Features

Heart strings

Image: Patrick Hales/OU

If you thought 'tugging at your heartstrings' was just an expression, think again.

In a tale appropriate to the cardiac-thumping run up to Valentine's Day an Oxford University researcher has produced an image showing the orientation of 'strings', or more scientifically-speaking 'muscle fibres', within the human heart.

The image above by Patrick Hales, from Oxford University's Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics [WTCHG], won the runner up prize in the British Heart Foundation's Reflections of Research competition.

It was generated from an MRI scan of a heart, using Diffusion Tensor Imaging. The scan tracks the movement of water molecules throughout the heart muscle, which reveals how the muscle cells are aligned. The lines represent the orientation of muscle fibres in the heart’s biggest chamber, the left ventricle.

'This technology allows us to model the structure of muscles in the heart in a non-invasive way, and how diseases can cause it to change,' Patrick told us.

'In the future, we hope that our research might be able to determine how the structure of the heart is damaged during a heart attack, and how the muscle fibres respond.'

'We also hope that our computer models of individual hearts will one day be used as a tool for diagnosis, and could even provide patient-specific assessment of treatment options. Imagine your doctor trying out treatments on a ‘virtual’ version of you, before choosing the right prescription.'

The image was produced as part of a collaborative research project between researchers at medical, basic science, and computing departments at Oxford University, funded jointly by the BHF and the BBSRC.

Also deserving a special mention is the image 'The tree of life' (below) by Patrizia Camelliti of Oxford's DPAG that made the competition's shortlist.

It shows the orientation of cells deep within the heart, visualised using multiphoton fluorescence microscopy. The cells have been stained with special pigment molecules which absorb the light from a laser and emit light of a different wavelength.

According to Patrizia: 'The muscle cells of the heart intertwine like the branches of a great banyan tree. This intricate structure is essential for generating force to pump blood around the body.'

'My research aims to reveal the complex structural and functional alterations affecting the heart during heart failure, and how people with this condition can be helped by implanted devices that help the heart to pump.'

'The results will help engineers improve the design of these devices, with direct benefits for the thousands of people awaiting a heart transplant.'

Last week you'll probably have read some of these stories about ducks.

Unfortunately, whilst these reports were a gift for pun-writers, they failed to reflect the serious nature of this research into improving the welfare of farm animals.

Marian Stamp Dawkins of Oxford's Department of Zoology led the research, which was published in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour, and below she tells us why the research was necessary and what it revealed:

Marian Stamp Dawkins: 'Our research is based on the idea that if we really want to improve farm animal welfare, we need sound evidence (as opposed to just speculation) about what good welfare is. We also have to see animal welfare as part of a package of other important components including human health, care for the environment and (essential but often neglected), a decent living for farmers.'

'The welfare of commercially farmed ducks provides a classic example of how unexpectedly difficult it can be to find a way forward that satisfies all elements of the package. I am not talking about keeping small numbers of ducks in a back garden. I am talking about large scale intensive farms where thousands of ducks may be kept in one house.'

'About 18 million ducks are reared in this way in the UK each year. They grow to slaughter weight in just 9 weeks and although some have troughs in which they can dip their heads, access to water for many is through overhead nipple drinkers. The ducks peck at the nipples for large droplets of drinking water.'

'Now, here is the dilemma. The commercial duck producers would very much like to provide ducks with bathing water but – and this is what is so often misunderstood – doing so brings health and welfare problems with it. Ducks defecate in ponds which means that even clean water potentially becomes contaminated with Campylobacter and other organisms that cause food poisoning in humans. The ducks drink it and it gets in their eyes and feathers. Even with troughs that they can only dip their heads into, water often splashes onto the floor, making it wet and soggy. Cleaning the water repeatedly uses vast quantities of water and disposing of the dirty water is an even greater ecological problem.'

'Duck producers and retailers want to be able to improve duck welfare but don’t know how without running into possibly worse problems. So what are they to do?'

'The foundation of good welfare is good health but for most people ‘good welfare’ means more than just not being diseased or injured. It also means that the animals have a good quality of life – in other words that they have what they want most and are not deprived of things that are important to them. Our work was concerned to help the producers find a ‘package’ that suited everyone – something that the farmers could use in a practical way, that would not have the health hazards of stagnant ponds and that gave the ducks what they wanted from a bathe.'

'So what we had to find out was whether we could find a method of water delivery that was more hygienic and less wasteful of water than ponds and still satisfied duck welfare. To do this, we needed to try out different ways of providing bathing water such as showers (hoses with irrigation nozzles), troughs and small ponds to see how the ducks responded because many peoples’ first reaction is that ducks must be given ponds, even though there is no scientific evidence to back this up.'

'So how did the ducks rank a shower (more hygienic and economical) against actual bathing in a pond? Pretty highly, it turned out. Their health was good and they spend even more time with showers than with the ponds when given the choice. We found no evidence of them being deprived of anything if they just had showers. On the contrary, showers were, from their point of view and ours, a very good substitute.'

'To ensure that our work was directly relevant to real duck farming, we worked from the beginning with large commercial producers, who have been encouraging and supportive all along because they want to find a solution to the dilemma as much as anyone else. They gave us no financial support (that would have compromised the neutrality of the study) but were extremely helpful in allowing us to carry out an assessment of duck health and welfare on their farms.'

'The 3 year study, which consisted of the farm assessment of duck welfare and behaviour, plus two large trials, was financed by Defra and was completed on time and on budget. There will be three other scientific publications besides this first one, including a report of the current state of health and welfare of ducks on commercial farms, a detailed analysis of  sequences of bathing behaviour, a study of the extent to which the birds try to synchronize their behaviour and a quantitative analysis of motivation. In addition there are clear indications to duck producers and to legislators as to how duck welfare can be improved in practice.'

