Month: March 2014

China ‘has halved its TB problem,’ survey data suggests

China has more than halved its tuberculosis (TB) prevalence, with rates falling from 170 to 59 per 100,000 population, figures suggest.

The Lancet report says the success is due to a huge expansion of a community-based disease control programme. The World Health Organization says other countries could use a similar approach.

China is a major contributor to the global TB pandemic, accounting for more than one-tenth of cases worldwide. The Lancet report reveals what progress China has made on reducing this burden, based on a 20-year-long analysis of national survey data.

Between 1990 and 2000, levels of TB were reduced in provinces where the WHO-recommended directly observed treatment, short-course (DOTS) programme – rapid detection and cure of infectious tuberculosis patients living in the community – was adopted.

By 2010, TB prevalence in China fell by 57%, tripling the reduction of the previous decade.

The increase of known TB cases treated using DOTS rose from 15% in 2000 to 66% in 2010.

Lead researcher Dr Yu Wang, from the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in Beijing, said: “One of the key global TB targets set by the Stop TB Partnership aims to reduce tuberculosis prevalence by 50% between 1990 and 2015.

“This study in China is the first to show the feasibility of achieving such a target, and China achieved this five years earlier than the target date.”

The 2014 World Health Assembly will look at eliminating TB and setting ambitious new targets which could include a 50% reduction in tuberculosis prevalence between 2015 and 2025.

Giovanni Battista Migliori from WHO said: “The results from China show the feasibility of achieving such a target by aggressively scaling up the basic programmatic elements of tuberculosis control both within and outside the public sector.”

He said other countries could learn from China’s example.

TB remains a big issue in many countries, including India, Russia and many African nations. Better diagnostic tools and treatments are still needed.

Aaron Oxley of Stop TB UK said: “China has shown what is possible to achieve when attention and resources are brought to the fight against TB. But nearly 4,000 people still die from TB every day, and 3 million cases go undiagnosed each year. We still have a long way to go.”

Source: BBC news

Smartphone gets smarter, can detect eye defects

Apps and downloads are old hat. The smartphone can now be adapted to test a person’s eyes, and is claimed to be India’s first mobile phone ophthalmoscope.

The phone-cum-scope can capture high-quality photographs of the retina in the eye to detect defects. Converting the smartphone to an ophthalmoscope is quick and easy: fix an LED bulb near the camera of the mobile, a connecting wire and battery. It costs not more than Rs 35-50. The device was invented by ophthalmologists of Sankara Eye Hospital. These pictures can then be sent to doctors for diagnosis.

“We aren’t sure if patients can use it themselves. But it helps eye specialists in rural areas who probably don’t have high-end ophthalmoscopes. We are networking with doctors in rural areas who can send us photographs of patients’ eyes taken through a mobile phone, that can help evaluate the disorder. We’ve had cases of eye tumours, glaucoma and other disorders related to the optic nerve, detected through photos taken from mobile phones with a minimum 5-mega pixel camera,” said Dr Divyansh K Mishra, retina fellow, Sankara Eye Hospital, who was one among the doctors who invented the new technique.

A team of ophthalmologists consisting of Dr Mishra, Dr Madhu Kumar, Dr Rajesh R, Dr Srinivasulu Reddy and Dr Gladys Rodregues, led by Dr Mahesh P Shanmugam, is the think-tank behind this innovation.

Back in 2002, Dr Shanmugam had tried taking pictures of eyes through a handycam. “Technology is now advanced and some cell phones have 21 pixels. We won’t stop using ophthalmoscopes but this is an added advantage. Eye care field technicians can now immediately diagnose a serious eye condition as they’re able to instantly send images of the patient’s retina to doctors in the city, via social networking sites,” said Dr Mishra.

MIT’s mobile gadget

In 2010, a team of students from Massachusetts Institute of Technology came up with a device to be attached to a mobile phone that can test the visibility of eyes and find out the refractive errors. It was called NETRA (Near-Eye Tool for Refractive Assessment). The user has to place the device in front of the eye and look into the lens attached to the phone. While pressing the arrow keys, the user can see green and red lines which overlap. The same process is repeated eight times, with the formation of green and red lines on the screen at different angles. The assessment of the eyes is done based on the visual index and prescriptions are made based on the same.

Source: Times of India

Shift workers beware: Sleep loss may cause brain damage, new research says

Are you a truck driver or shift worker planning to catch up on some sleep this weekend? Cramming in extra hours of shut-eye may not make up for those lost pulling all-nighters, new research indicates.

