In mouse studies, researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have found that progesterone – a female sex hormone contained in most forms of hormone-based birth control – appears to stave off the worst effects of influenza infection and, in an unexpected finding, help damaged lung cells to heal more quickly.

The findings suggest that sex hormones have an effect far beyond the reproductive system and that progesterone may one day be a viable flu treatment for women

The World Health Organization reports that more than 100 million young adult women around the world are on progesterone-based contraception. And women of reproductive age are twice as likely as men to suffer from complications related to the influenza virus.

‘Despite the staggering number of women who take this kind of birth control, very few studies are out there that evaluate the impact of contraceptives on how the body responds to infections beyond sexually transmitted diseases,’ says study leader Sabra L. Klein, PhD, an associate professor in the Bloomberg School’s Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology. ‘Understanding the role that progesterone appears to play in repairing lung cells could really be important for women’s health. When women go on birth control, they don’t generally think about the health implications beyond stopping ovulation, and it’s important to consider them.’

The World Health Organization (WHO) has already listed hormonal contraceptives as an essential medication because of the profound benefits these compounds can have on women’s health by widening the interval between pregnancies, including decreased rates of maternal mortality and improved outcomes for babies and children.

For their research, Klein and her colleagues placed progesterone implants in female mice and left other mice, also female, without. The mice were then infected with influenza A virus. Both sets of mice became ill, but those with implants had less pulmonary inflammation and better lung function and saw the damage to their lung cells repaired more quickly.

The researchers found that progesterone was protective against the more serious effects of the flu by increasing the production of a protein called amphiregulin by the cells lining the lungs. When the researchers bred mice that were depleted of amphiregulin, the protective effects of progesterone disappeared as well. Klein says she was not surprised that progesterone lessened the inflammation and damage associated with the flu. What she didn’t expect was to find that progesterone also helped induce repair.

When female mice (and possibly humans) get sick with the flu, their natural levels of progesterone fall. Women on hormonal contraceptives – be it a birth control pill, intrauterine device (IUD) or injection – get a steadier level of progesterone, which overrides what the ovaries make naturally or what the virus takes away during infection.

Klein says there is no scientific data to date showing whether progesterone in humans has any relationship to flu severity, since no researchers have asked those questions. Building on this research, Klein says researchers at the Johns Hopkins Center of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance doing flu surveillance have added questions about specific forms of birth control to their questionnaires so they can get a better idea of how this protective effect may work in humans.

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health www.jhsph.edu/news/news-releases/2016/female-sex-hormone-may-protect-women-from-worst-effects-of-the-flu.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feedpercent3A+JHSPHNews+percent28Public+Health+News+Headlines+from+Johns+Hopkinspercent29

DGIST announced that Professor Kyung-in Jang’s research team from the Department of Robotics Engineering succeeded in developing bio-signal measuring electrodes that can be mounted on Internet of Things (IoT) devices through joint research with a research team led by professor John Rogers of the University of Illinois, USA.

The bio-signal measuring electrodes developed by the research team can be easily mounted on IoT devices for health diagnosis, thus they can measure bio-signals such as brain waves and electrocardiograms without additional analysis and measurement equipment while not interfering or restricting human activities.

Conventional hydro-gel based electrodes required external analysis and measurement devices to measure bio-signals due to their pulpy gel forms, which made their attachment to and detachment from IoT devices instable. In addition, since these electrodes were wet-bonded to the skin, there have been disadvantages that the characteristics of the electrodes deteriorated or their performance decreased when the electrodes were dried in the air over a long period.

In contrast, the electrodes developed by Professor Kyung-in Jang can be easily interlocked as if they are a part of IoT devices for health diagnosis. Also, since they are composed only of polymer and metal materials, they have the advantage of there being no possibility of drying in the air.

Long-term usability with wireless EMG recording. Data captured using a) a hydrogel electrode and b) soft, folded magnetic electrode. Each red triangle indicates a specific point of muscle contraction of the flexor carpi radialis of the forearm.

