Sub-glacial Antarctic Lake May Host New Life Forms

Lake Ellsworth in West Antartica has never been seen by human eyes. Radars estimate that it is around 10km long and several tens of metres deep. And it continues to flow despite the fact that it is buried beneath 3.4km of Antarctic ice because its liquid state is maintained by geothermal heat from below the Earth’s crust.[i]

The sub-glacial lake is one of over 360 in Antartica that has been isolated from the world for more than half a million years. During that time it is likely that life has evolved in the lake to exist in total darkness, with low nutrient levels, high water pressures, sub-zero temperatures and isolation from the atmosphere. That is, there could be unique biological habitats in Lake Ellsworth - and elsewhere in Antarctica - unlike anything the world has even known before.[ii]

Bacterial mounds known as strombolites (shown above) have previously been discovered in Antarctica’s Lake Untersee.

In December 2012 a team of British scientists and engineers will use a hot water drill to bore through the 3km sheet of solid ice to reach the buried lake.  Once the hole has been bored, a titanium probe will be lowered to take samples of water and sediment, which it is anticipated will contain previously unseen forms of microbial life.  The team expects to find evidence of viruses, bacteria, archaea and eukaryotic organisms.[iii]

“Finding life in a lake that could have been isolated from the rest of the biosphere for up to half a million years will tell us so much about the potential origin of and constraints for life on Earth and may provide clues to the evolution of life on other extra-terrestrial environments,” says David Pearce, science coordinator at British Antarctic Survey, one of the organsations leading the expedition in collaboration with the United Kingdom’s National Oceanography Centre, the British Natural Environment Research Council, several British universities and a number of glaciologists, microbiologists, engineers, logistics managers divided into science, engineering and support teams.[iv][v]

The discovery of previously unknown organisms represents an incredible opportunity for biological research that could have potential applications within the biomedical and medical spheres. Yet even if no life is found in the lake, the scientific community still stands to benefit, says Pearce.

“If we find nothing (it) will be even more significant because it will define limits at which life can no longer exist on the planet.”[vi]

Such information could also help guide our search for life on other planets.

The sediment that is to be extracted from the bed of Lake Ellsworth is also likely to hold clues that will help uncover the state of our past climate. Knowing the climactic state of the planet in past ages will afford scientists a clearer picture of how the earth’s climate has changed since then to the present day, and thereby enable them to better predict the direction in which it is heading.

Timing will be crucial for the expedition, with the hole bored into the ice beginning to freeze over as soon as it is drilled, and freezing completely shut within 24 hours.

References

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[i] Mulvaney, K. (2011) “Hidden Antarctic lake may host mystery life.” http://news.discovery.com/earth/hidden-antarctic-lake-111017.html (Accessed 31 December 2011).

[ii] Ibid.

[iii]Chestney, N. (2011) “Buried Antarctic lake could hold vital climate clues.” http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/10/us-antarctica-lake-climate-idUSTRE79964Y20111010 (Accessed 1 January 2012).

[iv] (2012) Subglacial Lake Ellswoth, Antarctica, “About the Lake Ellsworth teams.” http://www.ellsworth.org.uk/teams.html (Accessed 1 January 2012).

[v] Chestney, N. (2011) “Buried Antarctic lake could hold vital climate clues.” http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/10/us-antarctica-lake-climate-idUSTRE79964Y20111010 (Accessed 1 January 2012).

[vi] Ibid.

[vii] Image from: Wiltze, A. (2011) “Antartic Lake Hides Bizarre Ecosystem.” http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/tag/microbes/ (Accessed 1 January 2012).

The major flaw in mental illness - it's really all to scale

45% of Australians will experience a mental illness at some stage in their lives.[1] About 5% of us will suffer from a major depressive episode in any given calendar year. [2] 14% will suffer from anxiety in some way shape or form.[3] Schizophrenia, Bipolar, attachment issues, substance abuse – the list goes on. And then there’s Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, which affects 1 in every 50 Australian at a clinically significant level,[4] but is in fact suspected to be harboured by most people to at least some small degree – ever felt compelled to touch that table before you walk past it, or flip the light switch off and on more than one for no particular reason, arrange things in a particular order for no real reason or set your alarm for the morning 3 or 4 times just to be sure it’s right?