'Scientists are supposed to publicise their research and I only hope that that the publicity caused by the extraordinary media distortion of this study will, in the long run, benefit the one group that the work was aimed at in the first place – the ducks themselves.'

Professor Marian Stamp Dawkins is based at Oxford's Department of Zoology

This week the government announced a new five-year strategy to improve the quality of treatment of dementia in England.

Neil Hunt, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society, was quoted on BBC Online as saying: ‘One million people will develop dementia in the next ten years. This is a momentous opportunity to avert a dementia crisis that could overwhelm the NHS and social care.’

Gordon Wilcock, Professor of Clinical Geratology in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine at the University of Oxford, chaired one of the major working groups that contributed to the content of the strategy. Professor Wilcock is also Vice President of the Alzheimer’s Society, which ran the various working parties.

I asked him about the strategy and his own work as director of OPTIMA – the Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and Ageing.

OxSciBlog: Why do we need a national dementia strategy?
Gordon Wilcock: Dementia has languished behind many other illnesses in terms of a comprehensive strategy to ensure early diagnosis, treatment and support. It is estimated that there are at least 700,000 people in the UK with dementia, and in most cases the effect of their illness has a major impact on their family and those that care for and about them.

The consequences of dementia also make a major demand upon the resources of both the NHS and social service provision. Anything that can reduce this burden of illness will have major benefits not just for patients and their families, but also within the health and social service caring environments.

OSB: What are the challenges ahead in providing high-quality care for people with dementia and their families?
GW: One of the major challenges is the sheer number of people with the condition who need to be assessed and managed. An equally important challenge however is the need to educate people, both lay and professional people, about dementia and the need to do something positive about it. Providing resources for new services in the current economic climate is also going to be challenging. 

OSB: What outcomes will you be looking for as the strategy is implemented?
GW: I would expect to see a steady increase in the number of people assessed and appropriately diagnosed with dementia, and adequate support provided for them and their families. This is a five-year strategy and I would hope that at the end of this period, everyone with dementia will have access to a specialized clinic, to whom GPs can make referrals having themselves better understood the problems of dementia and how to initiate assessment. 

OSB: What are the priorities for OPTIMA?
GW: OPTIMA’s priorities include improving both diagnosis and treatment, and also to increase our understanding of risk factors that contribute to the development of the diseases that cause dementia. We would like to make it possible to diagnose people before they are significantly impaired and offer them new treatments, as these become available, to slow down the rate at which their brain cells fail.

OSB: What are the challenges for research?
GW: The biggest challenge at the moment is developing tests that will identify the disease processes that are going to cause dementia before they have actually done so. There are a lot of new treatments in development, and some in clinical trials, that may slow the disease such that the onset of dementia may be delayed significantly. Identifying people at this early stage is very important.

Dementia research is also exploring new approaches to treatment, based upon the underlying changes in the brain that affect brain cells. Coupled with this, however, is the need to develop tests that will show whether or not a potential new drug is really going to be helpful. This will probably involve more sophisticated use of brain imaging techniques, and also biochemical changes that can be measured in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid.   

Highlights from Oxford science in the news over Christmas:

Could that Christmas chocolate and wine have done you some good?

As newspapers including the Telegraph, The Sun and The Daily Mail reported, Oxford research focusing on the elderly suggests it just might.

Oxford and Norwegian researchers found that small amounts of chocolate, wine and tea can significantly boost the cognitive performance of the over-70s.

Flavonoids, micronutrients found in all three foodstuffs, may be behind the effect (although the researchers say other factors specific to these foods can't yet be ruled out).

Let in the lynx
Would reintroducing the lynx to Britain be the best way to control deer populations?

In the run up to the publication of the State of Britain's Mammals report David Macdonald of Oxford's WildCRU told The Independent lynx would provide a natural way of controlling deer numbers.

David comments that we shouldn't worry about sharing our landscape with these wild cats: 'There is enough food – there are all these roe deer that people are having to control and the lynx could help out... As far as I'm aware, there is no recorded case of lynx being any danger to people.'

Txt ur mood 
A system that enables clinicians to monitor a patient's moods by text message can help in the treatment of mental illness.

Developed by Oxford's Department of Psychiatry, with Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health, the system contacts patients every day and asks them to text back a letter code that corresponds to their mood.

As BBC Online report this simple approach enables clinicians to plot a patient's mood swings, monitor the effect of medication and identify when a face-to-face appointment or further assessment is needed.

Oxford's John Geddes said: 'When I see the patient in clinic I pretty much know how they have been... Basically, with this system we would hit the ground running and we can focus on trying to help them and their treatment.'

Nano-walker 
A new kind of 'walking' molecular machine might one day shift cargo around 'nano-factories' according to New Scientist.

They report on work by Oxford's Andrew Turberfield and colleagues into a 'nanobot' with DNA feet which 'walks' along a DNA track. Clever design ensures the Oxford nanobot doesn't detach itself from or destroy the track as it moves - there's no backtracking either as it can only move forward.

Andrew comments: 'At the moment, the nanobot has taken a single step but our ambition is to make it move 100 nanometres or more... We can already stop and start our motor by controlling the amount of fuel we add, but we could add other control signals to make walkers interact with each other, and could easily attach a cargo to the region that links the two legs.'

Species showdown
Finally, what animal could humans not live without?

During a debate at the Earthwatch Institute broadcast on BBC Radio 4 five scientists slugged it out to decide which species was irreplaceable.

After being put to an audience vote George McGavin of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History won the day with his persuasive argument in favour of bees.