Month: November 2013

Diabetes hits young women due to sedentary lifestyle: Study

Younger women in the age bracket of 30-35 years are prone to diabetes because of sedentary lifestyle and wrong eating habits, according to a study.

Population in Western India tends to eat fried food and no fruits, due to which several people are seen to be at higher risk of diabetes and obesity.

Diabetes risk levels have been observed to be high among men and women in the age bracket of 45-50 years, an Indus Health Plus report said on Wednesday.

As per the International Diabetes Federation, India is the diabetes capital of the world, with 40 million people living with diabetes. About 371 million people suffer from diabetes across the nation and half of the cases are undiagnosed.

The report released on the eve of World Diabetes Day which falls on November 14, revealed that in Maharashtra, sugar levels were found to be high, surprisingly among youth, especially in the age group of 25-35 years of age.

The study observed that consumption of oil, ghee, butter is high and cholesterol rich diet increases obesity and hypertension, fuelling chances of getting diabetes.

Amol Naikawadi, Joint Managing Director, Indus Health Plus said, “Our Abnormality Report validates the rapid growth of diabetes which is not only prevalent in adults but is beginning to affect the younger generation, especially women in India. Lifestyle characterized by unhealthy nutrition, reduced physical activity and tobacco consumption has increased the risk factor of diabetes.”

“If left untreated or uncontrolled, diabetes can lead to blindness, cardiovascular diseases and kidney failure. Timely and regular check-up can reduce the risk of diabetes”, Naikawadi said.

Source: The Indian Express

Philanthropist’s gift a big bang for stem cell research

A philanthropist who made his money as a credit card provider is giving $100 million to human stem-cell research.

The money will go to the University of California at San Diego during the next five years as researchers reach certain milestones, said T. Denny Sanford, who founded First Premier Bank here and offers low-limit Master cards and Visas to customers with poor credit through Premier Bankcard. United National Corp., where Sanford is now chief executive, owns both companies.

“This, in my opinion, is the medicine of the future,” he said. “The potential of stem cells is just unbelievable.”

The money will support the hiring of 20 or more scientists and efforts to recruit patients for drug trials along with new construction at the San Diego complex.

The donation pushes Sanford past the $1 billion mark for total gifts to health care and research, he said.

Sanford, 77, has homes in South Dakota, Arizona and California. On Oct. 19, he suffered a pulmonary embolism — a blood clot in the lungs — while on a hunting trip with friends near Gregory, S.D., about 140 miles west of here.

He said he was saved because of a middle-of-the-night medical flight to Sanford University of South Dakota Medical Center here, helicopter and plane flights made possible in part because of donations he has made to what is now Sanford Health system.

“I was within minutes or hours of death,” he said. His physician here, Dr. Eric Larson, said Sanford is doing fantastic, playing golf regularly and exercising on an elliptical machine, less than a month after getting clot-busting medications to treat the condition.

Most of Sanford’s donations, about $700 million, have gone to the Sanford Health. He has pledged to give all his money away. He said he still has close to $1 billion.

The $100 million he is committing to UC San Diego is the lead resource in a project that officials say will cost a total of $275 million.

What now is called the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine includes scientists from five institutions — UC San Diego, Sanford-Burnham, Scripps, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the LaJolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology.

“Overall, the effort is to bring stem cell research into human clinical trials,” said Debra Kain, director of health sciences research communications at UC San Diego.

In Sioux Falls, Sanford made a $400 million donation to the nonprofit medical center in 2007 and established four priorities, one of which was curing a major disease that officials later pegged as Type 1 diabetes. Another of his donations here, $100 million in 2011, is for research and treatment for breast cancer. His mother, Edith, died of the disease when he was 4 years old.

This gift is different because he has no personal or family connection to the neurological diseases he hopes that stem cell research can address.

Research so far has been instructive on the use of mice and monkeys, so it’s time now to extend the effort to humans, he said.

“We are excited about some major potential cures, particularly with neurological diseases like Lou Gehrig’s disease, or spinal cord injuries,” Sanford said. Lou Gehrig’s disease, also called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control muscle movement. It has no cure.

Sanford is excited that the work could lead several directions.

“It could be spinal cord injuries, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, eventually heart and cancer and diabetes,” he said.

