Erin's Spin

Autoimmune diseases are some of the most confounding diseases that affect the human body. Viruses, bacteria and parasites are all simple compared to the complexities and complications that arise when faced with treating an autoimmune disease. Researchers and physicians alike are unsure of the root of most autoimmune diseases and can only guess as to what specifically triggers our immune system to turn on itself. Treatment for most autoimmune diseases is brutal, consisting of high doses of steroids which suppress immune system function.

The seasons are shifting. For most places, colder weather and less daylight means the steady approach of winter. In my home in Northern California, summer lasts through October.  The sun shines steadily, temperature drops to a tolerable high 60’s and not a drop of rain is  seen. Suddenly,  it’s dark by 5:00pm and the cuffs of your pants are constantly wet from trudging through the rain puddles, you know that the dreaded winter is here.In California, we definitely have seasons.

For those that suffer from Huntington’s Disease or worry about its development, a new hope for a treatment may be on the horizon. Raptor Pharmaceuticals Corp. has announced that it will collaborate with researchers from French university Centre Hospitalier Universitaire d’Angers (CHU d’Angers) on the development of its proprietary drug delayed-release cysteamine bitartrate (DR Cysteamine) in a Phase II clinical trial for treatment for patients with Huntington’s Disease.

I love to travel. Exploring new places, seeing new sights and eating new types of food are among the top greatest things. But traveling has some serious consequences. Not only do you have to deal with the circus that ensues when you try to get on the plane, and must sit on a plane for however many hours that it takes to get to your destination, but then you have to spend the next significant chunk of yourprecious travel time adjusting to the time. What if you could skip the recuperation time and avoid your jet lag? According to a new study published in Minerva Cardioangiologica, you can by taking pine bark extract.

Now that the magical glow of Halloween is over, and in its wake you realize that you have decimated the entire tub of Halloween candy that failed to attract enough trick-or-treaters. You also realize that now that the winter months are approaching, bringing with them cold, rain, snow, wind, Thanksgiving turkey, Christmas feast and New Years debauchery.  

Optical science has taken another leap forward. Increasing amounts of technologies rely on the usage of optic fibers for transmission of phone calls, TV broadcasts, and the internet. Optical fibers allows a higher bandwidth which means faster downloads, and connections.A team of researchers from Clemson University, headed by Professor John Ballato, have devised a new optic fiber, containing a silicon core. Their findings, published in Optics Express (1), have propelled optic science into a new wave of applications for optic fibers.

Honoring Breast Cancer Awareness Month, doctors and scientists have turned toward the examination of simpler techniques for outwitting cancer growth and progression. The next cancer treatment may not be a new gamut of drugs aimed to block cancer cell metabolism, bacteria bred to eat cancer or mutant immunoglobulin that will cure us of our tumors; it may simply be cold treatment to freeze cancer tissues.

Every year at about this time, I start to wonder what I am going to be for Halloween. Despite my best efforts, it usually takes up a large amount of my brainpower until a few days before Halloween, and then I am so excited about my impending costume debut, I parade it around the house, and end up feeling like an idiot. It’s okay, you can laugh. Halloween is just one of those holidays. It allows people to express themselves in ways that are simply unacceptable the other 364 days of the year. For one day (or weekend for the adults) you may dress as anything or anyone you can imagine, from the most classic of Halloween costumes, to the latest in vogue celebrity. So if either you want to dress as a devil or Sarah Palin (or both), here are some ideas to get those creative juices flowing so you can fulfill your heart's desire on Halloween.

Since their discovery, stem cells have been hailed as the ultimate answer for crippling and incurable diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other conditions that leave vital organs like heart or nerves damaged beyond repair. Researchers from the University of Cambridge, under the leadership of Professor Austin Smith, Director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Stem Cell Research at the University of Cambridge, recently published a paper(1) detailing a new technology that can transform adult stem cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS). This technique is able to reliably reprogram adult cells into iPS rapidly and can forego the need to rely on mammalian embryos to generate pluripotent stem cells.

Sitting atop the Big Island of Hawaii is majestic Mauna Kea, Hawaii’s largest volcano and also the site of the latest test site for NASA’s new moon probe, Scarab. Its mission: lunar prospecting. Although the inactive volcano may not seem to resemble the moon, Mauna Kea does provide a similar environment to field test the robot for a mission to the moon. Mauna Kea has rocky slopes and, due to its elevation, cold temperatures. Mauna Kea is a paradise to many a migrating astronomer and, with its 14,000-foot summit, is often covered in snow. NASA will field test Scarab at 9,000 feet, where it will encounter rain, fog and daily temperatures of 40 degrees. The four-wheeled Scarab will travel to different sites and obtain geologic core samples by drilling; the samples will be tested by on-board instruments to determine a chemical analysis of the sample. This allows Scarab to evaluate the site for possible mining of materials.

In today’s world, advances in science and medicine happen almost daily. Few of those discoveries prove to be a revolution in current scientific thought. This is one of those breakthroughs. Recently, the Nobel Committee announced that it would award the Nobel Prize for Medicine/Physiology to German professor Harald zur Hausen, who discovered the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) was the cause of cervical cancer. According to the Committee, his discovery “went against current dogma,” when in the 70s and 80s he strove to prove that the papillomaviruses were the cause of cervical cancers. “He thus laid the foundations for better prevention and treatment of this form of cancer, which has become the third most common form to affect women,” says Professor Matthias Kleiner, President of the German Research Foundation. “I am, of course, completely surprised and it is a great pleasure for me,” expressed zur Hausen in an interview with Adam Smith from nobelprize.org. He credits his dedication and personal conviction to his discovery, working in a direction thought to be completely wrong by many of his contemporaries. “I was an unwelcome and lonely voice,” notes zur Hausen.

Feeling down? Wondering how to cheer up? Well perhaps all you have to do is sing a song. Hey, it works for birds. Researchers at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan have recently uncovered a breakthrough in animal behavior. In their recent study, they concluded that singing by male birds to attract females stimulates reward centers in their brains, reinforcing their behavior. In essence, singing for mates makes male birds really happy.