The BA Science News Digest - 21 November 2008
In the science news this week: the first transplant using a whole organ grown from a patient's own cells, the mammoth task to construct an Ice Age genome and the discovery of the world's oldest nuclear family. Plus, classical music proves a hit with elephants at Belfast zoo...
The Independent reported a medical first: A 30-year-old Spanish woman has become the first ever patient to receive a transplant of a whole organ grown from their own cells. A donor trachea was used to provide the mechanical framework, but the actual organ was grown from the patient's stem cells.
Tuberculosis had left Claudia Castillo unable to breath properly, but four months after the surgery to provide her with a bioengineered windpipe, she was able to live a much fuller life.
Professor Paolo Macchiarini, who led the teams of researchers from Spain, Italy and the UK who collaborated on the case, said: 'Claudia was unable to play with her children, work or perform her normal social duties. Now she is able to do that. It was and is the most beautiful gift we can perform in our career.'
The results of the transplant, which took place at the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona in June, have been published in the online edition of The Lancet, and were announced at a press conference this week. The procedure is also the first where a patient hasn't needed to take powerful immunosuppressant drugs after receiving a whole organ transplant. Usually such drugs are needed to prevent the body from rejecting a foreign organ, but suppressing the immune system also leaves the patient at greater risk from infections and cancer. Growing an organ from a person's own cells is therefore an attractive alternative.
Collaborating surgeon Professor Martin Birchall, from the University of Bristol, said: 'This is just the beginning. I think it will completely transform the way we think about surgery. In 20 years' time the commonest surgical operations will be regenerative procedures to replace organs and tissues damaged by disease with autologous [self-grown] tissues and organs from the laboratory. We are on the verge of a new age in surgical care.'
He said the technique could initially be used to grow other hollow organs such as the reproductive tract, bladder and bowel, but could later be applied to other solid organs such as the heart, liver and kidneys.
Writing in the Times, Professor Colin Blakemore, former Chief Executive of the Medical Research Council, said that it wouldn't be possible to produce custom-made replacements for complex organs such as the heart any time soon, but he believes this latest development might be one of the few truly deserving of the word 'breakthrough' as creating a whole organ is a big step forward. He says it is the kind of encouragement needed to provide 'hope that stem cells and tissue engineering will eventually deliver the promised revolution in medical treatment'.
--------------------
Researchers have identified huge glaciers close to the equator of Mars that are up to half a mile thick, reported the Times. The largest are around 13 miles long and more than 60 miles wide. They were discovered under approximately 10 metres of rocky debris using ground-penetrating radar equipment on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft.
The ice sheets had been able to extend far beyond the polar regions because when they formed the tilt of the planet's axis had been much greater than at present. The blanket of rocks over the glaciers had protected them from vapourising.
The glaciers could provide a valuable source of water for future astronaut missions to Mars. They are also of scientific interest as they are likely to contain a frozen record of the red planet's climate several million years ago, say scientists who published their study in the journal Science.
'The ice should preserve some of the atmospheric chemistry in the planet's past and provide us with a window on what the environment and climate was like,' explained Dr Jack Holt of the University of Texas in Austin, USA.
--------------------
Scientists have reconstructed the genetic sequence of a woolly mammoth, using DNA extracted from the hair of carcasses frozen in the Siberian permafrost. It is the first time an extinct animal has had its genome sequenced.
Although gaps remain, researchers estimate that they have decoded approximately 80 per cent of the Ice Age mammal's genetic code.
Hair is the preferred source of material from which to sequence ancient DNA as any surviving genetic material is likely to be from the animal itself. In contrast, DNA extracted from bone is often swamped with DNA from fungi and bacteria, making analysis difficult.
The data has revealed that the mammoth's genome differs from that of an African elephant by just 0.6 per cent – that's about half as much difference as between humans and chimpanzees that separated down different evolutionary paths around the same time, if not more recently. One hypothesis as to why this is the case is that historically apes have been preyed on more than mammoths.
The publication of the mammoth's genome is unlikely to lead to their resurrection through cloning, and not only because it isn't complete. Scientists would need to learn how to make artificial chromosomes, or otherwise modify an elephant embryo to carry all of the 400,000 important genetic differences that exist between the species. Currently this would have to be done one genetic change at a time.
