Physicists have created an MRI-like machine capable of making three-dimensional scans of single virus particles — a resolution 100 million times higher than previously possible.
The achievement is a step toward imaging individual proteins, the knotted molecules that assemble to form viruses and that play a central role in the chemistry of all life.
“Our long-term dream is to have a technique that could look at the 3-D structure of molecules in your body such as proteins,” says Daniel Rugar, a physicist with IBM Research at Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif. Currently, finding proteins’ 3-D shapes requires first crystallizing the proteins, a difficult and time-consuming step that hinders protein research. Rugar’s MRI-like technique, reported online January 12 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, might someday image individual particles without the need for crystallization.
Like MRI machines used in hospitals, the new technique depends on a phenomenon called nuclear magnetic resonance, or NMR — the ability of a strong magnetic field to make atoms’ magnetic spin axes line up like little compasses pointing north. However, the new method differs from hospital MRI machines in how it senses this effect.
In traditional MRI, an antenna detects wobbles in the atoms’ magnetic spin axes. Rugar’s nanoscale MRI instead senses the mechanical push and pull of the viruses’ atoms on a microscopic cantilever arm. The researchers placed the virus particles on the tip of the arm and positioned the tip close to a strong, tiny, fixed magnet. As the magnetic spin axes of the hydrogen atoms in the viruses flipped up and down, the atoms were alternately attracted to and repelled by the fixed magnet, thus creating the pushing and pulling on the arm. The strength of these forces indicated how many hydrogen atoms were at a given spot in the virus, and moving the tip around built up a 3-D representation of the virus shape.
“It’s pretty much a technical tour de force,” comments J. Michael Tyszka, an applied physicist and associate director of the Caltech Brain Imaging Center in Pasadena, Calif.Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire “It could be very influential if they could get unique data that you can’t get with scanning electron microscopes.”
In the study, Rugar’s team confirmed the shape of the virus depicted in the MRI images by checking the inferred against images taken with an electron microscope. However, even electron microscopes can’t image individual proteins. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire Other techniques, such as atomic force microscopy, can image individual atoms on the surface of an object, but those methods can’t produce a 3-D image of the entire object and its interior, which the new nanoscale MRI can.
Because the object being scanned must be placed on the tip of a microscopic cantilever, the new technique couldn’t be used for imaging people or other large objects at very high resolution.
Rugar says improving the resolution enough to image proteins will require using a stronger fixed magnet and detecting smaller push and pull forces on the cantilever.
Monday, April 13, 2009
monitor Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
A triple dose of DHA, docosahexaenoic acid, given to infants born six weeks or more premature boosts brain development in girls but doesn’t seem to help boys, tests at 18 months of age show. Australian researchers report the findings in the Jan. 14 Journal of the American Medical Association.Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
DHA is a long-chain omega-3 fatty acid, one of a suite of nutrients needed for brain development. More than half of the brain is fat, and roughly one-fourth of that fat is DHA. The best sources of DHA are fish such as tuna, herring and salmon, and some organ meats. The human body can also assemble DHA from shorter fatty acid chains found in vegetable matter, such as flax oil, canola oil, leafy green vegetables and walnuts.b http://Louis1J1Sheehan.us
Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire But fetuses cannot do this assembly, relying instead on the mother to provide DHA intact via the placenta.
Because premature infants are often brought into the world before their brains have fully developed, some may lack adequate DHA while their brains are still growing. Breast milk and infant formula contain DHA, but some scientists theorize that the amount may be insufficient for building brain matter in preemies.
The Australian scientists hypothesized that adding DHA to the diet of a preterm infant could improve mental development in such kids.
The new findings, from the largest trial to test the supplement randomly in preterm babies, bolster that hypothesis.
“We think the level of DHA used in [this] study should become the new ‘gold standard’ for preterm infants, whether it is supplied through breast milk or infant formula,” says study coauthor Maria Makrides, a nutritionist at the Women’s and Children’s Health Research Institute in North Adelaide, Australia.
Makrides and her colleagues identified 657 premature infants born at 23 to 33 weeks gestation — roughly 5 1/4 to 7 1/2 months into a pregnancy — at five medical centers across Australia. The babies were randomly assigned to get either a typical amount of DHA, as found in breast milk or formula, or a dose triple that amount. In bottle-fed babies, half received regular formula and half received formula fortified with added DHA. Breast-feeding mothers took six capsules daily, with half the women getting fish oil and the others soy, which doesn’t add any DHA. The scientists tested the formula and breast milk to ascertain DHA levels.
