Archive | January 2010
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Linkage 1/29 – The Prion’s Job & Antivax Smackdown
A Place for Prions We previously discussed the bizarre infectious proteins called prions in the context of kuru, the disease of muscle tremors and uncontrollable laughter spread by cannibalistic rituals in Papua New Guinea. In diseases such as kuru or mad cow disease, abnormal prion proteins wreak havoc by binding to native prions and other […]
University of Chicago Medical Center Launches Haiti Response
More than two weeks after the earthquake that devastated the Caribbean nation of Haiti, the situation remains a humanitarian crisis as hundreds of thousands of injured and homeless seek treatment and shelter. There are more and more signs of hope: Hundreds of millions of dollars have been donated from around the world, some semblance of […]
Mapping Why Lupus Discriminates
As discussed yesterday, lupus is not an equal-opportunity disease. Ninety percent of lupus cases occur in women, the disease is three times more likely to affect African-American women than Caucasian women, and lupus is more common and severe in other minority populations as well. Given that the general cause of lupus remains unknown, the reason […]
Dr. FAQ: Tammy Utset on Lupus
Autoimmune disorders are a strange type of disease, a case where the body’s biology isn’t breaking down but rather is functioning too well. In disorders such as Type I diabetes, arthritis and multiple sclerosis, the body’s natural defenses stage something of an internal coup, mistakenly attacking the body’s own tissues instead of viral or bacterial […]
A Wider Net for Catching Proteins
Most people who have spent any length of time in a laboratory know the pain and frustration of Western blots. There’s probably a little bit of PTSD in every cell biologist related to gels falling apart, leaky electrophoresis chambers, or bands that should be there but aren’t, causing you to wonder which of the preceding […]
Linkage 1/22: Gamer Brain & Climate Calamity
Videogame Learning & Brain Size Many a member of the older generations will tell you how video games are rotting our children’s brains, turning kids into button-pushing, drooling zombies. Such warnings linger on despite the fact that my generation – the one that desperately wanted a Nintendo for Christmas – turned out pretty okay…though obviously […]
Learning to Love Health Care Spending
One of the major goals of the health care reform effort that has dominated political discussion for the past year has been reining in medical spending. Oft quoted is the fact that U.S. health care expenditures have tripled since 1990, that the health care industry comprises a whopping 16% of U.S. GDP, and that each […]
Easing the Transition from Orphanhood
One of the unfathomably tragic numbers to come from last week’s earthquake in Haiti last week is the estimate about the number of orphans the disaster created. As many as tens of thousands of children may have been orphaned by the earthquake, according to United Nations estimates, a total that becomes even more shocking when […]
A Shaky Mouse & the Brain’s Power Cables
Myelin is the secret weapon of the nervous system, the insulation that allows neurons to transmit electrical signals at the speed of thought. Wrapping itself around the long projecting axons of neurons, myelin acts like the insulation on a power cable, allowing electricity to travel more efficiently down nerve cells that can stretch for several […]
Linkage 1/15: Poverty, Loneliness & Cancer
If you’ll forgive the light posting today, I’d like to direct you to an article that appeared this week on the website of New Scientist magazine by Peter Aldhous, “Poor Neighborhoods Can Kill.” Aldhous gives a broad overview of a collaboration here at the University of Chicago that we’ve only barely nibbled at here on […]