Source: USA Today

 

IBM opens global research lab in Africa IBM’s

12th global research lab was opened here last week. It is designed to conduct applied and far-reaching exploratory research into the big challenges of the African continent and deliver commercially viable innovations that impact people’s lives.

 The facility features one of Africa’s most powerful computer hubs, giving IBM researchers the ability to analyse and draw insight from vast amounts of data in search for solutions to Africa’s challenges such as energy, water, transportation, agriculture, healthcare, financial inclusion, human mobility and public safety.

“The establishment of this research laboratory underpins the government’s commitment to innovation ecosystems that are already available in Kenya,” said the president of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta. The lab is supported by the Kenyan ICT Authority.

The lab’s research agenda will include the development of cognitive computing technologies that integrate learning and reasoning capabilities, enabling experts to make better decisions in areas such as healthcare delivery and financial services.

“We are currently experiencing the emergence of a new Africa – one where science and technology are enabling a pivotal ‘leap frog’ moment allowing governments and businesses to drive economic growth, raise the standard of living and compete with their global counterparts,” said Kamal Bhattacharya, director, IBM Research-Africa.

“The launch of Africa’s first full-scale, technology research facility will help lay the foundation for the continent’s future scientific and economic independence,” he added. Nicholas Nesbitt, country general manager, East Africa, said it was not just about science and technology, “but also about innovating new business models and partnering with local enterprises to ensure that our new solutions have the maximum impact on business and society.”

Source: The Times of India

 

Biosensor to detect brain injuries during heart surgery

 

Scientists have developed a fingernail-sized biosensor that could alert doctors when serious brain injury occurs during heart surgery.

Johns Hopkins engineers and cardiology experts teamed up to develop the device and demonstrated in lab tests that the prototype sensor had successfully detected a protein associated with brain injuries.

“Ideally, the testing would happen while the surgery is going on, by placing just a drop of the patient’s blood on the sensor, which could activate a sound, light or numeric display if the protein is present,” said the study’s senior author, Howard E Katz, a Whiting School of Engineering expert in organic thin film transistors, which form the basis of the biosensor.

The project originated about two years ago when Katz, who chairs the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, was contacted by Allen D Everett, a Johns Hopkins Children’s Center pediatric cardiologist who studies biomarkers linked to pulmonary hypertension and brain injury.

Everett sought an engineer to design a biosensor that responds to glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), which is a biomarker linked to brain injuries.

“If we can be alerted when the injury is occurring then we should be able to develop better therapies. We could improve our control of blood pressure or redesign our cardiopulmonary bypass machines,” Everett said.

“We could learn how to optimise cooling and rewarming procedures and have a benchmark for developing and testing new protective medications,” Everett added.

At present, Everett said, doctors have to wait years for some brain injury-related symptoms to appear. That slows down the process of finding out whether new procedures or treatments to reduce brain injuries are effective.

“The sensor platform is very rapid. It’s practically instantaneous,” Everett said.

To create this sensor, Katz turned to an organic thin film transistor design.

The sensing area is a small square, 3/8ths-of-an-inch on each side. On the surface of the sensor is a layer of antibodies that attract GFAP, the target protein.

When this occurs, it changes the physics of other material layers within the sensor, altering the amount of electrical current that is passing through the device.

These electrical changes can be monitored, enabling the user to know when GFAP is present.

“This sensor proved to be extremely sensitive. It recognised GFAP even when there were many other protein molecules nearby. As far as we’ve been able to determine, this is the most sensitive protein detector based on organic thin film transistors,” Katz said.

The study was published in the journal Chemical Science.

Source:  Zee News

Complex stent procedure performed on one-month-old baby

Complex stent procedure performed at Fortis Escort Heart Institute, New Delhi on a month old, 1.8 kg baby. (L-R) Dr S Radhakrishnan, director, paediatric and congenital heart diseases, FEHI and Dr Neeraj Awasthy, paediatric cardiologist, FEHI with the patient’s family.

Fortis Escorts Heart Institute (FEHI) has conducted a life-saving complex stent procedure on a one-month-old premature baby weighing 1.8 kg by a team of doctors comprising of Dr S Radhakrishnan, director, pediatric and congenital heart diseases and Dr Neeraj Awasthy, pediatric cardiologist. According to Fortis Escorts, this is the first case in India, with the lowest recorded weight and age of a baby undergoing a complex stent procedure. Her treatment has been funded by FEHI.