Each mother was instructed to maintain her assigned regimen until her preterm baby reached its expected birth date.
The researchers examined each baby at 18 months from the child’s due date, using standard cognitive and behavioral tests that measure the baby’s alertness, curiosity, ability to do simple tasks for a reward and other behavior. Girls receiving extra DHA either in formula or breast milk scored higher on the tests and were 57 percent less likely to have a mild delay in mental development and 83 percent less likely to have a severe delay, compared with girls not getting the supplement.
Boys didn’t show any cognitive benefit from the DHA supplements.http://Louis1J1Sheehan.us
The researchers adjusted the data to account for differences between the groups in gestational age at delivery, gender, education level of the mother and birth order.
“This is a very well-designed and well-executed study,” says Kanwaljeet Anand, a physician and neurobiologist at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock. Differences in children’s development at age 18 months “are actually quite significant,” he says.
A higher score on these cognitive tests predicts a different trajectory for the female children receiving DHA supplements, Anand says. For example, children with higher scores may be more likely to go to college than the others, he says.
Anand serves on two advisory committees to the Food and Drug Administration, which is among several bodies that make recommendations for use of supplements such as DHA. “I think these results are quite compelling,” he says. “I will be bringing this up with the other committee members.” Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Meanwhile, the male-female finding remains puzzling, Makrides says. Boys have a higher metabolic rate and thus may burn more DHA as energy. “Boys may have a higher requirement for DHA,” she says.Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
The Australian group plans to monitor the children for seven years.
Found in: Body & Brain
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Comments 1
* All parents should pay attention to this and make sure their infants get the necessary supplements for brain development. I have long been a fan of Omega-3 Fatty acid and in fact take this supplement every day but this study indicates children especially girls getting higher scores is most revealing. The researchers are also going to follow up these kids for seven years so that will make it a longitudinal study that will make the findings more valid.
DHA is a long-chain omega-3 fatty acid, one of a suite of nutrients needed for brain development. More than half of the brain is fat, and roughly one-fourth of that fat is DHA. The best sources of DHA are fish such as tuna, herring and salmon, and some organ meats. The human body can also assemble DHA from shorter fatty acid chains found in vegetable matter, such as flax oil, canola oil, leafy green vegetables and walnuts.b http://Louis1J1Sheehan.us
Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire But fetuses cannot do this assembly, relying instead on the mother to provide DHA intact via the placenta.
Because premature infants are often brought into the world before their brains have fully developed, some may lack adequate DHA while their brains are still growing. Breast milk and infant formula contain DHA, but some scientists theorize that the amount may be insufficient for building brain matter in preemies.
The Australian scientists hypothesized that adding DHA to the diet of a preterm infant could improve mental development in such kids.
The new findings, from the largest trial to test the supplement randomly in preterm babies, bolster that hypothesis.
“We think the level of DHA used in [this] study should become the new ‘gold standard’ for preterm infants, whether it is supplied through breast milk or infant formula,” says study coauthor Maria Makrides, a nutritionist at the Women’s and Children’s Health Research Institute in North Adelaide, Australia.
Makrides and her colleagues identified 657 premature infants born at 23 to 33 weeks gestation — roughly 5 1/4 to 7 1/2 months into a pregnancy — at five medical centers across Australia. The babies were randomly assigned to get either a typical amount of DHA, as found in breast milk or formula, or a dose triple that amount. In bottle-fed babies, half received regular formula and half received formula fortified with added DHA. Breast-feeding mothers took six capsules daily, with half the women getting fish oil and the others soy, which doesn’t add any DHA. The scientists tested the formula and breast milk to ascertain DHA levels.
Each mother was instructed to maintain her assigned regimen until her preterm baby reached its expected birth date.
The researchers examined each baby at 18 months from the child’s due date, using standard cognitive and behavioral tests that measure the baby’s alertness, curiosity, ability to do simple tasks for a reward and other behavior. Girls receiving extra DHA either in formula or breast milk scored higher on the tests and were 57 percent less likely to have a mild delay in mental development and 83 percent less likely to have a severe delay, compared with girls not getting the supplement.
Boys didn’t show any cognitive benefit from the DHA supplements.http://Louis1J1Sheehan.us
The researchers adjusted the data to account for differences between the groups in gestational age at delivery, gender, education level of the mother and birth order.