(Read more at BBC News and in the Guardian)
--------------------
The earliest direct evidence of a nuclear family has been unearthed in Germany and shows that the family unit of father, mother and biological children goes back at least 4,600 years to when these stone age individuals were buried.
Several groups of adults and children were buried together, and DNA analysis of bone samples revealed that the burial arrangements reflected their relationships. In one grave, a mother faced her son, while the father was next to her with his arms around their elder son. In other graves, unrelated children were buried behind adults, not facing them as in the case between related individuals.
Multiple burials were found at the site in Eulau, about 120 miles south-west of Berlin, and evidence suggests that they all took place at the same time. Some of the bodies show evidence of violent blows and one skeleton has an arrow tip lodged in the spine. Archaeologists involved in the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, believe the families were probably trying to hold on to land – some of the most fertile in Europe – in the face of raids. They were members of the Corded Ware culture, a Neolithic people who existed from about 2700BC to 2000BC and who are reknowned for decorating their pottery with impressions of twisted cord.
Analysis of the profiles of strontium isotopes in the teeth of skeletons, with comparison to profiles in nearby rock types, indicates that the men and children were raised in the area, whereas women came from elsewhere. This indicates that females 'married in' from another community.
(Read more in the Guardian and Independent)
--------------------
Other news in brief:
All Conservative MPs are to get compulsory lessons in scientific literacy under plans drawn up by Adam Afiyie, the party's spokesman for science and innovation, in order to strengthen evidence-based policy-making. The plans also seek to address concerns that, while scientific issues are increasingly becoming political ones, there is a lack of scientific expertise and understanding in the House of Commons and Whitehall.
'The evidence-based scientific approach extends well beyond subjects like embryology or GM crops. It is also critical to social policy and criminal sentencing, and it cuts across all areas of government,' Mr Afriyie told the Times.
--------------------
The Brazilian government aims to use heat-seeking radar to locate isolated groups of Indians without disturbing their way of life. Authorities hope that knowing their location will enable them to protect the Indians from farmers, loggers, goldminers and ranchers.
Indigenous rights group Survival International believes there could be as many as 20 tribes living in the Brazilian Amazon which the outside world doesn't know about.
(The Guardian)
--------------------
India has become the fifth nation to land on the Moon, after the Chandrayaan-1 probe successfully touched down on the lunar surface. The unmanned space probe will conduct a two-year exploratory mission to survey the lunar surface and map the distribution of elements and minerals.
(The Times)
--------------------
NASA has successfully conducted its first test of an 'interplanetary net'. Images were transmitted to and from a spacecraft 20 million miles away using the Distruption-Tolerant Networking technology. The DTN is designed to work across vast distances without being adversely affected by interruptions such as solar storms or when craft are behind a planet. Each node in the DTN network holds on to data it receives until it can safely forward it to another node. Further test are due to take place on the International Space Station in 2009.
(BBC News)
--------------------
And finally...
Researchers think they have found a way to help elephants that are struggling to cope with captivity, the Guardian reported. Classical music has a been found to have a soothing effect on elephants at Belfast zoo, reducing abnormal behaviours such as swaying, pacing and trunk tossing.
Dr Deborah Wells at Queen's University in Belfast ran a study on four female Asian elephants at the zoo. Their behaviour was monitored for four hours a day over three five-day periods. No music was played in the first five days, then a speaker was placed in the enclosure and classical music such as Mozart, Elgar, Handel and Beethoven were played for five days. For the final five days the speaker was switched off.
The researchers reported in the journal Animal Welfare that normal behaviours such as feeding remained unchanged whether or not music was playing, but that in the presence of music the frequency of abnormal behaviours dropped dramatically.
Dr Wells said it was unknown why the elephants reacted well to classical music and whether other genres would work equally well. She said the music could simply be masking unpleasant background noises such as that of the zoo's visitors.
David Field, Zoological Director of London and Whipsnade zoos, commented that 'elephants are incredibly sensitive beasts' and it wouldn't surprise him at all if classical music had this calming effect as they communicate in deep infrasonic vibrations. He added, 'We always do tend to have music on but we certainly wouldn't stick to classical music and I think our elephants are a bit partial to Terry Wogan and Chiltern FM.'