The damage may already be done — brain damage, that is, said neuroscientist Sigrid Veasey from the University of Pennsylvania.

Alzheimer’s & Sleep

The widely held idea that you can pay back a sizeable “sleep debt” with long naps later on seems to be a myth, she said in a study published this week in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Long-term sleep deprivation saps the brain of power even after days of recovery sleep, Veasey said. And that could be a sign of lasting brain injury. Veasey and her colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania medical school wanted to find out, so, they put laboratory mice on a wonky sleep schedule that mirrors that of shift workers.

They let them snooze, then woke them up for short periods and for long ones.
Then the scientists looked at their brains — more specifically, at a bundle of nerve cells they say is associated with alertness and cognitive function, the locus coeruleus.

They found damage and lots of it.
“The mice lose 25% of these neurons,” Veasey said.
This is how the scientists think it happened.
When the mice lost a little sleep, nerve cells reacted by making more of a protein, called sirtuin type 3, to energize and protect them.

But when losing sleep became a habit, that reaction shut down. After just a few days of “shift work” sleep, the cells start dying off at an accelerated pace.
The discovery that long-term sleep loss can result in a loss of brain cells is a first, Veasey said.

“No one really thought that the brain could be irreversibly injured from sleep loss,” she said. That has now changed.

More work needs to be done on humans, she said. And her group is planning to study deceased shift workers to see if they have the same kind of nerve damage. They hope their research will result in medicines that will help people working odd hours cope with the consequences of irregular sleep.

Source: CNN

4 beauty benefits of baking soda

Did you know that baking soda, a commonly used kitchen ingredient can also double-up as a beauty ingredient? It can come in handy as a deodorant, detox bath and more. Here’s how to use it effectively.

Baking Soda as deodarant

Run out of body spray? Quickly go to your kitchen and get some baking soda. It will help eliminate underarm wetness. Rub your armpits with a combination of one-eighth of a teaspoon of baking soda and one tablespoon of water and you are good to go.

Baking soda detox bath
You don’t always need scented candles and bath salts for a relaxing bath. Add a cup of baking soda and one-fourth cup of baby oil to your bath and relax. It has anti-fungal properties which will keep infections at bay and its cleansing action will help further. The addition of baby oil will leave your skin feeling soft.

Cuticle care with baking soda

Hand and nail care often gets neglected but they do most of our everyday tasks. Scrubbing dry, cracked cuticles with a paste made out of equal amounts of baking soda and warm water will help exfoliate dead skin cells and soften your hands.

Baking soda as an acne solution

Acne appears when the sebaceous glands work overtime and the pores get clogged leading to the formation of pimples. An inexpensive way to make the acne disappear faster is by mixing baking soda with a little bit of water and applying it on the acne until the pimple dries.

Source: Health

New drug target for controlling high blood sugar discovered

Researchers have identified a new potential therapeutic target for controlling high blood sugar.

Researchers showed that lipid molecules called phosphatidic acids enhance glucose production in the liver. These findings suggest that inhibiting or reducing production of phosphatidic acids may do the opposite.

Senior author Dr. Anil Agarwal, Professor of Internal Medicine, said that their study establishes a role for phosphatidic acids in enhancing glucose production by the liver and identifies enzymes involved in the synthesis of phosphatidic acids as potential drug targets.

These observations were made while studying a mouse model of lipodystrophy, a rare metabolic disease in which the body is devoid of fat. Lipodystrophy patients often develop diabetes and accumulate fat in the liver because of an imbalance in the body’s ability to properly regulate lipids and glucose.

The causal gene, AGPAT2, which is involved in the synthesis of phosphatidic acid and triglycerides, was removed in the mice, resulting in rodents with generalized lipodystrophy. The research team then examined what impact this genetic manipulation had on phosphatidic acids and glucose production.

The buildup of these lipid molecules was due to an increase in the levels of two enzymes in the liver, diacylglycerol kinase and phospholipase D. Researchers also discovered a marked increase in glucose production in the livers of the lipodystrophic mice.

The lack of normal insulin signaling in these lipodystrophic mice led to unrestricted production of phosphatidic acid, Dr. Agarwal explained, contributing to development of hyperglycemia, or high blood sugar.

The study has been published in The Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Source: Business standard

New method boon for kidney stone treatment

The expanding waistlines of the citizens, increasing stress and humid conditions may have given rise, at least in part, to rising incidence of kidney stones in the world, but a way to ease the treatment of the disease has eluded the scientists for some time.