There are numerous conditions and disorders that affect everyday people. However, the prevalence of those conditions and disorders may indicate a flaw in the way in which those conditions are measured. Having an attachment ‘disorder’, for example – or a mild obsessive compulsive ‘disorder’ – presupposes that a person is not in order, or is outside of the normal or acceptable baseline limits for mental ‘wellness’ (as opposed to mental ‘illness’). But if mental illness is so prevalent that almost 1 in every 2 people has or has had something, the ‘acceptable; baseline cannot reasonably apply, and instead must refer to a fictitious ideal state of mental normalcy that almost nobody experiences.

Where people sit on the scale of depression vs elation, or obsessive compulsion vs a lack thereof, may be a more socially appropriate and statistically relevant indicator of the manner in which people’s mental make-ups influence the ways they act. Telling people they’ve got a mental ‘illness’ or disorder - or that they're mad - when half of everybody else is in exactly the same boat seems, frankly, a little judgey. That’s all.

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[1] Department of Health and Ageing. “Response Ability: Mental illness facts and statistics.” http://www.responseability.org/site/index.cfm?display=134882 (Accessed 04/12/2011).

[2] Mindframe Media. “Reporting Suicide and Mental Illness.” http://www.mindframe-media.info/site/index.cfm?display=83683. (Accessed 04/12/2011).

[3] Ibid.

[4] eCentreClinic. “Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.” http://www.ecentreclinic.org/OCD_Factsheet.pdf (Accessed 04/12/2011).

[5] Picture above obtained from: Dave Munger. "Redefining 'Mental Illess.'" Seed Magazine, December 3, 2011.  http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/redefining_mental_illness/ (Accessed 04/12/2011).

Miracle Injection Cure for Alzheimer’s Disease – Fact or Fiction??

Some of you may have caught the story that aired on 60 Minutes[1] recently about the “new shot at life” that could be offered to sufferers of Alzheimer’s Disease through a new injection that may help to restore their memory and cognitive ability. Within minutes.

An injectible drug known as “Etanercept” is currently prescribed around the world as a treatment for sufferers of rheumatoid arthritis. However, the injection of Etanercept  into the spinal area of sufferers of Alzheimers Disease has been shown to literally reanimate patients who have declined to the point being almost unable to talk, such that they can fervently recount stories about their youth and relive memories that were otherwise lost to them.

If you want to see this incredible therapy at work (and believe me, you do), watch this video: http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/stories/8360210/a-new-shot-at-life

If you want to know how Etanercept may be working to literally give Alzheimer’s Disease sufferers back their memories, it seems the following may be at play:

1.      Glial cells, which envelop the gaps (synapses) between neuronal cells in the brain, release molecules known as “gliotransmitters” which help to regulate the transmission of neurotransmitter (“message carrying”) substances across those enveloped synapses.[2] [3]

2.      A substance known as Tumour Necrosis Factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) is a recognised gliotransmitter.[4]

3.      It has been suggested that “synaptic scaling” is centrally involved in the neuronal synapse dysfunction that occurs in Alzheimer's Disease.[5] Synaptic scaling involves uniform adjustments in the strength of all synapses on a cell in response to changes in the cell's electrical activity,[6] and is considered to be a necessary mechanism for the optimal function of neural networks. [7]

4.      It is presumed that synaptic scaling is sub-optimal in Alzheimer’s patients.

5.      It has been demonstrated that synaptic scaling is regulated by glial TNF-alpha.[8]

6.      TNF-alpha (also known by its brand name “Etanercept”) can cause rapid cognitive improvement in Alzheimer’s Disease sufferers within a matter of minutes when injected perispinally (around the spine).[9] This may be as a result of TNF-alpha improving synaptic scaling.

