Chemists Devise Self-Assembling 'Organic Wires'

From pacemakers constructed of materials that so closely mimic human tissues that a patient's body can't discern the difference to devices that bypass injured spinal cords to restore movement to paralyzed limbs, the possibilities presented by organic electronics read like something from a science fiction novel.

Derived from carbon-based compounds (hence the term "organic"), these "soft" electronic materials are valued as lightweight, flexible, easily processed alternatives to "hard" electronics components such as metal wires or silicon semiconductors. And just as the semiconductor industry is actively developing smaller and smaller transistors, so, too, are those involved with organic electronics devising ways to shrink the features of their materials, so they can be better utilized in bioelectronic applications such as those above.

To this end, a team of chemists at The Johns Hopkins University has created water-soluble electronic materials that spontaneously assemble themselves into "wires" much narrower than a human hair. An article about their work was published in a recent issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

"What's exciting about our materials is that they are of size and scale that cells can intimately associate with, meaning that they may have built-in potential for biomedical applications," says John Tovar, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry in the Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. "Can we use these materials to guide electrical current at the nanoscale? Can we use them to regulate cell-to-cell communication as a prelude to re-engineering neural networks or damaged spinal cords? These are the kinds of questions we are looking forward to being able to address and answer in the coming years."

The team used the self-assembly principles that underlie the formation of beta-amyloid plaques, which are the protein deposits often associated with Alzheimer's disease, as a model for their new material. This raises another possibility: that these new electronic materials may eventually prove useful for imaging the formation of these plaques.

"Of course, much research has been done and is still being done to understand how amyloids form and to prevent or reverse their formation," Tovar says. "But the process also represents a powerful new pathway to fabricate nanoscale materials."

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Baltimore Inner-city Homes Unsafe for Young Children, Hopkins Study Finds

Infants and young children living in Baltimore’s inner-city homes are at risk for serious perils, including fires, falls and poisoning, according to a small but revealing study from the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. A survey of 32 urban homes and their residents found that many lacked functioning fire alarms, staircase gates and safe storage for medications, researchers report in the August issue of Pediatrics. Fires, falls and poisonings are the top causes of childhood home injuries in Baltimore.

The study found that:
• 97 percent of homes had smoke detectors but only half had a working one on each level of the home.
• None of the homes had staircases blocked correctly.
• Only 17 percent of homes had adult medications stored safely in a locked place.
• Nearly two-thirds of the homes had staircases too narrow and banister design that wouldn’t allow a gate to be fitted across the top of the stairs; one-third would not accommodate a gate at the bottom of the stairs.
• Nearly 20 percent had recognized environmental hazards such as using a gas stove to heat the home.
• Two of the 32 homes had exposed wires in the walls.
• Two homes had broken banisters or railings.

Not using home-safety devices such as stair-blocking gates, fire detectors and medicine-cabinet locks makes these homes dangerous for youngsters, researchers say. Barriers include poverty and the structural design of older urban homes that often doesn’t allow for proper installation of such devices, they point out.

“There are many factors that come into play here, and parental knowledge and financial situation are just part of the problem,” says study lead author Kimberly Stone, M.D., M.P.H., a pediatrician at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. “Clearly, the design of older urban homes and the lack of uniform measures to ensure home safety also play a role.”

Study participants—32 low-income, mostly unemployed pregnant women or mothers of children younger than 1 year from inner-city Baltimore—received information on safety products and practices and were given coupons to buy fire alarms, stair gates and medicine-cabinet locks. Researchers then interviewed the mothers about their home-safety practices and visited their homes to observe first-hand the use of safety products. Researchers found that parents tended to over-report their use of fire and smoke alarms, stair gates and cabinet locks, and many failed to use or install these products correctly. The study, albeit small, probably reflects patterns typical of Baltimore City’s impoverished urban pockets, researchers suspect.

“The take-home message for us as primary-care pediatricians is that we can’t simply ask parents if their homes are child-proof,” Stone says. “We need to be probing and ask specific questions about stair gates, fire alarms, medication storage, as well as about the state of repair and design of the home.”

The problem should be addressed on a macro level as well.

“We need to do more than hand out a free fire alarm and a pamphlet,” Stone adds. “We need legislators, housing authorities, landlords and manufacturers of safety products to step up to the plate and help ensure compliance.”

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Baltimore's Makeover Could Use More Than 'Hairspray'

I first noticed something when I saw the sleek black limosines sliding their way along Charles Street. Once on the bus, I saw what was going on -- it was the Baltimore premiere of the new remake of the cult film Hairspray.

Fans and TV crews alike had mobbed the sidewalk and as the bus drove by, we passengers saw film co-star Amanda Bynes posing in very Hollywood fashion out on the sidewalk for the photographers.

