Pulse on Health by Jeff Hansel

New pancreas cells from sperm....?

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that men with type 1 diabetes might one day be able to provide their own insulin-producing cells by having their own sperm stem cells triggered to become insulin stem cells.

"Because the sperm cells would come from the man himself, rejection would not be a problem and because they are already stem cells, the induction of cancer is unlikely," writes reporter Thomas H. Maugh II.

His report comes from an American Society of Cell Biology presentation by Georgetown University Medical Center.

The Times article says "Biochemist G. Ian Gallicano of Georgetown and his colleagues obtained tissue from human testes from recently deceased donors and placed them in a special growth medium in the laboratory, where they began producing insulin" and turned into "true pluripotent stem cells."

Pluripotent stems cells, I learned earlier this year, can be induced to turn into any human cell — except placental cells.

Totipotent (as in total) stems cells can be turned into any type of human cell. People with Type 1 diabetes can't properly digest the food they eat because they lack the insulin necessary to absorb nutrients into the cells.

Thus, they must take insulin and face constant monitoring of their body's sugar levels. The Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics announced "The Decade of Discovery" earlier this year. Project proponents say they will cure diabetes within 10 years.

Ever the skeptic, I'll believe it when I see it. But there are clearly many efforts to find either a cure or an acceptable "hands-free" treatment that would allow diabetics to live their lives without paying constant attention to the many things they currently must monitor.

Pulse on Health
By Jeff Hansel, member Association of Health Care Journalists
Health Reporter for the Post-Bulletin newspaper, 18 1st Ave. S.E. in Rochester, Minnesota 55904 
Twitter Hansel's Pulse: @Jeff Hansel

DDT and your child's development...

My brothers and I have talked numerous times about our memories of DDT on my grandfather's farm.

We remember him holding an old-fashioned pump-handled spray gun that had either a jar or a round tin drum attached. He'd push the faded red, wooden handle and out would come clouds of insecticide — DDT — landing on the backs of the cows in his barn.

This action, taken to kill off flies, was common practice at the time among farmers. People didn't realize the destructive nature of the chemical. 

In the process of using DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) against insects on crops across the United States (and for other uses), those who used DDT often unwittingly contaminated the environment, as made famously apparent by Rachel Carson's 1962 book "Silent Spring." 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says online that DDT residue can still be found in most areas of the United States, even though its use was banned in 1972, eight years after Rachel Carson died (she died the week after I was born).

"In 1963 the National Audubon Society surveyed eagle watchers, interviewed state and federal wildlife managers, and flew surveys over the Missouri and Mississippi rivers in the first comprehensive attempt to estimate the number of nesting eagles," says the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. "Results were not good. In all the Lower 48, where perhaps as many as 100,000 bald eagles once flew, the census could account for only 417 nesting pairs."

The DNR says scientists "soon discovered that DDT and related insecticides concentrated in these top-of-the-food-chain predators."

An eagle was a rare vision throughout my childhood and into mid-adulthood. But, today, my hometown of Guttenberg, Iowa hosts so many eagles in the air — near Lock & Dam No. 10 on the Mississippi River — that the town has actually installed a telescope so locals and tourists alike can watch them.

Similarly, Minnesota's peregrine falcons became nearly extinct due to DDT.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources notes that by the early 1970s there were no nesting pairs of peregrines in the eastern United States.

But peregrines have rebounded, to the great delight of many, after DDT's ban.

In Rochester, Mayo Clinic has participated in helping to rebuild the peregrine falcon population and the birds' grating screech can be heard in downtown Rochester for a few weeks each summer as the nesting pair — which return annually to the same location — raise their young.

[An adult peregrine falcon flies by the Plummer Building above the Mayo Clinic campus in Rochester, Minnesota. Please click to enlarge. Post-Bulletin file photo by Ken Klotzbach. Copyright.]

"Acute human exposure data and animal studies reveal that DDT can affect the nervous system, liver, kidney … increased tumor production in the liver and lung has been observed in test animals … an association with pancreatic cancer was suggested in humans in one study," says the Pest Management Education Program at Cornell University.

According to ToxNet, the U.S. repository for information about toxicity, men in one study had children with an increased level of birth defects associated with occupational exposure to DDT. ToxNet also includes a report that says DDT is absorbed by humans in direct proportion to dietary intake.

