Better strategies for osteoporosis prevention and therapy
Monday, 29 November 1999 19:00 | 
| Medicexchange News - Medicexchange News |
Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry Best Paper Award 2006 goes to German chemist Eberhard Denk for pioneering work in osteoporosis research.
This year's Best Paper Award for outstanding work published in the Springer journal Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry (ABC) goes to the German chemist Eberhard Denk. Denk's paper "Labeling the human skeleton with 41Ca to assess changes in bone calcium metabolism" discusses a technique which could be used to develop better strategies for osteoporosis prevention.
Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry is an international journal dealing with all aspects of analytical and bioanalytical sciences. The journal covers all fields of pure and applied analytical chemistry and bioanalysis, including topics at their interfaces with life and health sciences, engineering and materials sciences, environmental science, earth sciences, and others. The Best Paper Award was created to encourage exceptional, young scientists in establishing their research careers. This Award is presented annually to a scientist up to 40 years of age who is the lead author of a paper published in ABC during the calendar year.
Eberhard Denk, 31, conducted his work at ETH Zurich as part of a multinational, interdisciplinary EU-funded project (Osteodiet) led by Thomas Walczyk at the Laboratory of Human Nutrition ETHZ. The Award is accompanied by EUR 1,000, sponsored by Springer. In addition, the winning paper will receive special prominence on an ABC cover.
"A more detailed understanding of Ca metabolism in bone would help to better define the diet and life-style strategies needed for osteoporosis prevention", says the paper. "At present, no methodologies exist that allow the measurement of small changes in bone metabolism directly, with high sensitivity and on a short-term scale. Such small shortterm changes in bone metabolism can result from alterations in diet and lifestyle. These changes accumulate with time and may play a significant role in maintaining bone health."
The paper evaluates a novel isotopic technique for osteoporosis research. By labeling calcium in the bone matrix isotopically, changes in bone metabolism could be detected directly via changes in urinary excretion of the tracer. This became possible by using 41Ca, an extremely long-living radioisotope which is virtually non-existent in nature and which can be detected at the ultra-trace level using Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) and Resonance Ionization Mass Spectrometry (RIMS).
AMS and RIMS are widely recognized imaging methods and their use is being very well received by the radiology community as they can easily recognizes both negative and positive isotopic compounds at very high sensitivity trace levels. "Although the RIMS instrument used is still a prototype and not commercially available", says Denk's paper, "it is a tabletop instrument which can be manufactured at substantially lower costs than AMS. Using the series of certified 41Ca isotope reference materials produced especially for this application, it was possible to calibrate both techniques against each other, allowing the parallel use of both AMS and RIMS 41Ca analysis."
Denk and his team have "successfully demonstrated that bone Ca can be labeled with the long-lived radioisotope 41Ca, and that urinary 41Ca excretion can be followed over periods of years using AMS, the most sensitive technique for isotopic analysis at the ultratrace level. RIMS, an alternative analytical approach to 41Ca analysis, is currently less sensitive and requires higher 41Ca enrichments/doses. However, this disadvantage is counterbalanced by its potential to make this technique more accessible to the research community."
The entire methodology has the potential to become a major breakthrough in bone research. Changes in bone calcium metabolism can be detected both directly and on a short-term scale which to date cannot be achieved to the same extent by any other technique. The new technique could potentially be used to evaluate the influence of diet, drugs and life-style on Ca metabolism in bone and to develop better strategies for osteoporosis prevention and treatment.
DXA (dual energy X-ray absorptiometry) scanning is the current ‘gold standard’ for osteoporosis diagnosis and is an essential tool for assessing bone strength. The National Osteoporosis Society (NOS), a UK charity dedicated to improving the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of osteoporosis, told Medicexchange that "New research, which will improve our understanding of osteoporosis and fracture risk, is welcomed".
Klaus G. Heumann, editor of ABC, said, "Denk's pioneering work is truly new and innovative, meeting ABC's high standards for excellent research publications. The paper presents interdisciplinary and innovative research results which combine the ultra-trace methods of RIMS and AMS with extremely important biomedical applications."