This is likely to change soon as engineers from Duke University in Durham have devised a way to improve the efficiency of lithotripsy – the medical procedure of demolishing kidney stones using focused shock waves.

After decades of research, all it took was cutting a groove near the perimeter of the shock wave-focusing lens and changing its curvature, the engineers said.
“We’ve developed a simple, cost-effective and reliable solution that can be quickly implemented on their machines,” said Pei Zhong, professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at Duke University.

In laboratory tests, the researchers sent shock waves through a tank of water and used a fiber optic pressure sensor to ensure the shock wave was focusing on target.

They broke apart synthetic stones in a model human kidney and in anesthesised pigs and used a high-speed camera to watch the distribution of cavitation bubbles forming and collapsing – a process that happens too fast for the human eye to see.

During the past two decades, lithotripter manufacturers introduced multiple changes to their machines, but they couldn’t improve effectiveness of kidney stone treatment.

While the current commercial version reduced 54 percent of the stones into fragments less than two millimeters in diameter, the new version pulverised 89 percent of the stones while also reducing the amount of damage to surrounding tissue.

The study appeared in the journal of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Source: Yahoo news

Study to Test If Chocolate Pills Can Prevent Heart Attacks

For those who believe in the power of chocolate comes the start of a new study. Researchers will look into whether certain ingredients in dark chocolate can help prevent heart attacks and strokes.

But before you start digging into your stash of chocolate, know that researchers won’t be handing out thousands of candy bars to participants.

The study, which will include 18,000 men and women, will focus on bio-active nutrients found in the cocoa bean, without all the extra ingredients such as sugar, found in chocolate candies.

Testers will be given dark chocolate pills that contain 750 milligrams of cocoa flavanols, naturally occurring plant-based nutrients found in chocolate. And unfortunately for them, the pills won’t actually taste like candy.

According to Dr. JoAnn Manson, one of the study’s lead researchers, in previous studies, cocoa flavanols have been shown to reduce blood pressure and improve cholesterol levels.

Participants at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research in Seattle will be given two capsules a day of the cocoa flavanols or dummy pills for four years.

The study is sponsored by Mars Inc., the company behind M&M’s and Milkyway bars and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Mars Inc. has been researching cocoa flavanols for the past 20 years and already sells CocoaVia cocoa extract capsules containing 250 mg of flavanols.

The company claims that to get the same amount of CocoaVia flavanols, you’d have to eat one and a half bars of dark chocolate containing 300 calories, 22 grams of fat and 24 grams of sugar.

Source: Los Angeles times

Fried Foods’ Effects May Be Greater In People With Obesity Genes

People with certain genes may be more susceptible to the fattening effects of fried food, a new study suggests.

In the research, people whose genes put them at high risk for obesity saw bigger changes in their body mass index (BMI) from eating fried food than people with a lower genetic risk for obesity.

For example, among women in the study with a high genetic risk for obesity, those who ate fried food four times a week had an average BMI that was 1 point higher compared to those who ate fried food less than once a week. That point amounts to about 6 pounds (2.7 kilograms) for a 5-foot-3 inch (1.5 meters) person. In contrast, among women with a lower genetic risk for obesity, those who ate fried food frequently had a BMI that was just 0.5 points higher than those who rarely ate fried food

The results suggest that some genes may “amplify the adverse effects of fried food consumption on body weight,” said study researcher Lu Qi, an assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health.

The findings underscore the importance of eating less fried foods to prevent obesity, particularly for people who are genetically predisposed to weight gain, the researchers said.

Previously, this same group of researchers found that people’s genes affect the obesity risk they face from drinking soda.

Fried food and obesity

Previous studies have shown eating fried food increases people’s risk of obesity. However, these studies did not look at how this risk might vary depending on a person’s genes.

In the new study, researchers analyzed information from more than 37,000 men and women who took part in three large studies in the 1980s and 1990s. Every four years, participants answered questions about their food and beverage intake.

The subjects also had their genomes analyzed for the presence of any of 32 genetic markers linked to obesity. Each person received a score — based on the number and type of genetic markers the individual had — that reflected the subject’s genetic predisposition to obesity, or an obesity risk score.

Not surprisingly, those who ate fried food more frequently tended to have higher BMIs than those who ate fried food less often. But this link was strongest among those with the highest obesity-risk scores.

The people with the highest obesity-risk scores and also the most fried food consumption had the highest BMIs overall.

Fried food all right for some?