The baby was referred to FEHI by a government hospital in Delhi when she stopped breathing and showed signs of heart problems. The baby was immediately put on ventilator and was oxygen dependent for three weeks.

The artery going towards her lungs were found obstructive and this made her treatment complicated and high risk.

Explaining the complexity involved in the operation, Dr Radhakrishnan said, “Initially we kept the baby under ventilation for few days and when she started responding to our treatment, we decided to wean her off the ventilation. On further examination, it was found that the right ventricular outflow track was blocked and stent procedure should be performed. The baby would need a future surgery once she weighs 8-9 kg.”

Dr Awasthy said, “Given the multiple complexities of the case, her prognosis has been very good. When the case first came to us, her survival was a question. Such a case had never been attempted before anywhere in India. Today, after the surgeries, she is responding well to her treatment protocol.”

He added, “As the hospital is technologically equipped with advanced smaller size equipment to manage such complex cases, we were confident to go ahead and perform such a complex procedure which demanded additional vigilance and support.”

Source: India Medical Times

Switzerland may ban drivers from wearing high heels

This may give flat packing a new meaning for travelers to Switzerland.

The Alpine nation may soon ban drivers from wearing high heels and other types of shoes behind the wheel, The Sunday Times reports.

Police have been lobbying for the restrictions after a number of high-profile accidents tied to inappropriate footwear, including ski boots.

Drivers caught violating the new law could face a suspension of their license and up to three months in prison.

The specific kinds of footwear that will be affected have not yet been determined, but donate think you ll be able to just kick off your heels if you see a police car in your rear view mirror.

Barefoot driving is expected to be banned there as well.

Source: Bubble news

 

8 famous foods discovered by mistake

Some of the greatest discoveries are made by accident and it’s no exception when it comes to food. From a frozen treat to flaked wheat, here are eight famous foods that are the result of pure serendipity.

1Popsicles

As a childhood staple, it’s fitting that this sweet treat came to be after a discovery by a child. In 1905, 11-year-old Frank Epperson left a stirring stick, placed in a cup of powdered soda and water, on his porch overnight. When Epperson happened upon the frozen mixture the next day, he decided to call it an “Epsicle.” Eventually, his kids would refer to the frozen pop as Pop’s ‘sicle, causing Epperson to change the name. In 1923, Epperson sold the rights to Popsicle® and today, the company sells 2 billion ice pops annually, with cherry being the most popular flavor amongst its consumers.

Raisins

It’s believed that humans first discovered raisins when they stumbled upon a crop of dried grapes. The time period during which this occurred is still

debated, but the first accidental commercial raisin crop is said to have materialized in California in 1873. Two years later, vineyardist William Thompson introduced his thin-skinned, sweet tasting “Thompson Seedless” grapes, which today, are the basis for most raisins.

Ice Cream Cones

Some would argue that ice cream without an ice cream cone is nothing short of incomplete, so it’s impressive that this edible ice cream dish rose to fame after an impromptu act. The ice cream cone gained popularity in 1904 at the St. Louis World’s Fair when Syrian concessionaire, Ernest Hamwi, decided to roll up some of his crisp, waffle-like pastries (also known as zalabia) to help out a neighboring ice cream vendor who ran out of dishes.

Aspartame

File this one under ‘the time when accidently ingesting a chemical led not only to a positive outcome, but a revolutionary one.’ In 1965, scientist Dr. James Schlatter was working on an anti-ulcer drug when he went to lick his finger to pick up a piece of paper. His finger tasted sweet, so he traced back his steps and realized that the sweet-tasting substance was aspartame. Today, this popular low-calorie sweetener (which is about 200 times sweeter than sucrose) can be found in many popular foods.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Talk about an accident that turned out oh-so-right. In the 1930’s, while preparing a batch of butter drop cookies for her guests at the Toll House Inn in Massachusetts, Ruth Wakefield decided to stick pieces of a NESTLÉ® chocolate bar into the cookie dough, expecting it to dissolve once baked. Instead, the chocolate maintained its shape. NESTLÉ® quickly caught wind of the discovery and placed Wakefield’s recipe on their chocolate bar wrappers, where it still remains today. In 1997, to honor the popular recipe’s origin, Massachusetts designated the chocolate chip cookie as its official state cookie. If you ever need some validation that failure can lead to success, take at look back at the beginnings of corn flakes. In 1898, W.K. Kellogg (who later became the founder of Kellogg’s) and his brother, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, accidently produced a batch of flaked wheat berry after attempting to make granola. The Kellogg brothers then decided to experiment by flaking corn and the rest is history.

