#156 Scar mark by a cut (1) (English)

Scar mark by a cut 

The healing process of a cut can be distinguished into 3 periods as following:

Although there are some cases when healing process does delay, normally it lasts approximately 21 days. As shown in the graph, there are consecutive processes – hemostasis and coagulation, inflammation, epithelization, proliferation, and maturation – for the complete heal.

1. Hemostasis and inflation

This is when the tissues that have been damaged either due to the harm or necrosis and foreign substances are removed. This is the most important step that ultimately influences the subsequent treatments. This process can be easily understood by comparing to a situation wherein a wall is broken down, and to restore it, one has to clean and organize the place. To proceed this step, the body produces several kinds of inflammatory cells that secrete substances that induce the growth of new tissues.

2. Mesenchymal cell migration and proliferation, angiogenesis, epithelialization

Mesenchymal cell moves to the wound and proliferates. This cell promotes growth of new blood vessels and differentiation of cells in the skin epithelium layer. Consequently, the wound is covered by the epithelium.

3. Collagen synthesis, wound contraction, proteoglycan synthesis

During this step, the granulation tissue is newly synthesized. Fibrosis blast cell is transported towards the site of the wound and synthesize collagen fiber, which is one of the crucial connective tissues. Also, proteoglycan, fibronectin and elastin are also synthesized. Hence, during this process, the extension strength of the skin of the wound increases abruptly. Simultaneously, the scar of the wound initiates to soar.

4. Wound remodel

The inflammatory cells are removed and vascularization and fibrosis progress halts. During this step, the collagen fiber undergoes both synthesis and atrophy. As the collagen synthesis augments, the scar is excessively formed, causing a dark red protrusion. After 6 months, the collagen fiber is reorganized incrementally, leading to a decrease in the proteoglycan, which pressures the blood vessels making the scar fade. If the red scar is present continuously as its soared state, it is known as the hypertrophic scar. Furthermore, if the scar proliferates even beyond the wound site, it is called keloid.

To sum up, a scar is healed as it matures after inflammation and epithelialization. During the inflammation, the bleeding is stopped, and the cells required for healing moves to the wound site. Then, the skin epithelium is reproduced during epithelialization. In proliferation, for the derma to maintain the tension, the extension strength of the wound site is strengthened. At last, in maturation, the tissue is the derma is rearranged to return to its original condition. To prevent the wound from leaving a scar, suitable treatments must be undergone for each step to minimize the ache and the scar.

LCY

#155 Why Go Vegan? (English)

Veganism is essentially the choice to abstain from any consumption of animal by products. This concerns the clothes you wear, the items you use on a day to day basis, and most importantly the food you put into your body. This post is designated to going over the main reasons people decide to go vegan, and why it’s not as bad as most people make it out to seem! Just a disclaimer: WE DO NOT EAT GRASS ALL DAY.

Health and nutrition

Veganism has been proven to have several benefits concerning health. Both meat and dairy products have high amounts of saturated fat which can cause cardiovascular problems. Reducing saturated fats means a healthier heart and life! Vegan diets are also typically high in fibre which is great to fight colon cancer as it leads to healthier bowel movements. These are just two factors which are improved through switching to veganism concerning diet and health. Several other diseases are prevented too, if you don’t believe me then look it up!

Environmental protection

As most of you know, climate change is a serious problem and will slowly destroy our planet if we don’t do anything to help. Diet is a huge part of global warming. Industrialized animal farming is a huge factor which needs to be taken more seriously. In order to be able to produce such large amounts of meat and dairy thanks to mass consumption around the world, land has to be clear. This environmental degradation ultimately means that there is less land and less trees. Trees are extremely important as we rely on them to convert our carbon dioxide into oxygen. Without trees, carbon dioxide levels will rise leading to a further rise in global temperatures. In order to prevent the harsh effects of climate change, the world really needs to reconsider diet and mass farming. Even one person stopping the consumption of animal by-products can help.

Of course there are several other reasons to take up a vegan diet concerning morality, social justice and basic logic. Diet, health and environmental reasons however are the most related to biology. If you are interested in reading more about veganism and why you should consider a change of life style, simply search it up. You won’t be disappointed! One last thing, following a vegan diet is not bland or restricting in anyway like most people seem to think. In fact, it opens many people up to actually being able to experience variety in their life. Hopefully this post provided you with some helpful information and maybe even an incentive to change your ways for the greater good! GO GREEN.

	McA

#154 Cramps... (English)

Cramps…

Have you ever been trying to relax when suddenly, out of nowhere, you get the worst cramp for no reason? Well you’re not alone. There’s a reason for getting such cramps and ways you can prevent them, so if you want to know more about those pesky cramps keep reading!

First of all, let’s just clarify what a muscle cramp is so that we’re all on the same page. A muscle cramp is sudden, involuntary contraction of your muscle. Usually these can occur in your abdominal wall, your arms and also your hands and feet. These cramps usually cause intense pain for as long as 15 minutes!