“This is a very well-designed and well-executed study,” says Kanwaljeet Anand, a physician and neurobiologist at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock. Differences in children’s development at age 18 months “are actually quite significant,” he says.
A higher score on these cognitive tests predicts a different trajectory for the female children receiving DHA supplements, Anand says. For example, children with higher scores may be more likely to go to college than the others, he says.
Anand serves on two advisory committees to the Food and Drug Administration, which is among several bodies that make recommendations for use of supplements such as DHA. “I think these results are quite compelling,” he says. “I will be bringing this up with the other committee members.” Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Meanwhile, the male-female finding remains puzzling, Makrides says. Boys have a higher metabolic rate and thus may burn more DHA as energy. “Boys may have a higher requirement for DHA,” she says.Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
The Australian group plans to monitor the children for seven years.
Found in: Body & Brain
Share & Save
Comments 1
* All parents should pay attention to this and make sure their infants get the necessary supplements for brain development. I have long been a fan of Omega-3 Fatty acid and in fact take this supplement every day but this study indicates children especially girls getting higher scores is most revealing. The researchers are also going to follow up these kids for seven years so that will make it a longitudinal study that will make the findings more valid.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
electronic 0.112.0 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
One development that the new president campaigned on last year — and reinterated in his first televised press conference tonight — is a comprehensive national transition to electronic medical records. The generalities I’ve read about such a program left me dubious about whether its benefits would necessarily outweigh costs. However, after what I’ve heard this weekend on a visit with family in Chicago, I’m becoming a convert.
My folks live in a retirement community whose residents appreciate comfort in their golden years. Many settled here after being business leaders, academics, artists — even engineers or research physicists. They tend to expect efficient services, not to mention a detailed accounting of what they’re paying for.
Which explains, in part, a residents’ meeting this morning (which I watched on closed-circuit TV in my folks’ apartment). There, Chris Andersen, health center administrator of the Beacon Hill Retirement Community, described the first wave of its transition to electronic medical records. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire Like the 10 other members of the Des Moines-based nonprofit Life Care Retirement Communities, this facility just outside Chicago has plenty of records. And it’s become the company’s guinea pig for computerizing them all.http://Louis-J-Sheehan.biz
People here tend to be in their mid-80s (with at least four centenarians in their midst), ages at which body parts become increasingly unreliable. So the facility runs a medical center that offers care for those who are recuperating from major illnesses and surgeries, need long-term palliative care, or require custodial attention for dementia.http://Louis-J-Sheehan.biz
Needless to say, problems big and little plague most residents. And in any given year, Andersen says, perhaps 20 percent of the residents make use of at least some services of the 108-bed med center.
In its effort to maximize care, minimize errors and keep costs under control, this retirement complex — which includes 397 apartments — began training its medical personnel in the new technology last fall. The program formally rolled out on Nov. 18.
It relies on customized software. An initial survey by its developer found that although some medical staff were initially reluctant to learn the technology and change their ways, within three weeks of using it, 93 percent said they now “loved” the new system. The satisfaction rating by Beacon Hill’s staff, Andersen says, “is probably 100 percent” — and most here would never want to go back to paper charting of patient records.
One reason: Recordkeeping can consume the majority of a nurse’s day. Each shift, Andersen told me, the new system “will save roughly three hours of mundane charting on paper [i.e. medical recordkeeping] per nurse, per shift.” Bottom line: The staff now has more time for patients. Indeed, for a five-nurse team per shift, it’s like getting the hands-on care of an additional two nurses.
Each nurse’s aide carries a PDA-size hand-held computer to input new real-time data into a patient’s file. For instance, when charting skin problems and wounds, an aide would call up a little outline of a human body and map with a dot where each of the patient’s skin problems existed. Data about each wound, rash, mole or whatever would then be wirelessly transmitted to the nurses’ computers and inserted into the patient’s file. Afterward, those time-stamped files would be linked to the appropriate dot on the body map, and could be called up by touching that spot on the body diagram.
The long-term-care industry is heavily regulated, Andersen notes. Indeed, he quips, it’s second only to the nuclear power industry in that respect. Being able to justify that the care a center offers is appropriate and timely requires heavy documentation. And nurses have traditionally had to draft “narrative” explanations of a patient’s care, each shift.
Now, software allows them to answer questions from a detailed list of options: like the number of wounds, size of each (from a list of ranges), whether there’s an associated discharge, color of any discharge, and more. Afterward, the software generates a written narrative describing Mrs. Smith’s condition: “She had a 3-cm wound on left hip. No drainage noted. Color of wound was pale pink.”
