First Face Transplant

This is just one of those things you know is a milestone in medicine that will be regarded as such for years to come:

On November 27, 2005, a team of French surgeons led by Jean-Michel Dubernard of the Édouard Herriot Hospital in Lyon successfully performed the world's first partial face transplant. The patient was Isabelle Dinoire, a 38-year-old Frenchwoman who had been so severely disfigured when her dog scratched and chewed off her face six months earlier that normal surgical repair was impossible. The procedure, which involved attaching the nose, chin, cheeks, and lips of a 46-year-old brain-dead woman, set off a firestorm of criticism that lingered even after the French surgeons declared in July 2006, in the medical journal The Lancet, that the graft was "successful with respect to appearance, sensitivity, and acceptance by the patient."

Clinicians and researchers have raised ethical questions about the transplant, as well as concerns about whether Dinoire was stable enough to give informed consent for the procedure—which dips into uncharted issues involving the relationship between the face and personal identity—and for the regimen of immunosuppressive drugs she must now take for the rest of her life. However, regenerative medicine expert Patrick Warnke of the University of Kiel in Germany (who was not part of the transplant team) points out that "there was no quality of life for the patient without major parts of her face. After the procedure she seemed to feel much better. She was involved in the decision about the means of her reconstruction, according to my information. If she can compete with the restraints of lifelong immunosuppression, then we must respect this somehow."

Kathy A. Svitil

Xcytrin - Potential Breakthrough in Cancer Treatment?

Xcytrin as a new anti-cancer agent designed to selectively target tumour cells an induce apoptosis (cell death). It is presently being considered for the treatment of brain metastases (cancer that has spread to the brain from another part of the body) in lung cancer patients, as well a treatment of HIV. It is thought combining the drug with radiation/chemotherapy will produce an effective cancer treatment, barring the approval of various clinical trials.

Mechanisms

Basically, it is thought that Xcytrin gets its anti-cancer therapy form its ability to induce oxidative stress in cells (specifically in the mitochondria), thus disrupting normal cell function and a host of necessary activities, such as zinc metabolism and various enzyme alterations necessary to normal cell health (of the cancer cell).

For those who don’t know the dangers of oxidative stress, it essentially causes tissue damage through reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS include things like free radicals and peroxides, which readily react with tissues in the cell due to an odd number of electrons. This causes the destruction of organelle function and eventually leads to cell death. Note that oxidative stress is usually endogenous (meaning created by the body). This is a necessary component of the electron transport chain in mitochondria for the generation of energy in the cell. The mitochondria can handle a small number of ROS with special redox carriers (reductases). However, if ROS exceeds the resources of the mitochondria available to deal with it, oxidative stress damages results. Damage to the mitochondria directly effects cell function (since it is the primary source of cell energy), and therefore cell death is often induced from damaged mitochondria. Oxidative stress is thought to be responsible for a large part of Huntington’s, Parkinson’s, ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), and aging in general.

Back to Xcytrin. The main mechanism thought to account for its anti-cancer properties involves its ability to mobilize intracellular zinc, thus creating elevated zinc levels in the cell. Now, remember the goal of Xcytrin here is to induce apoptosis through oxidative stress. Zinc directly inhibits the enzyme thioredoxin reductase, which is chiefly responsible for cell replication, synthesis, and survival. It is specially designed to reduce ROS by providing a base molecule able to be oxidized, essentially sacrificing itself so necessary tissues aren’t oxidized and destroyed.

Note that no drug has one mode of mechanisms…all drugs have different actions (thus side effects), and clinical trials are currently underway to further determine the various molecular mechanisms of Xcytrin.

The bottom line for cancer cells (although greatly simplified): Zinc levels increase, they inhibit thioredoxin reductase, oxidative stress results, and eventually apoptosis occurs, killing of cancer cells.

Lab-grown, FULY FUNCTIONAL, Bladders - Innovation of 2006 (IMO)

The things medicine is embarking upon is scary. Well not really scary, but medicine is beginning to look like one big sci-fi movie.

Anthony Atala, a surgeon and director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, reported that artificial bladders can be grown in the lab from a patient's own cells and successfully implanted. Over the past six years, seven children have received the organs, which are functioning well.

