How immune system's organ regenerates

A molecule called BMP4 that plays a key role in the thymus's extraordinary natural ability to recover from damage. Dr. Jarrod Dudakov of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, one of the study's leaders, talks about the importance of the thymus, the discoveries he and his colleagues have made about how it regenerates. The researchers hope to translate their work into new therapies to improve the function of the immune system in old age and make immunotherapies more effective.

The thymus is like a boot camp for new recruits to the immune system. From their birthplace in the bone marrow, immature white blood cells go to the thymus to mature into disease-killing machines. A healthy, active thymus gets you a diverse set of different T cells, each equipped to recognize and kill a slightly different foreign target. Thus, the organ is critical for a strong immune system that's ready to prevent any threat.

The thymus is sensitive to damage from everything from infections to life stress, it is also naturally resilient. Its power to bounce back from injury, however, fades with age, and it can take a serious hit from certain aggressive cancer therapies. BMP4, the molecule identified in the team's new study, is only the second known driver of natural thymic regeneration.

 The researchers found that BMP4 is produced by certain cells lining the inside of the organ. That molecule signals other cells of the thymus to turn on genes that promote development and repair.
Now, the team is working to figure out whether there's a master trigger that activates the whole regeneration process and then translate that knowledge into new therapies that help patients.
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Winter work out is better than summer sweat

According to personal trainers and exercise physiologists, the body's primary goal is to maintain stasis, or stability, and that includes keeping a steady temperature. In the cold, the body needs to burn extra fat, to produce energy to heat it back up to the ideal temperature.

Working out in the cold weather can shake off some extra calories. During the winter, the body ramps up its production of a chemical called ATLPL, which helps it to store up fat for the evolutionary scarce season, so staying active in the winter is important to counteracting that.

Working out in the cold makes it difficult for the body to stay warm and burn a ton of calories, the cold acts as a 'thermal stressor,' forcing the body's temperature regulation out of work. To keep the core, vital organs at the right temperature, blood flow to the extremities is reduced, and kept concentrated closer to the heart and internal organs.

The heart rate and metabolism slow, trying to save up energy and keep the warm blood in place. That's when the shivering starts. Those shakes are a series of fast muscle contractions and releases, a way for the body to produce some extra warmth by burning energy stored in fat.

When you get into a relatively consistent, high intensity workout - though you'll feel like you're working harder at first, against your slower heart rate and metabolism - the body begins warming up from more robust fat burning. As your heart rate rises, blood and warmth return to your hands, feet and other extremities, and shivering is no longer necessary.

Once you hit that point, you're burning calories as you would during exercise at any temperature. During the winter, the body crave extra simple carbohydrates found in sugary foods like baked goods and get vitamin D deficient spending too much time indoors. Getting some winter sun will boost your vitamin D to break those sweet indulgences.

Walking in moderately warm clothing on a cold day will keep the heart rate from getting high enough to cancel out the shivers, but enough activity is require for burning some fat for energy. Body temperature will be  lower when you are closer to the cold while playing in the snow, making the body ready to fight to stay warm.
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Implants that grow with children

Scientists have created medical implants for children which expand in tune with their natural growth.
Children with defects in the heart or other organs have had to undergo numerous heavy-duty operations throughout their lifetime to replace their life-saving implants.

The accommodating implant designed for use in a cardiac surgical procedure called a valve annuloplasty, which repairs a leaking heart. Children who undergo life-saving cardiac surgeries, such as mitral and tricuspid valve repairs, may require several additional surgeries over the course of their childhood to re-repair or replace leaking heart valves.

The growth-accommodating implant is meant to enhance the durability of pediatric heart valve repairs and accommodating a child's growth, decreasing the number of heart surgeries a child must endure.

Beyond cardiac repair, the research team says the tubular, expanding implant design used in their proof-of-concept could also be adapted for a variety of other growth-accommodating implants throughout the body. The implant design consists of two components: a degrading, biopolymer core and a braided, tubular sleeve that elongates over time in response to the tensile forces exerted by the surrounding growing tissue.

The polymer is made of components that exist in the human body, adjusting the polymer's composition can tune the core to degrade predictably over a pre-determined amount of time. This concept could be adapted for many different clinical applications, with exciting potential to be converted into an actively, rather than a passively - elongating structure that could act as a tissue scaffold growth.
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Type 1 diabetes can be treated under the skin

Researchers have demonstrated that the space under our skin might be an optimal location to treat type 1 diabetes T1D. Transplanting of healthy pancreatic cells under the skin to produce insulin for blood glucose regulation.

