Nobel prize In Medicine D R / R o b e rt G . E dwa rds Born: Died: Affiliation at the time of the award:
The 2010 prize went to English physiologist Robert Edwards for developing in vitro fertilization (IVF), the process of fertilizing a human egg outside of the body. The technique involves monitoring a woman's reproductive cycle, removing eggs from her ovaries, fertilizing them with sperm in a lab dish, and implanting the fertilized egg into the woman's uterus. Louise Brown, born in 1978 in Britain, was the first "test tube baby" conceived using IVF.
In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a complex series of procedures used to treat fertility or genetic problems and assist with the conception of a child. During IVF, mature eggs are collected (retrieved) from your ovaries and fertilized by sperm in a lab. Then the fertilized egg (embryo) or eggs are implanted in your uterus. One cycle of IVF takes about two weeks.
IVF is the most effective form of assisted reproductive technology. The procedure can be done using your own eggs and your partner's sperm. Or IVF may involve eggs, sperm or embryos from a known or anonymous donor. In some cases, a gestational carrier — a woman who has an embryo implanted in her uterus — might be used. Your chances of having a healthy baby using IVF depend on many factors, such as your age and the cause of infertility. In addition, IVF can be time-consuming, expensive and invasive. If more than one embryo is implanted in your uterus, IVF can result in a pregnancy with more than one fetus (multiple pregnancy)
Nephrotic syndrome is the combination of nephrotic-range proteinuria with a low serum albumin level and edema.
Causes including primary kidney diseases such as minimal-change nephropathy, focal glomerulosclerosis, and membranous nephropathy. Nephrotic syndrome can also result from systemic diseases that affect other organs in addition to the kidneys, such as diabetes, amyloidosis, and lupus erythematosus. Nephrotic syndrome may affect adults and children of both sexes and of any race. It may occur in typical form, or in association with nephritic syndrome. The latter connotes glomerular inflammation, with hematuria and impaired kidney function.
Pathologically In health, urine albumin is less than 50 mg/day, because most of the filtered albumin is re-absorbed by the tubules. Amounts above 500 mg/day point to glomerular disease. Filtration of plasma water and solutes is extracellular and occurs through the endothelial fenestrae and filtration slits. The importance of the podocytes and the filtration slits is shown by genetic diseases.
In congenital nephrotic syndrome of the Finnish type, the gene for nephrin, a protein of the filtration slit, is mutated, leading to nephrotic syndrome in infancy. Similarly, podocin, a protein of the podocytes, may be abnormal in a number of children with steroid-resistant focal glomerulosclerosis.
Diet and activity The diet in patients with nephrotic syndrome should provide adequate caloric intake and adequate protein (1 g/kg/d). Supplemental dietary protein is of no proven value. A diet with no added salt will help to limit fluid overload. Fluid restriction per se is not needed. There are no activity restrictions for patients with nephrotic syndrome. Ongoing activity, rather than bedrest, will reduce the risk of blood clots.
is inflammation of the brain. Viral infections are the most common cause of the condition.
Encephalitis Causes Encephalitis can cause flu-like symptoms, such as a fever or severe headache. It can also cause confused thinking, seizures, or problems with senses or movement. However, many cases of encephalitis result in only mild flu-like symptoms or even no symptoms.
The exact cause of encephalitis is often unknown, but the most commonly diagnosed cause is a viral infection. Bacterial infections and noninfectious inflammatory conditions also may cause encephalitis.
Severe cases of encephalitis, while relatively rare, can be life-threatening. Because the course of any single case of encephalitis can be unpredictable, it's important to get a timely diagnosis and treatment.
An infection may result in one of two conditions affecting the brain:
Most people with viral encephalitis have either no symptoms or mild flu-like symptoms, such as the following (Headache - Fever - Aches in muscles or joints - Fatigue or weakness(. Signs and symptoms in infants and young children may also include: )Bulging in the soft spots (fontanels) of the skull in infants Nausea and vomiting - Body stiffnes Inconsolable crying - Poor feeding or not waking for a feeding – Irritability(
•
•
occurs when a virus or other infectious agent directly infects the brain. The infection may be concentrated in one area or widespread. A primary infection may be a reactivation of a virus that had been inactive (latent) after a previous illness. is a faulty immune system reaction in response to an infection elsewhere in the body. Instead of solely attacking the cells causing an infection, the immune system also mistakenly attacks healthy cells in the brain. Secondary encephalitis often occurs two to three weeks after the initial infection.
It started with ear pain in the spring of 2014. Within a few weeks, Gloria Pena’s earache escalated into confusion and sensory loss. “I thought it was a bad cold with an earache,” Gloria recalls. “But one day I picked up my son from school and didn’t remember the way home.”