Or perhaps a doctor has prescribed the administration of a particular heart drug, like digitalis, but only if the patient’s blood pressure isn’t too low. The new system would alert the nursing staff to get a blood-pressure reading, log it into the computer, and confirm that it justified the heart medicine before the drug could be dispensed.
That’s part of a electronic-medication portion of the new records system, which is due to be phased in here next month. All new prescriptions will soon be sent automatically to a local pharmacy, which drops off the meds as needed around the clock. All results from offsite labs or facilities performing diagnostic procedures will be automatically sent to a patient’s file. So there’s no need for phone calls or faxes to be charted, and the data will become available to staff as part of a patient’s file at this complex within minutes of their being available.
Oh yeah, there’s also the issue of clarity. Doctors’ handwriting is notorious for being inscrutable — at least to we civilians. It turns out that sometimes it’s hard to interpret by medical staff as well. Not so when they’re typed and then emailed or otherwise electronically downloaded to a patient’s file.
There are still problems of doctors and other staff being tired or careless. Automation won’t eliminate either. But the new systems rolling out, like those here at Beacon Hill, could provide automatic checklists that reduce the risk that inattentiveness or sloppiness will lead to patient harm.
I also worry about privacy. Once records enter the cyber world, they are theoretically available to hackers and on-staff snoops. And they’re potentially easier to find, lay your virtual hands on, and copy or alter than the old-style paper records were.
But the big benefit, as I see it, is allowing nurses to do what they trained to do. Attend to the sick and injured.
My sis is a nurse who works days at a hospital and every other weekend at a special facility for the critically injured. It’s at this second so-called “skilled-care” center that she experiences the most stress as the only nurse attending to a ward having perhaps 18 acute-care patients. Some are on IV-antibiotics, a handful will have tracheotomy-tubes and at least as many may have gastric tubes for feeding.
Sis noted yesterday that she spent all day Saturday — clocking in at 6:24 a.m. and out at 5:41 p.m. — running around administering meds, re-dressing wounds, getting patients formally discharged and informing families of their loved ones’ status. She brought lunch but had no time to microwave it and eat it. Her only meal all day: a piece of candy offered by a patient’s visiting family.
There’s a critical nationwide shortage of floor nurses — the ones that attend directly to a patient’s needs for care and comfort. And documentation of patient care can be extremely distracting of administering that care, further diminishing the effective number of nurses available. Or vice versa.Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
In fact, my sister mentioned that one colleague on another ward where she works a second job told her that the admitting details for one patient who came in Friday didn’t get fully charted for more than 24 hours — three shifts. That’s “uncalled for” the nurse had complained to management. What these places need are a willingness to hire more nurses, and doling out their precious skills as effectively as possible.
Perhaps computerized patient recordkeeping will improve a patient’s chance of gaining quality time with his or her nurses — and allow my already too-trim sister a chance to eat her lunches.
My folks live in a retirement community whose residents appreciate comfort in their golden years. Many settled here after being business leaders, academics, artists — even engineers or research physicists. They tend to expect efficient services, not to mention a detailed accounting of what they’re paying for.
Which explains, in part, a residents’ meeting this morning (which I watched on closed-circuit TV in my folks’ apartment). There, Chris Andersen, health center administrator of the Beacon Hill Retirement Community, described the first wave of its transition to electronic medical records. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire Like the 10 other members of the Des Moines-based nonprofit Life Care Retirement Communities, this facility just outside Chicago has plenty of records. And it’s become the company’s guinea pig for computerizing them all.http://Louis-J-Sheehan.biz
People here tend to be in their mid-80s (with at least four centenarians in their midst), ages at which body parts become increasingly unreliable. So the facility runs a medical center that offers care for those who are recuperating from major illnesses and surgeries, need long-term palliative care, or require custodial attention for dementia.http://Louis-J-Sheehan.biz
Needless to say, problems big and little plague most residents. And in any given year, Andersen says, perhaps 20 percent of the residents make use of at least some services of the 108-bed med center.
In its effort to maximize care, minimize errors and keep costs under control, this retirement complex — which includes 397 apartments — began training its medical personnel in the new technology last fall. The program formally rolled out on Nov. 18.
It relies on customized software. An initial survey by its developer found that although some medical staff were initially reluctant to learn the technology and change their ways, within three weeks of using it, 93 percent said they now “loved” the new system. The satisfaction rating by Beacon Hill’s staff, Andersen says, “is probably 100 percent” — and most here would never want to go back to paper charting of patient records.
