Journal of APPLIED BIOMEDICINE
ISSN 1214-0287 (on-line)
ISSN 1214-021X (printed)
Volume 9 (2011), No 2, p 57-61
DOI 10.2478/v10136-011-0004-5
The age of biomedicine: current trends in traditional subjects
Josef Berger
Address: Josef Berger, Faculty of Health and Social Studies, University of South Bohemia, Emy Destinove, 370 05 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
berger@jcu.cz
Received 4th January 2011.
Revised 17th February 2011.
Published online 5th April 2011.
Full text article (pdf)
Abstract in xml format
Summary
Key words
Introduction
Drug and poison research
Environmental medicine
Computational medicine
Neurosciences
Chronomedicine
Molecular and cell biology
Bioengineering
References
SUMMARY
The earliest scientific journals on biomedicine began publication in the 50s and their authors addressed the application of biology to medicine.
More recently, biochemistry and biomedical engineering questions have figured more prominently. This trend is discussed in a survey of the topics
appearing in the Journal of Applied Biomedicine. Pharmacological and toxicological articles have been popular over the long term and the
neurosciences, chronomedicine, molecular and cell biomedicine have also been very important. The role of computational biomedicine and
nanomedicine has received increasing attention as has the part which applied biomedicine can play in the enhancement of the general
economy.
KEY WORDS
cell biology; computer; molecular medicine; nanomedicine; neuroscience; pharmacology; toxicology
INTRODUCTION
Biomedicine is an interdisciplinary area connecting
human medicine, veterinary medicine, biology and
technology. It involves the study of (patho-)
physiological processes using the methods of biology,
chemistry and physics. Biomedical research is carried
out from the particular perspective of devising new
strategies for diagnosis and therapy.
In recent years, articles using the term
'biomedicine' have represented approximately eight
per cent of the total number of articles using the more
general term 'medicine' (ISI Web of Knowledge).
This ratio seems to be stable: 7.04% in 2006 and
7.95% in 2010. Moreover, a large number of
biomedical articles, is published in many journals
dealing with cell and developmental biology,
genetics, biochemistry, physiology, microbiology,
preventive medicine, informatics, biotechnology,
ethics and economics.
Applied biomedicine can also offer the prospect of
an improvement in the economy (Mims 2010).
DRUG AND POISON RESEARCH
The growing number of high resolution structures of
known and potential drugs targeting proteins is
expected to have tremendous value for future drug
discovery programs (Weigelt 2010). Herbal
compounds such as phenolics, polyphenols, alkaloids,
quinones, terpenoids, lectines and polypeptides have
been shown to be very effective alternatives to
antibiotics and other synthetic compounds (Citarasu
2010, De et al. 2010, Habib et al. 2010, Patocka and
Jakl 2010).
New alternative models for toxicological safety
tests of chemicals have been found to achieve faster,
cheaper and more accurate preclinical prediction
(Asami et al. 2010, Benigni et al. 2010, Berger 2010,
Gadea and Garcia-Vazquez 2010). As toxicology
leans towards the acquisition of knowledge of safety
tests before the investigation of mechanisms, the
evaluation of known drugs and poisons still
predominates among recent studies (cf. Cabal et al.
2010, Pohanka et al. 2010, Soukup et al. 2010,
Zdarova Karasova et al. 2010).
Many drugs have been found among the
membrane active compounds although in vitro
screening has not been reliable. Membrane active
proteins are important anti-bacterial agents (Rivas et
al. 2010). Studies carried out on toxin structures,
receptors, trafficking pathways and cellular targets
might be exploited in cancer therapy and
immunotherapy (Johannes and Romer 2010).
In anti-ageing medicine, the search for
geroprotectors has been hopeful, particularly in the
results of both natural and synthetic antioxidant
studies on animals (Koltover 2010). No significant
anti-ageing benefit has been documented in clinical
studies but the arrangement of oxidative stress seems
to be a good strategy for enhancing the clinical
efficiency of anti-tumour drugs with low side effects
(Sanchez et al. 2010).
ENVIRONMENTAL MEDICINE
Radiation risk has been frequently studied in addition
to the potential toxic effects of the chemicals
mentioned above. The KiKK study in Germany
suggests that a higher child leukaemia incidence
exists around nuclear power plants, although no links
between levels of radiation and leukaemia risk have
been found (Zolzer 2010). Haematopoietic cells may
be considerably more radiosensitive in
embryos/foetuses than in newborn babies (Fairlie
2010) but this hypothesis has not been confirmed
precisely.
Stress often leads to the inhibition of major
nuclear pathways, activation of DNA repair and
dramatic changes in the organization and composition
of the nucleolus (Boullon et al. 2010). The nucleolin
is the major nucleolar protein and it is absolutely
essential for cell proliferation, for the organization of
the nucleolus and for transcription and processing of
pre-rRNA (Medina et al. 2010).
DNA methylation and histone modification are
the main epigenetic events that regulate nuclear
processes and play an important role in the regulation
of rRNA gene transcription (Bartova et al. 2010).
Disorders in this process in response to environment,
diet or pharmacological intervention contribute to
pathophysiological states, including cancer (Link et
al. 2010).
