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September 2008 KSL helps researchers understand altitude related illnesses
Hidden Valley Expedition
Coventry University Human Physiologist Dr Doug Thake has just returned from a successful 6 week research expedition to the remote Hidden Valley in Western Nepal, which followed the route of the circuit Dhaulagiri, the 7th highest mountain in the world. Doug lead one of nine research project’s that where conducted by an international team of 46 medical doctors and research scientists, all members of ‘Medical Expeditions’. Medical Expeditions is a research charity dedicated to investigating the mechanisms of altitude related illness with the aim of educating mountaineers, trekkers and their doctors about the nature and avoidance of altitude related illnesses.
Doug’s research team investigated changes in immunity and oxidative stress at altitude. This work will add to the increasing body of literature on the physiological basis for increased infection rates observed at altitude and also shed some light on the mechanisms behind Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS), a debilitating condition often experienced on ascent to high altitude. Many measurements were made at the team’s base camp that was at an altitude of 5100 m with ambient temperatures reaching -25 degrees C at night time.
Doug explains:
“Amongst some more standard measurements a novel technique developed by Knight Scientific Ltd, UK, recently used by the GB sailing team in preparation for the Beijing Olympics and adopted by UK athletics, was used to measure the activity of immune cells at rest and during recovery after exercise at base camp. Data can then be related to infection symptom and acute mountain sickness scores recorded on a daily basis and compared to sea level immune cell activity recorded at a pre expedition meeting at Bangor University this earlier summer.”
Work will continue on 1.5 litres of saliva and 1000 blood samples that have been successfully transported in a frozen state by foot; on horseback; jeep; light aircraft and courier back to the UK! Doug also met the King of Lo Mantang, a region visited by less than 1500 westerners a year, after a 35 mile trek through high altitude desert of Mustang.
This kind of expedition is essential to the work of the Medical Expeditions research team as it is the only way of properly assessing the natural effects of high altitude.
Doug comments:
“Medical Expeditions is a fantastic organisation bringing together researchers from around the World. It is able to provide the infrastructure around which such investigations can be planned. The expedition was a great opportunity to test laboratory based theories regarding how humans respond to altitude exposure within the natural environment.”
September 2008 KSL sponsored by JETRO to visit Japan
Knight Scientific was sponsored by Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) on a mission to promote technological cooperation between the South West region of England and the Chiba prefecture of Japan. Dr Jan Knight, KSL’s managing director, gave a lecture about KSL’s unique products to government, business and science representatives from institutes in Chiba.
August 2008 KSL appears on BBC Spotlight as athletes prepare for Olympics
KSL appeared on BBC Spotlight as media interest grew in their involvement with the British Olympic Sailing Squad, ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The following was taken from the BBC news website.
Athletes aided by mollusc testing
Britain’s sailing squad has an extra weapon going into the Olympics - an extract from a sea creature which could help keep them ready to race. They have been using a blood test using luminous chemicals taken from the common piddock, a marine mollusc.
Its developers, a husband and wife team of scientists based in Plymouth, claim it can detect the earliest signs of infection, or even overtraining. This could allow treatment to be started, or extra rest taken, they say.
The piddock is a clam-like creature that burrows into rocks around the British shoreline. It contains a protein called Pholasin®, which gives off light when it comes into contact with “free radical” chemicals. High concentrations of these are normally released by white blood cells as a counter-measure against infection, and as such, they can be present even if no symptoms have yet been felt.
The test uses a pinprick of blood, which is mixed with Pholasin® in a test tube, and the resulting light levels emitted measured.
Dr Jan Knight, who has been working on the chemical with husband Robert for the last two decades, said that she was “excited” by the thought of it helping British Olympians.
She said: “What it allows them to do is, if an athlete is feeling tired, to carry out a test which can reveal if an infection is likely to be present.
“This could allow antibiotics to be started earlier than normal, if that is appropriate.”
Fatigue test
She said that full clinical trials of the technology were planned, and said that the test could even reveal, with some confidence, athletes with abnormal white blood cell activity due to overtraining.
She said: “We are becoming more and more confident in the accuracy of the results.”
Knight Scientific, their company, also produces tests which can reveal the antioxidant levels in other substances, such as foods.
It owns two “farms” where piddocks are bred for the extraction of the chemical.
Professor Benjamin Chain, from University College London, said he had not encountered the test before, but that it was a “reasonable” way to investigate free radical levels.
He said: “This would be a useful way to measure white blood cell activity.
“The cells, in response to infection, are releasing an ‘oxidative blast’ of free radicals which aim to kill everything in that area, including themselves.”
April 2008 KSL exhibits at In-Cosmetics, Amsterdam
In April 2008 Knight Scientific Ltd was in Amsterdam to share a stand with Basildon Chemical Co. at the annual In-Cosmetics exhibition.
According to In-Cosmetics Website “…(the exhibition) brings together the world’s leading cosmetics suppliers, R&D, production and marketing specialists and showcases the most diverse range of new and innovative cosmetics ingredients and services. Offering a crucial insight into future scientific advances, emerging trends and regulations in an unrivalled educational programme, in-cosmetics is the most comprehensive source of industry expertise and the most effective formula for developing business opportunities.”
In addition to KSL exhibiting at the show, Dr. Jan Knight also gave a presentation at the accompanying Cosmetic Science Conference entitled ‘Measuring the Antioxidant Capacity of Natural Ingredients’.
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April 2008 Interview with Dr Jan Knight for Cosmetic Science Conference
As organisers of the Cosmetic Science Conference in Amsterdam, In-Cosmetics asked Dr Jan Knight to give a promotional interview, about her conference presentation, for the In-Cosmetics website.