Between 1979 and 1980, ToxNet says, "DDT was detected in 102 of 102 samples of human milk in 1979-1980 from the US." It continued to be present in blood and fat samples in humans in other locations (Mexico and the St. Lawrence Riverway that connects the Great Lakes of the U.S. to the ocean) as late as 1995.

So we're not free of DDT and it's unclear what impact the chemical has had upon society. Birds sometimes changed their behavior towards newly hatched young, meaning the young died because the parents didn't take care of them properly.

There's suggestion by some that DDT might have increased breast cancer among human women. But evidence to back up that belief is lacking.

My point, I guess, is that families might want to consider what they're children get exposed to — and if you're pregnant or think you might become pregnant, you might want to think about what you get exposed to. DDT was considered toxic to crop pests, but turned out to be toxic to pests, fish and the birds that ate them. 

Amy Fry, an Olmsted Medical Center expert in pregnancy issues, suggests in an article scheduled for publication in the Post-Bulletin Monday that women should think about things like lip stick, hair dye, shampoo, hand lotion, hair conditioner and all the other things that might get absorbed by your skin.

Take a look around your office and consider the cleaners and chemicals (air scent in the bathroom, for example, or pesticide) that you get exposed to on a regular basis.

Fry doesn't want women to obsess, but rather to be aware. Take a look at the issue, do some research and then make your own decisions, she says.

Please read more in the print edition of Monday's Post-Bulletin. 

Pulse on Health
By Jeff Hansel, member Association of Health Care Journalists
Health Reporter for the Post-Bulletin newspaper, 18 1st Ave. S.E. in Rochester, Minnesota 55904 
Twitter Hansel's Pulse: @Jeff Hansel

Veterans $$$ deadline March 4, 2011...

Stars and Stripes is reporting if you are a veteran who was "stop-lossed" (meaning your tour was extended or your retirement suspended involuntarily), you not only qualify for extra pay, but those who missed signing up for that pay now have until March 4, 2011 to sign up.

"This is the fourth time Congress has extended the program, which is meant to compensate troops who were stop-lossed between September 2001 and September 2008," says Stars and Stripes reporter Jeff Schogol in an article this month (December, 2010).

"Eligible personnel will receive a payment of $500 per month for each month (or any portion of a month) that a member was retained on active duty due to stop loss," says the military's Stop Loss website.

Fewer than half the 145,000 veterans owed the money have signed up, Schogol writes.

President Obama says on a U.S. Department of Defense video that the average veteran who applied as of last summer received $4,000.

That's a good chunk of change that can help relieve financial stress for military families — plus, it's money that you're owed. 

The Defense Department offers these service-specific contacts, where you can begin the application process:

"Apply Now for Retroactive Stop Loss Special Pay

The following service-specific sites provide more information and allow you to begin the RSLSP claim process.

Army

• 877-736-5554
• Web Site
• E-mail

Marine Corps

• 877-242-2830
• Web Site
• E-mail

Navy

• 901-874-4427
• Web Site
• E-mail

Air Force

• 800-525-0102
• Web Site
• E-mail (active)
• E-mail (guard/reserve)"

Pulse on Health
By Jeff Hansel, member Association of Health Care Journalists
Health Reporter for the Post-Bulletin newspaper, 18 1st Ave. S.E. in Rochester, Minnesota 55904 
Twitter Hansel's Pulse: @Jeff Hansel

Killebrew Mayo Clinic cancer treatment...

The Post-Bulletin is reporting that famed Minnesota Twins player Harmon "Killer" Killebrew has been diagnosed with esophageal cancer and is receiving treatment at Mayo Clinic.

"In his 22 years of hard work and productivity, he was named American League All-Star 13 times, the 1969 American League MVP and a six-time American League home run leader. In 1984, Killebrew joined baseball’s immortals with his election into the National Baseball Hall of Fame," says harmonkillebrew.com.

Photos

According to MayoClinic.com, esophageal cancer is uncommon in the United States, though more common elsewhere in the world. Symptoms, which do not happen in the early stages, include difficulty swallowing, unplanned weight loss, chest pain and fatigue.

People diagnosed with Barrett's esophagus are at increased risk.

