HIV/AIDS Risk to Vets

Standards at nationwide VA facilities seem to be running at an all time low. This latest incident puts not only the lives of over 3000 veterans at risk, but perhaps the lives of their families.

What also concerns me is the lack of attention to natural treatment that is able to stop the transmission of HIV to AIDS, and other therapy outside the use of anti-retrovirals that have severe health risks of their own.

HIV Risk To 3,000 Vets From Non Disinfected Pumps At VA Hospital In Miami
24 Mar 2009

Over 3,000 veterans who had routine tests at Miami's VA Medical Center are thought to be at slight risk of infection from hepatitis or HIV because the hospital discovered that a section of tube used in water pumps for colonoscopies and other gastrointestinal procedures was only being rinsed and not disinfected.

A hospital announcement on Monday, reported in the Miami Herald and other local media, said officials have sent letters to over 2,500 veterans, and are still trying to trace another 700. 3,260 patients are thought to be at risk altogether.

John Vara, chief of staff of the Miami VA Health Care System, told the press that during an internal safety review they discovered on 4 March that a part of the equipment used in colonoscopies and other gastrointestinal procedures was not being disinfected, only rinsed. This was contrary to the manufacturer's recommendation, he said.

It was an alert from the manufacturer that caused the hospital to carry out the safety review, reported the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Vara said that a length of tube attached to a pump that is used with a type of endoscope was not being cleaned and disinfected, although the endoscope itself (the tube containing a fiber optic camera that goes inside the patient) was.

The risk comes from infection caused by the slight chance of backflow, although the pump itself does not come into contact with the patient.

Vara said there was no evidence that any of the patients had been infected, and although the risk of infection is low, he said "any risk is unacceptable", reported the Miami Herald.

There have been other incidents recently of vets being put at risk of serious infection from incorrect hospital procedures, said the Herald.

In February about 6,400 vets at a VA center in Tennessee were told to get blood tests after equipment used in colonoscopies had not been handled properly, and another center in Augusta Georgia found that more than 1,800 vets were put at risk due to non-sterile use of ear, nose and throat instruments.

According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Vara said they don't know why the manufacturer's recommendations for disinfecting the tube were not followed.

A patient safety expert told the paper that the risk of exposure is likely to be very small and most patients were exposed a long time ago and are most likely out of danger.

However, another said it was still important to investigate how the error came about and make sure it doesn't happen again. You don't want to alarm people, but you need to know what went wrong and how to fix it, said Dr Anthony Silvagni, who chairs a safety group and is dean at the Nova Southeastern University health sciences division.

Democratic member for Miami of the US House of Representatives, Kendrick Meek, has written to Eric K Shinseki, Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and VA inspector general George Opfer, urging them to order an investigation, and he also wants a door to door campaign to alert all veterans who might be at risk.

In his letter to them Meek said it was "stomach-turning" that veterans have to face this situation and visit Special Care Clinics for blood tests, reported the Sentinel.

The VA have set up special care clinics in the Miami VA, the Broward County VA Clinic, the Homestead VA Clinic and the Key West VA Clinic to screen patients who may be infected.

Concerned patients may call the 24 hour Miami VA hotline on 305-575-7256 or toll free on 1-877-575-7256.

Sources: Miami Herald, South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD
Copyright: Medical News Today
Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/143427.php

Regenerating Brain Cells

When I worked in the Neuro ICU in the early 1970s I was teased relentlessly at times by doctors who believed I was a bit wacky when I'd argue for the ability of the human body to regenerate brain and nerve cells.

The 1990s found me happy when I read a report on a similar result in a study.

Now it seems we are making more headway, and the jokes can stop.

I've applied a process to accomplish this with people who have had traumatic brain injury and suffer with PTSD. I'm sure it applies to the current situation with our young soldiers.

Scientists coax brain cells in mice to regenerateBy Julie Steenhuysen
Thu Nov 6, 2008

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Scientists have found a way to get damaged nerve cells in the brains of mice to repair themselves, a finding that may lead to new treatments for spinal cord and brain injuries.

By turning off proteins that keep nerve cell growth in check, the researchers were able to stimulate regrowth in mice with damaged optic nerves, they reported on Thursday.

"This is the first time it has been possible to see such significant regeneration by manipulating single molecules," Zhigang He of Children's Hospital Boston, whose study appears in the journal Science, said in a statement.

A separate team found that blocking a protein that discourages cell repairs allowed nerve cells in lab dishes to regenerate.

Taken together, the findings offer leads on ways to coax damaged nerves in the brain and spinal cord to fix themselves.

The studies focused on nerve fibers called axons that carry electrical signals throughout the body.

"In your arms and legs, if these fibers are severed, they can regrow back to the muscle," said Marc Tessier-Lavigne, executive vice president of research drug discovery at biotechnology firm Genentech Inc.

"Nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord do not regenerate. When you have a spinal cord injury, the paralysis is usually permanent," he said in a telephone interview.

"The ambition of our field is to understand why it is the fibers don't regenerate in the central nervous system."

REKINDLING GROWTH

He's team focused on a gene network called the mTOR pathway, which is very active when young nerve cells are first growing but becomes less active once nerve cells mature.

