Disclosure Item Example

Sleeping with the TV on
it can cause depression.

During the annual celebration of the American Society for Neuroscience, which was held in San Diego, important data was revealed where they ensure that, in Research carried out at the University of Ohio United States, showed that television light or equivalent light affected a greater margin of depression.

This study was carried out in the state of Ohio by researchers from Ohio State University (OSU in its acronym in English) in order to know the effects of light on the brain.

Hamsters were used for the study, choosing Siberian hamsters, from which their ovaries were removed, with the intention that their hormonal cycle would not interfere in the experiment.

As explained by Dr. Randy Nelson and PhD candidate Tracy Bedrosian, prolonged exposure to hamsters to a light, which was low light of 5 lux brightness, produced physical changes within the brain.

The study was carried out by separating half of the hamsters, putting the first half in light exposure and the other half in a dark place.

These medium and long-term changes can be declared as precursors of depression.

When conducting the experiment, during a period of eight weeks, the hamsters exhibited depressive behavior.

Parameters:

The parameters on which they were based were the intensity of the light and the period in which it produces apparent and measurable effects.

The 5 lux used correspond to the average light produced by a turned-on television in a room without light, which is very low and could be considered harmless.

Does the light depress?

As Bedrosian explained to the EFE chain, it cannot be affirmed with certainty and indubitable that the same occurs effect on humans, but it roughly considers that the impact of light on living beings does not vary in relation to dimensions.

The researchers clarify that exposure to light in these periods is a recent phenomenon in humans, even though it is a campfire (in the case of primitive men), so his conclusion is that the light is as moderate as possible when sleeping.

Sugar water is given to hamsters, this being the measure used to know the level of anxiety, since rodents drink less sugar water when they are anxious.

Ascertainable?

To verify the experiment, the hippocampi of the hamsters were measured, verifying that those that slept with light had a reduced or minor dendritic spines, which are fine extensions of brain cells that allow the transmission of messages from one cell to another.

Bedrosian clarifies, which is of utmost importance because the hippocampus is an important factor in depression and finding changes in that area is very significant. But they clarify that in the level of cortisol (the stress hormone) that is associated with alterations of the hippocampus.

Melatonin, the key.

According to scientists, melatonin is the most feasible explanation, since it is the hormone that is no longer secreted when there is light, which is why it is called the sleep hormone.

For this reason, the hormone melatonin is the key to research within this process.

Finally, this study and his results coincide with later studies in which Nelson and his colleagues discovered that intense and constant light at night is linked to depressive symptoms and weight gain in mice.

Islets of Langerhans transplant

Is it the cure for diabetes?

A new option that can eventually end diabetes.

Researchers and doctors have worked hard to find a cure for diabetes mellitus, a cure that can encompass both type I and type II diabetes sufferers.

Among the many objectives sought is the transplantation of islets of Langerhans, which are the key points that are damaged when suffering from diabetes.

You have to know that diabetes is a problem that is growing exponentially, but its treatments are not entirely optimal for its proper control, which keeps doctors looking for the best way to control glucose levels, without the presence of glycated hemoglobin uncontrolled.

The treatment of islets of Langerhans transplants is the method that has provided a control more natural that stabilizes with minimal or at least very little treatment of immunosuppressants.

The greatest benefit occurs in patients with type I diabetes, who previously represented a 90% mortality that has been gradually reduced with the improvement of medicines, treatments and feeding.

These patients can become insulin independent, something that was impossible to expect just a few decades ago.

Who is the transplant for?

This was carried out mainly in patients who already had kidney failure, since the need to consume Immunosuppressive medications made it easier to apply the treatment, without this implying a cure permanent.

Today islet transplants are performed, which allowed a normal year of life in patients who did not have kidney damage, and with the use of new immunosuppressants, the results have been very acceptable, taking in some cases more than a year of insulin independence.

It must be seen that it is not a single intervention of isolated islets, but rather different transplants are performed, which makes it necessary to transplant islets from different donors.

The most common problem is that this type of surgery and therapy is very expensive.

What is missing now is to try to reproduce the patient's own islets or to reproduce islets of relatives.

The bigger problem is that these cells are not easy to reproduce, which produces a bigger problem, which makes embryonic stem cells are chosen, which means having a very different approach and an ethical, political and legal issue.