WkS+paper+3

Page for Gretta, John, Julia & Theo Hi John, Julia & Theo, My scientific paper for summary is about stem cells from fat tissue being reprogrammed into muscle cells. I also have two media articles, one online and one press ( the Age) about the next paper by the author of the original. It relates to fat-sourced stem cells being reprogrammed into haeart muscle. I feel that this is a close enough connection to discuss media representation of the issue. Do you agree? Are you happy to use this combination or do you have alternatives. I will list references tonight, after work, but if you are keen to search, the researcher is Yu Suk Choi from the Bernard O'Brien Institute in Fitzroy and there are press releases on the institute site. Gretta

Hey guys, Sounds good Gretta, when your put the references up ill have a read, sounds like a good starting point. look forward to reading the articles and ill have a search my self! Theo

The Age article is [|www.theage.com.au] and the webpage which is drawn from the article I think is science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/21/2213249&from=rss The paper can be downloaded through the library from "Biochemical and Biophysical Communications 348 (2006) 386-392. Authors MiJung Kim, Yu Suk Choi,et al. There is another paper coming, but I think it is at the journal now. I have started to write a summary but cannot get it on here until about eight thirty tonight after work. If you have something go for it and I will look at it then.

Gretta

Hello All! I'm happy with that guys, I'll wait for your references to come up Gretta before i start with my thoughts and what not. Look forward to "talking" to you all later! Julia

Hi, I am back from work. Here is what I have written.

Recent stem cell research being undertaken at the Melbourne Bernard O'Brien Institute was reported in the Age on 19th October 2008 and on the website, 'Slashdot' on the 21st of October 2008. The website appears to have drawn its material from the newspaper article, but also includes clear video explanations of the science involved in the research as well as photos of the researchers. The advantage of this as online medium is to allow readers with no lab/scientific background to actually visualise and better understand the process.

The scientists Yu Suk Choi and Rodney Dilley observed that adult stem cells harvested from human fat cells could be made to beat like heart muscle when combined with rat heart tissue, generating thought that this technique could be used to regenerate damaged heart cells from various heart disease in humans. The Age writer, William Birnbauer, used a sensational headline that suggested that the stem cells were converted to heart muscle cells, when in fact they were simply observed to beat. The original work is not yet published, however a preceding scientific paper, by the same researchers, details the conversion of adult stem cells into muscle tissue in an experiment using nude mice. Careful reading of the Age article highlights the fact that some chemical messengers are thought to be responsible for the beating of the stem cell tissue. At this time there is no evidence to support the headline.

The content of the article is written in language that is easily understood by the general public and the science is well explained. The implications of the research are demonstrated with references to heart disease and the possible use of cultured heart cells. In particular a connection is made between the use of a heart patient's own fat cells for repair of damaged tissue. As quite often done by journalists, William Birnbauer has 'sensationalised' the reasearch by using dramatic words such as "spectacular world first", "they watched in awe" and "rejection problems" when explaining the findings, giving the impression that the scale and importance of the discovery had proceeded further than the reality.

As heart disease is a major cause of death in Australia the research is very important to the general public. I n the multimedia version of the article there is an emphasis on the general public, with "heart disease" and "retrieving fat tissue" in seperate boxes, in bold letters and clearly visible, pushing the general publics issue towards the matter. Heart disease has affected most people either directly or indirectly as it is very common among the elderly and not to mention smokers. While "Retrieving fat tissue" is a euphemism for liposuction, which targets the insecruities of wide range of people, outlinning the benefits that fat reduction could have on science or should i say, the percentage of fat on their bodies!

Julia:

Researchers Yu Suk Choi and Rod Dilley made a breakthrough in stem cell research when they removed stem cells from the fat and added rat heart muscle cells together. William Birnbauer, journalist for The Age, used dramatic words such as "spectacular world first", "they watched in awe" and "rejection problems" when explaining their findings, giving us the impression that the discovery has a bigger impact on science than it actually does, not to mention an exaggerated headline, which Gretta explains well.