"Esophageal cancer occurs when cells in your esophagus develop errors (mutations) in their DNA. The errors make cells grow and divide out of control. The accumulating abnormal cells form a tumor in the esophagus that can grow to invade nearby structures and spread to other parts of the body," Mayo says online.

Risk factors, according to Mayo, include chewing tobacco, alcohol use, radiation treatment in the chest or upper abdomen, smoking, drinking "very hot liquids", eating a diet low in fruits and vegetables and bile reflux.

Mayo notes that the clinic "is one of the world's largest and most advanced medical centers for esophageal surgery, with highly experienced cancer treatment teams."

Pulse on Health
By Jeff Hansel, member Association of Health Care Journalists
Health Reporter for the Post-Bulletin newspaper, 18 1st Ave. S.E. in Rochester, Minnesota 55904 
Twitter Hansel's Pulse: @Jeff Hansel

Prostate cancer, index fingers...

This is one of the strangest medical stories I've run across in a while.

Wall Street Journal writer Ann Lukits says a study in the British Journal of Cancer shows men with index fingers that are longer than their ring fingers are less likely to develop prostate cancer.

"Men with longer index fingers were 33% less likely to develop prostate cancer," Lukits writes.

Of course I ought to point out the caveat that "correlation does not prove causation" (in other words, just because research "links" something, or shows a correlation, to a medical problem it doesn't mean it's the "cause" of that problem).

I also note that in the group of men studied who had prostate cancer, only 57 percent had a shorter index finger. In other words, just because you've got an index finger that's longer than your ring finger you're not immune from developing the cancer.

"Finger length is determined before birth and believed to be the result of hormonal influences. Too much testosterone appears to raise the risk of prostate cancer just as pre-natal exposure to estrogen affects a woman's breast-cancer risk," Lukits writes.

The researchers write that testosterone affects finger length in men.

The Journal of Cancer article suggests that "lower prenatal activity of testosterone is protective against prostate cancer later in life."

Pulse on Health
By Jeff Hansel, member Association of Health Care Journalists
Health Reporter for the Post-Bulletin newspaper, 18 1st Ave. S.E. in Rochester, Minnesota 55904 
Twitter Hansel's Pulse: @Jeff Hansel

Nanoparticle diagnostic breathalyzers...

Researchers at Purdue say they're moved a step closer to developing breathalyzers with nanoparticles capable of helping to detect cancer, diabetes and other illnesses.

Yep, that's right, puff some air out of your lungs and get a real-time result leading to additional testing and diagnosis. That's their goal.

Of course, like most such efforts, Purdue says the technology remains a decade away from the marketplace. But researchers there say they've solved a key obstacle to making the concept work — how to detect particle concentrations low enough that you can actually detect the illness. 

"The technology works by detecting changes in electrical resistance or conductance as gases pass over sensors built on top of … tiny heating devices on electronic chips," says a Purdue announcement.

Researchers were able to detect a test sample of acetone (a "biomarker" for diabetes).

Their study results were published in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Sensors Journal.

Pulse on Health
By Jeff Hansel, member Association of Health Care Journalists
Health Reporter for the Post-Bulletin newspaper, 18 1st Ave. S.E. in Rochester, Minnesota 55904 
Twitter Hansel's Pulse: @Jeff Hansel

Volunteering abroad? Check this out...

In 2009, one in three graduating U.S. medical students (29.9%) had experienced an international health-care experience says an opinion piece in the New England Journal of Medicine written by Dr. Claire Panosian, a UCLA expert in international health.

She describes one man's dangerous bout with malaria after a trip to Uganda to distribute water purifiers and notes, "in the past decade, interest in global health has surged — not just among medical students, residents, and seasoned physicians, but among lay humanitarians as well. The growing number of applications for overseas travel grants and the increasing proportion of medical students completing international health electives are two indicators of the new enthusiasm," Panosian writes.

That increased enthusiasm means people are traveling far and wide. Yet there are risks, and even though you get the forewarning before going the slim chances of becoming ill mean most people don't really "believe" they'll come down with an endemic illness while in-country.

Still, the urge to help others can be a powerful one. Rochester-based humanitarian organizations "Clinicians of the World" and "Hands for Humanity" serve patients in Haiti and Ecuador, respectively.

