We all know getting a few rays of sunshine can be good for you, but we didn’t know that the vitamin D synthesized by the body is actually crucial to your thymus gland — and your immune system. Infection fighting T-cells (which mature in the thymus) need plenty of vitamin D from the bloodstream to do their job, according to a paper published in Nature Immunology (a magazine which, not coincidentally, features the thymus gland quite a bit). “If the T cells cannot find enough vitamin D in the blood, they won’t even begin to mobilize,” says University of Copenhagen prof Carsten Geisler told Cordis News. So get outside and catch a few rays, why don’t ya? Doctor’s orders.
Archive for the ‘Modern Medicine’ Category
Let the Sun Shine In
Posted: Monday, March 8th, 2010Germ Hell
Posted: Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
For all you nurses out there tired of the non-stop handwashing associated with your job, there is a new technology set to kill germs with the push of a button. Plasma gas hand sanitizers, which kill microbes — even stubborn ones like MRSA, the drug-resistant bug that is the scourge of hospitals everywhere — with a zap of gas. They even clean under fingernails! For nurses and doctors sick and tired of chapped hands and Purell, these gadgets could be pretty cool. {via New York Times}
Just Hanging Out
Posted: Monday, March 1st, 2010
Wondering why testicles hang at slightly different heights sounds more like locker-room banter than the subject of a scientific paper, but questions about scrotal irregularity loom large even in the minds of doctors. “Swinging high and low: why do the testes hang at different levels? A theory on surface area and thermoregulation,” published in Med Hypotheses in 2008, thinks balls that hang at different levels cool off more efficiently than evenly hanging testes. “In effect, just by suspension at two levels, nearly one entire extra surface is available for thermoregulation and cooling,” the paper, co-authored by Kuma A and Kumar CJ, explains. {via DiscoBlogs}
Print Me An Organ
Posted: Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
This article sounded so sci-fi I almost didn’t believe it was real, but according to The Economist, the era of being able to print 3-D human organs is no just coming — it’s here. A company specializing in regenerative medicine, Organovo, and engineering firm Invetech have teamed up to make a bio-printer capable of making simple body parts such as snippets of blood vessels, tissue and skin, all formed from the patient’s own cells (to avoid the usual rejection). The article points out that printing more complex biological parts, like livers, kidneys and even hearts, can’t be far behind, after all, Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in North Carolina made seven brand-new bladders for patients and all are still working just fine, thank you.
Gimme Your Uterus
Posted: Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
Hysterectomies are such a common way of solving lady-part woes that the idea of a uterus transplant sounds totally foreign. Oddly enough, the uterus transplant, while rare now, might become more commonplace in the future. We can only imagine how difficult it would be to transplant such a blood-vessel rich organ, and that’s only the beginning of the trouble with this particular transplant. The first uterus transplant, performed in Saudi Arabia in the year 2000, was rejected after 99 days because of major blood clotting. Weirdly enough, the woman who received the transplant was 26 years old, and her donor was a 46 year old woman with a history of ovarian cysts who was advised to have a hysterectomy (uh, correct me if I’m wrong, but if one doctor says to take it out, maybe don’t transplant it into someone else?). On those days when one feels like ripping out her uterus with a fork, the idea of a uterus transplant actually sounds pretty good. {photo courtesy of the Washington Post}
One of the Best
Posted: Tuesday, February 9th, 2010
According to Money magazine, the second best job in America is being a physician’s assistant. Forget the office woes and wrangling with insurance, and just get the benefits of helping people and, let’s face it, pretty good money and lots less schooling. Considering the shortage of nurses and doctors, PAs are also very much in demand. Time to crack those books!
Pop Goes the Pancreas
Posted: Monday, February 8th, 2010
As if we hadn’t already guessed that soft drinks are lousy for your organs, a new study links soda drinking to pancreatic cancer, pretty much one of the worst cancers you can get. According to the University of Minnesota study, it’s all about the sugar. Researchers followed 60,524 folks in Singapore over 14 years, and found that those who drank more than two sodas a day increased their risk for pancreatic cancer by 87%. Scientists not involved with the study warn that cigarette smoking may also have something to do with it (Singaporeans are big puffers). Considering what diet soda does to your kidneys, it’s safe to say that sticking to less than two soft drinks a day is better for ya. {via US News and World Report}
Naming the Body
Posted: Saturday, February 6th, 2010
The body has some wonderfully-named nooks and crannies, including, but not limited to, the pancreas’ islets of Langerhans, the part of the pancreas that contains endocrine cells. Lately we’ve been entranced by the sphincter of Oddi, a region of the duodenum in the lower stomach where digestive juices –mainly bile from the gallbladder and pancreatic juices — like to collect, socialize and digest. Even odder? The juices flow through something called the ampulla of Vater. We imagine most of the body’s naming rights were claimed long ago by the likes of Paul Langerhans, Ruggero Oddi and Abraham Vater, but I wouldn’t be suprised if pharmaceutical companies starting branding yet-unclaimed body parts. Pfizer Phagocytes or GlaxoSmithKline Glia anyone?
Hot Tub Lung
Posted: Friday, February 5th, 2010
File this under terrible afflictions with really funny names: hypersensitivity pneumonitis is also known as hot tub lung, known as it is for being contracted in unclean jacuzzis. Let’s hope mycobacterium avium intracellulare, the bacterium that cause the condition and thrive in super-hot water, aren’t growing inside your favorite hot tub. Via Radiology Picture of the Day.
Guts in Haiti
Posted: Monday, February 1st, 2010
Adding to the nightmare unfolding in the aftermath of Haiti’s devastating earthquake are reports that human organs are being illegally trafficked along with children. “There is organ trafficking for children and other persons also, because they need all types of organs,” Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour last week. The reports have not yet been confirmed, but it’s obviously an alarming accusation. Doctors Without Borders, an organization that was already working in Haiti before the earthquake, has been working hard to provide medical help for Haitians in need despite delays in getting necessary medical supplies and enduring aftershocks while treating patients. Read more about what they are doing right now in Haiti to help, and donate (as we did) if you feel so inclined.
