Heart Surgery

PATIENT HISTORY
Name: James Tall
Age: 48
Weight: 274 lbs

History of Illness: The patient is hypertension and has also smoked for 12 years now. Patient has been working constantly and is under a great amount of stress. His hours have increase from 40 hours per week to 60 hours per week. He has also recently experienced a death in the family. Patient is frequently experiencing shortness of breath, dizziness, fainting and occasionally, anxiety.

Family History: Has a family history of both hypertension and diabetes.


Tests: Physical examination indicated his hypertension. His ECG test indicated a normal rhythym, a resting heart rate of 106, A P-R interval shortening with increasing heart rate, and an overall normal QRS complex.

Diagnosis: Patient is presenting with a case of stress induced tachycardia. It has been suggested he reduce his work levels in hopes that his stress levels will work. Any form of meditation has been suggested as well. He has also been prescribed to use antianxiety medication only to be used during anxiety attacks.

Artificial Organs

Artificial Organs: Man-made organs that created to replace a natural human organ in order to restore a function or a group of related functions.

The BioLung

One example of an artificial organ is the artificial lung. A new device is has been developed that can help patients in need of a lung transplant. One medical team at the University of Michigan, led by Dr. Robert Bartlett, have developed the BioLung. This lung works with the hearts own pumping action to help manage the oxygen and blood flow throughout the body. The BioLung uses the heart rather than mechanics in order to pump blood, which allows the patient to stay active at home instead of being hooked up to a machine and sedated at the hospital. This device can also stay in place following the lung transplant until the lungs are fully operational.

Pros and Cons of Artificial Organs

Pros:

-Allows the patient to possibly conquer a disease or illness

-Has the possibility of prolonging life and making the general quality of life better

-Can help burn victims regenerate skin

-While a proper lung has not been developed, they are working on it (but now the BioLung has been created)

-Organ transplant lists will become unnecessary one day

Cons:

-Possible presence of latent or hidden disease/illness in the base tissue. There is the possibility that if foreign body tissue was used to reconstruct particular tissue matter for a patient, there could be hidden disease within that tissue.

-Ethical issues

Stem Cells

Embryonic Stem Cells: Stem cells that are derived from embryos. Most embryonic stem cells come from embryos which have developed from eggs that have been fertilized in vitro. They are typically four to five days old and in the form of a blastocyst.

iPS Stem Cells: (Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells) Adult Stem Cells that have been genetically changed to be in an embryonic stem cell-like state.

Adult Stem Cells: Thought to be an undifferentiated cell which is found among differentiated cells in a tissue/organ that has the ability to renew itself and is able to differentiate in order to yield some or all of the major specialized cell types of that tissue/organ

How scientists get stem cells to specialize in the lab:

First, scientists remove the outer layer that would generally form the placenta. These cells are placed in a petri dish. The bottom of the petri dish is layered with mouse embryonic fiberglass in order to promote cell growth. Of all these cells, only a few survive usually, and these can grow into colonies of cells. This process is called cell renewal. Then, they begin to differentiate and specialize (forming different types of tissues). Scientists are trying to control the process where they specialize by adding the growth factors sonic hedgehog and activin. Scientists are continuing to research in order to figure out the combination of signals to tell the cells what to become.

Interested? Watch this video for more information!

http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/media/creating_lines-sm.mov

Stem Cells and Disease:

Researchers hav been using stem cells in order to reverse course of Type 1 Diabetes. This is being done through injections of patients own stem cells. The research team led by Dr. Julio Voltarelli is the first to successfully treat type 1 Diabetes patients with their own stem cells!

Curious about stem cell research with other disease? Check out this site!

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/0305/03-related.html