Author Archive (John Tyburski)

Friday, July 11, 2014

Sitting quietly even worse than electric shock for most men, study finds

Researchers find that most men will pay to avoid unpleasant stimuli but will still chose that unpleasant experience over sitting quietly alone with only their own thoughts.

by John Tyburski

Firstpublished at Daily Digest News on July 3, 2014

Is sitting alone with nothing to do, nothing to fondle, and nothing to look at unpleasant for many people? This is a question that was recently answered by a group of University of Virginia researchers. The results of their investigation are…shocking.

Published in Science Magazine on July 4, the report documents 11 studies in which participants were required to sit from six to 15 minutes in isolation with no devices or distractions. They only thing they had to think about or do was entertain their own thoughts. This was more unpleasant to most than doing mundane tasks and even receiving painful stimuli.

“I’m really excited to see this paper,” said Matthew Killingsworth in a Science news article. Killingsworth is a psychologist at the University of California (UC), San Francisco, who said his own work has turned up a similar result. “When people are spending time inside their heads, they’re markedly less happy.”

University of Virginia psychologist Timothy Wilson and colleagues recruited hundreds of undergraduate students and community volunteers to participate in a series of 11 studies to determine whether people enjoyed quiet time. They found rather that most people enjoyed doing some activity such as listening to music or using a smartphone. When given the opportunity, some even chose self-administer an electric shock over sitting quietly doing nothing.

“Those of us who enjoy some down time to just think likely find the results of this study surprising – I certainly do – but our study participants consistently demonstrated that they would rather have something to do than to have nothing other than their thoughts for even a fairly brief period of time,” Wilson said in a statement.

An important finding was a gender difference; about two-thirds of the men studied administered shocks to themselves to avoid sitting quietly, compared with only 25 percent of the women studied.

New species of shrew-like Sengi discovered in Africa, more closely related to elephants

A new species of Sengi, a small, shrew-like mammal about the same size a mouse, was discovered in Africa, and genetic sequence comparisons show it is more closely related to animals much larger than itself.

by John Tyburski

First published at Daily Digest News on July 3, 2014

Now with the latest contribution to the debate on whether size matters, followers can assuredly conclude that it does not when predicting how close two different mammalian species are genetically related.

Researchers with the California Academy of Sciences recently discovered a new species of Sengi. The name Sengi is a Bantu-language-derived common name for the Macroscelidesgenus. The newly discovered species was calledM. micus. The interesting thing about M. micusis that it has a little protruding snout not unlike the truncated elephant trunk.

The researchers noted that during the identification process that the specimens they were collecting from a remote northwestern region of Nambia were substantially different from the sengis specimens in museum collections. The scientists collected a total of 16 specimens from this region several times from 2005 to 2011.

Genetic analysis revealed that the species was, in fact, novel, as the animal’s DNA did not match that of sengi specimens already on hand. What was even more interesting though was the finding that the little furry creatures were not as closely related to other mammals of its own size and general appearance (save for the snout) as they are to elephants, sea cows, and aardvarks.

“Had our colleagues not collected those first invaluable specimens, we would never have realized that this was in fact a new species, since the differences between this and all other known species are very subtle,” said Jack Dumbacher, Academy Curator of Ornithology and Mammalogy.

The report describing the research team’s work on M. micus is published in the Journal of Mammology.

Aspiring model poses with Colostomy bag to advocate Crohn’s awareness

Bethany Townsend has the beauty to chase her dream of being a model, but another important calling prompted her to reveal the consequences of her long, difficult history of Crohn’s disease: her colostomy bag.

by John Tyburski

First published at Daily Digest News on July 2, 2014

Crohn’s disease is a form of inflammatory bowel disease (along with ulcerative colitis) that progressively destroys the large bowel. Crohn’s disease is also a risk factor for colon cancer but for young Bethany Townsend, the ravages of an almost life-long battle with Crohn’s are obvious in a powerful image she recently posted to the social media site Facebook. Townsend’s goal for the photo was to raise awareness for Crohn’s disease so that momentum may pick up for efforts in curing the chronic condition.

Townsend is picture-perfect in nearly every way except for one thing people are not used to seeing, her colostomy bag. She recently shared her story with an advocacy organization called Crohn’s and Colitis U.K.

“Finally, after three and a half years, I decided that my colostomy bags shouldn’t control my life,” Townsend wrote. “So when I went to Mexico with my husband in December last year I finally showed I wasn’t ashamed. Still hoping for a cure.”

Townsend, who resides in Worcester, England, said she has suffered from Crohn’s disease since the age of three but was 11 by the time she was properly diagnosed. By then, her condition required that a 16-inch segment of her bowel be surgically removed. Subsequently, she has endured pharmaceutical treatments including steroids, infliximab, and methotrexate plus a feeding tube for four years and a total of five surgeries.

Unfortunately, Townsend ultimately suffered a rupture of her bowel that meant from then on she would need to use a colostomy bag in place of her large intestine. A colostomy bag is a collection device worn on the outside of the body and connected to the distal end of the small intestine by way of a fistula.

Townsend is hoping for approval in the U.K. of an experimental new drug. Otherwise, her last option is a bowel transplant.

Approximately 1.4 million people in the U.S. suffer from Crohn’s disease.

Scientists successfully grow new human corneas from adult stem cells

A major accomplishment has been made in replacement organ regrowth as scientist report that they successfully regrew human corneas from a very rare kind of adult stem cell harvested from deceased donors.

by John Tyburski

Firstpublished at Daily Digest News on July 2, 2014

Things are looking up for some forms of blindness. According to a report published in this week’s issue of the journal Nature, the first functional tissue created from adult stem cells has been created.

