The President urged Congress to continue funding scientific research, saying [1]:

Innovation also demands basic research. Today, the discoveries taking place in our federally financed labs and universities could lead to new treatments that kill cancer cells but leave healthy ones untouched. New lightweight vests for cops and soldiers that can stop any bullet. Don’t gut these investments in our budget. Don’t let other countries win the race for the future. Support the same kind of research and innovation that led to the computer chip and the Internet; to new American jobs and new American industries.

Indeed, tomorrows advances in healthcare and medicine depend on today’s investments in biomedical research.

Joseph C. LaManna, PhD, President of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), supported the President’s focus on innovation [2]:

We enthusiastically support the President’s emphasis on innovation and join him in urging Congress to maintain the federal commitment to research. It is abundantly clear that research-based innovation has dramatically improved the quality of life for Americans and people around the world. Sustainable budgets allow scientists to pursue new ideas and address scientific challenges with increased sophistication. Our best hope for future progress remains a strong commitment to science and technology.

The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) is the nation’s largest coalition of biomedical researchers, composed of 26 societies with more than 100,000 members. FASEB is recognized as the policy voice of biological and biomedical researchers. Celebrating 100 Years of Advancing the Life Sciences in 2012, FASEB is rededicating its efforts to advance health and well-being by promoting progress and education in biological and biomedical sciences through service to our member societies and collaborative advocacy.

Three agencies are slated to receive a boost in funding. The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science budget would increase by 2.4% from $4.9 billion to $5 billion. The National Science Foundation (NSF) budget would receive a nearly 5% boost to $7.37 billion, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology would increase a whopping 13% to $860 million.

Flat budget for NIH

Unfortunately, the president’s FY 2013 budget proposal released last week would hold the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget at the current level of $30.86 billion [3], making 2013 the 10th year in a row that the NIH budget has not kept pace with biomedical research inflation. Indeed, accounting for inflation, the NIH is being funded at a level 20% below the budget set a decade ago.

In 2008, a study written by a consortium of seven institutions warned that flat funding of biomedical research is a threat to America’s health. By continuing to underfund biomedical research, we as a nation are losing a generation of promising researchers to other careers and other countries.

Investment in biomedical research has never been more important

As America struggles to recover from the recession, it’s important for our political leaders to remember that investment in biomedical research can play a key role in economic recovery and job growth.

Increased funding for biomedical research will cause grant agencies to lower award score thresholds and money will rapidly begin flowing to research programs. As the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funds research at hospitals, medical centers and universities in every state, expanded research programs will create thousands of high-quality jobs and increase purchasing from largely American supply companies throughout the country.

Moreover, increased funding for biomedical research is an excellent investment in local economies. A recent study by Research!America found that health research accounted for only 5.5% of total healthcare spending [4]. Despite that small amount, every dollar invested in federal research spending has been calculated to generate a 220% return in total economic activity in communities that hosted funded projects [5].

And not to be forgotten, increased investment in biomedical research will improve the health for patients in the United States and around the world. On National Biomedical Research Day last year, we cited several “returns” on investment in biomedical research: increased life expectancy through the development of antibiotics, vaccines, treatments and medical devices; reduced disability in people over the age of 65; reduced rates of new diagnoses and deaths from all cancers combined; and elimination of many epidemic diseases. It is only from the continued investment in biomedical research that more effective cures and therapies will emerge.

References

1. Remarks by the President in State of the Union Address. The White House. 2012 Jan 24.
2. President Obama Calls for Sustained Investment in Research. Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) press release. 2012 Jan 26.
3. NIH Overview of FY 2012 President’s Budget. NIH Office of Budget. Accessed 2012 Feb 14.
4. 2010 U.S. Investment in Health Research. Research!America. Accessed 2012 Feb 18.
5. In Your Own Backyard: How NIH Funding Helps Your State’s Economy. Families USA. 2008 June.

Therapeutic ultrasound, which can be used to increase the temperature of a specific area of issue, appears to be effective as a contraceptive technique for men, explains the Male Contraceptive Information Project:

Ultrasound is now working in rats, dogs, AND monkeys! University of California researchers are finding that it appears to take longer in monkeys than in rats — they’ve done 3 treatments (Monday-Wednesday-Friday) of 30 minutes each—and gotten 6 weeks of effect. An Italian team (Leoci et al.) has gotten permanent sterilization in dogs with 2 treatments 2 days apart. The University of North Carolina results in rats (Tsuruta et al.) are being published on January 29, 2012.