After several weekly treatments with perispinal Etanercept injections, Alzheimer’s sufferers have shown consistent, sustained and significant cognitive improvement and have appeared less frustrated.[10] [11] Just as importantly, those suffering from the effects of Alzheimer’s Disease have been able to regain some of their dignity, and talk lucidly with their family members and friends.

As clinical trials assessing the use of Etanercept for Alzheimer’s Disease continue, we wait with excitement to see what the future of this drug may hold.

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[1] See http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/stories/8360210/a-new-shot-at-life, which screened on Channel 9 (Australia) on 6 November 2011.

[2] Bains JS, Oliet SH: Glia: they make your memories stick! Trends in Neuroscience: 2007, 30(8):417-24.

[3] Tobinick, E.L. & Gross, H. “Rapid cognitive improvement in Alzheimer's disease following perispinal etanercept administration.” Journal of Neuroinflammation: 2008, 5:2.

[4] Bains JS, Oliet SH. “Glia: they make your memories stick!” Trends in Neuroscience: 2007, 30(8):417-24.

[5] Tobinick, E.L. & Gross, H. “Rapid cognitive improvement in Alzheimer's disease following perispinal etanercept administration.” Journal of Neuroinflammation: 2008, 5:2.

[6] Stellwagen D, Malenka RC. :Synaptic scaling mediated by glial TNF-alpha.” Nature 2006: 440(7087):1054-9.

[7] Tobinick, E.L. & Gross, H. “Rapid cognitive improvement in Alzheimer's disease following perispinal etanercept administration.” Journal of Neuroinflammation: 2008, 5:2.

[8] Stellwagen D, Malenka RC. :Synaptic scaling mediated by glial TNF-alpha.” Nature 2006: 440(7087):1054-9.

[9] Tobinick, E.L. & Gross, H. “Rapid cognitive improvement in Alzheimer's disease following perispinal etanercept administration.” Journal of Neuroinflammation: 2008, 5:2.

[10] Ibid.

[11] Tobinick E, Gross H, Weinberger A, Cohen H. “TNF-alpha modulation for treatment of Alzheimer's disease: a 6-month pilot study.”  Med Gen Med 2006, 8(2): 25.

* Picture obtained from Healblog.net: http://www.healblog.net/health-news/alzheimer%E2%80%99s-disease-now-unraveled-with-science-articles/  (accessed on 25 November 2011).

Amazing New Stem Cell Treatment for Burn Victims - In a Gun...

Forget petri dishes. Think “bioreactor guns”.

Prof Joerg Gerlach may have developed one of the most exciting developments to have ever taken place in regenerative medicine.

And it could mean the difference between life and death for severe burn victims by providing them with new skin - their own skin – rapidly, before infection can set in.

Prof Gerlach and his Bioreactor Group at the University of Pittsburgh's McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine have developed a 3-dimensional breeding ground for cells which improves upon the 2-dimensional petri dish.[i]  It could grow skin stem cells, along with pancreas, liver, bone marrow, neuronal, skin, and cancer stem cells for research and therapeutic purposes.[ii]

But perhaps the most immediately exciting application of Gerlach’s technology is the treatment of severe burn victims.

First, scientists isolate healthy skin cells from burn victims’ bodies and place them in an aqueous solution inside a sterile syringe.

Second, the aqueous solution inside that sterile syringe is attached to a spray gun, in much the same way that a new canister of paint is hooked up to a spray can.

Third, the aqueous solution is sprayed directly on to the site of the burn.

This whole process can take place in one day, in as little as 1.5 hours.[iii]

Finally, Gerlach’s burn patients are treated with a unique bioreactor wound dressing that acts as an artificial vascular system. Tubes emanating from either end of the dressing do the work of both arteries and veins and distribute glucose, sugar, amino acids, antibiotics and electrolytes to the affected areas. This helps ensures that wounds remain clean, prevents infection from setting in, and provides an ideal environment for the healthy skin cells that have been sprayed on to the wound to regenerate.[iv]

The end result? New, healthy skin within days. If you do nothing else today, check out the amazing video link at http://www.thatvideosite.com/video/the_skin_gun to see it in action...

