October 28, 2016

So when you think of onions what do you think of? Bad smell, crying, food (tacos to be specific), or maybe that one line in Shrek that talks about onions having so many layers? Well to add to this list, how about cancer suppressor? Yup, onions are now being researched and have been found to have cancer suppression capabilities.

To be more specific researchers in Japan have isolated a compound that is found in onions, onionin A (ONA) to have several anti-ovarian cancer capabilities. The research that was performed focused on the effects of ONA on a pre-clinical model of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) in vivo and in vitro. Since EOC is the most common type of ovarian cancer and it has an 80%  relapse rate, there needed to be a more effective treatment. When the researchers performed the in vitro experiments it showed that EOCs, which usually proliferate in the presence of pro-tumor M2 macrophages, showed inhibited growth after introduction of ONA. This wasn't the only finding in the research, are y'all ready to know what else this wonderful onion can be isolated to do?
- It can inhibit the pro-tumor functions of myeloid derived suppressor cells, which are closely associated with the suppression of the anti-tumor immune response of host lymphocytes
-It can enhance the effects of anti-cancer drugs by strengthening their anti-proliferation capabilities
- When orally administered, ONA  showed that it can give onger lifespans and inhibit the ovarian cancer tumor development

So if that doesn't give you hope that medicine might be getting closer to solving this terrifying disease, I don't know what will. So, three cheers to onion for not only be great on food, but for being great in medicine!

1. Junko Tsuboki, Yukio Fujiwara, Hasita Horlad, Daisuke Shiraishi, Toshihiro Nohara, Shingo Tayama, Takeshi Motohara, Yoichi Saito, Tsuyoshi Ikeda, Kiyomi Takaishi, Hironori Tashiro, Yukihiro Yonemoto, Hidetaka Katabuchi, Motohiro Takeya, Yoshihiro Komohara. Onionin A inhibits ovarian cancer progression by suppressing cancer cell proliferation and the protumour function of macrophages. Scientific Reports, 2016; 6: 29588 DOI: 10.1038/srep29588 

October 21, 2016

Many people view music as therapy, a way to soothe the body, mind, and soul when they are under stress. It has also been known to have positive results when exposed to certain types of music in the womb. It is safe to say that music has it's positive aspects, but have you ever thought of using music to study proteins?

Researchers from Finland, the UK, and the US believe that their musical technique can provide insight into proteins and how they work. They use sonification to identify the different anomalies and holes in proteins. Now, when I hear sonification all I think about is that awful noise that was produced when we used it to break up the cell walls in one of our previous experiments. How can someone stand to hear that noise all day to try and find anomalies? Well they don't, the frequency and noise that is produced is at a different level and by the researchers account, is quite pleasant. With the use of sonification they can turn the data that they obtain about the proteins, and how they work and fold, into different melodies that can hopefully be used as not only to aid further research but also in the  future of teaching about proteins. For now they are sticking to the melodies of proteins to identify irregularities, but they hope to be listening to genomes to further understand the role of junk DNA.

So in the future people can start adding "Protein" and "Genome" to their Spotify playlists.

Journal Reference:

1. Robert P. Bywater, Jonathan N. Middleton. Melody discrimination and protein fold classification. Heliyon, 2016; 2 (10): e00175 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2016.e00175

October 14, 2016

If you are like myself, and grew up on Disney cartoons from the early 2000s then you know who Rufus is from Kim Possible. Whenever I hear "naked mole rat" I immediately think of Rufus, but naked mole rats have so many awesome aspects to them than just crime-fighting.

Mole rats are said to be the closest thing to having super powers on this earth. This is said because for a small rodent, they are able to live up to 32 years, have cancer-resistant tendencies, and are not phased by certain types of pain. Recent research has found what has made the naked mole rat pain-free by identifying the evolutionary change that causes this to occur. In a nutshell it's basically as if the signal for pain was semi-turned off to allow for the feeling of pain but not completely enough to harm the animal. This happens because the TrkA receptor of the naked mole rat isn't dysfunctional but hypo-functional. The hypo-functionality of this receptor in the mole rats allows them to survuve without neurodegeneration that is found in animals with mutations that have the Nerve Growth Factor shut down. Researchers believe that evolution selected the TrkA receptor that works when they are babies, but goes away when they enter adulthood. Because they live in underground desert regions, evolution has shut down functions, including nerve receptors, to allow them to live in these conditions. Future plans for this research are to inject mice with the TrkA receptor found in naked mole rats and see if the mice will display the features in that of the mole rat.

Journal Reference:

1. Damir Omerbašić, Ewan St. J. Smith, Mirko Moroni, Johanna Homfeld, Ole Eigenbrod, Nigel C. Bennett, Jane Reznick, Chris G. Faulkes, Matthias Selbach, Gary R. Lewin. Hypofunctional TrkA Accounts for the Absence of Pain Sensitization in the African Naked Mole-Rat. Cell Reports, 2016; 17 (3): 748 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2016.09.035 

October 7, 2016

When I came across this article I was so intrigued about it just because it's something I've said several times before. I'm talking about the rule many of us have used, or at least said it at one point or another: 5-second rule.

Donald Schnaffner a Professor at Rutgers University who specializes in food science has decided to put the five second rule to the test. the research tested four differnt surfaces, stainless steel ceramic tile, wood and carpet with four different foods, watermelon, bread, bread and butter, and gummy candy. Four different contact times were 1 second, 5 seconds, 30 seconds, and 300 seconds. The bacteria that was used to inoculate the surfaces was Enterobacter areogenes, a nonpathogenic "cousin" of Salmonella naturally occurring in the human digestive system. The bacteria was inoculated in either tryptic soy broth or peptone buffer. Each of the surfaces was inoculated and allowed to completely dry before the samples were dropped onto them. The results showed that the watermelon had the most contamination and the gummy candy had the least. Simply put the more moisture a food contains the more bacteria the food will contain. This was found because bacteria move with moisture which allows moist food  to have the higher risk of transfer. While it is also true that the longer the exposure on the floor the more risk of bacterial transfer, there were results that showed that transfer happened instantly.


Journal Reference:

Robyn C. Miranda, Donald W. Schaffner. Longer Contact Times Increase Cross-Contamination ofEnterobacter aerogenesfrom Surfaces to Food. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 2016; AEM.01838-16 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.01838-16