Eberhard Denk continued his work at ETH in Zurich as a post-doctorate scientist, further developing the 41Ca methodology.
Source: Springer
This year's Best Paper Award for outstanding work published in the Springer journal Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry (ABC) goes to the German chemist Eberhard Denk. Denk's paper "Labeling the human skeleton with 41Ca to assess changes in bone calcium metabolism" discusses a technique which could be used to develop better strategies for osteoporosis prevention.
Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry is an international journal dealing with all aspects of analytical and bioanalytical sciences. The journal covers all fields of pure and applied analytical chemistry and bioanalysis, including topics at their interfaces with life and health sciences, engineering and materials sciences, environmental science, earth sciences, and others. The Best Paper Award was created to encourage exceptional, young scientists in establishing their research careers. This Award is presented annually to a scientist up to 40 years of age who is the lead author of a paper published in ABC during the calendar year.
Eberhard Denk, 31, conducted his work at ETH Zurich as part of a multinational, interdisciplinary EU-funded project (Osteodiet) led by Thomas Walczyk at the Laboratory of Human Nutrition ETHZ. The Award is accompanied by EUR 1,000, sponsored by Springer. In addition, the winning paper will receive special prominence on an ABC cover.
"A more detailed understanding of Ca metabolism in bone would help to better define the diet and life-style strategies needed for osteoporosis prevention", says the paper. "At present, no methodologies exist that allow the measurement of small changes in bone metabolism directly, with high sensitivity and on a short-term scale. Such small shortterm changes in bone metabolism can result from alterations in diet and lifestyle. These changes accumulate with time and may play a significant role in maintaining bone health."
The paper evaluates a novel isotopic technique for osteoporosis research. By labeling calcium in the bone matrix isotopically, changes in bone metabolism could be detected directly via changes in urinary excretion of the tracer. This became possible by using 41Ca, an extremely long-living radioisotope which is virtually non-existent in nature and which can be detected at the ultra-trace level using Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) and Resonance Ionization Mass Spectrometry (RIMS).
AMS and RIMS are widely recognized imaging methods and their use is being very well received by the radiology community as they can easily recognizes both negative and positive isotopic compounds at very high sensitivity trace levels. "Although the RIMS instrument used is still a prototype and not commercially available", says Denk's paper, "it is a tabletop instrument which can be manufactured at substantially lower costs than AMS. Using the series of certified 41Ca isotope reference materials produced especially for this application, it was possible to calibrate both techniques against each other, allowing the parallel use of both AMS and RIMS 41Ca analysis."
Denk and his team have "successfully demonstrated that bone Ca can be labeled with the long-lived radioisotope 41Ca, and that urinary 41Ca excretion can be followed over periods of years using AMS, the most sensitive technique for isotopic analysis at the ultratrace level. RIMS, an alternative analytical approach to 41Ca analysis, is currently less sensitive and requires higher 41Ca enrichments/doses. However, this disadvantage is counterbalanced by its potential to make this technique more accessible to the research community."
The entire methodology has the potential to become a major breakthrough in bone research. Changes in bone calcium metabolism can be detected both directly and on a short-term scale which to date cannot be achieved to the same extent by any other technique. The new technique could potentially be used to evaluate the influence of diet, drugs and life-style on Ca metabolism in bone and to develop better strategies for osteoporosis prevention and treatment.
DXA (dual energy X-ray absorptiometry) scanning is the current ‘gold standard’ for osteoporosis diagnosis and is an essential tool for assessing bone strength. The National Osteoporosis Society (NOS), a UK charity dedicated to improving the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of osteoporosis, told Medicexchange that "New research, which will improve our understanding of osteoporosis and fracture risk, is welcomed".
Klaus G. Heumann, editor of ABC, said, "Denk's pioneering work is truly new and innovative, meeting ABC's high standards for excellent research publications. The paper presents interdisciplinary and innovative research results which combine the ultra-trace methods of RIMS and AMS with extremely important biomedical applications."
Eberhard Denk continued his work at ETH in Zurich as a post-doctorate scientist, further developing the 41Ca methodology.
Source: Springer
