Therapeutic Cloning
A group of U.S. scientists have succeeded for the first time in creating embryonic stem cells with the same DNA (by clonation) of an adult. The technique was used for the experiment of Dolly the sheep in the 90’s, but the authors insist that it is not about getting people cloned, but to reach the blastocyst stage of the embryo (about five or six days of development of the embryo) to extract stem cells. The trial, led by Shoukhrat Mitalipov from the Oregon Health & Science University, is published in Cell.
In the Cell study, Shoukhrat Mitalipov and colleagues used skin cells from an 8-month-old baby that had a genetic disease. To create each embryo, they took the DNA out of an egg and replaced it with the skin cell’s DNA. With the help of chemicals, the egg started to divide in the same process as a normally fertilized egg. Then, within days, embryos genetically identical to the baby were created, from which stem cells were extracted. However, Mitalipov stated that the embryos created in the study would not be capable of keeping with the process of division and will not, eventually, be able to grow a full human body. That would have required additional technology and that was not considerated as part of the study.
Besides this technique, and the controversial implications thereof (the need to get the cells from embryos, the need to use eggs), another technique is being used to try to create renewed tissues. These are called induced pluripotent stem cells, which have the potential to differentiate into almost any cell in the body.
Both techniques provide a chance to obtain a renewable source of healthy cells and tissues to treat a wide range of diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. Burn victims and those who suffer from autoimmune diseases (such as Parkinson’s) could potentially benefit from the use of these techniques.
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3D ultrasounds in color. Sonographies taken to another level.
We keep on posting on 3D related topics. This week is not about 3D printing techniques, but the 3D ultrasound advances that are taking place.
Until not so long ago a visit to the doctor for an ultrasound ment to stare at a screen that showed a black and white blurry image of what seemed to be a baby. Now the technology comercialized by General Electric, with its HDlive ultrasound, gives the possibility to some doctors and parents to see a 3D image of the baby in color. The technology creates a moveable virtual light source and uses advanced skin rendering techniques to create realistic color. The virtual light source casts shadows and creates definition, highlighting every detail, every bump and every fold. All of this creates an static image that is almost in a video quality manner.
This level of detail and definition can help with prenatal diagnose and treatment of any possible condition, as well as to help the parents with the confidence of the diagnose and the possibility to see the fetus in a detail never seen before.
We hope that this trend and technique gets to other countries so parents around the world can enjoy its advantages.
Image by Dr. Bernard Benoit, Princess Grace Hospital, Monaco
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Bioprinting: the future of organ replacing
Following the topic we covered in our last post we would like to talk about 3D printers, and more specifically we would like to discuss the concept of brioprinting.
This concept, that has been widely spread through a wide range of media thanks to the different discoveries that are taking place, has so far always been connected to the term ‘science-fiction’. Even for those who want to emphasize the disruptive and controversial side of it, some articles have also used the term ‘replicant’ (always in a comical rather than apocalyptical manner).
Bioprinting is a new area of research and engineering that involves printing devices that ‘print out’ or place biological material. These printing devices place cells from a bioprint head that moves in different directions in order to place the cells where they are required. They artificially construct living tissue by outputting layers of living cells that interact with each other depending on their subtype.
Nowadays these bioprinters (all in an experimental state but hopefully soon to be present in labs and hospitals) are being used to print organs, embryonic stem cells, blood vessels & heart tissue, skin (as seen on the picture), cartilage & bone and even cells that are useful for cancer research.
Photo: Flickr
The goal (long-term) is that the technology could be used to create replacement organs or even entire organisms from raw biological materials. The numerous applications this technology could have are extraordinary: from research in chronic diseases to skin transplants in burn cases the use of this ‘tissue generators’ could extend our life expectancy and improve our quality of life incredibly. We only expect, as with all advances in medicine, that it can be available to the maximum percentage of the population and in a sustainable way.
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How 3D printers are helping patients
This week we want to discuss the advances happening on 3D printers. We do not want to draw the attention to a story that has been on the spotlight for the past two weeks, the story of the texas law student that created the blueprint for a ‘printable’ gun. We would rather bring the attention to the cutting edge research that is taking place in the healthcare field, with the most fascinating advances on 3D printers applied to medicine.