So this is what passes for glamour here in Baltimore.

You see, Baltimore is caught up in a bit of an identity crisis. This city, which once had serious personality, now lives in the shadow of this other city just an hour south on I-95. Yes, you guessed it -- our nation's capital, Washington DC.

Washington is a living city. Whatever their political stripe, Washington attracts the best and the brightest who come from across the country -- and around the world -- just to change the world, and leave their mark on it, too.

You can feel that energy everyday in Washington, as I do working there.

At night I come home to the somnambulent-by-comparison Baltimore, which is caught between the quaint past as seen in Hairspray and a future not yet made or defined.

Baltimore is just not the magnet for people and energy that Washington proves to be every day.

Certainly, Baltimore is home to the world-famous Johns Hopkins University, as well as many fine colleges and universities. Yet, they all operate as islands and never achieve the critical mass that government, non-profits and all of the other associated enterprises of Washington DC can muster.

Baltimore's in the midst of a mayoral election and the top issue on everyone's lips is the city's high crime and soaring homicide rate.

The thing is, Washington also has crime, murder and all the other urban social ills of a modern city. And yet for all of that, smart people keep coming to Washington. People in Washington have a lot more to talk about than their murder rate.

It will be up to the next mayor of Baltimore to provide the city with more of the energy that is so common and infectious on the streets just an hour south. With its universities and other assets, Baltimore has what it takes. What needs is a vision to create that critical mass its neighbor down in Washington has. What DC has is the "people's business." Baltimore needs to find some new business of its own, as unique in its own way as you'll find in government in Washington.

It's time that people in Baltimore also have more to talk about than either their crime rate or the sweet nostalgia of Hairspray.

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Prosthetics 2009 Team Delivers 1st Advanced Limb Prototype

An international team led by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., has developed a prototype of the first fully integrated prosthetic arm that can be controlled naturally, provide sensory feedback and allows for eight degrees of freedom—a level of control far beyond the current state of the art for prosthetic limbs, researchers say.

Proto 1, developed for the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Revolutionizing Prosthetics Program, is a complete limb system that also includes a virtual environment used for patient training, clinical configuration, and to record limb movements and control signals during clinical investigations.

The DARPA prosthetics program is an ambitious effort to provide the most advanced medical and rehabilitative technologies for military personnel injured in the line of duty. Over the last year, the APL-led Revolutionizing Prosthetics 2009 (RP 2009) team has worked to develop a prosthetic arm that will restore significant function and sensory perception of the natural limb. Proto 1 and its virtual environment system were delivered to DARPA ahead of schedule, and Proto 1 was fitted for clinical evaluations conducted by team partners at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) in January and February.

“This progress represents the first major step in a very challenging program that spans four years and involves more than 30 partners, including government agencies, universities, and private firms from the United States, Europe, and Canada,” says APL’s Stuart Harshbarger, who leads the program. “The development of this first prototype within the first year of this program is a remarkable accomplishment by a highly talented and motivated team and serves as validation that we will be able to implement DARPA’s vision to provide, by 2009, a mechanical arm that closely mimics the properties and sensory perception of a biological limb.”

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Space Technology Benefits Medical Community

A small group of Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab researchers, in collaboration with physicians from the Johns Hopkins Scleroderma Center in Baltimore, developed and recently completed initial trials for a miniature device to help physicians characterize Raynaud’s disease and measure treatment effectiveness.

“The Ambulatory Raynaud’s Monitor is a tiny, Band-Aid-like device that enables physicians to objectively characterize a patient’s condition, determine its severity and measure symptoms in real time,” says Frederick Wigley, director of the Hopkins Scleroderma Center and one of the country’s leading scleroderma experts, who asked the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), in Laurel, Md., to develop the device after reading about APL’s work developing miniature devices for spacecraft. “Until now, Raynaud’s research has been crippled without such a device.”

The small, low-cost monitor wraps around a patient’s finger and is secured with a bandage or medical tape. It contains two sensors that alternately record skin and ambient temperatures – indicators of surface blood flow – every 36 seconds. Interactive controls permit a patient to record the date and time of a suspected Raynaud’s attack. A week’s data is held by the monitor’s electronics and is retained even if the device’s power is unexpectedly interrupted.
Physicians can easily download data into a computer or PDA (personal digital assistant).

Software developed by APL enables physicians to quickly and easily display and plot data, which could be done during a patient’s appointment to provide real-time feedback. The monitoring system’s batteries store enough energy to operate for several months, and devices can be cleaned and reinitialized for use with multiple patients.

