Nitric oxide to the rescue--again--with premature infants

Nearly one in ten premature babies born in the Scranton PA area have a defective oxygen-delivery mechanism, according to a local online news source. The writer says that inhaling nitric oxide gas can make such babies better, faster, and avoid "the alternative - a surgical procedure that opens the jugular vein to use a heart-lung machine." Doctors say more babies will survive this type of problem without long-term effects as NO gas relaxes certain lung cells, allowing them to help get oxygen into the bloodstream.

As a mother, I am always excited about the idea of finding treatment approaches that help the child with as little trauma as possible. And the fact that NO gives premature infants a better chance of avoiding developmental problems is good news--(see here), though clearly it's not without risks and must be used judiciously with babies who meet certain criteria (and here).

A reader has suggested that the two treatments are not equivalent. (See comments to this entry.) The original story stated that this use of NO would give some parents the choice to save their premature babies from having to endure ventilator surgery. Even if it turns out not to be as ground-breaking as it seemed, still we're heading in the right direction anytime we work on replacing surgery with non-invasive approaches.

Aside: Hospitals are beginning to realize that giving close attention to parents during the birth process can create an emotional bond that will tend to make the family choose that hospital for a lifetime of services.

The fine line - and crying wolf

So much in medications and treatments comes down to walking a fine line between healing and hurting. Today we see this about the powerful ability of cannabis to relieve severe pain and insomnia in advanced cases of multiple sclerosis, along with a lengthy explanation of the known bad effects of using "weed"--which include its propensity to reveal previously unrecognized psychotic conditions and illnesses in the user that might never have shown up under any other conditions.

The worry is that people who want to continue using marijuana will hear the good and ignore the bad. By constantly printing lists of potentially damaging side effects of various substances, the media could be dulling the public's ability to notice. Certainly if you use a certain substance and don't experience any of the side effects listed for it, your tendency is going to be to discount what you read about it anywhere else.

I know I started getting turned off after the first reports saying how bad caffeine was for you were countered shortly aftwards by a round saying it was good for you. Same thing with eggs and cholesterol. After open-heart surgery my father suffered several years of foregoing one of his favorite foods--only to be told by his doctor one day that, well, cholesterol wasn't all that big a deal after all. Dad was livid.

...and maybe some other people's trust in media "health" reports went into the toilet along with mine.

Got a bright nano-idea?

And no, the title doesn't mean a really tiny idea. If you're into nanotechnology--whether you're a scientist or a business person--and you've got a great idea for how to create a new product or service related to this burgeoning field, today you can feel encouraged--a few from the group of people invited from around the world who submitted their ideas this year are each going to walk away with about 10 grand today.

The 16 finalists in the International Nanotechnology Business Idea Competition are gathering at Case Western Reserve's Dively Center to see who takes home the prize money. It should be fascinating listening to their presentations (going on right now til about noon). If you're in Cleveland and you'd still like to run down there and listen, visit this site or call Suzette at 216.368.0598.

Getting tinier and tinier--nano for optical lithography

At an international conference in Cleveland, Ohio this week, nanoscientists from around the world are meeting with nano-lovers from industry and academia. One of the speakers during aerospace day technical sessions mentioned nano-geo-bio-chemistry--talk about your cross-functional sciences--being able to determine how a small item found in a cave affects the evolution of the earth. He then went on--in dulcet descriptions of complex formulae that only fellow scientists could hope to decipher--to describe in great detail his company's nano-work in optical lithography. I didn't have a clue what optical lithography was, so in case you don't either, maybe this from an IBM research website will help.

An audience member asked the speaker (thank God) to say what this could mean in real-world applications. "Beyond semiconductors and photonics," he said, they are "concentrating light in higher density than existing techniques for LEDs [possibly for those outdoor electronic billboards popping up everywhere--and creating traffic hazarads if you ask me] and other major applications." The nanochannels he showed will "make things for medical diagnosis and repair." Now we're talking...

But ethical considerations were on everyone's minds. Many questions from the audience related to what's being done to control the new variety of contamination that nanoparticle dust will unquestionably cause. No one had any answers--just that everyone's aware of the potential danger. More here.

How do you find the resources you need?

If your region--like so many others--is touting itself as a hotbed for bioscience, where do you go when you need something? Is there one organization that serves as a central resource? Or are there lots of them that you must identify and then develop relationships with?

In Northeast Ohio, for example, several organizations split up the duties of providing resources, contacts, and references for startups and other entrepreneurial ventures. Then they put together another organization to try to bring some unity and organization to the many. That one, called Team NEO, sort of "hosts" some of the others on its website thus:

Jumpstart
Nortech
Bioenterprise
Commercial Real Estate
Northeast Ohio Video--these last two links being to the organization's own internal real estate and video businesses, an unusual practice for a group that's supposed to represent its region.

But at an event a few weeks ago, attendees discovered there are even more organizations. NEOBio co-hosted the event with the above organization, and another presenter, NEO411.biz, said it offered still another place for entrepreneurs to get information. A dizzying array of places to go, each offering a very broad description of services.

