the-BA : Science News Digest

Orangutan - (copyright: iStockPhoto.com)

In the news this week: a new technique offers hope for “untreatable” brain injuries, the first genetically modified mentally ill mouse and a left handedness gene linked to schizophrenia. Plus, do great apes communicate using charades?

New hope was found this week for the 300,000 brain injury patients worldwide dubbed “untreatable” when an American man in a minimally conscious state (MCS) had his brain “jump started” by electrical impulses in trials of a pioneering technique. While the man had not been comatose, a street robbery six years ago had left him in need of 24 hour care and only showing signs of awareness, such as blinking, sporadically.

The New York based team decided to carry out trials after noting that the brains of patients in this condition sometimes had functioning language centres. Two 1mm-wide electrodes were inserted into the thalamus, the region associated with consciousness, in a new technique known as deep brain stimulation. The surgery took ten hours but the patient can now recognise and talk to his family, eat and drink unaided, and carry out simple tasks, such as brushing his hair. Before he took part in the experimental study, his doctors were so pessimistic about his recovery, his mother had signed a “do not resuscitate” form.

The technique is already used to treat Parkinson’s disease, severe depression and epilepsy and, while the study has showed promising results so far, doctors are worried about reviving false hopes and being criticised for practising “therapeutic nihilism”, a term used to describe the removal of treatment of those in previously untreatable cases. Dr Joseph Fins of Medical Ethics at Weill Cornell Medical College and co-author told the Daily Telegraph: ‘If this achievement is replicated, its success could usher in a whole new era for the treatment of patients in MCS. It will force us to take a second look at each case and - for appropriate patients - move away from the therapeutic nihilism that has so plagued this population, most of whom are ignored, receiving what is euphemistically described as “custodial care”.’

A Russian research team embarked on a perilous journey to the sea bed under the North Pole on Thursday, the Independent reported. While the expedition had some scientific objectives, its main purpose was to collect geological evidence to add credence to Russia’s claim that the Arctic, and therefore any of the speculated mineral wealth it encompasses, belongs to it.

The team was made up of two mini-submarines, a nuclear powered ice breaker and a research vessel. The subs descended 4200m down in the first dive to the Earth’s most northern point, where they left a Russian flag in a titanium case. The most risky part was getting back to the surface before their air supply ran out. They had mapped the ice sheet for points of weakness to find the natural ice openings but navigating back to the exact spot was still not without worry. Sergei Balyasnikov, a spokesman for Russia's Arctic and Antarctic Institute said: ‘This is like placing a flag on the moon, this is really a massive scientific achievement.’

Under international law, a country can claim sea territory 200 nautical miles from its borders but this can be extended if the geology is consistent with areas already within its territory. Russia wants to prove that the Lomonsov Ridge, a 1240 mile submerged mountain range, is part of the Eurasian continent, giving Moscow rights to half the Arctic sea bed. The claim was dismissed by the UN in 2001.

The disgraced scientist who claimed to have produced the world’s first cloned human stem cells may have achieved another important world first but without even realizing it, reported the Times. Woo Suk Huang of South Korea was hailed as the Supreme Scientist in his country and received international acclaim after he published his work in Science in 2004. Only two years later his title and dignity were stripped from him as it emerged that he had not only faked his data but used members of his research team as egg donors, a highly unethical move.

Now, a group from Harvard and Cambridge universities studying his work believe that he should take the credit for being the first person to produce stem cells as a result of parthogenesis or to take its Greek meaning, a “virgin birth”. Parthogenesis is the favoured method of reproduction for most plants and some animals such as komodo dragons, corals and bees. It involves the division of egg cells even though they have not been fertilized by sperm and is notoriously difficult to reproduce in the lab. At the Roslin Institute, of Dolly the sheep fame, scientists have created embryos via parthogenesis but the embryos did not survive long enough for the stem cells to be extracted.

Whilst Huang is unlikely to be able to redeem himself, especially as it looks like he did not even recognize what he had done, the creation of such stem cells is a significant step forward for tissue replacement therapies. It means that genetically identical stem cells can be produced from the egg donor, eliminating the possibility of immune rejection.

A novel way of reducing the risk of skin cancer has been found by American scientists – drink one to two cups of coffee a day and do more exercise. Researchers from Rutgers University in New Jersey have discovered that the combination of caffeine and exercise has potent protective effects against UVB radiation, the type responsible for most skin cancers.

Four groups of specially bred, hairless mice were exposed to a UVB lamp; one fed on caffeinated water, one given access to an exercise wheel, one exercising and drinking the water, and a control with access to neither. The body’s self preservation reaction, the apoptosis mechanism, was analysed for each group after its exposure. Some cells exposed to the radiation will automatically commit suicide if their DNA has been damaged. ‘If apoptosis takes place in a sun-damaged cell, its progress toward cancer will be aborted,’ explained author Prof Allan Conney, one of the paper’s authors.