Corn Flakes

If you ever need some validation that failure can lead to success, take at look back at the beginnings of corn flakes. In 1898, W.K. Kellogg (who later became the founder of Kellogg’s) and his brother, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, accidently produced a batch of flaked wheat berry after attempting to make granola. The Kellogg brothers then decided to experiment by flaking corn and the rest is history.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Talk about an accident that turned out oh-so-right. In the 1930’s, while preparing a batch of butter drop cookies for her guests at the Toll House Inn in Massachusetts, Ruth Wakefield decided to stick pieces of a NESTLÉ® chocolate bar into the cookie dough, expecting it to dissolve once baked. Instead, the chocolate maintained its shape. NESTLÉ quickly caught wind of the discovery and placed Wakefield’s recipe on their chocolate bar wrappers, where it still remains today. In 1997, to honor the popular recipe’s origin, Massachusetts designated the chocolate chip cookie as its official state cookie. If you ever need some validation that failure can lead to success, take at look back at the beginnings of corn flakes. In 1898, W.K. Kellogg (who later became the founder of Kellogg’s) and his brother, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, accidently produced a batch of flaked wheat berry after attempting to make granola. The Kellogg brothers then decided to experiment by flaking corn and the rest is history.

Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce

The next time you slather this deliciously sweet, tangy sauce on your meal, know that without the mistake of two chemists, that meal might not be as tasty. In the early 1800’s, a man by the name of Lord Sandys appointed chemists John Lea and William Perrins to the task of recreating a recipe he had tasted in Bengal. Lea and Perrins attempted the sauce, but did not like the result, so they left the sauce in jars in a cellar. Two years later, the two stumbled across the sauce, decided to taste it and found something amazing: it actually tasted good. Today, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce is aged in a wooden cask for 18 months and is a popular dressing on meats and salads.

Yogurt

It’s believed that yogurt developed at a time when milk-producing animals became domesticated, possibly around 5,000 B.C. To transport the animal milk, the milk was often placed in sacks made from the stomachs of animals. It’s believed that the bacteria as well as the acidity from the lining of the stomachs prompted the milk to coagulate, forming the beginnings of yogurt.

Source: Fox news

 

People with Depression May Age Faster

People suffering from depression may be aging faster than other people, according to a new study from the Netherlands.

In the study of about 1,900 people who had major depressive disorders at some point during their lives, along with 500 people who had not had depression, researchers measured the length of cell structures called telomeres, which are “caps” at the end of chromosomes that protect the DNA during cell division. Normally, telomeres shorten slightly each time cells divide, and their length is thought to be an index of a cell’s aging.

The researchers found telomeres were shorter in people who had experienced depression compared with people in the control group. This suggests cellular aging in people with depression is accelerated by several years, the researchers said.

Source: Live Science

 

Sarepta shares plunge 60 percent after FDA questions drug trial

A view shows the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) logo at its headquarters in Silver SpringSarepta Therapeutics Inc lost more than 60 percent of its market value after it was advised by the U.S. health regulator to find new ways to test its flagship treatment for a rare muscle disorder.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), citing new data and the failed trial of a competing drug, said the design and goals of Sarepta’s current trial might not be sufficient to win marketing approval for its drug.

Sarepta’s shares fell 62 percent, wiping more than $750 million off the company’s market value and making the stock the biggest percentage loser on the Nasdaq on Tuesday afternoon. At least three brokerages downgraded the stock.

“Everything I thought could have gone wrong has gone wrong – and then more stuff has gone wrong,” said Chad Messer, an analyst at investment banking and asset management firm Needham & Co, who downgraded Sarepta’s stock to “hold” from “buy”.

Sarepta is developing the drug, eteplirsen, as a treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a degenerative disorder that hampers muscle movement and affects one in 3,600 newborn boys.

Investors had been betting on a breakthrough.

Before Tuesday’s fall, Sarepta’s stock had more than doubled since October 2012, when data from a mid-stage trial showed that eteplirsen significantly improved walking ability in DMD patients.