Insulin-making beta cells, located in regions of the pancreas known as pancreatic islets, are damaged in type 1 diabetes patients, implanting healthy new cells could restore insulin function.

Pancreatic islets are scattered throughout the pancreas in between other pancreatic cells that secrete digestive enzymes. The space under the skin has a large area so that it can support many islets.

Researchers injected healthy pancreatic islets under the skin and found that normal blood sugar levels could be restored within three weeks.

Pancreatic islets comprise one per cent of the pancreas, but require twenty percent of the blood flow to the organ, adequate blood flow to the islets will make it work properly.
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Testicular macrophages guard fertility

At birth, human immune system differentiate between native cells pathogenic cells. But in males, sperm develop at puberty, the sperm may be recognized as foreign cells by some elements of the immune system.

Testicular macrophages are immune cells that rush to the defense of sperm. By releasing specific molecules, these guardians of fertility prevent other immune system agents from getting to the testes.

Macrophages migrate to sites of infection and phagocytose pathogens. They also modulate immune system activity to ensure proper organ function and regeneration.

They may arise from embryonic progenitors or bone marrow cells in adults. The testis is divided into two compartments; one of testicular macrophage is in the interstitial spaces, where testosterone-producing Leydig cells are located.

These interstitial macrophages are of embryonic origin: they are present at birth. The other is peritubular - it is located on the surface of the seminiferous tubules that house sperm cell precursors.

Each macrophage population has distinctive cellular markers. The researchers used a new cell tracing method to follow the movement of peritubular macrophages from the bone marrow to the testes in mice.

They discovered that these macrophages only appear two weeks after the birth of mice, the same duration in human. Once they have been established in the testes, macrophages remain there for the rest of their lives.
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Tissues nanotransfection device

Researchers have developed a new technology called Tissue Nanotransfection TNT, it can generate any cell type for treatment within the patient's body. This technology can be used to repair injured tissue or restore function of aging tissue like organs, blood vessels and nerve cells.

Researchers reprogram skin cells to become vascular cells in injured legs that lacked blood flow. Within one week, active blood vessels appeared in the injured leg, the leg was healed at the second week.

The technology also reprogram skin cells in the live body into nerve cells that were injected into brain-injured mice to help them recover from stroke.
The device delivers new DNA or RNA into living skin cells to change their function.

This technology can convert skin cells into elements of any organ with a touch. It takes less than a second and is non-invasive. The chip does not stay permanently in the body after use and the technology keeps the cells in the body under immune surveillance.

TNT technology has two major components: nanotechnology-based chip designed to deliver cargo to adult cells in the live body and the design of specific biological cargo for cell conversion.

 This cargo converts an adult cell from one type to another. TNT doesn't require any laboratory-based procedures and may be implemented at the point of care.
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How artificial intelligence predicts patience lifespan

A computer has ability to predict a patient's lifespan by looking at images of their organs. Scientists used artificial
intelligence to analyse the medical imaging of 48 patients' chests. This computer-based analysis was able to predict which patients would die within five years, with 69% accuracy.

Predicting the lifespan of a patient is useful because it may enable doctors to tailor treatments to the individual.
The accurate assessment of biological age and the prediction of a patient's longevity has so far been limited by doctors' inability to look inside the body and measure the health of each organ.

Instead of focusing on diagnosing diseases, the automated systems can predict medical outcomes in a way that doctors are not trained to do.

Our research opens new avenues for the application of artificial intelligence technology in medical image analysis, and could offer new hope for the early detection of serious illness, requiring specific medical interventions. The researchers hope to apply the same techniques to predict other important medical conditions, like the onset of heart attacks.

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Unhealthy diets linked to cardiovascular disease

Human heart is a muscular organ that pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system.

Cardiovascular disease is a class of diseases that involve blocked blood vessels that can lead to heart attack, chest pain and stroke.

High intake of saturated fat, salt, sugar, industrial vegetable oil, Pastries, Margarine, French Fries, Candy Bar, Precessed Meat, Energy drink, Ice cream, Bottled smoothies, Biscuits, Sports drinks, Canned soup, Hot Dog, McDonald's mayonnaise and Foods coated with artificial Chocolate will increase your risk of cardiovascular disease.

Eat these heart friendly foods regularly:
1. Fruits and vegetables
2. Nuts and Seeds
3. Whole grains
4. Fish
5. Water