A normal bladder has three layers: On the outside is muscle, in the middle is collagen, and the innermost layer consists of specialized urothelial cells that are impermeable to urine and protect the body from waste fluids. After a biopsy, Atala teased apart the three layers, cultivating the muscle and urothelial cells separately and discarding the collagen. Four weeks of cell division produced enough cells to build a new bladder.

Atala's method involved painting several coats of Kaitlyne's muscle cells on the outer surface of a bladder-shaped mold made of collagen. The inside of the scaffold was covered with her urothelial cells. The whole structure was then immersed in a nutrient bath and put in an incubator at 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Ten days later the bladder, looking like a shiny pink ball, was ready for implantation. Once in the body, if all went well, natural processes would take over and allow the tissue to mature.

Five years after her implant, Kaitlyne lives without diapers, has normal bladder capacity, no longer suffers from kidney or urinary tract infections, and has a dramatically improved quality of life.

So what's next...More complex organs like the heart and kidneys? Discover

Submitting an Article

If you've got a knack for writing good medical - based articles, or anything on science that can be potentially applied to medicine, why not submit it here with your credit and link at the bottom?

If you want to submit an article, contact me at marc.succi AT gmail DOT com .

Happy blogging!

Spinal Spark For Paralysis

There’s good news for those recently paralyzed by spinal-cord injuries. A small battery-powered device inserted beside the spinal column within 18 days of an injury can stimulate the regrowth of nerve tissue. The device, made by Cyberkinetics in Massachusetts, has helped both newly paralyzed dogs and humans regain some movement.

Nearly 20% Of The Population Aspires To Have Cosmetic Surgery In The Future, Do You?

The American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery (AACS) is announcing the results of its 2006 Consumer Perception Survey. The survey was conducted on behalf of the Academy to gauge current consumer perceptions as it relates to celebrity "must-have" features, cosmetic procedures and consumer misconceptions on practitioners' education, qualifications and training. The survey showed that cosmetic surgery is something that only 6% of the adult population has done, but that almost 20% of the population aspires to do at some point in their lifetime.

The survey also provides insights about the perceptions and myths surrounding cosmetic surgery. For example, the results show that only about half of consumers are aware of the difference between a cosmetic surgeon and a plastic surgeon -- which emphasizes the need for patient education surrounding cosmetic surgery.


Additional highlights of the results report include:

-- An overwhelming five out of six consumers believe that personal appearance is key to professional success.

-- When asked how open they would be about a cosmetic surgery procedure, 33% of consumers said they would tell only those who asked, while 18% said they would tell only close friends and family.

-- The two most wanted celebrity features, according to the survey, are Jennifer Aniston's eyes for women (46%) and Nick Lachey's abs for men (51%).

-- If there was disposable income to be had, 46% of consumers say they would forego an expensive vacation or luxury car to pay for cosmetic surgery.

-- About 12% of the men surveyed believe they will have cosmetic surgery at some point in the future.

-- Only 18% of consumers cited fear of pain as a reason for foregoing cosmetic surgery. Instead, the cost is what would discourage 54% of those surveyed from having a procedure.

-- About 20% of consumers are unclear on what a cosmetic surgeon is. The AACS Consumer Perception Survey was conducted by Synovate, Inc.,

and included a total of 1,510 representative interviews. Additional survey methodology and statistics can be obtained by contacting the Academy.

The Nano-Knitters: A Sewing Kit to Stitch Severed Nerve Cells Back Together

A team of scientists has developed a technique that allows nerve cells to regrow, bridging the gaps left by injury or illness. The procedure hinges on independent strings of amino acids about one thousandth the size of a red blood cell. Because the strings have different qualities—some are positively charged, others negative, some are attracted to water, others repelled by it—they self-assemble into chain-like structures. Injected into the injured area of a patient’s brain, millions of these nanocombs would form a kind of trellis along which nerve cells could grow. With the help of other therapies, such as a drug regimen that stimulates nerve-cell growth, their axons—the long fibers that carry electrical signals—would extend through and reconnect.

When?: 2010. Rutledge Ellis-Behnke of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has tested the technique in animals. When he severed a tract in hamsters’ brains responsible for vision and added the nanothreads, he found that a striking 75 percent of the subjects regained sight. Ellis-Behnke hopes that nanoscaffolds will be used in brain surgery—healing areas injured by the surgeon’s scalpel—within five years.