The findings held even after the researchers took into account other lifestyle factors that might affect obesity risk, such as consumption of soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages, and how much time people spent watching TV or exercising.

Still, the researchers noted that the study found only an association, and cannot prove that fried food causes obesity among people with certain genes. It’s possible that other unhealthy habits not taken into account in the study were responsible for the link.

The findings do not mean that people with a low genetic risk for obesity can overindulge in fried food, Qi said. He noted that, in the study, frequent consumption of fried food was tied to an increased risk of obesity, even for people with a low genetic risk of obesity.

In addition, fried food consumption is linked with other adverse health effects, such as an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, Qi said.

The findings support recommendations that encourage healthy eating for everyone, Qi said. In the future, it may be possible to tailor diet recommendations for people based on their genes, he said.

Source: Huffington Post

Alzheimer’s onset could be triggered by sleep disturbances

Researchers have suggested that people, who experience chronic sleep disturbance – either through their work, insomnia or other reasons – could face an earlier onset of dementia and Alzheimer’s. whether this is a cause or effect has been unknown. Now, researchers say individuals with chronic sleep disruptions could face earlier onset of Alzheimer’s.

The researchers, from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA, have published the results of their pre-clinical study in the journal Neurobiology of Aging.

As a start, the team focused on longitudinal studies that showed individuals who reported chronic sleep problems often develop Alzheimer’s disease.

Sleep disturbances can be caused by a number of factors, including work, stress, insomnia or other factors. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), insufficient sleep is associated with chronic conditions and diseases, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity and depression.

“The big biological question that we tried to address in this study is whether sleep disturbance is a risk factor to develop Alzheimer’s or is it something that manifests with the disease,” says lead author Domenico Praticò, professor of pharmacology and microbiology/immunology in the university’s School of Medicine.

After a study researchers says Disruption in synaptic connection impairs brain
Praticò explains that elevated levels of phosphorylated tau can disrupt the synaptic connection of cells or the ability to transport nutrients or chemicals, or transmit electrical signals from cell to cell.

Tau protein is an important part of neuronal cell health, so these elevated levels cause a disturbance in normal function.

“Because of the tau’s abnormal phosphorylation,” Praticò says, “the sleep-deprived mice had a huge disruption of this synaptic connection. This disruption will eventually impair the brain’s ability for learning, forming new memory and other cognitive functions, and contributes to Alzheimer’s disease.”

Since the sleep-deprived mice developed this Alzheimer’s brain pathology before the mice that had normal sleep, the team says sleep disturbances act as a trigger, accelerating these pathological processes and damaging the synaptic connection.

“We conclude from this study that chronic sleep disturbance is an environmental risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease,” Praticò says. “But the good news is that sleep disturbances can be easily treated, which would hopefully reduce the Alzheimer’s risk.”

The team says correcting sleep disorders could be a “viable therapeutic strategy” to prevent or slow progression of Alzheimer’s disease in people at risk.

Source: Medical news today

 

SGPGI doctors implant pacemaker in 105-year-old patient

Dr Naveen Garg, professor, department of cardiology, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS), Lucknow claims to have successfully implanted a pacemaker in a 105-year old man.

According to Dr Garg, the patient had complete heart block, which led to multiple complications including lung infection and renal insufficiency. Besides, he weighed just 30 kilos at the time of surgery, which involved implantation of a cardiac pacemaker.

Dr Garg said the man could be the oldest patient in India and third oldest patient in the world to get cardiac pacemaker. Oldest age at the time of pacemaker implantation in the world is 107 years, according to the Guinness World Records.

Giving more details, Dr Garg informed that the patient was brought to SGPGIMS in the first week of March in an extremely frail condition.

The primary problem the patient suffered from was repeated Stokes Adam episodes and hypoxic encephalopathy. His heart rate was just 36 beats per minutes with intermittent long pauses. Along with this, he had developed lung infections and renal insufficiency, according to Dr Garg.

Dr Garg further said the biggest problem was that the patient was severely underweight. He did not have sufficient space below the collarbone to implant the pacemaker, the usual site for implantation.

As a solution to the problem, Dr Garg changed the approach and implanted the VVI pacemaker in the armpit. The procedure was less invasive and helped in providing relief to the patient by helping the heart work normally, according to Dr Garg.

The doctors claimed the patient was stable and noted that the family had a history of living longer. “The patient is being nursed by 100-year-old brother and a 70-year-old son,” said Dr Garg.

According to Dr Garg, the surgery was performed on March 7 and the patient was discharged on March 11.

Source: India Medical Times