Natural therapy: function

Showing posts with label function. Show all posts

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Researchers Restore Immune Function in Spinal Injured Mice

The researchers are from The Center for Brain and Spinal Cord Repair at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. People with spinal cord injury often are immune compromised, which makes them more susceptible to infections. Why these people become immune-suppressed is not known, but the Ohio State study found that a disorder called autonomic dysreflexia can cause immune suppression.

Autonomic dysreflexia is a potentially dangerous complication of high-level spinal cord injury characterized by exaggerated activation of spinal autonomic (sympathetic) reflexes. This can cause an abrupt onset of excessively high blood pressure that can cause pulmonary embolism, stroke and in severe cases, death.

"Our research offers an explanation for why people with spinal cord injuries develop a condition referred to as 'central immune depression syndrome.' Their immune systems, which are required to fight off infection, are suppressed due to damage or malfunction in regions of the spinal cord that help control immune function," said principal investigator Phillip G. Popovich, Ph.D., Professor of Neuroscience in Ohio State's College of Medicine and Director of Ohio State's Center for Brain and Spinal Cord Repair.

The study is published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Researchers found that autonomic dysreflexia develops spontaneously in spinal cord injured mice, and becomes more frequent as time passes from the initial spinal cord injury.

They also found that simple, everyday occurrences that activate normal spinal autonomic reflexes, such as having bowel movements or emptying the bladder, become hyperactive and suppress immune function in people with spinal cord injury.

In the study, Popovich and colleagues were able to restore immune function in mice with spinal cord injuries using drugs that inhibit norepinephrine and glucocorticoids, immune modulatory hormones that are produced during the onset and progression of AD. They also observed in a patient with a high-level spinal cord injury that briefly inducing autonomic dysreflexia impaired immune function, confirming that their findings in mice have relevance to humans.

"Although we don't know how to fix this yet, we also show that it is possible to restore immune function in spinal injured mice," Popovich said. "After spinal cord injury, the ability of the spinal cord to control the immune system is impaired. As result, these individuals become susceptible to infection, and often die from these infections. For those that survive, the infections can impair what little function they have left after the spinal cord injury."

The study found that autonomic dysreflexia causes immune suppression in part by releasing into blood and immune organs high levels of immune modulatory hormones that non-selectively kill mature and immature white blood cells in the spleen, said first author Yi Zhang, a post-doctoral neuroscience researcher at Ohio State.

"Our research is laying the groundwork for potential therapeutic targets for reversing central immune depression syndrome," Zhang said, adding that further research is needed.

Source-Eurekalert

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Tuesday, July 9, 2013

New Technique That can Improve Language Function in Stroke Patients Published

by Kathy Jones on? July 05, 2013 at 10:24 PM General Health News A video article that shows details of a technique that can improve language function in stroke patients who suffer from chronic speech language impairment has been published on JoVE. New Technique That can Improve Language Function in Stroke Patients Published
Strokes occur when a brain clot blocks blood flow in parts of the brain, essentially starving groups of neurons of oxygen, which is necessary for normal function.? Nearly 130,000 of the 795,000 strokes Americans suffer annually result in death, accounting for roughly 5% of deaths in the U.S. The remaining 665,000 stroke patients suffer a wide variety of side effects ranging from complete loss of motor function to loss of speech to a catatonic state. Because of the horrific nature of these cerebrovascular events and their consequences, many clinical researchers focus on prevention, rehabilitation and restoration of function for stroke victims.

A technique developed through these efforts utilizes transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to improve language function in stroke patients with chronic aphasia. Patients who have undergone this procedure have previously reached a plateau in their ability to produce fluent language, despite signs of understanding and frustration at their inability to communicate.

"The heart of our work is to use non-invasive brain stimulation… to modulate cortical networks that we think are in flux.? We think that those circuits in the brain do remodel and that we can tweak them further using non-invasive stimulation," explains Roy Hamilton, M.D., the co-director of the Laboratory for Cognition and Neural Stimulation at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. He continues, "For most people the left hemisphere plays a dominant role in our language capacity. The brain does have the capacity to reorganize itself and rework some of the network and geography that represents specific cognitive skills."

Transcranial magnetic stimulation was first successfully performed in 1985 by Anthony Barker and his colleagues in Sheffield, UK. The technique takes advantage of an aspect of physics derived from the Biot-Savart Law, which states that a current running through a wire generates a magnetic field. Because neurons act like electric wires in the brain, targeting populations of neurons with a magnetic field can modulate their function, making them either more or less reactive. ??Over the last 28 years TMS has been used in several fields of research but has only recently been used to treat stroke patients.?

Initial results from work with a well curated population of stroke patients in Dr. Hamilton''s laboratory demonstrate long-term improvement in language production after TMS stimulation. "Using our technique, we can take patients who are in the theoretical plateau period [in recovery] and cause continued improvement. We like to think about it as enhancing their language plasticity." Patients treated with TMS see an extended recovery, where not only will they experience immediate improvement, but they will also gain continued development of their language capacity months after treatment.

