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Virus Filters For Medical Diagnosis
Providing reliable evidence of viruses in human blood presently requires time- and labor-intensive molecular-biological procedures. Established methods are particularly hard pushed to produce evidence when the viral burden is very low, for example during a phase of therapy. This could soon change. While developing new types of micro-pumps without movable parts, scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering IBMT came across an unexpected phenomenon: stable turbulence structures formed in the microscale pump channels. The nano- and microparticles actually intended to verify the pump effect accumulated in large quantities in the channels. The vortex patterns completely filled the whole microchannel, creating a virtually 100% trap for the particles that followed the generated flow profile, although there is a very large cross-section to flow through. "The development of flow vortices is nothing unusual on the macroscopic scale. However, in microchannels the flow lines almost run in parallel," explains Richard Stein from the IBMT. "The question, therefore, was, how is it possible for vortices to be formed from this which were sufficiently stable and effective for the concentration of nanoparticles?"
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Malpractice Suits, Other Factors Contribute To Rise In Caesarean Births, Experts Say
Many doctors believe that the increase in caesarean section births in the U.S. over the last decade has been fueled by three main factors -- fear of malpractice lawsuits, a decrease in vaginal births after c-sections and rising rates of obesity -- the St. Petersburg Times reports. According to the Times, 31.8% of U.S. births were c-sections in 2007, compared with 21% a decade earlier, making c-sections the most commonly performed procedure in the nation"s hospitals.A few decades ago, c-section births were relatively rare, representing only 4% of U.S. births in 1965. According to the Times, c-section rates began to increase when it was believed that many cerebral palsy cases were the result of infants being deprived of oxygen during traumatic vaginal deliveries, which led to malpractice suits against doctors. At the same time, advancements in neonatal care and electronic fetal monitoring in recent decades have helped make the procedure safer and therefore more common. Robert Yelverton, a physician and board member of the Florida Obstetric and Gynecologic Society, said that doctors "tend to opt for the method of childbirth most likely to withstand a legal challenge." Whereas doctors in the past were more likely to use techniques such as vacuum extraction or manually turning an infant during a difficult birth, doctors today automatically opt for a c-section, according to Yelverton. According to the Times, one study found that 76% of U.S. obstetricians reported at least one litigation event, with an average award of $2.3 million for negligence in childbirth.An increase in obesity and a decline in VBACs also have driven the rise in c-section births, the Times reports. VBACs have declined from nearly 30% in the 1990s to 7.9% in 2005, which some doctors say is a result of fear of litigation because of the chance for rare but serious complications during birth. Similarly, obesity puts women at an increased risk for gestational diabetes, delivering prematurely or having larger infants, which can make birth more risky, the Times reports. More than one-third of U.S. women of childbearing age are overweight or obese (Martin, St. Petersburg Times, 6/17).
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Debate Surrounds End-Of-Life Care Provision In Reform
A provision in the House health care reform bill to provide Medicare coverage for end-of-life care consultation spurs debate and misinformation.
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A Research Group Focus On Neurobiology Of Parkinson's Disease An The Early Detection Of The Disease

A research group based at the University of Granada, in cooperation with the Neurology Unit of the San Cecilio Hospital of Granada and the Department of Experimental Sciences of the University of Jaen, is studying the Neurobiology of Parkinson"s disease (PD). They have developed a non-invasive method for serological diagnosis of Parkinson"s disease, which is being patented by the University of Granada. To this end, the scientists analyzed and purified proteins associated with this disease, such as aminopeptidase. However, it is not an easy task: "there are thousands of proteins in the blood, and only a few are related to neurodegenerative diseases." Francisco Vives, Head of the Institute the Neurosciences of Granada and coordinator of the University of Granada"s research group for the "Study of neurodegenerative diseases in Andalusia" says that "so far, there is not effective treatment" for Parkinson"s disease so, at the moment the only solution is palliative treatment. Therefore, "finding plasma specific proteins in patients before the first symptoms of Parkinson"s disease appear, will allow us to use drugs that either stop or at least slow down the disease. An early diagnose is important to PD medication" L-dopa is a dopamine (the neurotransmitter that decreases in this disease) precursor. It is a very effective drug, but its therapeutic effects disappear within a few years of treatment. Other researchers say it even makes the disease worse. In this sense, scientists from the University of Granada have been carrying out a very complex statistical study, using blood samples from patients with PD, and they had proven than L-dopa has an antioxidant effect, that is, a neuroprotective effect. Alpha Synuclein Furthermore, one main feature of PD is the formation of intracellular precipitates, called Lewy bodies. The major components of this toxic precipitates are two proteins, í±-synuclein and ubiquitin . Many studies have reported the detection of í±-synuclein in biological fluids such as cerebrospinal fluid and plasma of PD patients. It is a matter of debate if plasma í±-synuclein is a protein secreted by normal neurons or released by damaged neurons. This research group has found high concentrations of plasma í±-synuclein in PD patients. But the most interesting think is that, in newly diagnosed PD patients, and before any medication, plasma í±-synuclein is increased. Thus, this blood protein may be used for PD diagnose. So far, this is the first report (in press) reporting changes in í±-synuclein in early diagnosed patients without treatment. The increased concentration of í±-synuclein found in PD patients with and without treatment suggest that LBs are associated to neurodegeneration and that this is an early event in PD. Medication directed to prevent í±-synuclein aggregates may be useful to PD treatment. PARK-6 Sporadic Parkinson"s, associated to age, is the most frequent form of PD. However, and according to experts, genetic predisposition and environmental factors play a key role in the development of the disease. The Granada research team, with the help of researchers from the Nuclear Medicine Department of the Goethe University (Germany), have studied genetic alterations in several families from the province of Granada, with various of its members affected of PD. In all these families, there have been cases of Parkinson"s at an early age. The genetic analysis proved that the presence of a polymorphism in a specific gene (PARK6) is very frequent in those families. Despite the findings, Francisco Vives states that "there is not a sole gene responsible for Parkinson"s disease, but it is rather the conjunction of several genes. Furthermore, the disease accelerates if patients are exposed to environmental toxics, so prevention and an early diagnose is the best for PD patients." According to Francisco Vives Montero, "rare neurodegenerative diseases of previous times are now increasingly and becoming more frequent, because they are related to aging". Neurodegenerative diseases linking to ageing, like Parkinson"s, are estimated to affect 1.5% of people older than 60. The World Parkinson"s Disease Day is held in April 11, and commemorated the birthday of Dr James Parkinson, who reported the first precise description of signs and symptoms of PD. Andalucö­a Innova


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