Kryptonite For Flu - A Single-Shot Universal Vaccine Against Any Strain of Influenza

Immunologists are aiming at a fresh target: M2, a protein on the surface of viruses that appears almost unchanged in nearly every known strain of flu. An M2 vaccine, scientists say, could fight forms of the virus that haven’t even appeared yet. But unlike other vaccines, the M2 shot won’t actually stop infection. It works by kicking off a massive immune response that weakens the effects of flu, making it easier to survive potentially lethal symptoms like fever and dehydration. Immunologist Walter Gerhard of the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia says that spiking a standard flu shot with M2 could dramatically broaden its protective powers against epidemic influenza strains.

When?: Trials could begin next year.

The Genetic Slicer 'N' Dicer

What if a simple injection could silence the genetic culprits that fuel weight gain, coercing cells to burn more fat and be more responsive to changing insulin levels? That’s precisely the sort of treatment now being developed by biochemist Michael Czech and his colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. The key to their approach is a technique called RNA interference, or RNAi, one of the body’s natural self-defense mechanisms. In broad strokes, when a virus, for instance, invades a cell, it passes on its genetic code through double-stranded RNA. The cell recognizes the RNA as an invader, dices it up into tiny pieces called short-interfering RNA, and attacks any genes that bind to it. In the past year, Czech has used RNAi to silence 1,000 genes in cultured adipose tissue, a.k.a. fat. The process would have taken them decades without RNAi—now they simply introduce bits of RNA that match the target genes, inducing the cells to shut the genes down. With certain key genes disabled, the researchers learned that the tissue can be more responsive to insulin levels, suck more glucose out of the blood, and actually burn fatty acids instead of storing them as new fat cells.

When?: 2010 or later.

Precision-Guided Tumor Killers

Lay waste to cancerous growths while leaving bystander cells unscathed. The solution hinges on hollow spheres of carbon polymer, each 1,000 times as small as a pinpoint. Robert Langer of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Omid Farokhzad of Harvard University are infusing such spheres, known as nanoshells, with minuscule doses of chemotherapy drugs. To ensure that the particles strike only cancer cells, the researchers stud them with a string of molecules called aptamers that bind exclusively to proteins that sprout from cancerous tissue. “The aptamers act like GPS in your car. They direct the delivery of the particles to the cancer cells,” Farokhzad says. Once the particles arrive at their preordained location, they deposit their anticancer cargo inside the culprit cells, killing them off—without killing healthy parts of the patient in the process.

When?: 2014. Langer and Farokhzad published data earlier this year showing that their nanoparticles destroy prostate tumors in mice, but at least three more years of animal studies are planned to confirm this finding. Testing in humans could take an additional five years or more. But it’s worth the wait—colleagues say the one-two punch of nanoparticles and aptamers is key to successful treatments.

Running/Cycling Near Busy Streets Could be a Deathwish - Pollution

Five times a week for the past 5 years, I have been unwittingly but systematically poisoning myself.

Each lunch hour, I run for 30 minutes on a wood-chip trail in a leafy park in my hometown of Portland, Oregon. But there's a catch to my moderate, seemingly harmless routine: To reach the park, I must first jog nearly a mile along a busy thoroughfare named Fremont Avenue. Until recently, the screech of city buses and the reek of diesel trucks always felt like a small price to pay for the pleasures waiting on the trail.

Here's what I didn't know: With every deep draught of oxygen, I also gulp down alarming quantities of ozone, carbon monoxide, microscopic particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, lead, and a witch's brew of other pollutants. By conducting part of my workout at midday along a congested street, I am reducing my lung function, constricting my air passages, courting chest pain, increasing my chances of developing asthma, unleashing free radicals to catalyze carcinogens in my bloodstream, and activating cellular processes that might lead to a heart attack.

"When I see people running or bicycling along a busy street in the middle of the day, I want to tackle them and scream at them to stop," says Rachel Langford, coordinator of the Clean Air Project for the American Lung Association in Oregon. "At some intersections, we ought to post 'No Exercise Allowed' signs."

Inhaling the Ozone

It may be hard to imagine that vigorous outdoor exercise -- generally trumpeted as an all-purpose antidote to disease and a retardant to mortality -- could actually help bad air hurt you. But the explanation is simple: When you're running, cycling, playing tennis, or shooting hoops, you breathe in more of it. A lot more.

A sedentary person inhales approximately 15,000 liters of air per day, or 6 to 10 liters per minute. During heavy aerobic exercise, however, you draw in 60 to 150 liters per minute, delivering oxygen throughout 600 to 900 square feet of surface area in the lungs.

