Month: April 2014

Scientists visualize new treatments for retinal blindness

A new report published in The FASEB Journal may lead the way toward new treatments or a cure for a common cause of blindness (proliferative retinopathies). Specifically, scientists have discovered that the body’s innate immune system does more than help ward off external pathogens. It also helps remove sight-robbing abnormal blood vessels, while leaving healthy cells and tissue intact. This discovery is significant as the retina is part of the central nervous system and its cells cannot be replaced once lost. Identifying ways to leverage the innate immune system to “clean out” abnormal blood vessels in the retina may lead to treatments that could prevent or delay blindness, or restore sight.

“Our findings begin to identify a new role of the innate immune system by which endogenous mediators selectively target the pathologic retinal vasculature for removal,” said Kip M Connor, a researcher involved in the work from the Department of Ophthalmology at the Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary Angiogenesis Laboratory. “It is our hope that future studies will allow us to develop specific therapeutics that harnesses this knowledge resulting in a greater visual outcome and quality of life for patients suffering from diabetic retinopathy or retinopathy of prematurity.”

To make this discovery, Connor and colleagues compared two groups of mice, a genetically modified group which lacked activity in the innate immune complement system, and a normal group with a fully functional innate immune system. Researchers placed both groups in an environment that induced irregular blood vessel growth in the eye, mimicking what happens in many human ocular diseases. The mice that were lacking a functional innate immune system developed significantly more irregular blood vessels than the normal mice, indicating that the complement system is a major regulator of abnormal blood vessel growth within the eye. Importantly, in the normal mice, scientists were able to visualize the immune system targeting and killing only the irregular blood vessels while leaving healthy cells unharmed.

“Knowing how the complement system works to keep our retinas clean is an important first-step toward new treatments that could mimic this activity,” said Gerald Weissmann, Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. “It’s a new understanding of how proliferative retinopathies rob us of sight, and promises to let us see the path ahead clearly.”

Source: India medical Times

E-cigarettes next big smoking poison, warns study

The fast spreading e-cigarettes are undoing the anti-smoking efforts of the last three decades, health experts warn.

Also, the number of people being poisoned by e-cigarettes in the US has gone up manifold in the last few years, according to official reports.

The number of calls to poison centres in the US relating to e-cigarettes has risen from one per month in September 2010 to 215 per month in February 2014.

The figures, from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), also show the number of calls per month relating to conventional cigarettes did not increase in the same way.

The CDC statistics show that more than half of the calls relate to children under the age of five.

Poisoning related to e-cigarettes involves the liquid containing nicotine used in the devices.

“This report raises another red flag about e-cigarettes — the liquid nicotine used in e-cigarettes can be hazardous,” CDC director Tom Frieden said in a statement.

E-cigarette liquids come in candy and fruit flavours that are appealing to children.

“The most recent National Youth Tobacco Survey showed e-cigarette use is growing fast, and now this report shows e-cigarette related poisonings are also increasing rapidly,” Tim McAfee, director of CDC’s office on smoking and health, was quoted as saying.

The study comes close on the heels of news that the Welsh government might include e-cigarettes under the smoking ban.

Source: daily news and analysis

The weed that causes cancer may well kill it

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Tobacco has been associated with and much maligned for causing cancers. Researchers have now found that the tobacco plant’s defence mechanism could well work in humans to destroy invading cancer cells.

A molecule called NaD1 is found in the flower of the tobacco plant that fights off fungi and bacteria. This compound also has the ability to identify and destroy cancer, the team discovered.

“This is a welcome discovery whatever the origin,” Mark Hulett from La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science in Melbourne was quoted as saying.

The molecule, found in nicotiana sylvestris (flowering tobacco) plant, forms a pincer-like structure that grips onto lipids present in the membrane of cancer cells.

It then effectively rips them open, causing the cell to expel its contents and explode.

According to researchers, this universal defence process could also potentially be harnessed for the development of antibiotic treatment for microbial infections.

The pre-clinical work is being conducted by the Melbourne biotechnology company Hexima. “The preliminary trials have looked promising,” said Hulett.

The study was published in the journal eLife.

Source: Times of India

Today Is World Health Day – Prevent Vector Borne Diseases

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Over 1 million people all around the world die due to vector borne diseases. Focusing mainly on the increasing threat of viral and parasitic infections caused by insects, this year’s World Health Day (April 7) highlights ‘Prevention of vector borne diseases.’