For the same reason that men with difficulty conceiving are advised to avoid Jacuzzis and binding undergarments, the heat from a therapeutic ultrasounding of the testes painlessly increases their temperature by just enough to impact sperm production. While ultrasound as an alterative to vasectomy isn’t currently an option (as long-term effects and efficacy aren’t known), researchers feel that the technology has promise as a male contraceptive.

Study: Therapeutic ultrasound as a potential male contraceptive: power, frequency and temperature required to deplete rat testes of meiotic cells and epididymides of sperm determined using a commercially available system

Source: Male Contraceptive Information Project

Image credit: Pouring milk splash via Shutterstock

In reality, the prevalence of lactose intolerance in the U.S. is difficult to assess accurately. Still, it is likely much lower than suggested based upon self-report, according to the National Institutes of Health [1]. In part, this is because individuals have a tendency to misinterpret any gastrointestinal upset following a dairy-containing meal as evidence of lactose intolerance [2]. Most people, however — even those with lower-than-normal lactase levels — do not report gastrointestinal upset after being exposed to lactose in a blind challenge, explains the NIH.

Lactose intolerance results from insufficient production of the enzyme lactase (LCT), which the small intestine uses to help break down lactose, or milk sugar. Lactose is a disaccharide, meaning it’s made up of two smaller sugar units called monosaccharides. The small intestine can absorb monosaccharides, but disaccharides (and larger combinations of monosaccharides, called polysaccharides) have to be digested into their monosaccharide building blocks before they can be absorbed. The digestive tract uses a wide variety of enzymes to accomplish this task. Digestive enzymes are very specific in their function; the enzyme responsible for breaking down lactose, for instance, can’t digest sucrose (table sugar). Sucrase, the enzyme that breaks down sucrose, is similarly incapable of digesting lactose. As such, a person must produce lactase in order to digest lactose.

In those individuals with true lactose intolerance, the absence of appropriate quantities of lactase means that lactose passes undigested into the large intestine. There, native flora (naturally-occurring bacterial species) of the gut break down the lactose to provide for their own energy needs. This results in the accumulation of a large amount of gas, which is a waste product of bacterial lactose digestion. The gas leads to the sensations of bloating and cramping, and can result in flatulence. Undigested lactose in the large intestine can also cause diarrhea.

Most people make lactase in appropriate amounts early in life; without lactase, babies would be incapable of digesting breast milk (which is actually higher in lactose than cow’s milk). Some ethnic groups produce less lactase after the age of weaning, leading to lactose intolerance that begins in childhood. This lactose intolerance persists throughout adulthood, and is most common in individuals of African, Hispanic (non-European), Native American, and Asian descent. Europeans are much less likely to develop lactose intolerance post-babyhood. Further, there’s some evidence to suggest that lactose intolerance increases with advancing age [3], though there isn’t a significant body of data supporting this.

Despite the trend among alternative health practitioners to diagnose patients with lactose intolerance (and to blame that lactose intolerance for a variety of other physical symptoms) [4], lactose intolerance isn’t the sort of malady that underlies other health problems. Those with lactose intolerance have one specific set of symptoms (bloating, cramping, diarrhea, and flatulence after consuming dairy), and the symptoms can be avoided entirely by taking lactase supplements (available over-the-counter) along with dairy-containing food.

The NIH points out that increased education regarding the nature of lactose intolerance and the relatively narrow scope of its symptoms — as well as the fact that it’s a benign and easily alleviated digestive malfunction — could help to prevent needless avoidance of dairy by those who incorrectly assume they are lactose intolerant. While dairy isn’t essential to the human diet, it’s nevertheless an excellent source of calcium, which can otherwise be difficult to incorporate into the diet apart from supplementation. Further, most dairy in the U.S. is fortified with vitamin D, in which many Americans are deficient, and which is required for the uptake of calcium from the gut.

References

1. NIH Lactose Intolerance Conference — Panel Statement, February 22–24, 2010. National Institutes of Health (NIH) Consensus Development Program. Accessed 2012 Feb 13.
2. Saltzman et al. A randomized trial of Lactobacillus acidophilus BG2FO4 to treat lactose intolerance. Am J Clin Nutr. 1999 Jan;69(1):140-6.
   View abstract
3. Stefano et al. Lactose malabsorption and intolerance in the elderly. Scand J Gastroenterol. 2001 Dec;36(12):1274-8.
   View abstract
4. Pupillo, J. Got a little milk?: AAP report recommends some dairy products for lactose intolerant patients. AAP News 2006; 27:12.