In the multimedia version of the article, we can see that both "heart disease" and "retrieving fat tissue" are placed into boxes, in bold letters and clearly visible, pushing the general publics issue towards the matter, as heart disease is very common among the elderly and not to mention smokers. "Retrieving fat tissue" is a euphemism for liposuction, which targets the interest to (most) women who have concerns about their body, or should i say, the percentage of fat on their bodies!

In an article written by the Bernard O'Brien institute of microsurgery[1] they call this discovery an "advance" in tissue engineering, which illustrates the discovery as a step closer a dramatic discovery. They modestly acknowledge their discovery to "convert" stem cells from human fat into beating heart cells, but they didn't celebrate the fact that it COULD help heart disease, because it still needs to go through more clinical testing.

The Age article was a far more promising article, that alluded more towards a promising out look, rather than an uncertain one.

[1]http://bobim.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=88&Itemid=37

Hey Gretta and Julia, sorry got home a bit late from work (1 in the am) =( but nice summaries.

The stem cell research conducted at the Bernard O'Brien Institute in Melbourne by Yu Suk Choi and his supervisor Dr Rodney Diley, where discarded human fat cells have been created into beating heart cells, has been 'sensationalised' by Age journalist William Birbaurer by using emotive words such as 'striking' when referring to visual footage of the pulsating cells, increasing the visual influence on the reader before the article has really started. The use of suggestive heading and dramtic words also creates a more influential view as Julia and Gretta have stated quite well.

In the multimedia verison of the article, there seems to be very little information of the actual research conducted, with the main focus being on defining heart disease and the process of liposuction. There is little information which links the research of the fat and heart cells to how it actually can be of help, while the two clips of beating stem cells allow a good visual conception of what is going on however there is no explantion as to what is happenin. ( if there is a voiceover, i apologise, no speakers on my computer )

The article itself seems to be more poignant in its portrayl of the stem cell reasearch, and gives a much clearer view as to what is actually occuring in the development of the beating heart cells. As Gretta stated heart disease is a major cause of death in Australia which creates a wider public interest in the research and in turn funding to hopefully come across a siginifcant breakthrough in fighting heart disease.

Theo

Hi as this is due today, where do we go from here? I really like the quoted words in your summary Julia.Let's include them. And I take your point bout the online explanations - m it is some time since I first looke at it, but you are right about that so we should clarify what is well done on the net. I will make some changes to the original, but either way we have to submit by ten. Gretta

ps I have cut and pasted those points into the summary now. What do you think?

Perhaps you should paste the summary onto blackboard, if you don't mind! I'm happy with what we have done, and I'm happy to have it submitted! Julia

Thanks Julia. It would have been good to have more time to work together and refine but the deadline defeats us. Gretta

Mary has emailed me to say that she made a mistake in dates and this is not due for another week. Do you want to further refine or submit as is. I am pretty happy with it and I am up to my neck in readings and work to be done but I don't really mind either way. Gretta

I agree with you Gretta! I'm happy with what we have done in the time given, despite the fact that it was short,and If you still happy to paste your summary Gretta, I'm happy to settle with that. Julia ML: The page is doing some weird things - there is a comment from Gretta, which may be over-written and therefore not seen, to the effect that she acknowledges my email giving Julia & Theo a bit of time to edit and post. I actually came here to suggest that when you post to blackboard you try to make the web refs active links. I have some instructions ion theis that I will insert. Don't worry if it doesn't work. Click on the "Enable HTML Creator" button at the top right of the Create Message window (in blackboard not the wiki). Be patient, it can take a little while for the java to load. Click on the link symbol on the toolbar. Enter the URL (e.g. http://www.monash.edu.au/) into the box, and the text you wish to make active (e.g. Monash University) - result is: [|Monash University] You can also do colours and other fancy things in this window! Alternatively you can do the html coding yourself if you enjoy learning such things, by inserting the tags into your message text and clicking the "Use HTML" button below the message window. Monash University accomplishes what we did above puts in a paragraph break