Orientation Issue 2008: UCLA researchers forecast how new scientific findings will advance society and create new directions for research in years to come

Neural protection of the brain can prevent many health problems

Trouble sleeping has been linked to damage in certain regions of the brain, said UCLA sleep researchers studying sleep apnea, a disorder that causes multiple awakenings in the middle of the night as sufferers gasp for breath. Chronic sleep apnea is also related to severe memory deficits in patients and for the first time, researchers are beginning to understand how damage to the brain may be the culprit in causing and worsening many different health conditions.

Ronald Harper, professor of neurobiology at UCLA, conducted a study focused on the effects of sleep apnea on memory and found that the disorder causes a distinct shrinking of the mammillary bodies, brain structures responsible for memory in the brain. “There is no question that the brain is injured in sleep apnea,” Harper said, “But there may be a way to provide neural protection with certain vitamins to stop other brain areas from damage and prevent more disorders from developing.”

Damage accumulates in many brain regions of sleep apnea patients, leading to more critical conditions like heart disease, for example, when the cerebellum, the regulator of blood pressure and other vital life activities, is injured, Harper added.

The future of this field of research is focusing on how brain damage can be the cause of the most serious diseases of our time, Harper said. There will be a growing emphasis on fighting against diseases, ranging from diabetes to depression, by focusing in on the brain and preventing damage.

Building stars on Earth as sources of inexhaustible energy

With the current energy crisis facing the planet, Mohamed Abdou, distinguished professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at UCLA, said that fusion ““ a reaction requiring heat 10 times greater than the interior of the sun to produce energy ““ may be the answer.

“Investing in fusion can alter the future of mankind by offering us an inexhaustible source of energy,” Abdou said. “It will provide energy for electricity, synthetic fuel for transportation purposes, and the desalination of water for drinking.”

Fusion energy, literally meaning the fusing of atoms, would also emit no pollution or greenhouse gases and no radioactive materials as required in nuclear fission energy, the splitting of the atom, Abdou said.

These stars on Earth require housing the size of baseball fields and are shaped like big doughnuts, and can be safely built inside major cities, Abdou said. As for how soon this can be a reality, it is a matter of funding, but he projects that society may see fusion energy go from theory to laboratory to the market for use in about 20 years.

Using music as an instrument to speed the healing process

As patient care becomes more centered on improving the quality and stress level associated with staying in the hospital, researchers are showing that the healing process itself is improved by applying methods such as music therapy.

This new approach has been around for about a year, and data is being collected on its effectiveness in reducing patient anxiety and physical pain. So far, the data suggests positive effects, said Vanya Green, music therapist with the UCLA Child Development Center.

“Music therapy emphasizes the power of music to transform the environment and the attitude of the patient,” Green said. “This program allows some of the most critical patients to express themselves creatively in a hospital setting.” Research findings have also shown that music activates the regions of the brain associated with pleasure, Green said.

By listening to music, positive emotions can easily be triggered and improving a patient’s state of mind becomes more attainable. As this therapy spreads to more departments, Green hopes to see a future hospital that fosters an environment of music that will benefit each patient, the healing process and the quality of life in the hospital setting.

Opening Pandora’s box in the human brain

In recent years, the gateway to the human brain has been opened using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), leading to increasing amounts of insight into how the mind works, and also how it can be controlled, researchers said.

Mark Cohen, professor of psychiatry at UCLA, said distinct regions of the brain become active when a person is in a state of belief, regardless of whether that person is believing in the existence of God or the accuracy of a math problem, such as one plus one equals two.

This was not what most people expected, since believing in God did not spark any unique circuitry, Cohen said. He added that as the truth about our minds emerges, many of the public’s assumptions will come in to question as age-old ideas are put through an fMRI. “I expect that we will suffer for the short term, as society as a whole comes to grip with thoughtful and critical consumption of these data,” Cohen said.

Understanding the mind has led researchers to implement technologies, such as more advanced lie detectors, for the future. Cohen said the difference between lying and telling the truth is not the statement itself, but the person’s belief in its truth or falsity.

He said the future of brain research will aim toward understanding what it means to be human and conscious – what mechanisms allow us to solve problems unconsciously and what happens to us when we dream.

Finding a cure for age

Accessing the fountain of youth is becoming a scientific quest, with researchers coming together at UCLA for two weeks to discuss how aging affects the body. The future for discovering cures for major diseases may lie in reversing the damages of time, age researchers said.

Dr. Aubrey de Grey, chief science officer of the nonprofit Methuselah Foundation and aging specialist from Cambridge University, will present findings on the future of extending life by curing the disease he calls age during the conference on Aging at UCLA on June 27 and 28. “Understanding and reversing the effects of aging is within grasp,” de Grey said.”

With new technologies that will come about in the future, people can retain the same health they had in early adulthood.” By using gene therapy and other new technologies, the tissue damage done to the body by age can be restored. UCLA scientists from various disciplines said that in the next 20 years, lab studies of aging can be applied to humans and potentially cure people of degenerative diseases like Parkinson’s, cancer and heart disease. As a product, life can be extended further than most people ever could have dreamed possible as our understanding of the complex and all-encompassing concept of age becomes less theoretical and more practical, de Grey said.

Replacing gasoline with a more efficient biofuel

Increasing oil prices during the past few years have shocked scientists into researching ways to find cheaper and more efficient fuel alternatives. With the use of a new method that genetically modifies E. coli to synthesize higher-chain alcohols which are compatible with the our current gas-powered automobiles, UCLA researchers said it could replace gasoline within the next five years.

This strategy was developed by James Liao, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at UCLA. He said that this new biofuel technique is more efficient than ethanol use, which is made from agricultural products like corn and is not as efficient as gas. Higher-chain alcohols will be able to fully replace gasoline and will be more energy efficient, Liao said.

“This is currently the best alternative out there,” he added. “It is still being developed further in the lab, but we are working with different companies to commercialize it.” This new technology will provide a solution to soaring gas prices as well as an environmental solution to pollution. However, Liao said that policy changes must be made before these findings can be released to the public.

SOURCE: Compiled by Seda Terzyan, Bruin senior staff.