One attendee said afterwards that it had taken him two years of rooting around to discover all the information that was presented. In the process, he said he'd built his own network of contacts. He also said though the presentation was informative, he wished that it had contained more tangibles about products and/or services that might fit the needs of his medical equipment company. Read more about MedXS and Northeast Ohio here.

It's not easy putting together an organization that will serve the bioscience community thoroughly and fairly. With so many competing to be "the leader" in the local industry, the job gets even more complicated.

Politics dictates "opinion" - is the globe really warming?

It's really funny to read reports about huge global phenomena that the vast majority of scientists have agreed upon and find various pundits commenting that it's too early to tell, who knows, this is not definitive evidence, etc. Apparently, they take this position because what appears to be the only solution--requiring wealthy businesses to take an immediate revenue hit by curbing their emissions-producing activities--is something these folks don't want to be found guilty of.

Let's take the long view, guys. Do you want your great-grandchildren to have to live in a world that's regularly so hot they can't be outside? Can't we all make a little bit less money for a few years while we invest in finding alternate ways of creating what we need? I worry that we will wait so long before we admit that we must change our ways, that the pollution will grow so serious and the air so bad that we might lose--or even maybe never have--some of those great grandchildren.

Diesel fuel doesn't just cost more...

New study done over time suggests that both long- and short-term exposure to diesel and other fuels and pollutants, when combined with higher levels of stress, are causing we humans to experience more respiratory illnesses--and making people with asthma significantly worse.

One study did tests for toxicity of particulate matter in Seattle, Denver, Mesa and other cities. It tested for short-term exposure effects on mortality, hospitalization, inflammation, cardiac function and asthma control--and for long-term effects on artherosclerosis and cardiac incidents. Another tested multiple U.S. and European cities.

As the populations of big cities around the world grow ever larger, the traffic congestion ever worse, and the resulting particulate matter ever denser, we humans have to start thinking hard about whether we want to control our populations by making more people get sick, have heart attacks, etc. (this approach will really add up in costs to society), or whether we want to start thinking about new ways of looking at how we get around and how we manufacture.

Those little paper masks from the medical supply store aren't the most attractive fashion statements--and we won't be able to see each other smile.

Nano-tech seminars for entrepreneurs, marketers and VC

NanoWeek is kicking off in Cleveland, Ohio, this month--and the NanoAppSummit is October 17 to 19 at the downtown Wyndham Hotel. Today the promoters announced that interested parties can attend educational seminars about nanotechnology, the hottest new science this side of stem cells. Here's the curriculum:

• Nanotechnology 101- What You Need to Know
Case Western Reserve University
• Nanofabrication techniques
Pennsylvania State University
• Nano-Characterization Tools and Techniques
FEI Corporation
• NanoMaterials and Nanopolymer Basics
University of Akron
• Ethical Considerations in Nanotechnology
Office of Naval Research & Kent State University
• NanoPhotonics Applications
Ohio State University and the Center for Multifunctional NanoMaterials and Devices (CMPND)
• Measurement Considerations in Nanoscale Systems
Keithley Instruments

Nanotech University is designed for business executives, research and development leaders, product and marketing specialists, and venture capitalists interested in investing in nanotechnology start-up and portfolio companies. Read more and register here.

The Nano-App Summit takes place during NANO Week--review other activities here.

HeartMath for the dying?

I've been away from using the Freeze Framer for "achieving heart coherence" for the past couple of weeks--too much running around. Earlier it had occurred to me that a biofeedback mechanism like this might be useful for helping terminal cancer patients overcome anxiety--one of many symptoms common to dying patients.

But I realized that this exercise takes solid concentration and the ability to focus your attention on a couple of things at once--the very things that would likely be difficult for anyone in pain or heavily medicated as many dying patients may be. And I realized that if I get afraid to do it--because I feel insecure about my performance--how would people so intensely engaged in facing the greatest challenge of their lives ever be able to focus?

But I still wish they could do some research.

The anguish of animal research

It starts out ominously. "By day three, he knew the monkeys were going to die."

Ebola virus vaccine research has taken tremendous patience--and a lot of monkeys' lives. This Washington Post story describes the drama of how scientists whose passion for finding an answer keeps them doggedly pursuing this dangerous research--wearing clumsy protective blue plastic suits pumped full of non-deadly air and working with gloved hands. No conversation. Just follow the procedures.

The description of watching the monkeys succumb to the horrible virus is painful to read. I cannot but imagine that the researchers feel the same sadness as you or I might, and sometimes must struggle in their hearts over killing these fellow creatures.

But perhaps some of them may be like the Indian in the opening scene of--I think it was--The Last of the Mohicans. As the movie opens, the camera is the eye of the Indian brave out hunting. It follows along as a deer moves through the nearby trees. When the deer pauses to listen, the camera watches as the brave raises his bow and draws back the arrow. He steadies his aim, and we hear his thoughts speak a reverent prayer:

"Forgive me, my brother. I bless you and thank you for sharing your flesh to sustain me."