"That means the exerciser breathes in 10 to 15 times more pollution than the sedentary person, and he's sucking it deeper into his lungs," says Rob McConnell, M.D., a researcher in the department of preventive medicine at the University of Southern California medical school. "In fact, just by stepping out the door, you could be exposed to five times the ozone you'd inhale if you stayed inside. So if you're outdoors and exercising . . . well, do the math."

The numbers grow more harrowing, because you breathe primarily through your mouth during exercise. At the same time that I'm pulling vast clouds of bad air deep into my lungs during my noon run, I'm also bypassing my body's remarkably effective air-filtering system: the nasal passages. (Mucus traps particulates, and then tiny, waving, hairlike structures called cilia push the old mucus up and out of the body.) The triple whammy of breathing fast, deeply, and through the mouth makes my daily run -- and perhaps your regular workout -- an ozone/particulate/carbon monoxide orgy.

Eventually, our bodies defend themselves against air pollution by breathing less. Air passages tighten, and breathing becomes labored. Our exercising bodies are ensnared in an intractable dilemma: While working furiously to process more air to feed oxygen-hungry muscles, they simultaneously strive to protect us from that air. Our pulmonary and cardiovascular systems strain like air conditioners in an extended heat wave and eventually, inevitably, break down. Early symptoms often include wheezing, coughing, scratchy throat, headache, chest pains, and watery eyes. Other, longer-term effects are considerably more dire.

Gasping for Polluted Air

In Scotland, for instance, researchers studied 30 healthy men cycling on exercise bikes while exposed to diluted diesel exhaust. After 1 hour's exposure to the fumes, the cyclists developed constricted blood vessels and showed a reduction in tPA, an enzyme that breaks down blood clots in the heart. In another study, 17 competitive cyclists were exposed to varying levels of ozone while exercising; their endurance decreased by approximately 30 percent, and their lung function by 22 percent.

Research conducted in Finland shows an even clearer connection between dirty air and heart-attack risk. Every 2 weeks over a 6-month period, scientists monitored 45 volunteers as they exercised in simulated dirty-air conditions. Results linked both fine-particle pollution (the effluvia issuing out of smokestacks) and ultrafine-particle pollution (the invisible emissions from motor vehicles) with a threefold increase in the risk of ischemia, a potentially lethal shortage of oxygen reaching the heart muscle.

Perhaps most disturbing is how airborne toxins can harm us without triggering symptoms. In Southern California, for instance, researchers examined 107 fatal-accident victims, ranging in age from 14 to 25. Before their deaths, none reported breathing problems. Yet autopsies revealed that 86 of the deceased -- 80 percent -- had chronic lung disease. The message to cardio devotees: Easy breathing can confer a false sense of security.

"Healthy, active people tend to underestimate the harmful effects of polluted air, because they don't wheeze or experience chest pain," says Henry Gong Jr., M.D., an air-pollution researcher at the University of Southern California medical school. "Feeling invulnerable, they continue to exercise, putting themselves at greater risk."

The Big Six cause an Asthma Spike

I wanted to know the kind and quantity of pollutants I was inhaling, and thereby gain a rough sense of what my lungs might look like after years of unintentional abuse. My investigations took me from academic experts like Dr. McConnell to officials at the American Lung Association, and finally to a state DEQ air-monitoring station in my neighborhood in Portland. The station is overseen by Holly Stewart, a biologist and air-quality specialist.

A vigorous woman in her mid-40s who used to fight forest fires, Stewart takes me around the station, which lies less than a mile from the street where I run. She shows me the pumps and filters and computer monitors packed inside the 12-by-12-foot shed. She then leads me up a ladder to the flat roof, where there are more measuring devices. It's an abnormally sunny autumn day in western Oregon, with a cool breeze washing over the playground adjacent to the station, and the steady din of traffic rising from the I-5 freeway about a half mile to the west.

"Things are looking pretty good today," Stewart says, checking the nephelometer, a device that measures ozone levels. "And with that wind picking up from the east, we should stay well within the AQI [Air Quality Index] limits for the next several days."