This industry, which has been evolving since the 70’s decade of the last century, has been adapted in the last years into a bit more accessible and at the same time more sophisticated products. Boston-based Luxe Research estimates that today’s $777 million 3D printing market will become an $8.4 billion market by 2025.
In the field of medicine these printers are now able to make prosthetic limbs, custom hearing aids and dental fixtures. And they are even able to create more complex structures like human tissue. From arteries to kidneys 3D printers are exploring this option that, however, will not be approved and used in a massive way until some years from now.
In the meantime the use of 3D printers applied to medicine is still very science-fiction like. For instance, a patient in the USA was transplanted with what happened to be the 75% of his own skull out of a 3D model in a polymer that matched the density and stiffness of his own skull. The polymer had such a structure that allowed cell growth in that area and helped reconstruct the bone tissue of the patient.
Some other brilliant examples are taking place in hospitals and universities around the world. We will be informing you more in our blog within the next days.
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Neural interfaces. From neurological action to Mechanical Reaction
Neural interfaces, also termed brain machine interfaces (BMIs), are systems operating at the intersection of the nervous system together with an internal or external device. Neural interfaces include neural prosthetics, which are artificial extensions to the body that reestablishes or complements different functions of the nervous system that can be lost during a disease or injury. Then a number of algorithms are used to ‘decode’ the actions commanded by the brain in an aproximate manner. These commands can be used to attempt a wide range of tasks, and performance is measured with a number of common metrics.
Brain Machine Interfaces are the focus of a field that has gone through an incredible expansion and growth. One of the neural that has grow more extensively are cochlear implants, which are used to help provide hearing to people that are severely hard of hearing or profoundly deaf. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, as of December 2010, approximately 219,000 people worldwide had cochlear implants.
However neuroscientists are helping this sector evolve thanks to the research done in other applications of neuroprosthetics. One of the most impressive examples are neural interphases for patients with spinal chord injuries. As published by Lee Miller, a neuroscientist at Northwestern University, neural interphases can be useful not only for people with motor disfunctions because of missing limbs, but also for people with nonworking limbs due to injuries or diseases. In those cases, rather than providing data from the brain activity into a prosthetic limb, Miller has shown that he can avoid a dysfunctional spinal cord and send out information to the terminal electrode that is placed on the motor point of a muscle from a paralyzed arm, reanimating it with electrical pulses.
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World Asthma Day
World Asthma Day is an annual event organized by the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) to improve awareness of the illness and try to improve its treatment. It takes place the first Tuesday of May. This year’s theme is “You Can Control Your Asthma”, which was last year theme aswell. However this edition will introduce a sub-theme called “It’s Time to Control Asthma”. The first World Asthma Day, in 1998, was celebrated in more than 35 countries in conjunction with the first World Asthma Meeting held in Barcelona, Spain.
Asthma is a chronic disease characterized by recurrent attacks of breathlessness and wheezing and it is the most common chronic disease among children. It currently affects 235 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. As some other chronic diseases asthma cannot be cured, but proper diagnosis, treatment and patient education can result in good control and management of the condition. The percentage of population diagnosed with asthma does not change from developed countries to undeveloped ones, the only factor that changes is the percentage with access to treatment.
One of the objectives of the World Asthma Day is also to reduce hospitalizations form asthma attacks (reduce it in a 50% in 5 years). To get to the objective GINA is trying educate patients through these basic advices:
- Have a written individualized treatment for your asthma
- Take the medications prescribed by your doctor.
- Know and avoid things that can trigger asthma attacks.
- Learn to recognize the symptoms of an asthma attack.
- Know what to do when having an asthma attack.
If you want to know more about the iniciatives for World Asthma Day around you please visit this link. You can also download a complete guide about Asthma.
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Gene therapy - Genetic Engineering
Gene therapy has been a hot topic under study and may have the possibility to offer benefits unsurpassable by traditional medicine. In the past, drug-based approaches have been used to try to treat certain genetic disorders but it does not get to the root of finding what is wrong and actually replacing it. With gene therapy a normal, healthy gene would be inserted into the body in hopes of superseding the deviant gene, which is the cause of the disease.
New studies that have been developed through gene therapy are focusing on targeting the reproductive cells which carry genetic disorders such as: cystic fibrosis, Parkinson’s disease and cancer. There are different methods that are currently being studied as a way to fight cancer, some try to enhance the growth of healthy cells to fight the disease whereas other try to attack the cancer cells and either limit their growth or expunge them completely.