Apoptosis was seen in all four groups but it became apparent that there was something special going on with the combination of caffeine and exercise as it increased by 400per cent, compared with the 120 and 95 per cent for the exercisers and caffeine drinkers, respectively. The details of what is going on at a cellular and molecular level remain a mystery to the scientists but they believe it is some kind of “synergy” that offers protection from the cancerous rays. Novel approaches to target skin cancer are especially significant as skin cancer rates have increased four-fold in the UK in the last 25 years and it is responsible for 2000 deaths a year. Read more in the Daily Telegraph.

Scientists at Oxford University have discovered the gene that seems to dictate whether or not a person will be left handed. The gene is also linked to an increased susceptibility to schizophrenia. It has long been known that there is an asymmetric connection between the brain and the body; right handed people’s speech is governed by the left hand side of their brain and their emotions, the right. This is usually reversed in left handed people. Researchers think the gene, known as LRRTM1, is responsible for this reversal. It is supported by numerical evidence that says 9-12 per cent of the population should carry the gene and about 10 per cent are indeed left handed.

Dr Clyde Francks, who led the team, told BBC News: ‘We hope this study's findings will help us understand the development of asymmetry in the brain. Asymmetry is a fundamental feature of the human brain that is disrupted in many psychiatric conditions.’
However, there is no need for left handed people to be alarmed, there are many other important factors at play in schizophrenia, Jane Harris, of the mental health charity Rethink, explained: ‘No-one really understands what causes schizophrenia yet. It is probably a combination of factors, including genetics, problems in childbirth, viral infections, drug use, poverty and urbanization.’

Staying on the subject of mental health, scientists have created the world’s first mentally ill mouse. It is the first time an animal has been genetically engineered to have a psychological condition. Until now most specifically bred animals have had physical illnesses, such as heart disease.

A gene from a family with a high incidence of schizophrenia, known as DISC1, was inserted into mice DNA, reported the Daily Telegraph.
The mice were subjected to a number of tests to monitor their mental and physical health. Tests to monitor their enthusiasm to search for food and the length of time they were prepared to swim in order to survive showed that they displayed the classic signs of schizophrenia; apathy, loss of smell and hyperactivity. MRI scans taken of their brains also showed the characteristic features.

Animal activists have dubbed the research as “morally repugnant” but Professor David Porteous of the University of Edinburgh defended his work, saying: ‘Research into the biological basis of severe mental disorders such as schizophrenia is vitally important. Any clues that we can get from studying mice that display features of the human condition could help find out more about the mechanisms underlying this complex condition and, in time, how we might devise better and more effective treatments than those currently available.’

Other news in brief:

Bird’s Eye is to launch the first sustainable fish finger, the Guardian reported. The food company will offer a line made from Alaskan Pollock fillets, sourced exclusively from Marine Stewardship Council certified fisheries. With 24 per cent of the world’s fisheries depleted, the move has been welcomed by environmental groups. Over-fishing in the North Sea in recent decades has meant that cod, the traditional fish in fish fingers, is now rare and expensive. The move will hopefully mean the company can catch over two million less fish a year.

The Asian Brown Cloud, a thick smog of gases and smoke particles, has been blamed for the shrinking of the Himalaya’s glaciers, reported the Times. The cloud, clearly visible to anyone who flies over the region, is a result of pollution from factories, power plants and fires. The black soot particles are very good at absorbing heat and so contribute to raising temperatures, even at higher altitudes. If the glaciers do melt significantly, 2 billion people across China, India and Bangladesh will be threatened with extreme flooding.

A study of 1000 people at the early stages of their career has found that 1 in 20 workers can expect to succumb to serious mental health problems as a result of stressful work conditions. ‘Work stress appears to bring on diagnosable forms of depression and anxiety in previously healthy young workers; in fact the occurrence is two times higher than among workers whose jobs are less demanding,’ said Dr Maria Melchior, lead author of the study. Read more at the Guardian.

And finally…

Have you ever felt a bit of a monkey when playing a game of charades with your friends? Well, this isn’t such a silly comparison as scientists now think that apes communicate with each other via repeated and modified gestures, a bit like we do when we’re trying to get people to guess that difficult film title.

A report published in the journal Current Biology describes how six orangutans in two different zoos reacted to their food-laden keeper when he showed different levels of understanding of what they wanted. The keeper would either offer them a banana or a leek and all would indicate that they wanted the tastier banana. If the keeper then gave them the leek, the primates would again gesture to the banana but in a different manner. If the keeper only gave them half a banana, they would repeat the first gesture but with much more enthusiasm.

This shows a level of understanding about the need to present the gesture in the clearest way and also the need to gauge the level of understanding of the recipient and modify the gesture accordingly. Since orangutans are our most distant relative, the scientists think that all great apes probably have this skill and that it developed millions of years ago as an important technique for survival. (BBC News)