(Press-News.org) DETROIT – The human body is made up of several organs composed of tissues that enable them to perform a particular function. The heart circulates blood; the brain is the micro-neuro center of the body; the lungs bring in oxygen and release carbon dioxide.
The failure of any one of these tissue systems can cause serious health issues, even death. When components of the organ are fixed, typically the organ functions better. For instance, unclogging a blocked artery with a balloon stent improves blood circulation to and from the heart.
Henry Ford Hospital researcher Fred Nelson, M.D., suggests that viewing the knee as an organ in the same way doctors examine the heart for heart disease could lead to better therapies for treating osteoarthritis, one of the five leading causes of disability in elderly men and women. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons asserts that the risk for disability from osteoarthritis of the knee is as great as that from cardiovascular disease.
An exhibit that in part examines degenerative knee arthritis as an organ in failure will be displayed at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Feb. 15-18 in San Diego.
"For years we've looked at the aging knee strictly from a mechanical perspective recognizing the critical role of articular cartilage. We keep forgetting that other structures about the knee are also affected," says Dr. Nelson, director of Henry Ford's Osteoarthritis Center. "The underpinnings of research about a degenerative disease like osteoarthritis should take into account the bone, cartilage, ligaments, nerves and circulating chemicals and how these components collectively work together to affect the function of the knee."
Osteoarthritis of the knee is a leading cause of disability and loss of independence. It is most typically a slow, progressively degenerative disease in which the joint cartilage gradually wears away due to trauma, aging or infection. As the cartilage thins, the surrounding bone may thicken. Often bones rub against one another and may be the individual's source of pain. In most cases, normal activity becomes painful and difficult.
Current treatments include drug therapies like anti-inflammatory medication or pain relievers, physical therapy, support devices, health and behavioral modifications such as weight loss, and joint replacement surgery.
"Our strategies are directed at anti-inflammatory and pain medications. Yet, we don't look at the origins of pain, which can be a product of dysfunction of joint tissue, bone and nerves," Dr. Nelson says.
"The feed back of nerve signaling can have a direct effect on the cartilage cell itself. Knowledge of the back and forth messaging between the tissue components may lead to better interventions for pain. But we can't know that until we start looking at the knee with a broader view."
INFORMATION:
The exhibit is funded by the Orthopaedic Research Society.
END
When psychotherapy is helping someone get better, what does that change look like in the brain? This was the question a team of Canadian psychological scientists set out to investigate in patients suffering from social anxiety disorder. Their findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association of Psychological Science.
Social anxiety is a common disorder, marked by overwhelming fears of interacting with others and expectations of being harshly judged. Medication and psychotherapy both help people with the disorder. But research on the neurological ...
In recent years, topological insulators have become one of the hottest topics in physics. These new materials act as both insulators and conductors, with their interior preventing the flow of electrical currents while their edges or surfaces allow the movement of a charge.
Perhaps most importantly, the surfaces of topological insulators enable the transport of spin-polarized electrons while preventing the "scattering" typically associated with power consumption, in which electrons deviate from their trajectory, resulting in dissipation.
Because of such characteristics, ...
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Illinois researchers have documented the first observations of some unusual physics when two prominent electric materials are connected: superconductors and graphene.
Led by University of Illinois physics professor Nadya Mason, the group published its findings in the journal Nature Physics.
When a current is applied to a normal conductor, such as metal or graphene, it flows through the material as a stream of single electrons. By contrast, electrons travel in pairs in superconductors. Yet when a normal material is sandwiched between superconductors, ...
A group of University of Cincinnati seniors in the psychology program will nationally present their comparison of educational technology alternatives to purchasing college textbooks that can run into hundreds of dollars per academic quarter. Their research as part of the statewide Ohio Digital Bookshelf Project will be presented on Monday, Feb. 14, at the national EDUCAUSE Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.
The Digital Bookshelf Project is an initiative under the University System of Ohio (USO) Strategic Plan for Higher Education to develop a high-quality, affordable, ...
Researchers at North Carolina State University have discovered that the placentas of women who suffer preeclampsia during pregnancy have an overabundance of a gene associated with the regulation of the body's immune system. Their discovery may lead to improved screening and prenatal care for these patients and their babies.
Preeclampsia occurs in up to 10 percent of all pregnancies, and is responsible for about 15 percent of pre-term births. The disorder is usually marked by a rapid rise in blood pressure that can lead to stroke, seizures or organ failures in the mother. ...
WORCESTER, Mass. – Year-end test scores of Massachusetts middle school students whose teachers used a Web-based tutoring platform called ASSISTments as a central part of their mathematics instruction were significantly better than those of students whose teachers did not use the platform, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Educational Computing Research. Conducted by Neil T. Heffernan, PhD, of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), and Kenneth R. Koedinger, PhD, and Elizabeth A. McLaughlin, both of Carnegie Mellon University, the study examined data ...
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- A new analysis of sulfur emissions appearing in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics shows that after declining for a decade, worldwide emissions rose again in 2000 due largely to international shipping and a growing Chinese economy. An accurate read on sulfur emissions will help researchers predict future changes in climate and determine present day effects on the atmosphere, health and the environment.
"Sulfur dioxide is an important component of the atmosphere. It changes the radiative balance of the earth by influencing the amount of ...
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in patients with diabetes. Patients with type 1diabetes have a 200 percent to 400 percent greater chance of developing cardiovascular disease than those without diabetes. Medical College of Wisconsin researchers at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin discovered the early signs of cardiovascular disease are likely to manifest before the onset of puberty in many children with diabetes.
Those findings are published in the February 2, 2011 online version of Diabetes Care and will be in the March 2011 issue of Diabetes Care.
Led ...
VIDEO:
A new technology that allows wireless signals to be sent and received simultaneously on a single channel has been developed by Stanford researchers. Their research could help build faster, more...
Click here for more information.
"Wireless communication is a one-way street. Over."
Radio traffic can flow in only one direction at a time on a specific frequency, hence the frequent use of "over" by pilots and air traffic controllers, walkie-talkie users and emergency ...
OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Feb. 14, 2011 -- Bioethanol from new lines of native perennial prairie grass could become less costly because of plant engineering by The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation and fermentation research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers describe their transgenic version of switchgrass as one that produces about one-third more ethanol by fermentation than conventional switchgrass. This improved plant feedstock will be able to generate more biofuel per acre, benefiting not ...