Harvard University researchers used a molecular marker probe to find a specific kind of adult stem cells called limbal cells in tissues collected from deceased donors. They used antibodies generated against a specific protein found on limbal cells called ABCB5. When present, ABCB5-positive limbal cells bind up the antibody and allow the scientists to selectively collect them out from a mixed population of cells. Then the cells were used to grow new human corneas in mice.

The limbal cells reside within a deep layer of the human cornea and produce new cells to replace older, deteriorating cells in intact, healthy corneas. Injury to a cornea that destroys the limbus layer that contains these cells results in blindness because the cornea cannot be renewed.

“Limbal stem cells are very rare, and successful transplants are dependent on these rare cells,” said Bruce Ksander, co-lead author on the report, in a statement. “This finding will now make it much easier to restore the corneal surface. It’s a very good example of basic research moving quickly to a translational application.”

New treatment approach for adult sickle cell disease shows promise

An early report on the treatment of 30 adult patients with very serious sickle cell disease shows high rate of success with low graft rejection as study on the new approach continues.

by John Tyburski

First published at Daily Digest News on July 1, 2014

Adults with sickle cell disease have had a rough time with the best-available treatment because of the reliance on medications that prevent immune system rejection of donor cells. These medications cause a number of serious problems. Furthermore, many sickle cell disease patients have organ injury that makes them ineligible for transplant treatment.

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have found a possible treatment approach that may circumvent the organ injury restriction and allow treated patients to stop taking immunosuppressing medications. This technique uses donor stem cells taken from a sibling of the patient mixed with cells from the patient for replacing the original stem cells that make blood cells, the bone marrow stem cells.

The report published in the July 2 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association documents a high percentage of 30 patients with very severe sickle cell disease treated with the sibling-donor approach showing improvement and cessation of immunosuppressing medications to prevent transplant rejection within a year after the transplant procedure.

“We can successfully reverse sickle cell disease with a partial bone marrow transplant in very sick adult patients without the need for long-term medications,” said researcher Dr. John Tisdale, a senior investigator at the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Over 90,000 people in the U.S. have sickle cell disease, and millions suffer from this painful genetic condition worldwide. Sickle cell disease primarily occurs in blacks. The bone marrow cells that normally make disc-shaped red blood cells instead make crescent- or sickle-shaped red blood cells in sickle cell disease.

The sickle-shaped red blood cells do not function properly in their role of carrying oxygen to, and carbon dioxide away, from tissues and organs. They also block blood flow, and the blood-starved tissues deteriorate and cause severe pain in doing so.

Risk of hypertension later in life higher for malnourished children, study finds

More cases of hypertension were found in young Jamaican adults who were treated for malnutrition in early childhood compared with their well-fed peers.

by John Tyburski

First published at Daily Digest News on July 1, 2014

According to a new report published this week in the American Heart Association’s journal Hypertension, young children with malnutrition severe enough to warrant medical treatment may develop smaller heart structures and smaller blood vessels that produce increased blood pressure as they age.

The researchers who conducted the study in Jamaica found that malnutrition before birth and up to age five was significantly associated with higher blood pressure later.

“If nutritional needs are not met during this time, when structures of the body are highly susceptible to potentially irreversible change, it could have long-term consequences on heart anatomy and blood flow later in life,” said Terrence Forrester, study senior author and chief scientist, UWI Solutions for Developing Countries, at the University of the West Indies, Mona, in Kingston, Jamaica, in a statement. “We are concerned that millions of people globally who suffer malnutrition before or after birth are at increased risk of hypertension in later life.”

The study was conducted on 116 Jamaican adults of a mean age of 29 who had a history of malnutrition during early childhood. The adults with malnourishment history were compared with 45 age-matched men and women with no history of malnutrition. Arterial blood pressures were recorded and found to differ between subjects with and without malnourishment history. The history of malnourishment was also found to be associated with anatomical differences in the heart and blood vessels through which blood leaves the heart.

The study results indicate that the key to preventing at least some adult hypertension may lie in addressing the more fundamental and widespread problem of childhood malnutrition.

“Such an investment in nutrition and general health will have huge public health dividends, including these longer-term risks of chronic heart and metabolic diseases that cost so much in human lives,” said Forrester.

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

KFC serves UK woman’s son batter-fried hand towel

Woman vows to never patronize global fast food restaurant KFC after her young step-son was served a hand towel battered and deep-fried along with boneless chicken meat.

by John Tyburski

First published at Daily Digest News on June 30, 2014

Not even the original herbs and spices could cover the unmistakable flavor and texture of a batter-fried hand towel. A clean hand towel would be bad enough, but this not-so-tender, juicy fillet of fabric was most likely filthy as well.

Twenty-nine-year-old Krystal Henderson was with her young step-son, Oliver Hallam, at a KFC restaurant in the UK when little Oliver bit into a real shocker. What Oliver thought would be a tender slice of boneless, all-white meat chicken turned out to be a soiled hand towel covered in the thick KFC batter and fried to a crisp. It was not even white—it was blue.

At first, Henderson, a nursery nurse from Gosforth, Newcastle, thought the chicken had spoiled since the “meat” had a blue tinge. Upon further inspection, she ascertained that it was a towel.

“When he bit into it, it was rock hard. He pulled it out of his mouth and when he did, it pulled away the batter – you could see the blue roll inside,” Henderson told the Daily Mail. “To give that to a child, I felt so guilty even though it wasn’t my fault. For a child to bite into that is horrendous.”

Henderson complained to restaurant staff who offered nothing but a phone number. Corporate customer service gave Henderson a free meal, a consolation she has no plan to redeem.

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Friday, July 11, 2014

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