The Independent reported a medical first: A 30-year-old Spanish woman has become the first ever patient to receive a transplant of a whole organ grown from their own cells. A donor trachea was used to provide the mechanical framework, but the actual organ was grown from the patient's stem cells.
Tuberculosis had left Claudia Castillo unable to breath properly, but four months after the surgery to provide her with a bioengineered windpipe, she was able to live a much fuller life.
Professor Paolo Macchiarini, who led the teams of researchers from Spain, Italy and the UK who collaborated on the case, said: 'Claudia was unable to play with her children, work or perform her normal social duties. Now she is able to do that. It was and is the most beautiful gift we can perform in our career.'
The results of the transplant, which took place at the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona in June, have been published in the online edition of The Lancet, and were announced at a press conference this week. The procedure is also the first where a patient hasn't needed to take powerful immunosuppressant drugs after receiving a whole organ transplant. Usually such drugs are needed to prevent the body from rejecting a foreign organ, but suppressing the immune system also leaves the patient at greater risk from infections and cancer. Growing an organ from a person's own cells is therefore an attractive alternative.
Collaborating surgeon Professor Martin Birchall, from the University of Bristol, said: 'This is just the beginning. I think it will completely transform the way we think about surgery. In 20 years' time the commonest surgical operations will be regenerative procedures to replace organs and tissues damaged by disease with autologous [self-grown] tissues and organs from the laboratory. We are on the verge of a new age in surgical care.'
He said the technique could initially be used to grow other hollow organs such as the reproductive tract, bladder and bowel, but could later be applied to other solid organs such as the heart, liver and kidneys.
Writing in the Times, Professor Colin Blakemore, former Chief Executive of the Medical Research Council, said that it wouldn't be possible to produce custom-made replacements for complex organs such as the heart any time soon, but he believes this latest development might be one of the few truly deserving of the word 'breakthrough' as creating a whole organ is a big step forward. He says it is the kind of encouragement needed to provide 'hope that stem cells and tissue engineering will eventually deliver the promised revolution in medical treatment'.
--------------------
Researchers have identified huge glaciers close to the equator of Mars that are up to half a mile thick, reported the Times. The largest are around 13 miles long and more than 60 miles wide. They were discovered under approximately 10 metres of rocky debris using ground-penetrating radar equipment on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft.
The ice sheets had been able to extend far beyond the polar regions because when they formed the tilt of the planet's axis had been much greater than at present. The blanket of rocks over the glaciers had protected them from vapourising.
The glaciers could provide a valuable source of water for future astronaut missions to Mars. They are also of scientific interest as they are likely to contain a frozen record of the red planet's climate several million years ago, say scientists who published their study in the journal Science.
'The ice should preserve some of the atmospheric chemistry in the planet's past and provide us with a window on what the environment and climate was like,' explained Dr Jack Holt of the University of Texas in Austin, USA.
--------------------
Scientists have reconstructed the genetic sequence of a woolly mammoth, using DNA extracted from the hair of carcasses frozen in the Siberian permafrost. It is the first time an extinct animal has had its genome sequenced.
Although gaps remain, researchers estimate that they have decoded approximately 80 per cent of the Ice Age mammal's genetic code.
Hair is the preferred source of material from which to sequence ancient DNA as any surviving genetic material is likely to be from the animal itself. In contrast, DNA extracted from bone is often swamped with DNA from fungi and bacteria, making analysis difficult.
The data has revealed that the mammoth's genome differs from that of an African elephant by just 0.6 per cent – that's about half as much difference as between humans and chimpanzees that separated down different evolutionary paths around the same time, if not more recently. One hypothesis as to why this is the case is that historically apes have been preyed on more than mammoths.
The publication of the mammoth's genome is unlikely to lead to their resurrection through cloning, and not only because it isn't complete. Scientists would need to learn how to make artificial chromosomes, or otherwise modify an elephant embryo to carry all of the 400,000 important genetic differences that exist between the species. Currently this would have to be done one genetic change at a time.