Dr. Hamilton is eager for his first JoVE article. "We were intrigued by JoVE''s video format and the underlying premise of the journal. There is so much to performing an experiment, in the doing, which is difficult to explain. We like that the journal has the potential to communicate how we do our experiments that might have been lost in a different format."

Hamilton, R. H. et. al.; Utilizing Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation to Improve Language Function in Stroke Patients with Chronic Non-fluent Aphasia. J. Vis. Exp. (), e50228, doi:10.3791/50228 (2013).

About JoVE, the Journal of Visualized Experiments:

JoVE, the Journal of Visualized Experiments, is the first and only PubMed/MEDLINE-indexed, peer-reviewed journal devoted to publishing scientific research in a video format. Using an international network of videographers, JoVE films and edits videos of researchers performing new experimental techniques at top universities, allowing students and scientists to learn them much more quickly. As of July 2013, JoVE has published video-protocols from an international community of nearly 8,000 authors in the fields of biology, medicine, chemistry, and physics.

Source-Newswise

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Thursday, July 4, 2013

Cognitive Function of HRT for Women Ages 50 to 55 Years Studied

by Bidita Debnath on? June 25, 2013 at 6:06 PM Research News When given to women ages 50 to 55 years, postmenopausal hormone therapy with conjugated equine estrogens (CEEs) was not associated with overall sustained benefit or risk to cognitive function. Cognitive Function of HRT for Women Ages 50 to 55 Years Studied
This is according to a report published Online First by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication.

The Women's Health Initiative Memory Study (WHIMS) demonstrated that postmenopausal hormone therapy with CEEs, when prescribed to women 65 years and older, caused deficits in global and domain-specific cognitive functioning.

The Women's Health Initiative Memory Study of Younger Women (WHIMSY) tested whether prescribing CEE-based hormone therapy to postmenopausal women ages 50 to 55 years had longer-term effects on cognitive function. The study by Mark A. Espeland, Ph.D., of the Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, N.C., and colleagues presents primary findings from this study.

"Global cognitive function scores from women who had been assigned to CEE-based therapies were similar to those from women assigned to placebo," according to the study results. "Similarly, no overall differences were found for any individual cognitive domain."

The study included 1,326 postmenopausal women, who had started treatment in two randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial of hormone therapy when they were ages 50 to 55 years. The clinical trials the women participated in compared 0.625mg CEE with or without 2.5mg medroxyprogesterone acetate over an average of seven years.

"Our findings provide reassurance that CEE-based therapies when administered to women earlier in the postmenopausal period do not seem to convey long-term adverse consequences for cognitive function. Although we cannot rule out acute benefits or harm, these do not appear to be present to any degree a mean of seven years after cessation of therapy. One exception may be for minor longer-term disturbances of verbal fluency for women prescribed CEE alone; however this may be a chance finding," the authors conclude.
(JAMA Intern Med. Published online June 24, 2013. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.7727. Available pre-embargo to the media at http://media.jamanetwork.com.)

Editor's Note: An author made a conflict of interest disclosure. The study was supported by a National Institute on Aging contract. Other funding also was disclosed. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.

Commentary: Hormone Therapy in Younger Women, Cognitive Health

In an invited commentary, Francine Grodstein, Sc.D., of Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, writes: "Approximately 10 years ago, the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study (WHIMS) found that postmenopausal hormone therapy in older women caused nearly two-fold increases in dementia risk, worse rates of cognitive decline over time, and decreased brain volume on magnetic resonance imaging, compared with placebo treatment."

"In the article by Espeland et al, WHIMS investigators report new results from the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study in Younger Women (WHIMSY). The WHIMSY trial cleverly leverages 1,272 participants from the Women''s Health Initiative who were aged 50 to 55 years when they were originally assigned to hormone therapy or placebo and reports findings from cognitive assessments administered a mean 7.2 years after treatment was halted," Grodstein continues.

"In these younger women, reassuringly, cognitive function appears similar in those who had been given hormone therapy vs. placebo; that is, there is no evidence in WHIMSY of substantially worse cognitive function associated with hormone use at younger ages," Grodstein concludes.
(JAMA Intern Med. Published online June 24, 2013. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.6827. Available pre-embargo to the media at http://media.jamanetwork.com.)

Source-Newswise

View the original article here

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Exposure to particulate matter and chronic alcohol intake can decrease lung function

by Dr.Enozia Vakil on? June 15, 2013 at 4:40 PM Lifestyle News Alveolar macrophage may play a huge role in protecting the lungs by removing partiulates.
Chronic drinking causes persistent oxidative stress in the lungs, leading to impaired AM function.
A new rodent study shows that chronic drinking appears to intensify lung damage caused by particulate matter. Exposure to Particulate Matter and Chronic Drinking may Decrease Lung Function
Alveolar macrophage (AM) function plays a critical role in protecting the lungs from particulate matter inhalation by removing particulates from the airway and secreting elements that facilitate airway repair. Chronic drinking causes persistent oxidative stress in the lungs, leading to impaired AM function as well as immune responses. A rodent study has found that chronic drinking, when coupled with particulate matter (PM) exposure, dramatically increases lung dysfunction compared to alcohol intake or PM exposure alone.

