Albert Einstein Death

HIV disrupts blood-brain barrier

Washington, DC — HIV weakens the blood-brain barrier — a network of blood vessels that keeps potentially harmful chemicals and toxins out of the brain — by overtaking a small group of supporting brain cells, according to a new study in the June 29 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience . The findings may help explain why some people living with HIV experience neurological complications, despite the benefits of modern drug regimens that keep them living longer.

Standard antiretroviral treatments successfully suppress the replication of HIV and slow the progression of the disease. Yet recent studies show 40 to 60 percent of patients on such therapy continue to experience mild to moderate neurological deficits — including memory loss and learning challenges.

In the new study, Eliseo Eugenin, PhD, of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, found that HIV infection in a small number of supporting brain cells called astrocytes breaks down the blood-brain barrier, despite low to undetectable viral production. Under normal conditions astrocytes help bolster the blood vessels comprising the barrier.

To test if HIV interfered with this support system, Eugenin and his colleagues built a model of the blood-brain barrier using human cells in the laboratory. In a previous study, the researchers found HIV infects around 5 percent of astrocytes. In the current study, the researchers found the presence of HIV in a similar percentage of astrocytes led to the death of nearby uninfected cells and made the barrier more permeable.

As the neighboring cells died, however, HIV-infected astrocytes survived. Astrocytes exchange chemical signals through specialized molecules called gap junctions. When they were blocked in the model, it prevented the changes to the blood-brain barrier and nearby cells, suggesting the infected astrocytes relay toxic signals to neighboring cells through the gap junctions.

"Our results suggest HIV infection of astrocytes may be important in the onset of cognitive impairment in people living with the disease," Eugenin said. "New therapies are needed that not only target the virus, but also to stop the virus from spreading damage to other uninfected brain cells."

Eugenin's group also analyzed the brain tissue of macaque monkeys infected with the simian form of HIV. Similar to what they saw in the human blood-brain barrier model, the researchers found uninfected cells in contact with HIV-infected astrocytes died, while infected astrocytes remained alive as the disease progressed.

Almuc Dot Me » Seven Things You Didn't Know Albert Einstein

Some times writing such articles assumes that the reader knows a lot about the subject already. Anyway, today is the 132nd birthday of one of history’s greatest Scientists, Albert Einstein . PC Magazine decided to celebrate his birthday today by exposing some of the lesser known facts from the scientist’s life. Since I wasn’t in the mood of bookmarking the PCMag link , I decided to post the article here. It’s really interesting.

Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany on this date in 1879. His father was an electrical engineer and founder of Elektrotechnische Fabrik J. Einstein & Cie. The direction of Einstein’s life was altered early on when his father showed him a compass, setting him on a path of discovery that would ultimately reshape the scientific world.

Einstein dropped out of school, enrolled at Zurich Polytechnic, got a gig at an office, taught at a number of European Universities, and eventually fled to the United States from his native Germany after the appointment of Adolf Hitler as chancellor. In 1939, Einstein wrote a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, warning the president that the Nazis might be developing a nuclear bomb and suggesting the U.S. try to beat them to the punch.

In 1955, Einstein died in his adopted country after being admitted to the hospital for abdominal aortic aneurysm.

But what about Einstein’s love life, his political aspirations, and his thoughts on birthdays? And what exactly happened to his brain after he died? All of this and more are answered in this slideshow.

Born With a Giant Head

Einstein was born with an abnormally large and generally misshapen head. In fact, the thing was so big that doctors were concerned he might be mentally challenged. This concern was apparently present for much of his childhood, as the future physicist spoke slowly until about age nine (those rumors that Einstein didn’t speak at all until age four are apparently just that, however).

Asked to Be Israel’s Second President

When Israel’s first president, Chaim Weizmann, died in 1952, the country’s prime minister offered Einstein the job—hey if the guy could do for politics what he did for physics… Einstein ultimately turned down the position, expressing regret at his “lack [of] both the natural aptitude and the experience to deal properly with people and to exercise official function.

Albert Einstein, The Miracle Mind

Einstein and the poet, in search of the cosmic man

Sidelights on Relativity (Mobi Classics)

The Private Lives of Albert Einstein

China and Albert Einstein, the reception of the physicist and his theory in China 1917-1979