Clostridium difficile... An 'Interesting' Treatment

The final system we are covering is the digestive system. I want to point out that we do not digest what we eat on our own, we have many microorganisms within our digestive system, mainly bacteria, helping us out. These bacteria are called "flora" within the intestines and help to maintain healthy digestive tracts. However, recent outbreaks of Clostridium difficile have caused problems for patients over the years. The first link I have provided gives some details about what C. difficile is, so I won't say much here. Basically C. difficile is an antibiotic resistant "super bug" that invades the digestive system in recent hospital patients, or in patients that have taken antibiotics to the extent that their normal flora are reduced enough to allow C. difficile to invade. To counter this problem, a very unique treatment has been discovered to work... fecal transplants. Yes it is as disgusting as it sounds, but it works in restoring normal flora in the body while patients are treated for the removal of C. difficile. Details are discussed in the second link that I provide. Fecal transplants are typically prepared from family or close friends who live with the patient, because they would share the same environment and foods, therefore their flora would be very similar. Not many doctors perform this procedure, but as C. difficile becomes a bigger threat, the procedure is being used more and more.
http://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/stories/what-is-c-difficile
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15113440

Music Brings Patients Back To Life

So I found this touching article based on a documentary (Alive Inside) discussing how a patient with Alzheimer's, Henry, remains unresponsive and looks depressed due to his dementia... until he listens to his music. It is suggested that personal playlists "bring patients to life" because areas of the brain that are associated with music are still active despite dementia. So it is hoped that soon every patient experiencing dementia in a nursing home can have their own iPod that loved ones can load a personal playlist onto in order to make the patients more active. Even though the patients still may not recognize loved ones or speak, they become more aware and responsive when listening to music. As the article describes, Henry begins dancing and singing in his wheelchair to his favorite tunes. This is a rather heartwarming article whether you know someone suffering from dementia or not. I hope to live as my grandfather did, independent to the very end, but I know for certain that I will always have my music with me. 

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/AlzheimersCommunity/alzheimers-disease-music-brings-patients-back-life/story?id=16117602#.T4i-JqyF9iE

Neuroaxonal Spheroids

Hey guys,
        So this week in class Dr. Hens mentioned that as we age the axons of our neurons can swell. I did a bit of research on this because I was very curious and never heard of such a thing. What I found is that axon swellings are referred to as spheroids. These spheroids can occur due to the buildup of proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and glycogens. I found a few papers detailing mechanisms of how this happens by searching "neruoaxonal spheroids," but I don't want to post anything too difficult. Basically swelling occurs naturally as we age, but can also be linked to neurodegenertive diseases or simple head injuries (one little bump to us is one helluva whallop to a neuron). Along with my research I found this interesting article (1st Link Below) describing a case study in a male patient who was observed to have these axon spheroids (much more applicable and interesting than the papers I found of mice/dogs/rats with them). I don't want to give away anything so I'll let you read the article yourselves, its short but very interesting (at least I believe it is).
http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/75/7/1070.full.pdf+html (Case Study)
http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v6/n11/fig_tab/nrn1788_F2.html (Image from here)