Tag Archives: Skin

Microbes: A Microscopic View Of The Human Body

Among the unknown worlds in the universe, we can count our very own bodies. Like planet earth, each of us is made up of fascinating landscapes that are home to all kinds of wildlife.

The film takes the viewer on a unique microscopic safari, where we encounter some of the myriad creatures that live, thrive, compete, feed, are born and die on or inside our bodies. In fact, microscopic creatures play a more powerful role than we know: These life forms impact our health, our life expectancy, our physique and even our behavior.

The film renders these hidden worlds visible with the help of special effects: Combining cinematic electron microscopy with a super macro film technique. The documentary explains cutting-edge scientific findings, by turns surprising, enlightening and amazing. It raises questions about who we are, and how we exist in the unexplored, complex ecosystems that help constitute us.

We are born 100% human, but will die 90% microbial. Between these two points in our lives lies the unexplored terrain of ‘Life on Us’.

Health: Value Of A Healthy ‘Skin Microbiome’ (Video)

Our skin is home to billions of microorganisms, the vast majority of which are bacteria. Much like the microbiome in our gut, these microbes play a crucial part in keeping us healthy. They are part of a finely balanced ecosystem of friendly or ‘commensal’ bacteria, which protect our skin by creating an inhospitable environment for would-be invaders, bolstering the physical integrity of the skin, and training the immune system to distinguish commensal inhabitants from pathogens. A number of skin conditions are now understood to be influenced by a breakdown of this microbial ecosystem. Researchers are working out whether restoring the balance can treat these conditions. Understanding the ecology of this rich community is likely to be an important part of both dermatology and the study of the microbiome. Read more in https://www.nature.com/collections/sk…

Top New Science Podcasts: How The Skin Stretches, Covid-19 Conferences And Pain Resistance Traits

Nature PodcastThis week’s Nature podcast looks at how skin’s unusual response to stretching is finally explained, a coronavirus update and the latest in a huge effort to map DNA. 

In this episode:

01:06 Stretching skin

For decades it’s been known that stretching skin causes more skin to grow, but the reasons why have been a mystery. Now, researchers have uncovered a mechanism to explain the phenomenon. Research Article: Aragona et al.News and Views: Stretch exercises for stem cells expand the skin

07:49 Coronapod

We discuss how the coronavirus pandemic has affected scientific meetings and how the learned societies that organise them are adapting. How scientific conferences will survive the coronavirus shockHow scientific societies are weathering the pandemic’s financial storm;

A year without conferences? How the coronavirus pandemic could change research

18:18 Research Highlights

A genetic trait for pain-resistance, and the accessibility-aware ancient Greeks. Research Highlight: A gene helps women in labour to skip the painkillersResearch Highlight: This temple was equipped with accessibility ramps more than 2,000 years ago

20:42 ENCODE updates

The ENCODE project aims to identify all the regions in the human genome involved in gene regulation. This week, data from its third iteration has been published and we examine the highlights. Research Article: SnyderNews and Views: Expanded ENCODE delivers invaluable genomic encyclopaedia

28:50 Briefing Chat

We take a look at some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time we look at how smallpox may be much older than previously thought, and how the Earth’s atmosphere rings like a bell. Nature News: Smallpox and other viruses plagued humans much earlier than suspectedPhysics World:

Future Of Medicine: “The Rise Of Teledermatology”

From AMA.org (June 12, 2020):

Teledermatology“There’s an aging population, and there’s a lot of skin out there,” said Dr. Isaacs. “One in five people in the country develop skin cancer, but there is a plethora of benign skin conditions that also require the expertise of the dermatologist. So, you have increasing demand and a limited supply of dermatologists.”

A basic example of how the TPMG teledermatology program works involves a patient who is concerned about a suspicious lesion or mole on their body. The patient can take a picture of the location in question and send it to their primary care physician for review. The physician can request the patient come in for a more thorough evaluation, or if the physician determines that a dermatologist should be involved, they can send the photo to an on-call dermatologist to review.

If the patient does an in-person evaluation, the physician can also take a higher-quality image and forward that to a dermatologist. The dermatologist can then decide whether there is a problem, if a prescription is needed, or if there should be an in-person evaluation and potential biopsy.

A study in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology in 2019 found that when TPMG dermatologists had the chance to look at well-photographed skin lesions, they were able to identify nearly 10% more cancers with almost 40% fewer referrals to the dermatology department.