The bio-signal measurement electrodes developed by the research team consist of a composite material in which a magnetic material is folded with a soft and adhesive polymer, with a conductive electrode material wrapped around the composite material. The conductive electrode material electrically connects the bottom surface touching the skin and the top surface touching the electrode of the IoT device.

Electrodes with this structure reacting to the magnetic field can be easily attached and detached by using the attraction that occurs between the magnet and the electrode mounted on the IoT devices. Then, through the conductive electrode materials that connect the skin and the electrode part of the IoT device, the electric signals generated on the skin can be directly transmitted to the IoT device for health diagnosis.

The research team succeeded in storing and analyzing brain waves (electroencephalogram, EEG), electrocardiograms (ECG), eye movements (electrooculogram, EOG), and limb movements and muscle contractions (electromyogram, EMG) of the wearer for a long period through an experiment in which IoT devices with the electrodes are attached to various parts of the human body.

The bio-signal measurement electrodes can measure the bioelectric signal generated from the skin without loss or noise by using the IoT platform, thus they are expected to be applicable to the medical and healthcare fields since they cannot only measure the electrical signals of the body, but also analyze various forms of bio-signals such as body temperature change, skin change, and in-body ion concentration change.

DGIST en.dgist.ac.kr/site/dgist_eng/menu/508.do?siteId=dgist_eng&snapshotId=3&pageId=429&cmd=read&contentNo=33460

A Yale-led team of researchers developed a new approach to scanning the brain for changes in synapses that are associated with common brain disorders. The technique may provide insights into the diagnosis and treatment of a broad range of disorders, including epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, depression and Parkinson’s disease.
Certain changes in synapses – the junctions between nerve cells in the brain – have been linked with brain disorders. But researchers have only been able to evaluate synaptic changes during autopsies. For their study, the research team set out to develop a method for measuring the number of synapses, or synaptic density, in the living brain.
To quantify synapses throughout the brain, professor of radiology and biomedical imaging Richard Carson and his co-authors combined PET scanning technology with biochemistry. They developed a radioactive tracer that, when injected into the body, binds with a key protein that is present in all synapses across the brain. They observed the tracer through PET imaging and then applied mathematical tools to quantify synaptic density. The researchers used the imaging technique in both baboons and humans. They confirmed that the new method did serve as a marker for synaptic density. It also revealed synaptic loss in three patients with epilepsy compared to healthy individuals.
‘This is the first time we have synaptic density measurement in live human beings,’ said Carson, who is senior author on the study. ‘Up to now any measurement of synaptic density was post-mortem.’
The finding has several potential applications. With this non-invasive method, researchers may be able to follow the progression of many brain disorders, including epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease, by measuring changes in synaptic density over time. Another application may be in assessing how pharmaceuticals slow the loss of neurons. ‘This opens the door to follow the natural evolution of synaptic density with normal aging and follow how drugs can alter synapses or synapse formation.’

Yale University http://tinyurl.com/hnrz9y8

A baby’s skull is made of several plates of bone that fuse together over time to form a single structure. Previous research has shown that approximately one in 2,000 babies have plates that fuse too early – a condition called craniosynostosis – causing cranial deformities that can lead to learning impairments and other neurodevelopmental problems. Craniofacial surgeons across the country differ on when surgical intervention is needed for some abnormalities. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri School of Medicine are recommending a new method to help determine when surgery is needed.

‘Children with a condition known as metopic craniosynostosis develop a vertical ridge in their foreheads due to a premature fusing of the cranium’s frontal bones,’ said Arshad Muzaffar, MD, professor in the Division of Plastic Surgery at the MU School of Medicine and senior author of the study. ‘This can create increased pressure on the brain that can lead to neurodevelopmental disorders and learning problems. However, depending on the severity of the skull abnormality, recommendations on when to surgically intervene vary among craniofacial surgeons. At MU, we take a multidisciplinary approach that incorporates a measurement known as cephalic width-intercoronal distance ratio.”

The study included 104 infants diagnosed with metopic craniosynostosis and who received CT scans at MU between 2006 and 2012. The children were divided into two groups: those who were recommended for surgery and those who were recommended for close observation. The babies’ skull development was evaluated using five existing standard cranial measurements.

