claim, that magnets increase blood flow, made by the companies that sell magnet. They first found evidence to support this claim in their initial research with laboratory rats. Magnets of 70 milliTesla (mT) field strength - about 10 times the strength commonly found on a refrigerator - were placed near the rat’s blood vessels. Measurements of blood vessel diameter were taken both before and after exposure to the force created by the magnets. They effect found was significant. The vessels that had been dilated constricted, and the constricted vessels dilated, implying that the magnetic field could induce vessel relaxation in tissues with constrained blood supply, ultimately increasing blood flow.
Since dilation of blood vessels is often a major cause of swelling at sites of trauma to soft tissues such as muscles or ligaments, the prior results on vessel constriction led Morris and Skalak to look closer at whether magnets, by limiting blood flow in such cases, would also reduce swelling. Their most recent research, published in the November 2007 issue of the American Journal of Physiology, yielded affirmative results.
In this study, the hind paws of anesthetized rats were treated with inflammatory agents in order to simulate tissue injury. Magnetic therapy was then applied to the paws. The research results indicate that magnets can significantly reduce swelling if applied immediately after tissue trauma.
Since muscle bruising and joint sprains are the most common injuries worldwide, this discovery has significant implications. Skalak said, “if an injury doesn’t swell, it will heal faster - and the person will experience less pain and better mobility.” This means that magnets could be used much the way ice packs and compression are now used for everyday sprains, bumps and bruises, but with more beneficial results.
A key to the success of magnetic therapy for tissue swelling is careful engineering of the proper field strength at the tissue location, a challenge in which most currently available commercial magnet systems fall short. The new research should allow Skalak’s biomedical engineering group to design field strengths that provide real benefit for specific injuries and parts of the body.
The ready availability and low cost of this treatment could produce huge gains in worker productivity and quality of life. Skalak, who plans to continue testing magnet effectiveness through clinical trials and on elite athletes, envisions the magnets being particularly useful to high school, college and professional sports teams, as well as school nurses and retirement communities.
Skalak said, “we now hope to implement a series of steps, including private investment partners and eventually a major corporate partner, to realize these very widespread applications that will make a positive difference for human health.”
You’ve been listening to the Oscar Show… I’m Jacob Canon. Join us next week when continue with the topic of biomedical engineering by examining the work of two University of Virginia professors who have created a system, the HemoShear 2.0, which offers researchers the ability to observe the behavior patterns of vascular cells under a variety of blood flow conditions.
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01.09.08
Posted in Biology at the University of Virginia, Body Clock, Nocturnin, The Oscar Show, UVa College of Arts & Sciences, University of Virginia, biology, circadian rhythms, evolution, hypothalamus, metabolism, physical health at 12:15 pm by Jacob Canon
In today’s show, adapted from an article published on the Oscar web site written by Fariss Samarrai, we discuss the research of Carla Green, associate professor of biology at the University of Virginia, and a study she headed which says that the gene Nocturnin, working within the network of the body’s circadian clock, appears to be particularly important in the control of metabolism.
The body’s biological clock has been shown to regulate life’s activity/rest cycles by controlling energy levels, alertness, growth, moods and the effects of aging. Further study has revealed that these internal clocks are controlled by circadian rhythms. Rhythms that were established early in the history of life on the planet and evolved associated with the astronomical cycles that effect Earth’s environment such as the rise and setting of the sun and the passing of seasons. What is now being discovered is that certain elements, already known to be part of the body’s circadian network, may have a broader influence on the life of an individual.
In a study published in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Virginia Carla Green and her colleagues discovered that the gene Nocturnin, which participates in the regulation of the body’s biological rhythms, may also be a major control in regulating metabolism. The study showed that mice lacking the gene were resistant to weight gain when put on a high fat diet and also were resistant to the accumulation of fat in the liver.
Professor Green, said, “It’s been known for some time that there are many links between the circadian clock and various aspects of physiology and metabolism. This study suggests that Nocturnin is part of the network that the circadian clock uses to control important aspects of metabolism.”
In the study, Green and her colleagues, Nicholas Douris, a U.Va. graduate student who designed the study, U.Va. post-doctoral fellow Shihoko Kojima and Joseph Besharse of the Medical College of Wisconsin, used regular mice and genetically altered mice in which the Nocturnin gene was not present. The Nocturnin-deficient mice were divided into two groups; one group fed a normal diet, the other a very high fat diet. A group of normal mice were also fed a high fat diet.