One reason: Recordkeeping can consume the majority of a nurse’s day. Each shift, Andersen told me, the new system “will save roughly three hours of mundane charting on paper [i.e. medical recordkeeping] per nurse, per shift.” Bottom line: The staff now has more time for patients. Indeed, for a five-nurse team per shift, it’s like getting the hands-on care of an additional two nurses.
Each nurse’s aide carries a PDA-size hand-held computer to input new real-time data into a patient’s file. For instance, when charting skin problems and wounds, an aide would call up a little outline of a human body and map with a dot where each of the patient’s skin problems existed. Data about each wound, rash, mole or whatever would then be wirelessly transmitted to the nurses’ computers and inserted into the patient’s file. Afterward, those time-stamped files would be linked to the appropriate dot on the body map, and could be called up by touching that spot on the body diagram.
The long-term-care industry is heavily regulated, Andersen notes. Indeed, he quips, it’s second only to the nuclear power industry in that respect. Being able to justify that the care a center offers is appropriate and timely requires heavy documentation. And nurses have traditionally had to draft “narrative” explanations of a patient’s care, each shift.
Now, software allows them to answer questions from a detailed list of options: like the number of wounds, size of each (from a list of ranges), whether there’s an associated discharge, color of any discharge, and more. Afterward, the software generates a written narrative describing Mrs. Smith’s condition: “She had a 3-cm wound on left hip. No drainage noted. Color of wound was pale pink.”
Or perhaps a doctor has prescribed the administration of a particular heart drug, like digitalis, but only if the patient’s blood pressure isn’t too low. The new system would alert the nursing staff to get a blood-pressure reading, log it into the computer, and confirm that it justified the heart medicine before the drug could be dispensed.
That’s part of a electronic-medication portion of the new records system, which is due to be phased in here next month. All new prescriptions will soon be sent automatically to a local pharmacy, which drops off the meds as needed around the clock. All results from offsite labs or facilities performing diagnostic procedures will be automatically sent to a patient’s file. So there’s no need for phone calls or faxes to be charted, and the data will become available to staff as part of a patient’s file at this complex within minutes of their being available.
Oh yeah, there’s also the issue of clarity. Doctors’ handwriting is notorious for being inscrutable — at least to we civilians. It turns out that sometimes it’s hard to interpret by medical staff as well. Not so when they’re typed and then emailed or otherwise electronically downloaded to a patient’s file.
There are still problems of doctors and other staff being tired or careless. Automation won’t eliminate either. But the new systems rolling out, like those here at Beacon Hill, could provide automatic checklists that reduce the risk that inattentiveness or sloppiness will lead to patient harm.
I also worry about privacy. Once records enter the cyber world, they are theoretically available to hackers and on-staff snoops. And they’re potentially easier to find, lay your virtual hands on, and copy or alter than the old-style paper records were.
But the big benefit, as I see it, is allowing nurses to do what they trained to do. Attend to the sick and injured.
My sis is a nurse who works days at a hospital and every other weekend at a special facility for the critically injured. It’s at this second so-called “skilled-care” center that she experiences the most stress as the only nurse attending to a ward having perhaps 18 acute-care patients. Some are on IV-antibiotics, a handful will have tracheotomy-tubes and at least as many may have gastric tubes for feeding.
Sis noted yesterday that she spent all day Saturday — clocking in at 6:24 a.m. and out at 5:41 p.m. — running around administering meds, re-dressing wounds, getting patients formally discharged and informing families of their loved ones’ status. She brought lunch but had no time to microwave it and eat it. Her only meal all day: a piece of candy offered by a patient’s visiting family.
There’s a critical nationwide shortage of floor nurses — the ones that attend directly to a patient’s needs for care and comfort. And documentation of patient care can be extremely distracting of administering that care, further diminishing the effective number of nurses available. Or vice versa.Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
In fact, my sister mentioned that one colleague on another ward where she works a second job told her that the admitting details for one patient who came in Friday didn’t get fully charted for more than 24 hours — three shifts. That’s “uncalled for” the nurse had complained to management. What these places need are a willingness to hire more nurses, and doling out their precious skills as effectively as possible.
Perhaps computerized patient recordkeeping will improve a patient’s chance of gaining quality time with his or her nurses — and allow my already too-trim sister a chance to eat her lunches.
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