In addition to these standard measurements, the researchers evaluated the cephalic width-intercoronal distance ratio, which indicates how narrow the front of the skull is compared to the back. When the ratio is above a certain value, the measurement shows a potential need for surgery. The measurement can be performed at no additional cost to the patient.

Muzaffar cautioned, however, that the ratio should not be the only factor when making a decision about surgery. Instead, it should be used as one component of a suite of data gathered from a comprehensive, multidisciplinary evaluation which, when taken together, helps the team make recommendations regarding the need for surgical treatment.

‘While it may not be a suitable measurement for all craniosynostosis patients, in certain cases in which the premature fusion of the frontal bones is not as pronounced, surgeons can benefit by adding the cephalic width-intercoronal distance ratio to their evaluation,’ said Muzaffar, who also serves as the director of craniofacial and pediatric plastic surgery at MU. ‘We feel this is another tool to help treatment centers around the country make surgical decisions in cases that do not present a clear course of action. It is a quick, easy-to-perform objective measurement that provides extra insight to ensure patients receive care at the most appropriate time.’

University of Missouri School of Medicine medicine.missouri.edu/news/20160926-measurement-helps-craniofacial-surgeons.php

New light-based technologies that facilitate a ‘look inside’ the human body using light – and without cutting into the tissue – promise to enable both compact, wearable devices for point-of-care diagnostics as well as powerful new systems that provide even more information and from even deeper under the skin.
Recent work and visionary future directions are detailed in a new open-access article by Antonio Pifferi and colleagues at the Politecnico di Milano and Istituto di Fotonica e Nanotechnologie CNR .
The article is part of a special section on Clinical Near-Infrared Spectroscopy and Imaging under Guest Editors Marco Ferrari (Universita degli Studi dell Aquila), Joseph Culver (Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis), Yoko Hoshi (Hamamatsu University School of Medicine), and Heidrun Wabnitz (Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt).
The desirability of noninvasively probing human tissues and their functions has sparked new physical concepts, theoretical models, instruments, measurement approaches, and applications, note the authors in ‘New frontiers in time-domain diffuse optics.’
We are at the dawn of the next generation of time-domain systems, with a breakthrough in performance, size, cost, and flexibility that has the potential for great impact on new and widespread applications, the authors assert. This breakthrough is enabled by impressive advancements in single-photon detection boosted by high-energy physics and positron-emission tomography systems.
In diffuse optical imaging, light is injected into the surface of a medium, such as the body. The light signal is re-emitted elsewhere on the surface and analysed as to how it has changed. The analysis yields information about the chemical composition of the tissues, their densities, and other aspects.
The simplest methods compare continuous-wave properties of the original signal and the re-emitted light.
Systems that also analyse frequency or time changes in the light signal provide additional data. Current state-of-the-art methods use technologies that enable time-to-digital conversion of the signal, providing even more detail.
Wearable time-domain devices already have been developed for continuous-wave systems, enabling studies in breast cancer detection, brain mapping, muscle monitoring, and non-invasive assessment of lipids, bone, and collagen. Time-domain techniques have also been used in non-destructive characterization of food, wood, pharmaceuticals, and semiconductor powers.
Over the next 20 years researchers envision that such systems will become smaller, making feasible their integration into wearable devices, and smarter, increasing their overall accuracy in detecting and identifying tissue components.
Future devices could be used in brain monitors or muscle oximeters, even for in vivo detection of the brain function during motor or cognitive tasks.
‘What makes the future technology unique is its potential to probe noninvasively and in greater depth into human functions and chemical composition, yet with simple personal appliances usable at home and compatible with normal life,’ Pifferi said. Currently unreachable organs and functions would be accessible, including the heart.
Quite surprisingly, Pifferi noted, after the thermometer and the blood pressure meter, not many other diagnostic devices for personal healthcare have been brought into the home.
‘The new smart sensors, interacting in the ambient environment and transmitting hidden internal information over the cloud, will populate the Internet of Things to the benefit of clinical, industrial, and consumer-level applications,’ he said.

SPIE http://tinyurl.com/j3v43kn