Read more

Top New Science Podcasts: New Skin That Grows Hair, Spontaneous RNA (Nature)

Nature PodcastThis week, Nature looks at a new method to grow hairy skin in a dish, and new research takes aim at the RNA world hypothesis.

In this episode:

00:45 Hairy Skin

Researchers may have developed a way to make skin that can grow hair in the lab, paving the way for treatment of a variety of skin disorders, and perhaps even baldness. Research Article: Lee et al.News and Views: Regenerative medicine could pave the way to treating baldness

08:56 Research Highlights

How mercury moved during the ‘Great Dying’, and the link between mobile phones and gender equality. Research Highlight: Giant eruptions belched toxic metal during the ‘Great Dying’Research Article: Rotondi et al.

11:21 Does DNA predate life?

The RNA world hypothesis posits that RNA formed spontaneously leading eventually to life. Now new research suggests that RNA and DNA formed together, before life. Research Article: Xu et al.News and Views: How DNA and RNA subunits might have formed to make the first genetic alphabet

19:25 Pick of the Briefing

We pick our highlights from the Nature Briefing, including the recent SpaceX launch, and the earliest fossil of a land animal. CBC: Scientists find oldest fossil of a land animalNature News: SpaceX to launch astronauts — and a new era of private human spaceflight

Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.

Other links

Video: We test a home antibody kit for tracking Covid-19 transmission

Top New Science Podcasts: Restoring Notre Dame & The Body’s “Tough Skin”

science-magazine-podcastsOn this week’s show, freelance writer Christa Lesté-Lasserre talks with host Sarah Crespi about the scientists working on the restoration of Notre Dame, from testing the changing weight of wet limestone, to how to remove lead contamination from four-story stained glass windows. 

As the emergency phase of work winds down, scientists are also starting to use the lull in tourist activity to investigate the mysteries of the cathedral’s construction.

Also this week, Felipe Quiroz, an assistant professor in the biomedical engineering department at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, talks with Sarah about his paper on the cellular mechanism of liquid-liquid phase separation in the formation of the tough outer layer of the skin. Liquid-liquid phase separation is when two liquids “demix,” or separate, like oil and water. In cells, this process created membraneless organelles that are just now starting to be understood. In this work, Quiroz and colleagues create a sensor for phase separation in the cell that works in living tissue, and show how phase separation is tied to the formation of the outer layers of skin in mice.

Science And Technology: “3D Printing With Living Organisms” (MIT Video)

A method for printing 3D objects that can control living organisms in predicable ways has been developed by an interdisciplinary team of researchers at MIT and elsewhere. This technique may lead to 3D printing of biomedical tools that can be customized to fit the physical body and biomarkers of its users.

3D printing with living organisms MIT Video January 23 2020

 

(Learn more: http://news.mit.edu/2020/3-d-bioprint…)

Listen to an explainer on 3D bioprinting and biohybrid materials: https://soundcloud.com/mitnewsoffice/…

Health Studies: Reducing Skin Inflammation With “Topical Emollient” Cream Reduces Chronic Disease

From a Wall Street Journal online article:

nci-vol-4604-150…a new small study in humans suggests that using a barrier-forming cream, such as those with an ingredient called ceramide, to treat and prevent problems associated with aging skin—such as dryness, itching and cracking—may help reduce the low-grade inflammation that occurs in otherwise healthy people as they age. Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco and the San Francisco Veterans Hospital say reducing age-related inflammation could help slow the progression of age-related disorders associated with chronic inflammation, such as Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and loss of muscle mass.

Systemic disease usually stems from multiple sources, so skin protection alone is unlikely to be a panacea, experts say. But the hope is that it can help slow the onset or progression of chronic conditions that often crop up in patients with skin disorders such as psoriasis. And the UCSF study, which was published in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology in March, provides the first hint in humans that protecting the skin with a barrier cream might benefit otherwise healthy adults whose skin invariably starts to lose its barrier function around middle age.

To read PDF of study, click below:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jdv.15540?referrer_access_token=lXsArqMcf5AHrI-R4oiwg4ta6bR2k8jH0KrdpFOxC67kdqa5-Q_Q8ltT6uQSa3kUEZMm6mEN7_8mvDywkPe9AOCn7aCLNi_CV3iAMck0BQxAu1SyLpdlTkFwF7hXxUCR6TazFFGPRwZ_EfW2P-26dA%3D%3D

To read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/skin-protection-may-offer-surprising-benefits-for-overall-health-11568599320