Fatigue

Thank you anonymous reader for the comment to my previous post.

Per your excellent comment, the correct version of the Buddha joke is as follows:
Buddha walks up to a hot dog stand
The vendor asks "what would you like?"
Buddha replies "make me one withe everything."

In regards to the news, an important study has been highlighted recently. Dr. Andrew R. Marks (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2008, 105, 2198) at Columbia University has shown that the complex (RyR1 macromolecular complex) that shuts the calcium channels found in the sarcoplasmic reticulum (pictured right) is looser after strenuous exercises. The calcium leak causes a smaller force from contracting muscle and activates a protein, calpain, that could lead to muscle damage.

The authors commented that this is a possible explanation for long term muscle fatigue unexplained by lactic acid build up (causes the short term pain following bursts of exercise).

Marks et al. identified a compound that improves the RyR1 integrity during exercise and minimizes fatigue in muscle. A compound named S107 decreased the depletion of Calstabin1 from the RyR1 complex, thus improving overall stability during exercise.

This study is of interest for many reasons. As mentioned by the authors, a similar calcium leak has been found in heart failure patients. Implications for a treatment are clear.

Other disease entities should be considered at this point. For example, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, is characterized by prolonged fatigue and malaise 24-36 hours post exertion. The 24-36 hour absence of fatigue is intriguing in the context of this study.

In further posts I hope to explore the mechanism of action for S107 and the implication of differentiating the fast and slow twitch muscle fibers.

A joke at every end:

A couple goes on a trip to Israel. They bicker at the wailing wall and the dead sea. In Jerusalem, the bickering continues. Every visit to a synagogue is marked by a fight. One day the wife passes away. The husband goes to a Rabbi and asks for options. The Rabbi says, "You can ship the wife back to America for 15 thousand dollars or bury her body in the holy land of Israel, your historic birth land, for only $150."
The husband, without hesitation, says "I'll ship her back to America."
The Rabbi is stunned "why would you spend all this money to send her away from this holy land."
The husband replies, "this is the same holy land where a man was buried for three days and came back to life. I am not taking any chances."

Priorities

What is more important: the quality of our detergents or hospital borne infections?

Seventh Generation is a company specializing in "green" cleaning products and has 100 million dollars in yearly sales. The success of the environmentally friendly cleaners has pushed bigger companies like Clorox to invest in renewable and less toxic technologies.

Detergents are stored for long durations and require preservatives to retain their chemical integrity. Some preservatives, used by Seventh Generation, in their detergent line released small amounts of formaldehyde (C&EN, January 21, 2008). The EPA considers formaldehyde, pictured, a probable carcinogen, but the compound is found in trace amounts in the environment. This molecule, weighing only 30 grams/mole, caused great concern among consumers and has led to a search for alternative preservatives.

One collaboration specifically is of great interest. Seventh Generation is working with Agion Technologies to utilize Agion's antimicrobial silver technology. Silver ions are natural microbial killers, and have been harnessed by Agion with their patented slow release coatings. Other companies have pursued this natural path as well. Bio Signal has developed furanones, pictured to the right and copyrighted to Bio Signal, to disrupt the effect of bacteria released quarom sensing molecules. Disruption of these molecules interferes with biofilm formation and ultimately with bacterial growth. An explanatory video is available on the Bio Signal website.

These developments are promising as our society is fighting with microbial infiltration. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 1.7 million healthcare associated infections (HAI) occur annually in the United States and lead to 99 thousand deaths. These infections are due to a variety of invisible, to the naked eye, organisms that make their living by taking advantage of the immune system. Two common organisms affecting hospital inpatients are methicillin resistant staff aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE). While the health care team is constantly focused on providing care, any lapse in cleanliness can lead to inadvertent contamination of sterility. Fortunately, there is a growing effort on the part of many healthcare facilities to limit nosocomial infections through intensive staff education.

What if the interior of a hospital was coated by natural antimicrobials that disrupted bacterial growth? The research at Bio Signal might lead in this direction. To our benefit their furanones disrupt localized growth but do not kill individual bacteria, therefore forced selection is avoided and bacteria does not develop resistance. Silver technology is also promising as it is natural and has less side effects for patients.

While Bio Signal is not in the cleaning business, it would be interesting if the problem of nosocomial infections were solved by a detergent company like Agion. I don't think our medical community will be picky.

A joke at every end:

Buddha walks into a bar.
Bartender asks him "what would you like?"
Buddha says "Make me one with everything."