[v]

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[i] McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine (2011): http://www.mirm.pitt.edu/news/article.asp?qEmpID=328, Accessed 8 November 2011.

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] Ibid; Tito, G. (2011) “Magic Gun Sprays Skin Cells to Heal Burns Almost Instantly

[iv] McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine (2011): http://www.mirm.pitt.edu/news/article.asp?qEmpID=328, Accessed 8 November 2011.

[v] Ibid.

Social Cognition in Schizophrenia and Cognitive Disorders - A New Study

It is possible that the thinking skills required for social interactions (known as "social cognition") manifest themselves differently in people with chronic schizophrenia and people with cognitive disorders as compared with healthy people.

Hui-Minn (Minn) Chan is currently researching this fascinating area as part of her candidature to gain a Doctorate of Psychology (Clinical Neuropsycholgy), and needs the help of healthy volunteers aged between 30 and 65.

And YOU can help by getting involved.

"WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME...?" (I hear you ask)

Aside from your selfless contribution to the scientific community that will no doubt earn you some bonus karma credits to be cashed in when you most need them, you will also receive a $50 Coles Gift Card for your trouble.

WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO...

BE:

• aged between 30 and 65
• relatively healthy
• able to speak English

HAVE:

• lived in Australia for a good chunk of your life
• no significant medical or psychiatric history

Otherwise, you just have to watch a few videos, answer questions based on those videos, complete some questionnaires, and undergo some pen and paper tests. This can all be completed in a single session of 4 hours, or two sessions of 2 hours each, and can take place at either Monash University in Clayton or at Royal Melbourne Hospital in Melbourne - whichever suits you best. (Sounds like a piece of cake, really.)

HOW TO GET INVOLVED...

Email Minn at huiminn.chan@monash.edu or call/text her on 0404 211 957 for an initial chat, and she will sort out the rest!

One of the key barriers to conducting clinical research - and the primary obstacles facing honours, PhD and doctoral candidates - is being able to find willing study participants generous enough to give up their time and get involved. Those of you able to give up a few hours of your time to participate in Minn's study will be helping further research into an extremely complicated area of neuropsycholiogy and a very worthwhile area of science.

I hope to see you there, and happy volunteering!

Live until you're 150 and go out drinking with your great-grandparents...

Prof Peter Smith, Dean of Medicine at the University of New South Wales, caused a stir in the mainstream media this week when he commented that, due to advances in medicine, lifestyle and public heath, a girl born in Australia today could reasonably expect to live until the age of 100.

Prof Smith also indicated that a number of drugs in the development pipeline would be able to “extend human life by some decades further”, with the aim of people living healthy,  happy and active lives until the ripe old age of 150. Without the degeneration that usually accompanies the aging process.

Live to the age of 150?

Without arthritis.

Without neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimers and Parkinsons causing you to lose your memory or the control of your limbs.

Is it possible?

Emerging stem cell therapy research holds out hope for the future, and general advances in the science underlying the way we eat and look after ourselves has seen the average life expectancy of the baby boomers and every generation since then march inexorably forward.[1] But a family of proteins known as “sirtuins” may represent the most immediately exciting therapeutic target in the field of ageing science.

What are Sirtuins?

Sirtuins are a family of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)-dependent deacetyleases that have been shown to regulate mammals’ physiological responses to two of the most important factors in the process of ageing: metabolism and stress.[2]  Specifically, the activation of these molecules has been shown to extend the lifespan of several model organisms by shutting down the expression of certain gene products associated with stress that would otherwise cause organisms to age when those organisms are faced with extreme situations such as food scarcity and a resultant low calorie diet.[3]
To write this as an equation:

↑ STRESS (eg. Due to food scarcity) = ↑ “STRESS GENE PRODUCTS” = ↑ AGEING

BUT

ACTIVATION OF SIRTUINS = ↓ “STRESS GENE PRODUCTS” = ↓ AGEING

So, figuring out how to activate sirtuins is clearly important ;-)...