Vector borne diseases are diseases caused by pathogens that are transmitted to humans through insects and ticks carrying the pathogen. They are difficult to prevent because of several challenges facing the control of vectors and transmissibility of the pathogens. Here are top 10 vector borne diseases that contribute to increased morbidity and mortality:

1. Malaria: According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), malaria is the deadliest of all vector-borne diseases, which accounts for nearly 1.2 million deaths all over the world every year and is prevalent in about 100 countries. The disease is caused by the protozoan parasite Plasmodium. The most common species of Plasmodium responsible for most malaria cases are Plasmodm flaciparum and Plasmodium vivax. The parasite is transmitted to humans via the vector female Anopheles mosquito. The mosquito bearing the protozoa transmits the disease to humans by biting at night. The parasite then attacks the red blood cells and reaches the liver causing symptoms like fever, chills and anemia.

2. Kala Azar: Leishmaniasis or Kala Azar ranks second (malaria being the first on the list) on the list of fatal diseases caused by parasites. It is mainly prevalent in India, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Brazil and Sudan. It is caused by protozoan parasite of the genus Leishmania. In India, Leishmania donovani is the only parasite causing the disease. The parasite is transmitted to humans by female sand flies. Upon entry, the parasite attacks the immune system and causes ulcers or sores at the site of entry.

3. Dengue: Dengue is common in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. In the recent years, transmission of dengue has significantly increased in urban areas and has become a major public health concern. According to the current estimates of WHO, dengue infections have reached 50–100 million worldwide, annually. Dengue is caused by a virus that is transmitted to humans by the vector Aedes Aegypti mosquito.

4. Plague: Plague had an explosive epidemic and was a major health concern at the beginning of the 20th century. It is a deadly disease caused by the bacteria Yersina pestis. It is primarily transmitted by rodents. But it is also spread through insects that acquire the infection from rats harboring the bacteria. Common insect that acquires the bacteria from rodents is flea. The bacteria enter the blood stream after a flea bite and attack the cells of the immune system. They secrete toxins which causes clots and tissue death.

5. Filariasis: Lymphatic filariasis is commonly called elephantiasis. Although the disease is quite widespread, it is neglected diseases because it is more disfiguring and disabling than fatal. Currently, more than 120 million people are infected and nearly 40 million people suffer from the fully developed disease. Filariasis is caused by thread like filarial worms or nematodes. Wuchereria bancrofti is the most common filarial worm, causing the disease in 90 percent of the cases. The worm is carried by and transmitted to humans by mosquitoes –mainly Culex mosquito. The worm invades the lymphatic system causing profuse selling mainly in the legs.

6. Chickungunya: Chickungunya has been identified in 40 different countries including India. It is caused by a virus classified under the family Togaviridae, genus Alphavirus. It is transmitted to humans by Aedes mosquito (mainly Aedes aegypti) in the daytime. Common symptoms of the disease are similar to dengue.

7. Lyme disease: Lyme disease is caused by the spirochete bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. It is transmitted to humans by black-legged ticks that are infected with the bacteria. Upon entry, the bacterium attacks the central nervous system and causes neurological problems.

8. Yellow fever: Mainly found tropical South America and sub-Saharan Africa region, yellow fever is a mosquito-borne viral disease. The disease is caused by the yellow fever virus and spread by female mosquito of Aedes aegypti species. The virus affects the cells of the immune system and causes symptoms like fever, chills, nausea and muscle pain.

9. Chagas’ disease: Chagas’ Disease is widely found in communities of Latin America. It is caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi and transmitted by a large insect called ‘kissing bug’ (Reduviidae Tratominae). The parasite damage several organs and mainly affects heart function.

10. Japanese encephalitis: It is a viral disease that is spread through infected Culex mosquito. The virus mainly affects the central nervous system and causes headache, fever, meningitis, coma, tremors, paralysis and loss of coordination. Several cases of the disease have been found in India. The most affected states include Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.

Source: Naira land

Thanks to Google glass: Houston boy virtually ‘visits’ zoo from his hospital bed

Six-year-old Jayden Neal got a glimpse of the Houston Zoo last week, thanks to Google Glass.

Neal has been a regular patient of Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston since being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes about a year ago. The hospital recently teamed up with the Houston Zoo and the Google Glass Explorer program to give its pediatric patients a unique experience.

“We had a great time working on the project,” Natalie Camarata, social and multimedia manager at Memorial Hermann, said. “[The hospital] is right across from the Houston Zoo, so it was just a natural fit to be able to partner with them through Google Glass to be able to create that firsthand experience for these kids.”

Neal, who usually looks for animals at the zoo through his hospital room window, was able to get a close-up view of jaguars, sea lions and giraffes by talking with zoo workers through Google Glass..

Camarata says Neal took to the technology very quickly.

“When we were working with him, we told him, you know, you can Google whatever you want. And the first thing he did was Google diabetes,” Camarata said. “That there told me that he not only knew how to use the Internet already, he knew how to use it in a personal way and he was able to navigate this device like nothing.”

The hospital has one pair of Glass through the Google Glass Explorer program. Several pediatrics patients were chosen to participate in the zoo experiment. Though there are no formal plans for any more Glass experiments, Camarata said the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive.