Mysterious symptoms When her symptoms began, Gloria visited a local health care provider near her home in Jacksonville, Florida, who prescribed antibiotics and nasal spray. Getting no relief, Gloria sought help from another clinic and then ended up at a local emergency department. “They thought I was going deaf, but a few days after those visits, I couldn’t talk. My senses were disappearing,” Gloria says. “A few days later at morning drop-off, I drove home instead of going to work. My husband said I was blabbing words.”
Searching for solutions, Emmanuel decided to take Gloria to Mayo Clinic. His hope was that access to the right diagnostic tools and a medical team experienced in neurologic disorders would help his wife.
Encephalitis
story
From there, Gloria’s condition spiraled downward. Eventually, the 36-year-old mother of two ended up in an intensive care unit in a coma, diagnosed with autoimmune encephalitis, a serious condition in which Gloria’s immune system was attacking her brain. Determined to find help for his wife, Gloria’s husband, Emmanuel, brought her to Mayo Clinic’s Florida campus. Although it took time, her Mayo Clinic care team was able to save Gloria and put her on the path to recovery.
She was admitted to an area medical center. Her symptoms escalated. Uncontrollable kicking and punching set in. Gloria was given psychotropic medications to help tame her limbs and, for safety, she was strapped to her bed. Additional tests revealed nothing abnormal. Meanwhile, the symptoms worsened, and her doctors didn’t have an answer.
“Rare conditions such Mrs. Pena’s underscore the strength of Mayo Clinic as a destination medical center and the importance of integration and excellence.” — William D. Freeman, M.D.
Gloria’s Mayo Clinic care team focused on doing everything they could to help Gloria and, in time, treatment with aggressive immunotherapy effectively eliminated the inflammation. Gloria’s condition improved significantly with each passing month. Now, more than two years later, she is back to caring for her family and living life to its fullest.
At Mayo Clinic, specialists from multiple departments evaluated Gloria. She underwent an MRI of the brain, aPET-CT scan, blood tests and a spinal tap.
Gloria’s Mayo Clinic care team focused on doing everything they could to help Gloria and, in time, treatment with aggressive immunotherapy effectively eliminated the inflammation. Gloria’s condition improved significantly with each passing month. Now, more than two years later, she is back to caring for her family and living life to its fullest.
“The best advice I can offer after this experience is to not give up on yourself,” Gloria says. “Listen to your doctors, but be your own advocate and seek a second opinion when necessary.”
The biggest discovery for 2016
CAR-T could be a game-changer in cancer and several companies are fighting to be the first to reach the market. However, recent deaths in clinical trials have raised doubts over the technology’s safety. Novartis’ CAR-T is proving to be the safest for now among the treatments racing for market launch, despite reporting severe side-effects in 50% of patients. In its Phase II trial for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), 82% of patients showed remission. Surprisingly, despite the encouraging results, the big company recently restructured R&D and is apparently disbanding the cell and gene therapy division.
Morphosys revealed impressive results from a Phase I/IIa trial for MOR202, an antibody that targets the CD38 antigen of multiple myeloma cells, at this year’s edition of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting. The trial results have reported that MOR202 in combination with immunomodulatory drugs elicited a positive response in 100% of the patients treated with the highest dose
High-fat diet disrupts brain maturation
No comparable effect on the adult brain
Similarities between the mouse and human brain
JUNJIU HUANG Embryo editor
In April, Junjiu Huang published the world’s first report of human embryos altered by gene editing. The news thrust rapid developments in gene-editing technology into the spotlight and ignited a huge debate about the ethical use of such tools. But Huang, a modest and soft-spoken molecular biologist at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, chose to stay out of the limelight. Huang and his team used a powerful technique known as CRISPR–Cas9, which can be programmed to precisely alter DNA at specific sequences and has swept through biology labs in the past few years. He told Nature in April that he wanted to edit the genes of embryos because: “It can show genetic problems related to cancer or diabetes, and can be used to study gene function in embryonic development.” In his study, he modified the gene responsible for the blood disorder β-thalassaemia.
Huang used spare embryos — from fertility clinics — that could not progress to a live birth. And he expected his paper, which showed that the process created many unexpected mutations, to steer people away from the technology until it had been proved safe. “We wanted to show our data to the world so people know what really happened with this model,” he said at the time. “We wanted to avoid ethical debate.” Because of the risks, Huang predicted when his paper was published that it could take 50 or 100 years before the world saw a live-born, gene-edited baby. “But who knows, a decade ago, no one knew of CRISPR,” he said. “We don’t know what will happen.
Local Coordinator Ali Hussein Dawood Mohammed Z. El Amir