He described the process of discovery this way:

The team actually started out by building a retina and they came to me and said: ‘Look, it responds to these optical illusions the same way a human does.’ They put another layer of cells behind that [and] it started to find features. They put another layer, it started to find corners or oriented lines or something. Another layer, it started to find patterns.

Jacobs is talking about Brain Corporation, a small research company that is developing novel algorithms based on the functionality of the nervous system, with applications in visual perception, motor control, and autonomous navigation. The intention is to equip consumer devices, such as mobile phones or household robots, with artificial nervous systems. Qualcomm funds Brain Corporation research and hosts the company on its campus in San Diego, California.

Scientists at Brain Corporation are re-creating in the computer the shapes of every one of the billions of nerve cells that make up our brains, the component parts of intricate neural circuits that allow us to move, see and hear, to feel and to think. With this new tool, researchers are beginning to decipher the secrets of the brain’s architecture, which may one day enable us to build smart technologies that surpass the capabilities of anything we have today.

Episode 1: Blueprint for the Brain from Science Bytes on Vimeo.

This video is based on a paper published by neuroscientist Hermann Cuntz, and colleagues in the online journal PLoS Computational Biology.

Study: One Rule to Grow Them All: A General Theory of Neuronal Branching and Its Practical Application

Source: KPBS.org

Image credit: Neurons network in human brain via Shutterstock

A hallmark of Alzheimer’s Disease is the accumulation of ‘neurofibrillary tangles,’ aggregated clumps of a mutated form of microtubule associated protein tau (MAPT).

In the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s Disease, these tangles accumulate primarily in the entorhinal cortex (EC), a region of the brain involved in memory formation and consolidation. As the disease progresses, these tau aggregates can be seen in the hippocampus and other areas of the brain. But it is not clear whether the pathology that starts in the entorhinal cortex travels to these other brain regions, or if it arises there independently.

To date, mouse models of Alzheimer’s have been made that have high levels of tau aggregates all over the brain. These have provided valuable insights into the disease, but could not be used to analyze its molecular progression over time or space. Scientists in Karen Duff’s lab at the Taub Institute for Alzheimer’s Disease Research, Columbia University, New York, just made new mice that express the pathological version of human tau protein only in the entorhinal cortex. They then compared the distribution of tau aggregates in young mice and old mice.

As the mice aged, the scientists found that the tau aggregates spread from the entorhinal cortex to regions that are connected to it through one or more synapses, like the hippocampus and neocortex. The hippocampus is important in cementing short term memories into long term memories and is also involved in spatial navigation, and the neocortex plays a role in higher level cognitive functions like conscious thought and language. Although the mechanism by which these tau aggregates affect neurodegeneration is not quite known, their accumulation has definitely been correlated with more severe pathology and ultimately neuronal cell death.

This new mouse model shows that Alzheimer’s Disease progresses through what the authors call an “anatomical cascade,” rather than developing multiple times in independent events spread throughout the brain. The earliest stages of the disease, when the tau tangles are restricted to the entorhinal cortex and connected areas, are not associated with any mental decline. The authors thus hope that the location of these ‘neurofibrillary tangles’ can now be used as a temporal biomarker, and that strategies might soon be developed to halt their spread.

References

1. Liu et al. Trans-Synaptic Spread of Tau Pathology In Vivo. PLoS One. 2012;7(2):e31302. Epub 2012 Feb 1.
   View abstract

Image credit: Women eating salad via Shutterstock

Scientists who study eating behavior have known for quite some time that the circumstances under which an individual eats affect how much is consumed. For instance, solitary diners tend to eat more than those who eat with companions [2]. How much one’s dinner companion eats, however, also influences eating behavior. Several studies have shown that humans are likely to eat more when dining companions consume more food, and that similarly, humans eat less when dining with companions who eat very little [3]. Several questions remain with regard to the influence of companions on eating behavior, including why the influence exists, and whether matching the intake of one’s companions is intentional or unconscious.

In the current study, researchers examined whether behavioral mimicry can account for these modeling effects of eating. They evaluated 70 young female pairs, coding for the total number of bites and the exact time at which each person took a bite. The scientists found that both women mimicked each other’s eating behavior; they were more likely to take a bite of their meal in within 5 seconds of their eating companion rather than eating at their own pace. This behavioral mimicry was found to be more prominent at the beginning (i.e. within the first ten minutes) rather than at the end of the meal (i.e. the last ten minutes).

