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Posts

May 16, 2013

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12:18 PM | Building an artificial tumour in the lab
In 2000, a team of archaeologists in the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes uncovered the mummified remains of a young woman called Tabaketenmut. The big toe of her right foot was missing. In its place was a wood and leather … Continue reading →
Cancer Research UK - Science Update
Medicine | Biology

May 07, 2013

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8:34 PM | Inflammatory Language: The Rain in Spain...
Sanidad publicaIllustration by Monica Lalanda 2012...austerity, that is...falls on many of us (in the UK, Ireland, Greece and many other European Union countries including the Baltic States, and also the US). Austerity has finally pushed Spanish doctors into working together (a historically rare occurrence) to fight the break-up of their national health system. The UK is at risk as well. In February, The Febrile Muse asked readers to submit to Inflammatory Language either a 300-500 word […]
The Febrile Muse
Microbiology | Art

April 30, 2013

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12:00 PM | Long live red wine. What about those who drink it? Jury’s still out.
The cultured would have us believe that with warming temperatures we should switch from white wine to red. Balderdash, I say. Because red wine is where the good stuff is. And by good stuff, I mean reservatrol.
You've Got Some Science On You
General Science

April 23, 2013

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8:28 PM | Glimpse of an elusive diagnostic biomarker for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
The clinical entity of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome1 (CFS) has so long eluded explanation. Patients of CFS complain of extreme and prolonged fatigue that is disproportionate to their physical and mental activity, and is not alleviated by any amount of rest. The condition may well last for more than 6 months at a time, and may be accompanied by a variety of other symptoms, such as pain in the muscles and/or joints without swelling, memory impairment, significant lapse of concentration, headaches,... […]
In Sciento Veritas
General Science
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8:28 PM | Glimpse of an elusive diagnostic biomarker for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
The clinical entity of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome1 (CFS) has so long eluded explanation. Patients of CFS complain of extreme and prolonged fatigue that is disproportionate to their physical and mental activity, and is not alleviated by any amount of rest. The condition may well last for more than 6 months at a time, and may be accompanied by a variety of other symptoms, such as pain in the muscles and/or joints without swelling, memory impairment, significant lapse of concentration, headaches,... […]
In Sciento Veritas
General Science

April 22, 2013

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4:47 PM | Don’t take the Cinnamon Challenge
What seems like a harmless teenage prank can permanently damage your lungs. [...]The post Don’t take the Cinnamon Challenge appeared first on DoubleXScience.
Double X Science
General Science

April 18, 2013

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7:45 PM | How Trauma Can Affect Your Body & Mind
As I write this, our thoughts are with those in Boston who were affected by the bombings at the 2013 Boston Marathon. In my 20 years living in the Boston area, I cheered on the runners on many occasions and now, even from far way, these events feel close to home. Experiencing trauma can have [...]
World of Psychology
Psychology

April 08, 2013

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7:00 PM | Gut Reactions
The body of evidence tying gut bacteria to obesity is growing fatter. A couple of weeks ago, researchers …
Only Human
Medicine | Neuroscience

April 02, 2013

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7:02 PM | White blood cell enzyme contributes to inflammation and obesity
Imbalance between an enzyme called neutrophil elastase and its inhibitor causes inflammation, obesity, insulin resistance, and fatty liver in mice and humans—providing a new therapeutic target for these health conditions

Mansuy-Aubert, V., Zhou, Q., Xie, X., Gong, Z., Huang, J., Khan, A., Aubert, G., Candelaria, K., Thomas, S., Shin, D. & Booth, S. (2013). Imbalance between Neutrophil Elastase and its Inhibitor α1-Antitrypsin in Obesity Alters Insulin Sensitivity, Inflammation, and Energy Expenditure, Cell Metabolism, 17 (4) 534-548. DOI:

Beaker
Biology | Medicine
Citation
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7:02 PM | White blood cell enzyme contributes to inflammation and obesity
Imbalance between an enzyme called neutrophil elastase and its inhibitor causes inflammation, obesity, insulin resistance, and fatty liver in mice and humans—providing a new therapeutic target for these health conditions

Mansuy-Aubert, V., Zhou, Q., Xie, X., Gong, Z., Huang, J., Khan, A., Aubert, G., Candelaria, K., Thomas, S., Shin, D. & Booth, S. (2013). Imbalance between Neutrophil Elastase and its Inhibitor α1-Antitrypsin in Obesity Alters Insulin Sensitivity, Inflammation, and Energy Expenditure, Cell Metabolism, 17 (4) 534-548. DOI:

Beaker
Biology | Medicine
Citation
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8:07 AM | Gastrointestinal comorbidity for World Autism Awareness Day
Today (Tuesday 2 April 2013) is World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD).I don't exactly know how one is supposed to communicate this message ('Happy world autism awareness day' just doesn't roll off the tongue). So I guess all I will say is to reiterate the subtext of this blog on what the spectrum - the very wide spectrum - means: "To some it means a need for life-long support. To others it is part of the varied tapestry of humanity. To all it means a need to foster a welcoming society […]

Horvath K, Papadimitriou JC, Rabsztyn A, Drachenberg C & Tildon JT (1999). Gastrointestinal abnormalities in children with autistic disorder., The Journal of pediatrics, 135 (5) 559-63. PMID:

Questioning Answers
Psychiatry | Psychology
Citation

March 28, 2013

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9:46 AM | Inflammation, oxidative stress and autism: Saudi style
Saudi Arabia and autism research appearing on this blog? Regular readers know that this can mean only one thing: Laila Al-Ayadhi and special guests - in this case Afaf El-Ansary - and their fairly recent paper* (open-access) on plasma lipid mediators in autism.Kingdom Tower @ Wikipedia  You might already know that I'm a bit of a fan of the Saudi autism research group which also on occasion includes Gehan Mostafa. Their papers have an exquisite range of topics around autism, the most recent […]

El-Ansary A & Al-Ayadhi L (2012). Lipid mediators in plasma of autism spectrum disorders., Lipids in health and disease, 11 (1) 160. PMID:

Questioning Answers
Psychiatry | Psychology
Citation

March 22, 2013

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1:30 PM | Winner of Inflammatory Language Contest!
from cofisher.blogspot.comThe Febrile Muse has chosen three illustrations by Dr. Monica Lalanda, an Emergency Room physician in Spain, as the winning entry of  the Inflammatory Language contest. Dr. Lalanda will receive The Best Science Writing Online 2012 as her prize. Congratulations!In all honesty, I feel that by meeting Dr. Lalanda, I have won. She has great incite into the plight of healthcare on a global scale, namely that of Spain. In this day […]
The Febrile Muse
Microbiology | Art

March 15, 2013

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8:40 PM | Immunology in the Gut Mucosa
Nice video!
Blastocystis Parasite Blog
Biology | Microbiology
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4:05 AM | New Medical Specialty Proposed for Combined Depression and Heart Disease
Because there is a strong link between depression and heart disease, a new medical subspecialty has been proposed specifically to study and treat combined depression/heart disease patients.
Highlight HEALTH
Health | Medicine

March 04, 2013

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9:07 PM | When You Eat May Affect Weight Gain As Much As What You Eat
Research in both mice and humans demonstrates that eating whenever one pleases or later in the day causes significantly more weight gain than consuming the same diet in a time restricted manner.
Highlight HEALTH
Health | Medicine

February 24, 2013

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11:29 PM | Of Mice and Men Again: New Genomic Study Helps Explain why Mouse Models of Acute Inflammation do not Work in Men
A recent paper published in PNAS [1] caused quite a stir both inside and outside the scientific community. The study challenges the validity of using mouse models to test what works as a treatment in humans. At least this is what many online news sources seem to conclude: “drug testing may be a waste of [...]

Seok, J., Warren, H., Cuenca, A., Mindrinos, M., Baker, H., Xu, W., Richards, D., McDonald-Smith, G., Gao, H., Hennessy, L. & Finnerty, C. (2013). Genomic responses in mouse models poorly mimic human inflammatory diseases, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI:

Raven, K. (2012). Rodent models of sepsis found shockingly lacking, Nature Medicine, 18 (7) 998-998. DOI:

Nemzek JA, Hugunin KM & Opp MR (2008). Modeling sepsis in the laboratory: merging sound science with animal well-being., Comparative medicine, 58 (2) 120-8. PMID:

Wiersinga WJ (2011). Current insights in sepsis: from pathogenesis to new treatment targets., Current opinion in critical care, 17 (5) 480-6. PMID:

Khamsi R (2012). Execution of sepsis trials needs an overhaul, experts say., Nature medicine, 18 (7) 998-9. PMID:

Hotchkiss RS, Coopersmith CM, McDunn JE & Ferguson TA (2009). The sepsis seesaw: tilting toward immunosuppression., Nature medicine, 15 (5) 496-7. PMID:

van der Worp, H., Howells, D., Sena, E., Porritt, M., Rewell, S., O'Collins, V. & Macleod, M. (2010). Can Animal Models of Disease Reliably Inform Human Studies?, PLoS Medicine, 7 (3) DOI:

ter Riet, G., Korevaar, D., Leenaars, M., Sterk, P., Van Noorden, C., Bouter, L., Lutter, R., Elferink, R. & Hooft, L. (2012). Publication Bias in Laboratory Animal Research: A Survey on Magnitude, Drivers, Consequences and Potential Solutions, PLoS ONE, 7 (9) DOI:

Laika's MedLibLog
Library Science | Medicine
Citation

February 21, 2013

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7:21 PM | Myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and HERVs
Viruses. Apparently there are quite a lot of them on this old rock we call home and I've started to become quite interested in some of them, or at least how we as a species have, and continue to interact with them down the ages.I must start by thanking Natasa for bringing me into contact with the paper by Kenny De Meirleir and colleagues* (open-access) looking at human endogenous retrovirus (HERV) expression in a small cohort of patients diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME). I'm […]

KENNY L. DE MEIRLEIR, SVETLANA F. KHAIBOULLINA, MARC FRÉMONT, JAN HULSTAERT, ALBERT A. RIZVANOV, ANDRÁS PALOTÁS & VINCENT C. LOMBARDI (2013). Plasmacytoid dendritic cells in the duodenum of individuals diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis are uniquely immunoreactive to antibodies to human endogenous retroviral proteins, In Vivo, 27 (2) 177-187. Other: Link

Questioning Answers
Psychiatry | Psychology
Citation

February 20, 2013

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5:50 PM | Tomatoes engineered with good cholesterol peptide mimic benefit mice
Special tomatoes to stave off heart attacks and strokes? In a recent paper in the Journal of Lipid Research, a group of researchers describe a genetically engineered tomato that contains a protein that helps stave off atherosclerosis, the buildup of plaque in arteries that leads to heart attacks and strokes. ApoA-I mimetic therapy is currently [...]
Wild Types
Biology | Chemistry
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5:50 PM | Tomatoes engineered with mimic of good-cholesterol peptide benefit mice
Special tomatoes to stave off heart attacks and strokes? In a recent paper in the Journal of Lipid Research, a group of researchers describe a genetically engineered tomato that contains a protein that helps stave off atherosclerosis, the buildup of plaque in arteries that leads to heart attacks and strokes. ApoA-I mimetic therapy is currently [...]
Wild Types
Biology | Chemistry

February 11, 2013

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1:58 PM | I want to break free – the microenvironment and metastasis
No man is an island, and the same can be said of tumour cells. Previous posts in our ‘microenvironment’ series have discussed how the cells and structures around a tumour – known collectively as its microenvironment – are crucial to … Continue reading →

Joyce J.A. & Pollard J.W. (2008). Microenvironmental regulation of metastasis, Nature Reviews Cancer, 9 (4) 239-252. DOI:

Cancer Research UK - Science Update
Medicine | Biology
Citation

February 10, 2013

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12:20 AM | Metallomics analysis and autism
As an avid follower of several of the -omics, I was interested to read the report by Hiroshi Yasuda and colleagues* (open-access) on the application of a new -omics to me, metallomics - think metals affecting cellular functions - and in particular, the application of metallomics to autism.This is not the first time that the work of Hiroshi Yasuda has appeared on this blog, as per my previous entry on 'the link with zinc' highlighting some interesting findings of zinc deficiency in quite a […]

Yasuda H, Kobayashi M, Yasuda Y & Tsutsui T (2013). Estimation of autistic children by metallomics analysis., Scientific reports, 3 1199. PMID:

Questioning Answers
Psychiatry | Psychology
Citation

February 06, 2013

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4:49 PM | Interferon-induced Depression: Genetics
Photo of a pair of green wing tealInterferon remains a key first line treatment for treatment of hepatitis C.  However, interferon has significant neuropsychiatric effects including risk for depression and even suicide in rare individuals.Some individuals with hepatitis C are unable to complete a course of interferon because of induced depression.  This makes understanding this phenomenon important to develop prevention and treatment strategies.Understanding how interferon induces […]

Schlaak JF, Trippler M, Hoyo-Becerra C, Erim Y, Kis B, Wang B, Scherbaum N & Gerken G (2012). Selective hyper-responsiveness of the interferon system in major depressive disorders and depression induced by interferon therapy., PloS one, 7 (6) PMID:

Brain Posts
Medicine | Neuroscience
Citation

February 01, 2013

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1:58 PM | Feeling the heat – the link between inflammation and cancer
Regular readers will know that the infrastructure supporting a tumour – its ‘microenvironment’ – is a hot topic in cancer research at the moment. In our previous post in this series, we looked at how otherwise healthy cells collude to … Continue reading →
Cancer Research UK - Science Update
Medicine | Biology

January 29, 2013

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3:48 PM | Lipopolysaccharide and autism research
A word that I'm just coming to grips with at the moment forms the subject of this post: lipopolysaccharide, and how LPS is starting to become more and more widely used in research into autism and other developmental / psychiatric conditions. In particular, with reference to some possible involvement from maternal immune activation and risk of various behaviourally-defined conditions in offspring.What is LPS?Happy Days @ Wikipedia  The paper by Raetz & Whitfield* (open-access) provides […]
Questioning Answers
Psychiatry | Psychology

January 23, 2013

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10:36 AM | Maternal C-reactive protein and autism
As per my previous blog entry on the possibility of some involvement of a skin-brain axis to cases of autism (no, seriously), one of the key themes seemingly increasing in importance in autism research is the possibility of some connection with inflammation and the inflammatory processes.Whilst sounding completely at odds with how autism is commonly described - a developmental disorder variably manifesting specific behavioural and cognitive features - there is a surprisingly long and growing […]

Brown, A., Sourander, A., Hinkka-Yli-Salomäki, S., McKeague, I., Sundvall, J. & Surcel, H. (2013). Elevated maternal C-reactive protein and autism in a national birth cohort, Molecular Psychiatry, DOI:

Questioning Answers
Psychiatry | Psychology
Citation

January 22, 2013

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2:45 PM | Contest for Inflammatory Language!
Inflammatory Language is a series of primers on inflammation. Care to contribute? The first place winner will receive one copy of The Best Science Writing Online 2012 published by Scientific American/FSG! This contest is a great opportunity for students, but anyone can contribute.Carefully select 300-500 words (or less) and/or an illustration that conveys inflammation. It can be humorous, political, or encompass pop culture or current events, but must be professional. It also needs to […]
The Febrile Muse
Microbiology | Art

January 21, 2013

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8:07 PM | The skin-brain axis and autism?
I'm sure that many people with an eye on the autism research scene will have come across the term 'gut-brain axis' at some point in their reading. Denoting the suggestion of a possible relationship between what goes on in our deepest, darkest recesses and brain function (and onwards observed behaviour), the gut-brain axis has seemingly found a home particularly when looking at autism spectrum disorders.Be it when it comes to describing the potential hows and whys of things like a gluten- and […]

Yaghmaie P, Koudelka CW & Simpson EL (2012). Mental health comorbidity in patients with atopic dermatitis., The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology, PMID:

Questioning Answers
Psychiatry | Psychology
Citation

January 16, 2013

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6:14 PM | The Birth of a Monocyte: Inflammatory Language No. 4
Monocyte by Asthydays 2012Having only three days to live would be…daunting. I don’t suppose monocytes consider this, but once they enter the circulation, they have three days to either participate in inflammatory response reactions (be a reactionary) or die an oxidative death, only to be replaced by the next “frantic” monocyte. And so goes their life cycle.Long before a monocyte is “born,” its ancestor or progenitor, a pluripotent stem cell, lives within bone marrow stromal cells […]
The Febrile Muse
Microbiology | Art

January 15, 2013

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4:18 PM | Fat Gene (FTO) Linked to Alzheimer's Disease Risk
The relationship between obesity and risk for Alzheimer's disease is a controversial area of research.Several studies have found a prospective increase in risk for Alzheimer's disease in those with obesity.  However, the association has been inconsistent.  Some studies have even found a reduced risk of later Alzheimer's disease in overweight populations.One method to further investigate the possible obesity-Alzheimer's risk association is through direct genetic studies of genes known […]

Reitz C, Tosto G, Mayeux R, Luchsinger JA & the NIA-LOAD/NCRAD Family Study Group and the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (2012). Genetic Variants in the Fat and Obesity Associated (FTO) Gene and Risk of Alzheimer's Disease., PloS one, 7 (12) PMID:

Brain Posts
Medicine | Neuroscience
Citation
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