‘Shocking’ Technique May Keep Human Cells Alive
A gene that is “shocked” into initiating the production of proteins that can curtail injury may lead to new therapeutic approaches for surgeries such as organ transplant and coronary bypass.
UC San Francisco researchers have reported the first demonstration from tightly controlled experiments that a “heat shock” protein--HSP72, which is made naturally by cells in response to stress--can limit damage caused by a heart attack in a living animal. Their findings bolster the idea that this protein prevents cells from dying because of stress from lack of oxygen.
Heat-shock proteins, the first of which was identified in fruit flies more than 30 years ago, are so named because an increase in body temperature was observed to cause an increase in their production. However, these proteins are now known to be made in response not only to heat, but also to other forms of stress, and are thus thought to be a general defense mechanism for cells.
Although HSP72-boosting interventions probably couldn’t be done quickly enough to help patients having heart attacks, such a strategy would be useful in scheduled heart surgeries. Drugs or other interventions that quickly bolster heat-shock protein production or that mimic its cell-saving activity might be used to limit any damage to the heart during surgery or to prolong the lives of donated organs awaiting transplantation.
Tracking Clouds: Weather forecasters have always tracked clouds, but some clouds require especially close attention. Take the radioactive material spewed into the sky after the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident in 1986. Or the smoke from the oil fires in Kuwait during and after the Persian Gulf War, the ash from the Philippines’ Mt. Pinatubo volcano after it erupted in 1991 or the sulfuric acid released during a tank leak in Richmond, Calif., in 1993.
Each of these clouds was tracked by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Atmospheric Release Advisory Capability team.
The team not only determines the path and extent of an atmospheric release, it also provides estimates of the degree of toxic exposure to humans.
A team of meteorologists, physicists, computer scientists and engineers uses sophisticated computer models to simulate the movement of these clouds over land and sea. The models use information from ARAC’s databases of global maps and terrain along with databases on hazardous materials and their health effects.
ARAC can provide two-to-three-hour hazard projections for releases at any point on Earth, often within half an hour of a release.
In the future, ARAC may play a greater role in efforts to stop the proliferation of chemical and biological weapons and in the fight against terrorism.
* Kathleen Wiegner, a freelance writer specializing in science and technology, can be reached via e-mail at [email protected]
