Rescued by chips

PARAMEDIC crews could soon be swiping us to get instant diagnoses from computer chips implanted in our bodies, thanks to a new project by the American Government.

Clemson University in South Carolina has been awarded an £800,000 grant to develop the biochip, an implantable device about the size of a grain of rice.

The chip could relay vital information such as levels of lactate and glucose in the blood in the event of a major injury. If you weren’t wearing a chip, emergency crews could inject one into you, to get data such as the amount of oxygen in your tissues, almost instantly.

The implant could also prove useful for anyone who needs constant monitoring, such as diabetics and even astronauts on long space flights. But the American Government’s priority is to use it for military casualties on battlefields.

Implantable chips face being rejected by patients’ bodies, but the Clemson team has formulated a gel covering that mimics human tissue and reduces the risk of this occurring.

Anthony Guiseppi-Elie, a professor of bioengineering at Clemson University, says: “We now lose a large percentage of patients to bleeding, and getting information on vital signs to emergency surgeons can often mean the difference between life and death.”

Why we need the amnesia gene

MEMORY not a strong point? Now you can blame your genes, says a large study that shows that having vivid recall can be less than a blessing.

Researchers at Basel University, Switzerland, say they have identified a gene that fades out emotive memories. They collected DNA from 435 students and showed them a series of pictures such as a laughing baby, a car crash or a table, and later asked them to detail what they had seen.

While most normal people remember a picture of a car crash better than shots of furniture, the report in Nature Neuroscience says that a significant number of students recalled the emotive pictures far more vividly than their fellows. These proved to have been born with a gene deleted from their DNA.

While it might seem lovely to have a Proustian memory of our lives’ emotional highs, the study author, Andrews Papassotiropoulos, warns that lacking the fade-out gene means our minds fill with gruesome scenes.

When the researchers interviewed civil-war survivors, they found that the ones with the gene deletion were most likely to suffer posttraumatic stress. The research team hopes that the findings may lead to a new range of drugs for conditions such as anxiety and depression, in which memory plays a heavy role.

Heart rhythm blues

MORE reason to shun trans fats: they don’t just clog your arteries, they also make heart attacks more deadly, Canadian doctors say. Hydrogenated oils are stored in cardiac cells and can affect heartbeats, says Dr Peter Light of the Maszkowski Alberta Heart Institute in the European Molecular Biology Journal. This may boost heart patients’ fatality risk, he adds.

Love’s logged out

TILL software do us part: Australian computer experts have developed a program to help divorcing couples sort out who gets the kids, the car and the record collection.

The prototype program, called Family Mediator, has been built by professors at Victoria University. It asks partners to rate disputed items by giving them points on the basis of how much they want them. Each has 100 points to spend. With the aid of an “electronic decision-support system” they then trade off their wants against each other. In stalemates, the person who concedes gets extra points, reports LiveScience.

Pollution-proof

FOLIC acid has long been known to protect babies from spina bifida, but a new study now says it may protect unborn children from pollution.

Duke University scientists report their lab tests indicate that giving mothers folic acid seems to prevent offspring suffering changes in the way their genes are expressed when exposed to bisphenol A (BPA), a ubiquitous chemical used in the production of plastics.

The lead study author, Randy Jirtle, reports in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Scientists that his tests on mice show that in-utero exposure to BPA may well increase a baby’s risk of diabetes, obesity and cancer.

“When pregnant mice were given folic acid as well as BPA, the epigenetic influence of the BPA was counteracted,” he explains.

Somnambulance

SLEEPWALKERS should never be woken, says the old wives’ tale, in case the shock kills them. Now researchers have found a much better reason for leaving somnambulists be: they are likely to thump you if disturbed. The journal Sleep reports how a review of legal and medical records found that in up to 90 per cent of cases, grabbing or holding a sleepwalker results in their “violent behaviour”. If you really do need to wake a night wanderer, stand well back.

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