But the FDA has now suggested that eteplirsen be tested against a placebo in a new, and potentially larger, trial, Sarepta said on Tuesday.

A placebo-controlled trial, it said, would be better than current trials in removing bias in walking ability that might be susceptible to individual effort or patient care.

“…It seems worthwhile to consider selection of other endpoints and/or populations for the next trial of eteplirsen,” Sarepta said it was told by the FDA in a meeting last week.

In its remarks, the FDA cited the recent failure of the trial of a rival drug, drisapersen, being developed by GlaxoSmithKline and Prosensa Holding NV.

That drug, like eteplirsen, works by increasing the production of a protein called dystrophin, the lack of which is the chief cause of DMD.

It failed to show a statistically significant improvement in the distance that DMD patients could walk in six minutes compared with placebo in a late-stage trial in September.

Prosensa’s shares, which had lost about 85 percent of their value since the announcement of drisapersen’s trial failure, were up 19 percent on Tuesday.

DOWNGRADES

Sarepta, previously known as AVI Biopharma, has gone more than three decades without bringing a drug to market. Analysts had previously said that they expected the company to ask for eteplirsen’s approval to be accelerated.

Sarepta said the FDA request would delay the initiation of dosing in a confirmatory study until at least the second quarter of 2014. A follow-up meeting with the regulator to discuss the confirmatory study design is scheduled this month.

“The likelihood of an accelerated approval at this point is very low. It seems like a long shot to me that the FDA is going to reverse position,” said Edward Tenthoff, analyst at Piper Jaffray.

Tenthoff, who cut his price target on the stock to $20 from $58, said he expected the FDA to require a confirmatory study with a two-year follow-up, which could delay the potential approval of eteplirsen to late 2017 or early 2018.

Both Tenthoff and Needham & Co’s Messer said the FDA and Sarepta would probably need to agree a new endpoint for trials, given the regulator’s concerns about the six-minute-walk trial.

“They thought they will be able to file early on limited data,” said Messer. “The FDA is not only saying forget about that, they probably also cannot do a full filing, and now it’s even questionable as to what the next study has to look like.”

Janney Capital Markets also downgraded Sarepta’s stock to “sell” from “neutral,” while Leerink Swann cut its price target to $17 from $44.

Sarepta’s shares were down 62 percent at $14.06 in early afternoon trading.

Source: Reuters

 

Mothers in UK offered Euro 200 for breastfeeding

breastfeedingNew mothers are to be offered up to £200 in shopping vouchers to encourage them to breastfeed their babies.

The pilot scheme is being targeted at deprived areas of South Yorkshire and Derbyshire and funded through collaboration between government and the medical research sector.

A third area is expected soon with the plan to trial it on 130 women who have babies from now until March.

If successful, a nationwide pilot could be rolled out in England next year.

The use of financial incentives is not new in the NHS.

It has been tried before to encourage people to quit smoking as well as lose weight.

Culture

But this is the first time it has been tried on such a scale for breastfeeding.

breastfeeding1

Under the scheme mothers from specific parts of Sheffield and Chesterfield will be offered the vouchers, which they can then use in supermarkets and high street shops.

The areas have been chosen because they have such low breastfeeding rates. On average just one in four mothers are breastfeeding by the six- to eight-week mark compared with a national average of 55%.

To qualify for the full £200 of rewards, the women will have to breastfeed until six months.

However, it will be frontloaded – enabling those taking part to get £120 for breastfeeding for the first six weeks.

Midwives and health visitors will be asked to verify whether the women are breastfeeding.

The team behind the project said breastfeeding was a cause of health inequalities, pointing to research that showed it helped prevent health problems such as upset stomachs and chest infections as well as leading to better educational attainment.Breastfeeding expert Geraldine Miskin Mums need to have practical advice

Dr Clare Relton, the Sheffield University expert leading the project, said she hoped the financial incentives would create a culture where breastfeeding was seen as the norm.

“It is a way of acknowledging both the value of breastfeeding to babies, mothers and society,” she added.

But Janet Fyle, of the Royal College of Midwives, questioned the initiative: “The motive for breastfeeding cannot be rooted by offering financial reward. It has to be something that a mother wants to do in the interest of the health and well-being of her child.”

She said the answer lay in making sure there was enough staff available to provide comprehensive support to new mothers after birth.

Source: BBC