Cramps can be caused through the overuse of your muscles while you’re exercising, but for those of you who tend to sit around all day long (no shame in that) they can also be result of muscle injury or dehydration. Dehydration happens when you lose lots of fluids and through this excess loss you risk losing vital mineral which contribute to healthy muscle function. These minerals include calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium, hence why most people will recommend eating a banana or two before a work out! Another common cause of cramps is low blood supply to your legs and feet when you’re exercising. If you have bad circulation you may be more prone to muscle cramps.

Before you start worrying, muscle cramps are not harmful! They usually don’t require any medical attention and will go away in no time at all. If, however, they seem abnormally extreme and do not improve you may want to consult a doctor. This could be a sign of a medical condition.

Some quick fixes for soothing your muscle cramp it’s good to apply a hot or cold compress. Heating pads, ice and hot or cold cloths will all do the job nicely. Stretching is also I good way to alleviate the pain. If none of these seem to be working, taking an anti-inflammatory may also help to stretch the sore muscle. Muscle relaxers can also help if you feel like sudden cramps are interrupting your sleep.

Finally, muscle cramps can be prevented by always remembering to stretch before you exercise, lowering your intake of caffeine, drinking enough water to avoid dehydration and making sure you’re getting enough of those vital minerals!

McA

#153 The Dangers of Incomplete Network of Arteries in the Brain (English)

The Dangers of Incomplete Network of Arteries in the Brain

[ScienceDaily: Migraines associated with variations in structure of brain arteries]

Complete Circle of Willis

Migraine is a primary headache disorder that mainly affects one of half of the head. There is no definite theory to fully explain the exact causes of migraine but known several symptoms: frequent changes in mood or sensation, visual or auditory disturbances, and headaches. University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine claims that the variations in arterial anatomy lead to asymmetry of the cerebral blood flow that triggers migraines. The ideal cerebral blood flow would be the complete circle of Willis, which portrays a definite symmetry. In the incomplete circle of Willis, there is an absence of anterior communicating artery and posterior communicating arteries. As the migraine patients were likely to have incomplete circle of Willis, according to the magnetic resonance angiography, the scientists induced that the fundamental cause of migraine may be associated to the incompleteness of the circle of Willis.

B: Complete Circle of Willis
C: Incomplete Circle of Willis
© University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

Circle of Willis is the arterial anastomosis at the base of the brain, which covers over 80% of the cerebrum, supplying blood to the brain. The incomplete circle of Willis can lead to abnormal neuronal signals owing to the structural alterations of the blood supply. In fact, there is a study illustrating the relationship between measurements of blood oxygenation and neuronal activity. In other words, in the change of the brain vessel structure, the blood flow will also change, and hence the oxygen saturation in asymmetrical circle of Willis will lead to changes in the neuronal activity. Also, migraine suffering patients showed absence of anterior communicating artery and posterior communicating arteries.

Anterior communicating artery is especially closely located to the optic nerve. The absence of such artery could cause degradation of neural optic signals, which explains the visual disturbance – main migraine symptoms. Posterior communicating arteries are the lower half of the circle of Willis. This joins the basilar artery, which divides into two vertebral arteries. The absence of these arteries will fail to supply oxygenated blood into the occipital lobe, which is the visual processing center.

KSJ

#152 Cascara de banano y el cancer de piel (Español)

Cascara de banano y el cancer de piel

Tal vez te parezca extraño, pero la cáscara de la banana tiene que ver con tu piel mucho más de lo que probablemente te imaginas.

Tanto es así que incluso podría jugar un papel fundamental en la detección temprana del cáncer de piel, la forma más común de la enfermedad, según los datos de la Sociedad Americana contra El Cáncer

Los científicos dicen que las manchas negras que se forman en la piel de las bananas maduras tienen una enzima que también desarrollan quienes sufren cáncer de piel, lo cual podría favorecer a un diagnóstico sencillo y rápido de este tipo de enfermedad.

Y no sólo se lograría detectar antes la enfermedad, sino también aumentar las posibilidades de supervivencia.

¿Cómo es esto posible?

Una extraña coincidencia entre la piel de los humanos y la cáscara de la banana que podría ser la clave para diagnosticar cáncer de piel.

Cuando las bananas maduran, su piel queda cubierta de pequeñas manchas oscuras causadas por una enzima llamada tirosinasa.

La aparición de las manchas tiene lugar por el mal funcionamiento de la enzima y, en el caso de la piel humana, ésta puede alterar la pigmentación, que protege a nuestro cuerpo de irritantes (inflamaciones) y toxinas.

Y si esta misma enzima se presenta en la piel humana en grandes cantidades, provoca el desarrollo de melanoma, el tipo de cáncer de piel más peligroso.

Los científicos observaron la similitud entre la piel humana y la de la banana, y crearon una herramienta de diagnóstico. A través de un escáner estudiaron las manchas de las cáscaras de banana, que son, aproximadamente, del mismo tamaño que los melanomas de la piel humana.

Tras probarlo en la banana, aplicaron el escáner en tejidos de piel humana.