Each spring, a group of nursing students from Rochester Community and Technical College takes a study abroad trip with Hands for Humanity and there's a near-constant revolving door of southeast Minnesota health providers heading to and from international trips.

Many people fail to get recommended vaccinations or take recommended anti-malarial pills, Panosian writes. Or they swim in waters they know could possibly give them schistosomiasis, a parasitic worm.

But Panosian writes that the risk of physical injury is the second-leading cause of death behind heart disease for Americans abroad.

She favors international study, and international medical volunteerism, but reminds in the New England Journal piece that "enthusiasm for international service should not blind anyone to its risks."

Pulse on Health
By Jeff Hansel, member Association of Health Care Journalists
Health Reporter for the Post-Bulletin newspaper, 18 1st Ave. S.E. in Rochester, Minnesota 55904 
Twitter Hansel's Pulse: @Jeff Hansel

The missing biotech park...

On April 24, 2008, the Post-Bulletin published an article headlined "Biotech center groundbreaking expected this year."  Download Elk Run groundbreaking plan announced in Post Bulletin April 24 2008

[Advertising sign at the planned Elk Run site. Please click to enlarge. Photo by Jeff Hansel. Copyright.]

Technically, ground was broken, although little fanfare occurred. Since then, a non-paved road has been constructed and work has been done in preparation for a foundation for the first building — which, according to developer Tower Investments, is on track to house its first tenant in August of 2011.

But I spoke with a construction official yesterday (December 27, 2010) and learned that the developer has not approved the start of construction yet. Everything is dependent upon the timing of the tenant, I was told. This is the same thing Tower had claimed earlier. But it remains unclear exactly when actual construction of a building will occur.

It also remains unclear who the first tenant might be.

Finance & Commerce reported this week that it has found a biotech company interested in locating at Elk Run. That company, called Vet-Stem, "uses stem cells to treat arthritis, tendon and ligament injuries in dogs, horses and cats."

That's not exactly the kind of human biotechnology company project backer G. Steven Burrill, CEO of Burrill & Company, has suggested might locate in Pine Island. But he has given little hint, beyond suggesting a bioenergy or human health focus.

Burrill has declined recent interview requests from the Post-Bulletin. The key question is whether Burrill has been able to raise $1 billion, enough to dangle multiple carrots to entice biotech companies to locate at Elk Run.

If he succeeds, those close to the project (including proponents and opponents) say, Elk Run will too. But if he fails, going might be much rougher.

In the meantime, my colleague, political reporter Heather J. Carlson has a piece scheduled for publication today in the print edition of the Post-Bulletin — in which the U.S. 52 interchange at County Road 12 once again gets scrutiny.

If Elk Run eventually becomes the next Silicon Valley, a historical review of the criticisms might be harsh. On the other hand, if Elk Run lays fallow, a historical review of project proponents might be equally harsh.

Burrill's history of success suggests he has the ability to eventually succeed. When I spoke with Pine Island city administrator Abraham Algadi yesterday, he told me he spoke with Burrill as recently as December 17, 2010.

"His report was fairly short, basically, 'We're going to get it done,'" said Algadi.

Pine Island is awaiting Tower's update on Burrill's fundraising effort. Algadi said there's no deadline for Burrill's fundraising.

"He's operating on his own clock and these are self-imposed deadlines for the most part," Algadi said. 

The Elk Run project has taken longer than it takes to build a McDonald's restaurant (which takes on average about three to three-and-a-half years), he said.

He noted when people drive down Civic Center Drive in Rochester that "one day they see a Walgreens…it's there. It almost magically appears to the average consumer." But that particular Walgreens, Algadi said, has actually taken three years of planning.

He's not averse to making blunt statements about Elk Run.

"I am prepared to say that come March, which is the time they promised work will begin on the building, if there is no work on the building at that time, there will be serious consequences in terms of where I would recommend what the city should or should not do," Algadi said.

However, I note that Tower actually promised substantial progress on the building in October of 2010.

If there's 50 inches of snow on the ground still come March, Algadi said, that would affect the recommendation to the city council.

But, that said, "come March, 2011, if there is no serious progress on site towards construction of the building and beginning to meet the job creation goals which begins Jan. 1st of 2011, we're going to more fundamentally reassess the city's position in terms of what recommendations we ultimately provide to the council on the project and on a number of other things," Algadi said.