“We have a new appreciation for the device and we’re excited to share this experience with our patients,” Camarata said.

Source: fox news

Morning Light Could Be Key to Weight Loss

Getting a good dose of early morning light on a regular basis appears to be a simple but remarkably effective way of maintaining a healthy weight, according to a groundbreaking new study. Researchers found that regardless of caloric intake, people who had more early light exposure were the most likely to have a low body mass index. As the researchers explain in PlosOne, “having a majority of the average daily light exposure above 500 lux earlier in the day was associated with a lower BMI,” and every hour that exposure was delayed coincided with a 1.28 unit increase in BMI.

“Light is the most potent agent to synchronize your internal body clock that regulates circadian rhythms, which in turn also regulate energy balance,” says the lead researcher, who notes that many people fail to get enough natural light in the morning, the Telegraph reports. She says the finding suggests that workplaces and schools should have more windows, and employees and students should be encouraged to spend morning breaks outside: Bright daylight provides exposure of 10,000 lux, and even an overcast day sees light of 1,000 lux. “This is something we could institute early on in our schools to prevent obesity on a larger scale,” she says

Source: newser

Fertility drugs not tied to long term breast cancer risk

According to long-term study data published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, women who took fertility treatments were no more likely to develop breast cancer during 30 years of follow-up than those who never used the drugs, as reported in the Chicago Tribune.

Investigators analyzed records for 9892 women in the US who were followed for some 30 years after having been evaluated for infertility between 1965 and 1988.

Approximately 38 percent of the study participants were exposed to the fertility drug clomiphene, while roughly 10 percent were exposed to gonadotropins. In the 30 years of follow-up, 749 breast cancers were diagnosed among the study participants.

Results suggested that women who were exposed to either type of fertility drug were no more likely to develop breast cancer overall, than those who did not take the medicines to stimulate ovulation.

However, a higher risk of breast cancer was noticed among a small subset of women who had been prescribed the highest doses of clomiphene, although researchers said the reasons for this are unclear.

The authors cautioned that further study of women who receive fertility treatments is needed, because many women included in the current study had not yet reached the age range when breast cancer diagnoses are most common.

Source: First Word

Too much running could actually kill you sooner

Training to run a marathon has got to be one of the healthiest things you can do, right? Maybe not: A new study found that “moderate” runners lived longer than people who don’t exercise at all — and people who run lots of miles

The study involved 3,800 runners who supplied info on their heart risk factors and their use of NSAIDs like ibuprofen; almost 70% of the group clocked more than 20 miles a week. The findings were presented Sunday, but have yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal. According to the results, how much should you run? One cardiologist who reviewed the data suggests you no more than 2.5 hours per week, spread out between two or three sessions consisting of slow or moderately-paced running.

It’s not clear why too much running might be bad for longevity, but the study appears to rule out factors like prior cardiac risk (linked to things like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, family history, and smoking) or excessive use of NSAIDs (which have been linked to heart problems).

One doctor who’s also a running coach tells NBC San Diego that extreme exercise can actually “cause some scarring of the heart.” And another recent study found that male marathon runners had more plaque in their coronary arteries—which can lead to a heart attack—than non-runners, Pioneer Press reports. Again, it’s not clear why, but one researcher notes, “It is plausible, not proof by any stretch, that metabolic changes when running could be moderately toxic to arteries.”

Source: KSDK

When allergies affect your sex drive

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Allergies can have bizarre triggers. They can stop you from working out, bathing, making phone calls…and even having sex

Hard as it is to believe, things that are routine to most of us fill some with dread. A small percentage of people suffer from the most uncommon allergies — water, cell phones and even sex. While an allergy to exercise can be a godsend, Dr Suresh V Rang, the chest and allergy specialist at Lilavati Hospital, tells us about other surprising ones that make life unusually difficult.

H20 horror
Medically known as Aquagenic Urticaria, these allergic reactions burst forth every time one comes in contact with water — when you shower or wash your hands. “This condition triggers a reaction on exposure to water of any temperature,” says Rang.

Symptoms develop within minutes and include itching, burning or a prickly sensation. Most times the skin remains intact, although a faint, itchy red rash may appear across the chest, back, arms or legs. “The symptoms can be acute or chronic, stretching to six weeks or more,” says Rang.

It is not clear why some bodies react adversely to this essential element. Some doctors believe it to be due to the skin’s extreme sensitivity towards a foreign element (chlorine, fluoride, etc.) or minerals present in the water. Rang differs, saying, “We have seen people react even to distilled water!”

In mild cases, contact with water can be tackled with a steady diet of antihistamines, but there have been some cases where even a foggy day can let loose welts and blisters.