(Read more at BBC News and in the Guardian)
--------------------
The earliest direct evidence of a nuclear family has been unearthed in Germany and shows that the family unit of father, mother and biological children goes back at least 4,600 years to when these stone age individuals were buried.
Several groups of adults and children were buried together, and DNA analysis of bone samples revealed that the burial arrangements reflected their relationships. In one grave, a mother faced her son, while the father was next to her with his arms around their elder son. In other graves, unrelated children were buried behind adults, not facing them as in the case between related individuals.
Multiple burials were found at the site in Eulau, about 120 miles south-west of Berlin, and evidence suggests that they all took place at the same time. Some of the bodies show evidence of violent blows and one skeleton has an arrow tip lodged in the spine. Archaeologists involved in the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, believe the families were probably trying to hold on to land – some of the most fertile in Europe – in the face of raids. They were members of the Corded Ware culture, a Neolithic people who existed from about 2700BC to 2000BC and who are reknowned for decorating their pottery with impressions of twisted cord.
Analysis of the profiles of strontium isotopes in the teeth of skeletons, with comparison to profiles in nearby rock types, indicates that the men and children were raised in the area, whereas women came from elsewhere. This indicates that females 'married in' from another community.
(Read more in the Guardian and Independent)
--------------------
Other news in brief:
All Conservative MPs are to get compulsory lessons in scientific literacy under plans drawn up by Adam Afiyie, the party's spokesman for science and innovation, in order to strengthen evidence-based policy-making. The plans also seek to address concerns that, while scientific issues are increasingly becoming political ones, there is a lack of scientific expertise and understanding in the House of Commons and Whitehall.
'The evidence-based scientific approach extends well beyond subjects like embryology or GM crops. It is also critical to social policy and criminal sentencing, and it cuts across all areas of government,' Mr Afriyie told the Times.
--------------------
The Brazilian government aims to use heat-seeking radar to locate isolated groups of Indians without disturbing their way of life. Authorities hope that knowing their location will enable them to protect the Indians from farmers, loggers, goldminers and ranchers.
Indigenous rights group Survival International believes there could be as many as 20 tribes living in the Brazilian Amazon which the outside world doesn't know about.
(The Guardian)
--------------------
India has become the fifth nation to land on the Moon, after the Chandrayaan-1 probe successfully touched down on the lunar surface. The unmanned space probe will conduct a two-year exploratory mission to survey the lunar surface and map the distribution of elements and minerals.
(The Times)
--------------------
NASA has successfully conducted its first test of an 'interplanetary net'. Images were transmitted to and from a spacecraft 20 million miles away using the Distruption-Tolerant Networking technology. The DTN is designed to work across vast distances without being adversely affected by interruptions such as solar storms or when craft are behind a planet. Each node in the DTN network holds on to data it receives until it can safely forward it to another node. Further test are due to take place on the International Space Station in 2009.
(BBC News)
--------------------
And finally...
Researchers think they have found a way to help elephants that are struggling to cope with captivity, the Guardian reported. Classical music has a been found to have a soothing effect on elephants at Belfast zoo, reducing abnormal behaviours such as swaying, pacing and trunk tossing.
Dr Deborah Wells at Queen's University in Belfast ran a study on four female Asian elephants at the zoo. Their behaviour was monitored for four hours a day over three five-day periods. No music was played in the first five days, then a speaker was placed in the enclosure and classical music such as Mozart, Elgar, Handel and Beethoven were played for five days. For the final five days the speaker was switched off.
The researchers reported in the journal Animal Welfare that normal behaviours such as feeding remained unchanged whether or not music was playing, but that in the presence of music the frequency of abnormal behaviours dropped dramatically.
Dr Wells said it was unknown why the elephants reacted well to classical music and whether other genres would work equally well. She said the music could simply be masking unpleasant background noises such as that of the zoo's visitors.
David Field, Zoological Director of London and Whipsnade zoos, commented that 'elephants are incredibly sensitive beasts' and it wouldn't surprise him at all if classical music had this calming effect as they communicate in deep infrasonic vibrations. He added, 'We always do tend to have music on but we certainly wouldn't stick to classical music and I think our elephants are a bit partial to Terry Wogan and Chiltern FM.'
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