Where to now? Therapies for the Future...

David Sinclair, an Australian professor based at Harvard University and world leader in ageing science, has demonstrated that resveratrol, a plant -derived sirtuin-activiating compound found in red wine, can increase the life expectancy of yeast, worms, fruit flies and fat mice, by activating sirtuins.[4]

The company he founded was bought by GlaxoSmithKline for US$720 million in 2008.

Clinical trials are currently underway to assess the effects of treating people with a variety of diseases associated with ageing, including type-2 diabetes and Alzheimers Disease, with synthetic sirtuin-activating molecules – some of which are up to 1000 times more potent than resveratrol.  “And [they] are showing early signs of efficacy,” says Prof Sinclair.

What does that mean?

Living until you’re 74 could soon be a thing of the past. 74 might be the age at which you start thinking about your second career. Or the age to take up surfing. People could otherwise go out drinking with their great-grandparents. Now that would be really cool...

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[1] Harvard Medical School. ‘Average Life Expectancy: Measuring Yours.’ Harvard Health Letter: Boston, MA (July 2006). (http://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/average-life-expectancy) 

[2] Satoh A, Stein L, Imai S. ‘The role of Mammalian sirtuins in the regulation of metabolism, aging, and longevity.’ Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology, 206: 125-62 (2011).

[3] Guarente, L. ‘Sirtuins, Aging, and Medicine.’ New England Journal of Medicine, 364: 2235-2244 (2011).

[4] Guarente, L. ‘Sirtuins, Aging, and Medicine.’ New England Journal of Medicine, 364: 2235-2244 (2011).

Food and Pheremones: Nature's Way of Turning You On...

PHEREMONES. Probably something you've heard of before, but for many of us out there, not necessarily a word we could define. We may be vaguely aware that they have something to do with smells, possibly something to do with girls' hair, and potentially something to do with sex.

And then there's food. It's probably not a pheremone, but there are definitely those among us who swear that the taste of chocolate, the scent of a mango, or even eating oysters, can pique our libidos and turn us on.

Strictly speaking, pheremones are chemical messengers that are transported outside of the body and have the ability to induce hormonal or behavioural changes in others.[1] It has long been postulated that animals attract their partners by releasing sex pheromones which elicit intuitive courtship and mating behaviours from their recipient.[2] However, a study conceived by Yael Grosjean and Richard Benton of the Center for Integrative Genomics at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and published in this month’s edition of Nature [3] has demonstrated for the first time that certain receptors found in the olfactory (“smell-related”) sensory neurons of male drosophila fruit flies (ionotropic gluatamate receptor 84a, to be exact, or IR84a for short) are not activated by fly-derived pheromones, but by the aromatic odours phenylacetic acid and phenylacetalydehyde – both of which are commonly found in fruit and plant tissues.

Benton, Grosjean and their colleagues were able to show that male courtship behaviour in drosophila flies is markedly increased when IR84a receptors are activated by the above fruit-derived odours. Conversely, in drosophila whose IR84a receptors are mutated, courtship behaviour is significantly reduced.

Interneurons forming part of the same messenger systems as IR84a receptors innervate the pheromone processing centre in the brain.

What does this mean?

In short, the smell of certain fruits is genuinely eliciting a physiological response to turn male fruit flies on. And there is no reason why similar messenger systems couldn’t apply in humans.

Now where did I put that mango...?

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[1] Kohl, J., Atzmueller, M., Fink, B. & Grammar, K. ‘Human Pheromones: Integrative Neuroendocrinology & Ethology’. NEL 22, 309-321:  2001.

[2] Wyatt, T.D. ‘Pheremones and Animal Behaviour: Communication by smell and taste. Oxford University Press: 2003.

[3] Grosjean, Y., Rytz, R., Farine, J.-P., Abuin, L., Cortot, J., Jefferis, G.S.X.E. & Benton, R. ‘An olfactory receptor for food-derived odours promotes male courtship in Drosophila’. Nature 478, 236-240: 2011.