COMPUTATIONAL MEDICINE
Computers can support routine clinical decision
making and can offer simulations - so called
'in-silico models' - in the framework of toxicology
and environmental medicine. Recent computer base
decision systems are frequently used to image
segmentation and classification, feature construction
and selection, signal processing (Soda et al. 2010),
and prostate cancer treatment (Taylor et al. 2010) as
well as in the diagnosis of several diseases.
Computational toxicology supports physiologi-cally based pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic
modelling, quantitative structure-activity relationship
methods, and dose models (Rusyn and Daston 2010,
Valerio 2010). In silico models have been developed
for drug and vaccine screening (Berger 2010, Naven
et al. 2010, Sung et al. 2010), cancers (Edelman et al.
2010), and studies of blood coagulation proteins
(Villoutreix and Sperandio 2010).
NEUROSCIENCES
Neurosciences represent a very large area of
biomedicine focusing on problems of both the
function of the neural system and its degeneration.
The activation of GnRH neurons leads to the
attainment of reproductive capacity: endocrine glands
and several genes are involved in the
hypothalamic-hypophyseal-gonadal axis function
which promotes the onset of the reproductive function
during puberty (Meza-Herrera et al. 2010).
The most common cause of dementia in the
elderly is Alzheimer's disease, likely systemic
manifestations of which are neoplastic-like features,
cell cycle dysfunction and impaired programmed cell
death (de las Cuevas et al. 2010).
Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors may have
neuroprotective effects slowing the progression of
behavioural deterioration because acetylcholinesterases themselves could contribute to the
neurodegenerative process (Nieoullon 2010). A
significant effect of a later retirement age in delaying
the age of onset of Alzheimer disease has been noted
in males (Lupton et al. 2010).
CHRONOMEDICINE
The biological clock has evolved so that organisms
can adapt to our planet's rotation in order to anticipate
the coming day or night as well as unfavourable
seasons (Giudice et al. 2010, Jolma et al. 2010).
Impaired neurodevelopment is associated with the
hypotension in infancy and more pronounced
circadian variation in transcutaneous pO2
(Cornelissen et al. 2010b). It is well-known that many
immune characteristics are altered in old human
subjects.
This phenomenon is the consequence of the
age-associated decrease in growth hormone secretion
and insulin-like growth factor production (Mazzoccoli
et al. 2010) as variations in this axis may be
responsible for altered integration between the
neuro-endocrine and immune system.
Circadian vascular characteristics are sensitive
markers of loads, including the rest-activity schedule
(Cornelissen et al. 2010a). Our awareness of blood
characteristics the sampling for which should be
strictly standardized with regard to the time of the
day, is still increasing in both human and veterinary
medicine (Berger 2008, Giannetto et al. 2010).
MOLECULAR AND CELL BIOLOGY
The gene for endoglin, activin receptor-like kinase
(ALK1) and Smad4 proteins is mutated in most
patients with hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia
which has no known cure. These three proteins are
involved in the signalling pathway of the
transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta superfamily.
Research into their regulatory roles is, therefore,
needed to find an effective drug (Bernabéu et al.
2010).
Among therapeutic strategies to combat
multidrug-resistant pneumococcal infections, the use
of purified phage- or bacteria-encoded CWHs both in
vitro and in animal models is under investigation
(Garcia et al. 2010). The growing structural and
functional information on toxin-antitoxin systems
opens important avenues to the exploration of their
biomedical and biotechnological implications
(Diaz-Orejas et al. 2010).
Both the nasal and tonsillar mucosa are exposed to
massive incursions of pathological microorganisms
present in inhaled air and swallowed with food. One
of the mechanisms known to prevent an invasion of
pathogens is an endogenous synthesis of
antimicrobial peptides, which include human
-defensins-1, 2, and 3. Very low - nearly nil -
incidence of human beta-defensins-1, 2, and 3 was
detected in the nasal polyps with positive
Staphylococcus aureus (Pacova et al. 2010).
A well-established trend in modern biological
sciences is an overwhelming pressure on scientists to
work on problems and model systems with obvious
clinical, technological or environmental interest.
Studies of Rep-type plasmidic proteins reveal that
plasmid DNA replication is relevant for settling the
bases of a minimalist bacterial model to tackle
transmissible amyloid proteinopathies, and are a
valuable tool for bottom-up synthetic biology
(Giraldo and Fernandez-Tresguerres 2010).
BIOENGINEERING
Clinical studies benefit from newly developed
biomaterials for therapy and diagnostics (Gu et al.
2010) and also for medical instruments (Lendlein et
al. 2010). The influence of polymer-based devices on
cell surfaces is evaluated at the final product level as
well as the polymers used in regenerative medicine
(Scharnagl et al. 2010).
Plasma treated materials have an important role in
medicine and are undergoing fast development
(Cheruthazhekatt et al. 2010). Nanomedicine uses
tools and devices of size 1 to 100 nm and has an
increasing impact on diagnostics and pharmacology
(Teli et al. 2010), but nevertheless, the undesired
adverse effects of nanotechnological products as well
as ethical aspects (Bowen 2010) have to be solved.
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