Nerve injury appears to shut down this network completely. And two proteins -- PTEN and TSC1 -- appear to be responsible for silencing this pathway, the researchers discovered.

"If we get rid of (those proteins), axons can regenerate very dramatically," He said in a telephone interview.

Mice genetically engineered to lack the proteins kept more neurons after an injury to the optic nerve than normal mice. And the mutant mice were able to grow new axons within two weeks.

He said the study suggests that blocking the proteins might rekindle the nerve cell's natural ability to grow. The team is now looking for drugs that can block the proteins.

Tessier-Lavigne and colleagues focused on a different problem -- the chemicals in the body that discourage repairs.

"Even if the nerve cell could regrow, the environment is hostile to regrowth," Tessier-Lavigne said.

He said when an axon in the spinal cord is severed, the cut end sprouts a growth cone.

"It almost looks like a little hand at the end of this cable-like structure," he said.

Tiny sensors on the growth cone pick up chemical signals. In nerves in the periphery of the body such as the finger, signals tell the axon to repair itself. But in the central nervous system, chemical signals repress growth.

Tessier-Lavigne's team found one of those signals -- a protein called PirB -- in the insulating myelin sheath that wraps around each neuron. When they blocked this myelin protein in cell cultures, they got nerve cells to grow.

Tessier-Lavigne said the hope is to use this information to make drugs that allow nerve cells in the brain and spine to repair themselves.

(Editing by Maggie Fox and John O'Callaghan) Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited.

Using your mind to heal

The release of this recent repeat of older studies is very worthwhile to see reported in mainstream media.

Years ago when I worked in neuro-icu from time to time and subsequently throughout my career as a health professional I have always maintained that neurons can be regenerated. It is the basis for the effectiveness of the therapy for stroke victims to regain use of effected limbs in association with restraining the unaffected limb for short period twice daily ( you are hearing me cringe when I think of all the after effects of CVAs and head injury that are preventable with proper care).

The mind is indeed a powerful tool in healing. Many of us on the avant garde edge of health care have always believed this and integrated the teachings into our care for patients and clients. There is no reason why specific healing techniques cannot be taught to patients to encourage them to rely more on the body's inherent ability to heal. It is also an effective tool that already has been shown to assist the injured with sexual issues.

Many more applications are there, waiting for the door to open.

Perhaps this report will encourage others still relying on Newtonian thinking to burst out of the chains.

Mind power moves paralysed limbs By Michelle Roberts, Health reporter, BBC News

Scientists have shown it is possible to harness brain signals and redirect them to make paralysed limbs move.

The technology bypasses injuries that stop nerve signals travelling from the brain to the muscles, offering hope for people with spinal damage.

So far the US team from the University of Washington have only tested their "brain-machine interfaces" in monkeys.

The hope is to develop implantable circuits for humans without the need for robotic limbs, Nature reports.

Wired up

Spinal cord injuries impair the nerve pathways between the brain and the limbs but spare both the limb muscles and the part of the brain that controls movement - the motor cortex.

Similar techniques could be applied to stimulate the lower limb muscles during walking
Lead researcher Dr Chet Moritz

Recent studies have shown that quadriplegic patients - people who have paralysis in all four limbs - can consciously control the activity of nerve cells or neurons in the motor cortex that command hand movements, even after several years of paralysis.

Using a gadget called a brain-machine interface, Dr Chet Moritz and colleagues re-routed motor cortex control signals from the brains of temporarily paralysed monkeys directly to their arm muscles.

The gadget, which is the size of a mobile phone, interprets the brain signals and converts them into electrical impulses that can then stimulate muscle to contract.

By wiring up artificial pathways for the signals to pass down, muscles that lacked natural stimulation after paralysis with a local anaesthetic regained a flow of electrical signals from the brain.

Life-changing

The monkeys were then able to tense the muscles in the paralysed arm, a first step towards producing more complicated goal-directed movements, such as grasping a cup or pushing buttons, say the researchers.

Lead researcher Dr Chet Moritz said: "This could be scaled to include more muscles or stimulate sites in the spinal cord that could activate muscles in a coordinated action.

"Similar techniques could be applied to stimulate the lower limb muscles during walking."

The scientists found the monkeys could learn to use virtually any motor cortex nerve cell to control muscle stimulation - it did not have to be one that would normally controlled arm movement. And their control over the muscles improved with practice.

The researchers say they need to do trials in humans, meaning a treatment could be decades away.

Dr Mark Bacon, head of research at the UK charity Spinal Research, said: "This is clearly a step in the right direction and proves the principle that artificially transducing the will to move generated in the brain with relevant motor activity can be achieved.

"However, these results have been produced in experimental models where there is no injury per se."

He said injury-induced changes to the nerve circuits might hinder the technology's application in real life.

Also, brain-machine interfaces communicate in only one direction - in this case from the brain to the muscle.

"Sensory feedback, so important for fine control of movements and dexterity, is still some way away," he said.

Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/7669159.stm
Published: 2008/10/15 17:02:32 GMT © BBC MMVIII