Y las conclusiones de los investigadores de la EPFL fueron que la enzima de la banana es un indicador fiable del crecimiento del melanoma. Trabajando con la fruta se desarrolló y probo un método de diagnóstico antes de aplicarlo en muestras humanas con el que se pudo detectar la presencia y la cantidad de estas enzimas.

El escáner tiene ocho electrodos diminutos, espaciados entre sí como si púas de dientes que "peinan" la piel para medir la cantidad y distribución de tirosinasas.

De acuerdo con el estudio, en la etapa más temprana (etapa 1) del cáncer de piel, la enzima apenas está presente y se distribuye de manera más uniforme en la etapa 2, para hacerlo de forma desigual en la etapa 3, cuando el cáncer ya comenzó a extenderse a otras partes del cuerpo.

Con esta herramienta se puede detectar las fases 2 y 3 de melanoma y utilizarlo para diagnosticar la fase 4.

AAM

#151 The Fundamental Stage of Human Development: Embryo Implantation (English)

The Fundamental Stage of Human Development: Embryo Implantation
[Science Daily: New method allows first look at key stage of human development, embryo implantation]

Embryo implantation indicates the arrival of the of the blastocyst on the functional layer of endometrium after 5 days after ovulation or fertilization as the result of the coordination between ovulation and endometrial development.

A human embryo 12 days after fertilization in vitro
Copyright. The Rockefeller University

Despite significant development in the biomedical field, the mechanism of the molecular and cellular processes in human development that occurs 14 days after fertilization was a conundrum. In fact, Ali Brivanlou, head of the Laboratory of Stem Cell Biology, coined the blastocyst as "a complete black box". However, the scientists in the Rockfeller University successfully realized the process of implantation in the laboratory from creating the optimum chemical environment for the blastocysts, which provided the appropriate scaffolding for the implementation to occur. As a result, scientists were to attain the opportunity to solve such riddles like early pregnancy loss, which is like "sheding light inside that box".

The implantation process that occurred outside the human uterus demonstrated things beyond what scientists expected. In fact, this process confirmed the variations between species owing to the different development compared to the model system that was based on mouse embryology. Also, the scientists observed the staggering phenomenon called self-organization. For instance, the water molecules would form a symmetrical shape without any external force, which is definitely going against the nature of increasing antropy. Although self-organization do occur in human embryonic stem cells, it is to be discovered in virtue of this experiment that self-organization appear in the context of a whole human embryo. Thus, human embryo can develop in the complete absence of maternal input for the first 12 days, and this observation controverts to the preexisting theory that implantation is triggered by molecular crosstalk.

It is a promising experiment as it complied with the international bioethical guidelines. In fact, this experiment provided the scaffolding for the reexamination of the 14-day limitation rule to be varied based on the different types of embryo research and their pros and cons. Moreover, the Rockefeller research team laid emphasis on the importance to educate the public and abide by the ethical consensus when proceeding this research. The successful materialization of the human embryo implantation process in an experimental setting is evidently going to act as a catalyst in grasping the causes of the disorders such as early pregnancy losses and birth defects.

New method allows first look at key stage of human development, embryo implantation. Science daily. Rockfeller University. 4 May, 2016. Web. 8 May, 2016
<https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160504141444.htm>
Mescher, AL. Junqueira's Basic Histology: Text and Atlas, 12th Edition. The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Web. 8 May, 2016 <https://www.accessmedicine.com>

KSJ

#150 The Spleen (English)

The Spleen

The spleen is one of the largest organs in the lymphatic system. It is a brown, flat and oval shaped organ that filters and stores blood to protect the body from infections and blood loss.

Location

The spleen is located between the stomach and the diaphragm in the left hypochondriac region of the abdominal body cavity, protected by the ribs. It is delivered oxygenated blood by the splenic artery, which branches off from the aorta and the celiac trunk. The splenic vein carries deoxygenated blood away.

Structure

The spongy inner tissue of the spleen contains blood vessels and hollow sinuses to store blood, which it can release into circulation when the body has been injured and additional blood is needed. Platelets are also stored with the blood to help form blood clots if needed and to prevent further blood loss.

Functions

Around the vessels and sinuses are regions of red pulp and white pulp. The red pulp regions contain reticular fibers that filter old blood cells from the blood flowing through the spleen. The captured cells are digested and leftover iron and hemoglobin are recycled. The zone between the red and white pulp acts as a filter to capture pathogens in the blood and pass them on to the white pulp. The white pulp, made of lymphatic tissue containing macrophages, T lymphocytes, and B lymphocytes destroys pathogens in the blood and produce antibodies. During certain infections the spleen may enlarge due to the increase in stored white blood cells, captured pathogens and antibodies.

Importance

The spleen is not a vital organ, meaning that its functions are useful, but not essential for life. In its absence, red bone marrow, the liver and the lymph nodes can do the same filtration and blood recycling functions of the spleen. Because it is not one of the vital organs it is soft, spongy and vascular. This means that any damaged caused to the spleen is usually treated by it’s entire removal. Untreated damage to the spleen could result in internal hemorrhaging and eventual death.

SJS