Although the idea of gene therapy offers the possibility of many benefits to its patients there are still several precautions that must be considered prior to it becoming a routine procedure. Currently, a major issue that scientists struggle with is trying to find the best way to insert the new genetic material into the body. The response that an individual’s immune system may have to a foreign object being put into their system is an issue as, in many cases, the person’s immune system is likely to try to eject the unknown matter. As of now, the FDA has not approved gene therapy on humans although in the future it has the possibility to make great strides in the field of medicine.
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Data driven healthcare - Health intelligence
In the past, the treatment of patients was based on others who had experienced similar conditions or symptoms so similar medicine was given. With the advancements of technology, more comprehensive methods have been acquired. Often times, clinical studies are done which sometimes generalize the treatment although now, the idea of personalized medicine has developed, making the analysis more complete and accurate. This has the potential to increase prevention and furthermore the treatment. With the move from paper files that often times are difficult to organize and evaluate to health files in the cloud (electronic health records) analysis is not only easier but also more effective. Every year, thousands of patients are misdiagnosed because of human error from reading the written wrong protocols. Some of these errors can be avoided if the directions are more distinctly written.
Because of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH), the United States Department of Health and Human Services is using some of its spending in order to expand health information technology as well as a stronger network of electronic health records. This will further the growth of data driven health and optimize the processes that are already in place.
By sharing the data from patients, doctors are able to make better practice decisions sooner and save the time and money of everyone involved. With the accessibility to their health data the patient has the option to become more proactive in their health and make the first steps to better understand their health in general, and their condition and actions in a more specific way so the treatment is not only reliant on the doctor but the patient too has the choice to monitor its status and evolution.
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Innovations & Investments in Healthcare, Networking Summit – Berlin 2013
From 25th up until 26th of April, the II Innovations and Investments in Healthcare - Networking Summit will be hosted at Hotel Aldon Kempinski in Berlin, Germany. Insurance companies, policy makers, medtech, VCs, health care providers, IT solution providers, telecom groups and startups will gather to attend conferences, demo sessions, and network.
This event, which is organized by Roman Rittweger Advisors in Healthcare, gives attendees the chance to share ideas and experiences regarding the future of healthcare, understand how patient self-monitoring or mHealth can change or meet the right cooperation partners.
Panelists from Rock Health, the European Commission, SAP or Cisco Systems (among other enterprises and organizations) will cover topics such as the economic feasibility of innovations, mHealth, quantified self and social media as well as discussions on how to change patients’ behavior to enhance their health.
Throughout this event, there will be rounds of ‘speed dating’ and workshops which will enable attendees to not lose the opportunity to network and build a framework for integration and collaboration, two decisive factors in the innovative future of healthcare to come.
Medtep’s co-founder is attending the event and we’ll be sharing insights from the event via our www.twitter.com/medtep.
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TEDMED RECAP
Last week one of the biggest events in medicine and technology took place at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in Washington, D.C.
From the 16th to 19th of April TEDMED gathered some of the best minds in healthcare, science, politics, arts and technology to create a unique atmosphere of connection, debate and action. The community that was formed around the event brought attention to different topics. This year’s speakers discussed matters ranging from the meaningful usage of big and small data; creative collaboration as a way to enhance perspective on research, and the need to renew the way health is considered, so it is not only treated as a dicotomy between a care giver and a care receiver or a sick or a healthy person.
All of these talks had the goal of open people’s minds and get them thinking about the 20 great challenges of health and medicine. Also with the objective of improving the service given to all kinds of patients.
Among the various and always interesting talks from this year’s TEDMED we could quotre some of the arguments from Amy Abernathy (oncologist and palliative medicine physician). Dr Abernathy argued that big data is only useful if physicians and researchers know how to apply it to an individual. She also reviewed his experienced in healthcare with three statements: the first one stated that patients needs to own their data. Secondly she declared that patients should be able to control how their data is shared and used, especially it should include the possibility to revoke access to a healthcare provider or care giver. And finally she concluded that data needs to be portable and multiplatform.
The example of Dr Abernathy is just one among numerous talks that took place at the Kennedy Center. To know more about the collaborative ecosystem that is TEDMED you can visit their blog or attend next year’s edition, which will take place April 8-11, 2014.
Medtep Team
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