According to the researchers, there are several possible explanations for these observations. Humans have a complex “mirroring network” that causes behavior-matching [4,5]. It’s possible that the pairs of women in the experiment were unconsciously matching one another bite-for-bite in order to create rapport. This possibility is supported somewhat by the observation that the mimicry was strongest in the first ten minutes of dining, a time during which the pairs would be developing a social rapport. The researchers also point out, however, that mimicking the eating behavior of a companion might be a mechanism by which the individual adjusts their caloric intake so as to avoid overeating; that is to say, the dining companion becomes a model for “appropriate eating.” While this is possible, it would require that the women consciously adjusted their eating patterns rather than responding unconsciously, which the researchers did not test. It’s highly unlikely that there would be an unconscious guard against overindulgence, given that until recently in human history, the challenge humans faced was in getting enough food (as opposed to controlling intake).

Regardless of the mechanism, however, the study suggests that eating with a companion who takes very few total bites of food may be a strategy for helping to control one’s own intake at a particular meal.

References

1. Hermans et al. Mimicry of Food Intake: The Dynamic Interplay between Eating Companions. PLoS One. 2012;7(2):e31027. Epub 2012 Feb 1.
   View abstract
2. de Castro and Brewer. The amount eaten in meals by humans is a power function of the number of people present. Physiol Behav. 1992 Jan;51(1):121-5.
   View abstract
3. Hermans et al. Modeling of palatable food intake. The influence of quality of social interaction. Appetite. 2009 Jun;52(3):801-4. Epub 2009 Mar 26.
   View abstract
4. Chartrand et al. The chameleon effect: the perception-behavior link and social interaction. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1999 Jun;76(6):893-910.
   View abstract
5. Lakin et al. Using nonconscious behavioral mimicry to create affiliation and rapport. Psychol Sci. 2003 Jul;14(4):334-9.
   View abstract

Researchers at Oregon State University and the University of California at San Diego have designed a miniature vital statistics monitor that is not only small — it’s about two inches wide — and inexpensive to make, but is also capable of monitoring vitals from inside a pocket.

From Oregon State University’s press release:

“When this technology becomes more miniaturized and so low-cost that it could almost be disposable, it will see more widespread adoption,” said Patrick Chiang, an assistant professor of computer engineering at Oregon State University. “It’s already been used in one clinical research study on the effects of micronutrients on aging, and monitoring of this type should have an important future role in medicine.”

Vital statistics monitors like this one may make large-scale medical studies easier on participants and less expensive for labs to run, speeding the pace of health discovery and innovation.

Source: Oregon State University

These findings may help settle the debate regarding resveratrol’s biochemistry and pave the way for resveratrol-based medicines. The chemical has received significant interest from pharmaceutical companies for its potential to combat diabetes, inflammation, and cancer. The study appears in the February 3rd issue of the journal Cell [1].

Lead study author Jay H. Chung, M.D., Ph.D., chief of the Laboratory of Obesity and Aging Research at the NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, said:

Resveratrol has potential as a therapy for diverse diseases such as type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and heart disease. However, before researchers can transform resveratrol into a safe and effective medicine, they need to know exactly what it targets in cells.

Several previous studies suggested that resveratrol’s primary target is sirtuin 1 (SIRT1). Chung and colleagues suspected otherwise when they found that resveratrol activity required another protein called AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK). This would not be the case if resveratrol directly interacted with sirtuin 1.

In this study, the researchers methodically traced out the metabolic activity in cells treated with resveratrol and identified phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) in the skeletal muscle as the principal target for the health benefits of resveratrol. By inhibiting PDE4, resveratrol triggers a series of events in a cell, one of which indirectly activates sirtuin 1 (SIRT1).

To confirm that resveratrol attaches to and inhibits PDE proteins, Chung’s group gave mice rolipram, a drug known to inhibit PDE4. Rolipram reproduced all of the biochemical effects and health benefits of resveratrol, such as preventing diet-induced obesity, improving glucose tolerance, and increasing physical endurance.

Chung noted that because resveratrol in its natural form interacts with many proteins, not just PDEs, it may cause not-yet-known toxicities as a medicine, particularly with long-term use. He added that the levels of resveratrol found in wine or foods are likely not high enough to produce significant health benefits or problems. Convincing clinical studies in humans have used about 1 gram (equal in weight to just under 2 teaspoons of sugar) of resveratrol per day, roughly equal to the amount found in 667 bottles of red wine.