Results will be published in the November 2013 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View.

"Macrophages are derived from monocytes, a subset of the white blood cells present in the body," explained Stephania A. Cormier, associate professor of pediatrics - currently at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center - as well as corresponding author for the study. "Under normal conditions, monocytes travel into the tissues of the body and mature into macrophages. In the tissues, they perform activities necessary to maintain normal functions and, along with other tissue resident immune cells, provide an initial layer of protection against invading pathogens. AMs, present throughout the large and small airways of the lungs, secrete factors that assist normal airway function while also serving a janitorial role by engulfing and removing inhaled debris and dead cells from the airways."

"The lung has 100s of millions of macrophages," added George Leikauf, professor of environmental and occupational Health at the University of Pittsburgh. "The term derives from macro = big + phage = cell that eats. Their main job is to 'eat' or phagocytize bacteria and particles that land on the alveolar surface. Once bacteria are engulfed, the macrophages kill the bacteria. When particles are engulfed that cannot be digested, macrophages retain the particles and then move up the airways to clear the particle from the lung. In humans, the alveolar surface is about the size of a tennis core, so these cells have a massive responsibility. Normally, macrophage are very efficient and kill all the bacteria, thus the alveolar region is sterile. However, when compromised the macrophage cannot keep up with this duty, and bacteria grow. This can result in a lower respiratory tract infection such as pneumonia, which is the third leading cause of death in the US."

"While research has yet to define the precise mechanisms of how alcohol consumption increases the levels of reactive oxygen species in the lungs, we do know that alcohol alters numerous processes on the cellular level," said Cormier. "Specifically, a portion of alcohol ingested is metabolized in the lungs by a detoxification pathway which is less efficient than the primary metabolism pathway used in the liver. This less efficient pathway produces reactive products which must be further metabolized within the cell, using up antioxidants available within the cell. Alcohol also reduces the ability of the cells to replenish these antioxidants. As a result, reactive oxygen species increase within the cell, where they react with cellular components, altering or completely destroying their function. This cycle continues with daily alcohol consumption, directly increasing oxidative stress while also impairing the ability of our cells to maintain and increase antioxidant defenses."

Cormier and her colleagues fed age- and gender-matched C57BL6 mice a liquid diet that contained either alcohol or an iso-caloric substitution for eight weeks. During the final two weeks, mice from both groups were exposed to combustion-derived PM. Study authors then assessed AM number, maturation, and polarization status; in addition, both invasive and noninvasive methods were used to assess pulmonary function and correlate it with histomorphological assessments of airway structure and matrix deposition.

"We already knew that PM derived from automotive, industrial, hazardous waste processes, and other combustion processes aggravates existing lung disease and can predispose children and other susceptible individuals to pulmonary diseases such as asthma," said Cormier. "Here we found that chronic drinking, when coupled with PM exposure, dramatically decreases antioxidant defenses in the lungs compared to alcohol intake or PM exposure alone. This was accompanied by a decrease in the number of AMs present in the lungs immediately following PM exposure. Furthermore, the AMs that were present in the airways after exposure to both alcohol and PM [had] dramatically altered function. Collectively, chronic drinking amplifies the effects of PM exposure and accelerates declines in lung function due to PM exposure."

"This study is unique in that - by examining the combined insults of excessive alcohol and inhaled particles together - the study comes closer to the human experience in that we are often exposed to more than one adverse life style or environmental risk factor," added Leikauf. "Results suggest these two events can initiate damage to lung tissue and decrease the mice's capacity to breathe. While the effects are small and the study was only conducted over a short period of time, these risk factors can persist in humans over a lifetime. As with any animal study, caution needs to be paid to species' differences in susceptibility, but this study supports additional evaluation of the combined effects of such risk factors in a large human population."

"The relationships between alcoholism and PM exposure are particularly concerning given an estimated 18 million people in the US with alcohol use disorders and the high percentage of individuals who heavily consume alcohol and smoke cigarettes, which is a source of combustion-derived PM," added Cormier. "Therefore, our model of chronic alcohol intake and exposure to PM mimics a very real-world scenario."

Source-Eurekalert

View the original article here

DM

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Researchers Restore Immune Function in Spinal Injured Mice

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

New Technique That can Improve Language Function in Stroke Patients Published

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Cognitive Function of HRT for Women Ages 50 to 55 Years Studied

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Exposure to particulate matter and chronic alcohol intake can decrease lung function