The researchers found that both groups of genetically altered mice maintained normal weight and activity levels, and, of particular interest, the ones fed the high fat diet exhibited only slight weight gains, even over long periods of time. However, the normal mice on the high fat diet ballooned, gaining more than twice the weight of the Nocturnin-deficient mice. And, when the mice were dissected, the researchers found that the normal mice had, as expected, large concentrations of fat in their livers, whereas the altered mice had normal levels of fat.
Green said, “We were quite amazed at what we found. We thought that over time, as we continued to feed the mutant mice the high fat diet that they would eventually gain weight at some expected rate, but it never happened. These mice continued to stay slim while the normal mice nearly doubled in weight and developed fatty livers.”
Clock genes in the body’s organs operate in conjunction with a central time keeper in the brain, the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus, but also work somewhat independently, resulting in a complex system of oscillators regulating various functions of the body. Scientists are working to better understand how the genes and proteins of the circadian clock in mammals affect not only activity cycles but also rates of metabolism, which are tied to feeding cycles. Green said it is possible that, “A better understanding of Nocturnin’s function could eventually lead to medical treatments that could counteract the problems of obesity, which has become a major issue in modern society.”
We look forward to the continued study of this important new finding in the hope that its potentially far reaching health benefits will be realized in our lifetime.
You’ve been listening to the Oscar Show… I’m Jacob Canon. Join us next week when our topic will be UVa professor and chair of biomedical engineering Thomas Skalak and his efforts to develop real scientific evidence about the effectiveness of magnetic therapy.
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11.22.07
Posted in Jacob Canon, James Coan, MRI, Psychology, Relationships, The Oscar Show, University of Virginia, anxiety, brain, emotions, environmental conditions, happiness, hypothalamus, immune, nervous system, neurobiology, neurophysiology, physical health, physiology, sensory inputs, stress at 3:46 pm by Jacob Canon
How did you react the last time you had a fight with that significant someone in your life? With couples, the woman might apologize, or the man might make a joke or express understanding. By doing this, they subtly and briefly lighten the tension as they work their way through a disagreement.
Psychology Professor James Coan discovered a long time ago that by doing this, even when couples fight, they take care of each other. This interplay was significant when Coan designed a study exploring what happens in people’s brains when they behave emotionally or observe other people’s emotions. Coan said, “what we are learning is our emotions are more heavily involved in our day-to-day physical health than we previously thought.
How we deal with our relationships is closely tied to how long we live, how frequently we go to the doctor, how rapidly we recover from injury, how happy we tend to be in our lives.” With his colleagues, Hillary Schaefer and Richard J. Davidson from the University of Wisconsin, Coan sought to demonstrate the neurobiological basis of emotional expression and regulatory processes.
In the study, they used MRI technology to view these responses at the level of glucose metabolism and blood oxygenation in the brain. Because of the importance of emotional connectedness to the study, 16 happily married, heterosexual couples were recruited as test subjects. Wives were placed in the scanner so brain activity could be recorded as each was exposed to the anxiety-producing possibility of an electric shock to the ankle.
Researchers wanted to see what effect different types of emotional support would have in areas of the brain related to the body’s normal fight-or-flight stress response. Readings were taken when the woman was alone in facing this challenge, When a stranger, a male, was present to support her And when her husband offered support. Coan stated, “the scanning environment is pretty hostile to looking at interactions between people.” The MRI machine surrounds the subject’s body and restricts movement. The women weren’t even able to see the support person during the scanning process.
Having the man offer his hand for the woman to hold was about the only intervention possible in this setting. Not surprisingly, the results show there was a healthy reduction in the stress response when test subjects were supported. Stimulation in the regions of the brain that regulate physiological arousal and coordinate large muscles and joints was significantly decreased, no matter who was holding the woman’s hand. However, when it was her husband’s hand she was holding, the response was significantly greater.
