NUTRITION
For years, doctors have observed that patients who are too ill to tolerate food by mouth or feeding tube are more likely to develop sepsis, a life-threatening infection in which bacteria cross from the gut into the bloodstream. Why people who don't eat are more susceptible to infection in the blood has been a mystery - until now. A new study from Massachusetts General Hospital, led by senior author Dr. Richard Hodin from the department of surgery, suggests that when food successfully gets into the gut, the lining of the intestine makes a protein called IAP (intestinal alkaline phosphatase) that acts as a "security guard of the gut." IAP serves the gut by attacking the toxins that bacteria often carry, preventing the germs from gaining entry to the bloodstream. According to the study, the researchers saw that mice who didn't eat made less IAP and had many more bacteria entering their bloodstreams - suggesting that patients who don't eat probably lack the "guardian" of the gut, allowing dangerous bacteria to get into their blood.
BOTTOM LINE: Feeding the gut allows production of a "security guard" protein, called IAP, that fights off bacterial toxins, thereby preventing infection of the bloodstream.
CAUTIONS: The experiments were done in mice - and while this likely addresses a fundamental phenomenon - further experiments need to be done to confirm the effect of IAP in humans.
WHAT'S NEXT: "It's possible that someday we might use IAP as a medicine to help fight infection or control inflammation in the gut," Hodin said.
WHERE TO FIND IT: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Feb. 19
SUSHRUT JANGI
Material Science
Rubber, heal thyself
Most broken rubber - think busted rubber bands and old tires - is destined for the trash. But now, scientists at City of Paris Industrial Physics and Chemistry Higher Education Institution and the French National Center for Scientific Research led by Ludwik Leibler have developed a material that is both elastic, with the ability to reversibly stretch up to five times its original length, and repairable by compressing broken ends together at room temperature. The new material is made from fatty acid, obtained from vegetable oil, and urea, a component found in urine. The material's high number of hydrogen bonds give it its self-repairing properties. At a break site, open hydrogen bonds reform when the material is compressed together.
BOTTOM LINE: The new material is inexpensive to make and could have broad applications, including wire insulation, shoes, and medical equipment. The possibilities are "open to the imagination," Leibler said by phone.
CAUTIONS: The self-healing rubber is slow to recover after being stretched and is not as strong as other rubbers.
WHAT'S NEXT: Leibler said that he hopes to study the new material and alter its characteristics by incorporating additives.
WHERE TO FIND IT: Nature, Feb. 21
KATHY DOBSON