Triggered by cold temperatures or stress, Raynaud’s is characterized by numbness and coldness in the fingers, toes, ears and/or nose when blood vessels in those areas constrict during attacks. Insufficient blood flow near the skin’s surface also causes patients to experience skin color changes and varying levels of discomfort. Limited blood flow to the extremities can potentially lead to permanent loss of function. Raynaud’s can occur on its own, or be secondary to another condition, such as auto-immune disorders like scleroderma or lupus.

Field TrialsThe device recently underwent initial testing on patients with Raynaud’s being treated at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. Patients wore a monitor for one week in their homes, pressing an “event button” on the device to indicate when a Raynaud’s event was occurring. The data – processed by APL engineers and evaluated by JHMI physicians – indicates Raynaud’s events can be successfully identified. Patients said the devices are comfortable and easy to use.

“The data from this preliminary study suggests that the monitor can help scientists and physicians learn more about Raynaud’s phenomenon and help investigators evaluate the effectiveness of drugs being developed to treat this disease,” says APL’s Binh Le, one of the inventors of the device.

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Newsweek: Genome Sequencing Begins To Payoff

Three years after scientists announced they had sequenced the human genome, new knowledge about how our genesaffect our health is transforming the way diseases are understood, diagnosed, treated-and even predicted, reports Newsweek senior writer Claudia Kalbin.

Newsweek's latest installment of its ongoing "Health for Life" series,"What's Next in Medicine" is in the December 11 issue, on newsstands Monday, December 4.

Today gene tests are available for more than 1,300 diseases, including cystic fibrosis and hemophilia. And now, as genetic screening gets cheaper and faster, researchers are hunting down the biological underpinnings of more-complex disorders that involve multiple genes-big,rampaging illnesses that strike millions of Americans every year. On the list: type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's, heart disease and depression.

If the scientists are right, genetic tests for some of these diseases could beavailable by 2010. "We are on the leading edge of a genuine revolution,"says Dr. Francis Collins, head of the National Human Genome Research Institute.

The gene tests currently offered for certain diseases, like breast andcolon cancer, affect only a small percentage of total cases. But the impacton a single life can be huge. The key: being able to do something to ward off disease. "Genetic testing offers us profound insight," says Dr. Stephen Gruber, of the University of Michigan. "But it has to be balanced with ourability to care for these patients."

For example, the risk of breast and ovarian cancers in people with BRCA mutations can be reduced by frequent screening and radical surgery. Having healthy breasts or ovaries removed isn't easy, but the payoff--an end to constant anxiety and a pre-emptivestrike at disease--can be well worth it.

"Most women I've met who've had prophylactic surgery are glad they made the choice even if they're unhappy they were put in that position," says Sue Friedman, a breast-cancer survivor and head of FORCE, an advocacy and support group focused on hereditary cancers. "It's a double- edged sword."

The value of testing becomes especially murky -- and ethically complicated -- when there is no way to prevent or treat disease, as in the case of early-onset Alzheimer's, which often strikes before the age of 50,or Huntington's, Kalb reports.

Today, only about 5 percent of people whoare at risk for Huntington's, a devastating neurological disorder, take the test. Many are worried that genetic testing will put their health insurance or job security in jeopardy. Some people, however, can't live with uncertainty.

Stephanie Vogt knew Huntington's ran in her family -- her paternal grandfather and his three brothers all died from complications ofthe disease-and she wanted to find out where she stood. "As soon as I foundout there was a test, I just had to do it," she says.

In August 2000, after comprehensive genetic counseling, Stephanie, her sister, Victoria and their mother, Gayle Smith, learned her results: positive. "It was like a scene out of the Matrix, where everything freezes and starts again," says Stephanie.

On good days Stephanie feels empowered; on bad days she's frightened. "But most of the time," she says, "I'm comfortable with the fact that I have the knowledge."

Testing is just one piece of the genomic revolution. A major goal is to create new sophisticated therapies that home in on a disease's biological glitch, then fix the problem. Already, genes are helping to predict a patient's response to existing medications. A prime example in this field of pharmacogenetics, says Dr. Wylie Burke of the University of Washington, is a variant of the gene called TPMT, which can lead to life-threatening reactions to certain doses of chemotherapy. Knowing a patient's genotype,or genetic profile, may also help researchers uncover new preventative therapies for intractable diseases.

At Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Dr. Christopher Ross has tested several compounds shown to slow the progression of Huntington's in mice. Now he wants to test them in people who are positive for the Huntington's mutation but have not yetdeveloped symptoms--a novel approach to clinical drug trials, which almost always involve sick people seeking cures. "We're using genetics to move from treating the disease after it happens," he says, "to preventing the worst symptoms of the disease before it happens."