Coan said, “When you’re holding a spouse’s hand, you get down-regulation in all of those same systems. But all the other systems that have to do with the conscious regulation of your emotions — having to pay attention to what’s happening with your body and having to become more vigilant for future dangers — all of these other systems come down as well. Your brain doesn’t work as hard when it’s your spouse. What surprised Coan and his colleagues most was the relaxation response demonstrated by what they called “super couples.” In those couples with exceptionally high-quality relationships, “Hand-holding had a significantly greater effect on soothing their brains.”
Tests showed differences involving two structures that were not affected at all in other test subjects. They observed evidence of reduced release of stress hormones by the hypothalamus. These hormones are responsible for inhibiting immune response and other activities that have critical implications for health and well-being.
Of greater interest was the reduction of activity in the right anterior insula. This brain structure modulates the amount of pain stimulus one experiences subjectively. Reduction of activity in this area means test subjects actually felt less pain when they held their husband’s hand.
So it can be said, having someone you love hold your hand really can take the hurt away.
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11.15.07
Posted in Buddhist, Elevation, Jacob Canon, Psychology, Relationships, Social Psychology, The Oscar Show, University of Virginia, anxiety, biology, brain, emotions, ethics, happiness, philosophy, physical health, positive psychology, stress at 10:24 am by Jacob Canon
When social psychologist University of Virginia in 1995, he prepared by reading Thomas Jefferson’s writings and making the requisite pilgrimage to Monticello. Little did he realize the impact this Jeffersonian indoctrination would have on his own research.
Haidt’s area of specialization is moral emotions, but before coming to U.Va., he focused his studies on cross-cultural experiences of disgust. He read ancient Buddhist texts and spent time in India, exploring how the beneficial biological aspects of disgust became codified as religious imperatives and keys to social order.
Then he came across Thomas Jefferson’s letter to Robert Skipwith, in which Jefferson describes how “witnessing acts of beauty and moral goodness — whether in literature or reality — swells the chest and inspires a desire to lead a better life.” Suddenly Haidt began thinking about the antithesis of disgust, the psychological effect of uplifting experiences, an emotion he termed “elevation.” Haidt said,“That letter fundamentally changed the course of my research.”
In a moment of zeitgeist, Haidt’s inquiry into elevation coincided with the burgeoning of the academic field, positive psychology, which studies how people find meaning and happiness in life. His research into what prompts elevation and the resulting physical and motivational effects won him psychology’s largest monetary award, the John Templeton Prize for Positive Psychology, in 2001.
While researching elevation, Haidt continued teaching a large undergraduate survey course introducing the study of psychology. In the classroom, he has found it useful to cite quotations and examples from ancient philosophy and world religion to make his points more memorable. Haidt’s colleague, psychology professor Gerald Clore stated, “This penchant for asking what it all means makes him very appealing as an undergraduate lecturer in Introductory Psychology.”
Having received several university and state awards for teaching, Haidt decided to apply his ancient wisdom approach to a study of happiness. Looking at the relationship between what religious and philosophical traditions say about fulfillment and what scientists have discovered about the biological processes involved in the brain’s response to stimuli, Haidt gleaned 10 psychological truths from ancient religious and philosophical texts, which he examines in the 10 chapters of his 2006 book, The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom.
Throughout the work, Haidt analogizes the conscious mind to a rider straddling the elephant of the unconscious mind, trying to guide the giant beast where the rider wants it to go. He cited numerous psychological experiments that demonstrate how at odds the conscious and unconscious minds often are, despite the conscious mind’s skill at rationalizing choices and behavior. His book suggests that by understanding ancient wisdom’s insights into our divided nature, we have a chance of establishing a more harmonious relationship between the conscious and unconscious, gently training our elephants to do as we wish.
Haidt, who has also established an accompanying website, Happinesshypothesis.com , said, “every good idea I’ve ever had in my life is in this book, the book is really a gateway to everything I want to work on for the rest of my life.” Although Haidt spent 2005-2006 at Princeton University as the Laurence S. Rockefeller Visiting Professor of Ethics at the Center for Human Values, his heart remains in Charlottesville. Haidt said,“it really was because of U.Va., because of Jefferson, that I came to study this completely neglected area of emotion.”
Haidt is currently studying the foundations of moral judgment in liberals and conservatives in order to understand how political appeals might be better crafted. In addition, he’s researching how the application of elevation can be used to increase trust in relationships, especially among married couples.
To learn more about his work and this area of study, visit www.happinesshypothesis.com.
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