The study results also suggest that inhibitors of PDE4 may offer the benefits of resveratrol without the potential toxicities arising from resveratrol’s interactions with other proteins. One PDE4 inhibitor called roflumilast has already been approved by the FDA for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Robert Balaban, Ph.D., director of the NHLBI Division of Intramural Research, said:

This result underscores the need for careful, well-controlled studies to illuminate how these natural products operate. As Dr. Chung’s work suggests, the effects of resveratrol seem to be more complicated than originally thought. However, this new insight into the phosphodiesterases might prove an interesting avenue to pursue.

Source: NIH News

References

1. Park et al. Resveratrol Ameliorates Aging-Related Metabolic Phenotypes by Inhibiting cAMP Phosphodiesterases. Cell. 2012 Feb 3;148(3):421-433.
   View abstract

The trial was led by Dr. Steven Schwartz, opthalmologist and chief of the retina division at the Institute. Although the results are extremely promising, only two patients were treated. The trial will have to be preformed successfully many more times before the procedure can be accepted as an option for care.

Nevertheless, the preliminary findings represent a milestone in the therapeutic use of stem cells and may pave the way for a new therapy to treat eye diseases. The research was recently published online in the journal The Lancet.

Study: Embryonic stem cell trials for macular degeneration: a preliminary report

Source: UCLA Newsroom

Image credit: Two kinds of rice in spoons via Shutterstock

Carbohydrates can be divided into two major classes: simple carbohydrates and complex carbohydrates.

The simple carbohydrates are colloquially called sugars, and they taste sweet on the tongue. Sugars consist of one or two small carbohydrate units. The individual units are called monosaccharides, a word that means “single sugar,” and of the monosaccharides, glucose is the most ubiquitous. Other common monosaccharides include fructose (“fruit sugar”) and galactose, which is a component of milk sugar. Two monosaccharides chemically bonded together form a disaccharide (“two sugars”), which is also a simple carbohydrate. Common disaccharides include sucrose (“table sugar”), which is made up of glucose and fructose. Lactose (“milk sugar”) is also a disaccharide. The digestive tract can absorb monosaccharides into the bloodstream; disaccharides must be digested into their monosaccharide components before absorption.

Complex carbohydrates, or starches, don’t taste sweet on the tongue. However, starch is made up of long chains of glucose molecules chemically bonded together, and the digestive tract breaks starch into its glucose monosaccharides, which are then absorbed into the bloodstream. As such, while a bite of white rice — which is nearly entirely made of starch — doesn’t taste the same as a spoonful of glucose sugar, the gut quickly breaks the starch from the white rice into glucose, and from that point on, the body can’t tell the difference.

Because it’s such an important fuel to the body cells, glucose is a healthy component of diet. However, the body cells can convert excess glucose into storage fat, so like all calorie-containing components of nutrition, it’s important to consume glucose-containing foods in moderation. Also, the human body responds in a more normal and healthy manner to glucose when it enters the bloodstream slowly; glucose-containing foods that are absorbed very quickly can lead to unhealthy fluctuations in blood sugar. The rate at which the glucose from a food enters the bloodstream is referred to as the food’s glycemic index.

Limited consumption of carbohydrates is the basis for many diet plans. For example, the Atkins diet is based on the theory that overweight people eat too many carbohydrates. The diet plan involves limited consumption of carbohydrates to switch the body’s metabolism from metabolizing glucose as energy over to converting stored body fat to energy (called ketosis). The South Beach Diet is another diet plan that is based on the glycemic index. The diet plan involves replacing “bad carbs” (i.e. carbohydrates with a high glycemic index) with “good carbs” (i.e. carbohydrates with a low glycemic index) and “bad fats” (i.e. trans-fats and saturated fats) with “good fats” (i.e. unsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acid).

Generally speaking, carbohydrate-containing foods with fiber in them have lower glycemic indices than foods without fiber, meaning that the glucose enters the bloodstream more slowly. This is because fiber slows digestion and absorption of food. While the fiber content of food isn’t the sole determinant of whether that food is healthy, fiber-containing carbohydrate generally leads to a more normal and healthy physiological response than carbohydrate devoid of fiber. For this reason, white rice is nearly identical to a spoonful of sugar, chemically speaking, and is quite different from a spoonful of fiber-rich brown rice.