Yet Algadi continues to express optimism. It took 30 years for the Research Triangle Park on the eastern seaboard to begin to show success. That park claims to have 170 companies and to support 42,000 full-time "knowledge workers" and an additional 10,000 contract workers. 

Algadi cites that as reason for his take-it-slow optimism.

"We worked so hard on this project and I'm an optimist — was and will continue to be…at the end of the day my faith in the project is not shaken, and will not be shaken," Algadi said.

Pulse on Health
By Jeff Hansel, member Association of Health Care Journalists
Health Reporter for the Post-Bulletin newspaper, 18 1st Ave. S.E. in Rochester, Minnesota 55904 
Twitter Hansel's Pulse: @Jeff Hansel

Diabetic gastroparesis...

Type 1 diabetics can sometimes develop a conditions called gastroparesis — basically a constantly upset stomach, especially when they eat food.

Mayo Clinic Medical Edge offers a description of a low enzyme that might be restored by a drug, and a Mayo study that, if successful, might offer hope a useful treatment someday. 

"Ordinarily, strong muscular contractions propel food through your digestive tract. But in gastroparesis, the muscles in the wall of your stomach work poorly or not at all. This prevents your stomach from emptying properly. Gastroparesis can interfere with digestion, cause nausea and vomiting, and play havoc with blood sugar levels and nutrition," says MayoClinic.com.

Available treatments, such as diet changes, often are not enough, according to Mayo. Patients must instead cope with symptoms, without relief.

A description of Mayo's research study, which is currently recruiting participants, is available on ClinicalTrials.gov. The site says to call Erica B. Veil at 507-538-3883 if you have gastroparesis and are interested in becoming a trial participant.

You must be a diabetic age 18 to 70 with gastroparesis.

The clinical trial "identifier number" is NCT01206582.

Please keep in mind that study participants randomly get put in either the placebo group (meaning you get a treatment that's not expected to have an effect) or the treatment group.

Pulse on Health
By Jeff Hansel, member Association of Health Care Journalists
Health Reporter for the Post-Bulletin newspaper, 18 1st Ave. S.E. in Rochester, Minnesota 55904 
Twitter Hansel's Pulse: @Jeff Hansel

One flew over the pig-flu nest...

A Scientific American podcast says pigs are a "bridge between birds and people" for spreading new forms of flu. That concept has gotten more attention after the H1N1 pandemic.

Some experts knew what was circulating amongst the pig population, but that information didn't get to federal agencies, says journalist Helen Branswell.

"If a pig is sneezing with flu, the person who is feeding the pig may come down with a flu virus that was passed to him from a pig," Branswell says.  

Why are pigs so important? They are capable of bringing the flu virus from birds to people. Pigs have "receptors" that allow them to catch both bird and human flu. Those flu viruses can mix and swap viral constituents, creating novel viruses that humans haven't been exposed to. 

Bird flu in age kills 60 percent or more of those who get infected, Branswell says. But few people actually get it. If such a devastating virus were to develop the ability to spread easily from person to person, it would be a real threat to humanity, something "we hope that that won't happen."

Surveillance of pigs is something that is needed, Branswell says.

You really want to be watching pigs because they can be the source of new flew viruses, she says. Some hospitals in the U.S. and Canada were stretched in their ability to respond to H1N1, Branswell notes.

If something that wasn't terribly bad stretched the system, you have to think about what would happen if a worse bug came along, Branswell says. Animal health observers are beginning to share data with public health representatives.

But the information that should have flowed to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention didn't get there during the H1N1 pandemic, Branswell says. Data being reported to a new system, though, doesn't specify where a new virus is located.

[The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia set aside a room specifically for dealing with H1N1 influenza during the fall of 2009. Photo by Jeff Hansel. Copyright.]

People mistakenly thought you could catch H1N1 by eating pork, Branswell says. Thus, the pork industry is at risk any time the public learns about a case of influenza in pigs. It's an interesting podcast if you're a farmer, health official or just a person interested in public health and influenza. 

Pulse on Health
By Jeff Hansel, member Association of Health Care Journalists
Health Reporter for the Post-Bulletin newspaper, 18 1st Ave. S.E. in Rochester, Minnesota 55904 
Twitter Hansel's Pulse: @Jeff Hansel