Today's favorable air-pollution readings are characteristic of Portland, which made headlines in 2004 when results showed that the city's ozone-pollution level had decreased over the past decade, despite sharp rises in population, traffic, and economic growth. But over that same period, there was also an increase in Oregon's statewide incidence of asthma. The asthma spike is particularly pronounced among young people, who, with their high rates of physical activity, mimic the characteristics of healthy adult athletes.

The explanation for this might lie in two cutting-edge areas of inquiry: the study of pollutants other than the Big Six (ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, and lead) and analysis of air-pollution microclimates -- i.e., localized areas in which the air is significantly dirtier than in regions as a whole. Among the former, diesel particulates -- the black waste issuing primarily from trucks, buses, locomotives, and other large conveyances -- are emerging as particularly worrisome.

No More Smog Jogs

Despite the darkening diesel cloud, spiking asthma rates, and proliferation of scary studies, all the experts assure me that, on balance, I've been doing myself more good than harm with my daily run.

"By all means, keep running," Dr. Gong says, "but for goodness' sake, stop running along that busy street. If you run just a block away, your risk will be significantly lower."

Dr. Gong also suggests exercising early in the day, when diesel particulates, ozone, and other air pollutants are at their lowest levels, or after nightfall, when traffic abates. Ozone forms when sunlight reacts with automobile and industrial emissions, so it accumulates to significant levels by about 11 a.m. and peaks at around 3 p.m. (After sunset, ozone can no longer form, so the concentration decreases.) By the same token, ozone levels are significantly higher during the sunnier months. Some experts, especially in notoriously smoggy cities such as L.A. and Houston, recommend tailoring training cycles to the season.

Other commonsense mitigating tactics include standing in front of the line of traffic at stoplights and busy intersections, and skipping your outdoor workout if the AQI exceeds 70. (Go to airnow.gov and click on "Local Forecasts & Conditions.") Consuming fruits and vegetables high in vitamin C, such as peaches and red peppers, stimulates production of glutathione, a liver enzyme that helps prevent free-radical damage in the lungs. And just a few places down the antioxidant alphabet is vitamin E, which can also help repel radicals.

The most effective and logical response to air pollution, of course, is to drive less, consume less, and thereby reduce what you are, directly and indirectly, pumping into your city's atmosphere. No one is greener in this regard than bicycle commuters -- and no one, ironically, breathes more traffic exhaust.

"I'm aware of the 'superpolluters' when I'm riding," says Scott Bricker, policy director for the Oregon Bicycle Transportation Alliance, an advocacy group. "When I ride behind one, I go into this thin, shallow style of nose breathing. That gets me through the worst of it. At least I like to believe it does."

Back at the air-quality station in Portland, the wind shifts, and the freeway din grows louder. Stewart opens the top of a PM10 particulate sampler, a device that measures diesel particulates, and extracts a filter clogged with black soot. She explains that this grime has accumulated over just a 48-hour period. I recall all the miles I have logged along Fremont Avenue.

"Actually, this doesn't look so bad," Stewart says. She points to my black jacket. "Some cold days, when people have their fireplaces going, or during temperature inversions in the summer, it shows up darker than your jacket."

She replaces the filter, her expression thoughtful. "Besides, when you're talking about air pollution and exercise, it's often what you can't see that gets you."

Custom Made Organs to Go

Tissue engineer Anthony Atala of Wake Forest University Medical Center and his team made headlines in April when they announced the first custom-built human bladders to be successfully transplanted into people. A month later, they reported that they had used the same tissue-engineering technique to restore sexual function to rabbits with damaged penises, opening the door for radical new treatments for men with sexual dysfunction. Their next big challenge is to grow one of the most intricate organs in the human body: the kidney. Atala’s work on the bladder took off in 1999, when he harvested the cells of the first of seven patients suffering from bladder disease. He and his colleagues grew the cells in culture, implanted them in a biodegradable, bladder-shaped structure, and then grafted their creation onto the patient’s unhealthy organ. This spring, they wrote in a top medical journal that all the bladder recipients are healthy, marking a major milestone in tissue engineering.
When?: 2016. The group has already produced a section of kidney tissue that excretes a urine-like substance. The next big step is to grow the millions of nephrons, or urine-recycling ducts, necessary for a functional kidney.

Weight Gain Increases Breast Cancer Risk

Putting on pounds after menopause increases the risk of breast cancer, according to a new study.

Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston wanted to know how weight gained by middle-aged women affected their breast cancer risk. Previous studies have shown women who lose weight have a decreased risk of cancer

More than 87,000 postmenopausal women between ages 30 and 55 were followed for up to 26 years to analyze weight change since they were 18. Women who gained 55 pounds since then were 45-percent more likely to develop breast cancer than women who maintained their weight. Women who gained 22 pounds after menopause were 18-percent more likely to develop breast cancer than women who maintained their weight after menopause. Women who lost 22 pounds or more after menopause and had never used hormone therapy had a 57-percent lower risk of developing cancer.

The researchers say the data they gathered shows weight gain during the adult years is dangerous for women. They say doctors should advise women to avoid weight gain both before and after menopause.

What exactly is Breast Cancer?

Breast cancer is a malignant tumour which starts in breast tissue. There are several types of breast cancer. They all begin in the milk ducts; and/or the milk lobules (see the diagram above).

Some breast cancers are found when they are 'in situ'. This means they have not spread outside the duct or lobule where they began. However, most breast cancers are found when they are 'invasive'. This means the cancers have grown beyond the duct or lobule into other breast tissue or out of the breast. Breast cancer which spreads out of the breast may also spread to lymph nodes in the armpit nearest the breast affected by cancer (axillary lymph nodes). Breast cancer which is found before it appears to have spread beyond the breast and axillary lymph nodes is known as 'early breast cancer'.

This information is mostly about early breast cancer. Breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, such as the bones and liver is known as advanced breast cancer.

Erase our Bad Memories?...Maybe Sooner Than You Think.

Clinical psychologist Alain Brunet of McGill University in Montreal doesn’t usually torture his patients. But lately he has been pressing those with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, to relive emotionally scarring incidents. For some it’s rape, others battlefield trauma. When his patients get particularly upset—crying, shaking, blood pressure rising—he gives them a 25-year-old hypertension drug called propranolol. The idea, though, is not to lower their blood pressure. Brunet’s goal is much more profound: to wipe away the trauma of bad memories.

Propranolol, it turns out, blocks the effects of stress hormones, which the body creates during traumatic “fight or flight” situations. These hormones serve a critical function—namely, they help us survive life-threatening scenarios by sharpening our senses. But they can also permanently scorch traumatic sights, sounds and smells into the brain, creating a biochemical warehouse in which bad memories can live forever. For the estimated 1.9 million Americans suffering from PTSD, recalling a traumatic event can elicit the same panic response as the event itself.

Harvard University psychiatrist Roger Pitman has already published study results showing that patients given propranolol shortly after a traumatic event are significantly less emotional when recalling the experience. Now he and Brunet are taking the idea even further, attempting to deaden bad memories years after traumatic experiences. Their efforts build on groundbreaking research by Karim Nader, another McGill scientist, whose 2000 studies in rats showed that memories don’t become completely fixed in the brain, as was previously thought. Instead, when memories are recalled, they temporarily transfer back to short-term storage, where they can be more easily “edited.”

Brunet’s hope is that the drug will subdue the patient’s stress response and soften his or her perception of the traumatic memory [see illustration], thereby helping the patient create a new memory of the event—one without all the emotional baggage. So the next time the patient recalls the trauma, the memory of it will no longer cause panic.

In the past few months, Brunet has treated about 20 patients with the new method. “So far, we’re encouraged by what we’ve found,” he says. The implications of his work are tantalizing, if a tad unnerving: People could essentially pop a pill to lighten up the darkest moments of their lives.

How it Works:

1. Trauma triggers the amygdala to release stress hormones, which enhance memory formation in the brain.
2. Memories of the trauma are first stored in the hippocampus. Then a chemical reaction encodes them into neurons in the cerebral cortex, cementing them into long-term storage.
3. When a victim recalls the trauma, the memory transfers back to the hippocampus, where it can trigger the release of more stress hormones.
4. Propranolol blocks the effects of the hormones and softens the victim’s perception of the trauma. The brain restores the newly edited memory.

In the Name of Research...video

Ok. So I know you shoulden't believe what you see, but in some instances it's true. I have been doing research lately on animal cruelty and tests "In the Name of Research" for drugs and houshold products. I think we ought to step back and realize that life is something to be valued regardless of the species. So heres a little video from peta.com...They have many but I think this one sums it up fairly well. Its more of a commercial, but the footage is real.

If you want to help, start by buying products that are labelled "No Animal Testing" or foods and merchandise that are "cruelty free".