Those extremely allergic to water can even react to bodily fluids that contain it such as blood, sweat and tears, causing the skin to break out in hives or red rashes. As for treatment, Rang says, “We usually prescribe antiallergic drugs, one can also go for immunotherapy after allergic testing.”

Prescription: More sex
Some women are allergic to seminal fluid due to a condition called Human seminal plasma hypersensitivity. This occurs when the white blood cells turn against the proteins in the semen. In a case of mistaken identity, the blood cells believe these proteins to be invading bacteria or viruses. Along with itchiness, redness and swelling, semen allergies can also cause infertility and figure in 5 to 25 per cent of couples with fertility issues. The symptoms are often misdiagnosed as sexually transmitted diseases. The allergy’s only real indicator is that the symptoms show up within minutes of contact.

The upside is that desensitisation can help alleviate symptoms, and desensitisation means more sex. To desensitise a woman’s immune system against semen, she can receive shots containing small amounts of semen over the course of several weeks.

Touch me not
We are social creatures who are used to physical contact. But for some, the pressure of touch or a scratch brings up welts and hives. “Pressure Urticaria usually occurs after three to six hours of touch,” says Rang. Dermatographism, another type of allergy that occurs due to pressure, literally means ‘writing on skin’. If you have this allergy, your body becomes a paper you can write on. The cause is unknown, but it’s estimated that 2 to 5 per cent of the population has it.

Exercise can kill
The symptoms of Exercise Induced Anaphylaxis or EIA range from hives to breathlessness, nausea, diarrhoea, faintness and low blood pressure and can linger for hours. At its worst, this can trigger a full Anaphylactic shock and even cause death. What makes EIA unique is that it requires not one, but two triggers. Only exercising won’t invite EIA, unless the secondary trigger — a particular type of food, alcohol, or weather — teams up against you.

Hang up
Allergists and dermatologists have been busy fixing an increasing number of itchy rashes or painful blisters along the jaw, cheek and ear caused by cell phone usage. But in cell phone allergy or mobile phone dermatitis, the real culprit is the nickel in the handsets. Increased usage of cell phones leads to prolonged exposure to this metal used in buttons, LCD screen frames and headsets.

Nickel allergy affects more women than men, as they are likely to have been sensitised to nickel due to ear piercing. There’s really no way around this allergy except to avoid the metal itself.

Source: Times of India

Diet supplement causes nearly 100 hepatitis cases

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A popular diet supplement has caused an outbreak of severe liver disease, sickening nearly 100 people in 16 states since it was first reported in Hawaii last year, according to a new paper. The publication calls for a better system to remove dangerous supplements from the market.

As of February, OxyElite Pro, a dietary supplement manufactured by USPLabs that claims to help people burn fat, has been linked to 97 cases of hepatitis, including 47 people who were hospitalized, three who needed liver transplantations and one person who died, according to the paper, which was authored by Dr. Pieter Cohen, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a general internist at Cambridge Health Alliance.

Although people who took the supplement started getting ill in May last year, the Food and Drug Administration did not learn of the cases until four months later, in September, when doctors reported a cluster of liver illnesses in Hawaii. USPLabs stopped selling the product in Octobe

Health officials suspect that a new ingredient called aegeline that was added to the supplement caused the illnesses, Cohen said. Because the FDA regulates supplements only after they come to market, companies are not required to prove that their products are safe and effective before marketing them.

“This really points to the fact that there’s no safety testing … before a new ingredient shows up in a supplement in the United States,” Cohen said. “Guess who’s the experimental animal — the consumer.”

Dangerous supplements are supposed to be identified and removed quickly, but this is often not the case, as demonstrated by the hepatitis outbreak, Cohen said. Doctors can report adverse events tied to dietary supplements through an online portal called MedWatch.

But in most cases, the FDA does not receive reports of the harmful effects of supplements, Cohen said. Those cases might be reported to a poison control center, which does not communicate with the FDA, or they might not get reported at all, he said.

“Dangerous supplements remain on store shelves for weeks, months or years” because the FDA has a fractured system for monitoring supplements, Cohen said.

He proposes that all dietary supplements should be registered, and information about the supplements and their ingredients should be incorporated into a database maintained by the FDA and poison centers.

Under this organization, if a person has an adverse reaction to a supplement, it would be reported to a response team made of up doctors, toxicologists, pharmacologists and chemists. The team would then investigate the case, report to the FDA and offer advice about treating the patient.

“In the situation where we know that some supplements out there may be dangerous, we’d better have a really good system” to detect them, Cohen said.

While improved monitoring of supplements is needed, it is not the ultimate solution, Cohen said. Congress should change the law regulating supplements to require that all supplement ingredients undergo safety testing before they come to market, he said.

“Until that happens, consumers and physicians cannot be assured that the pills, powders and potions labeled as dietary supplements are safe for human consumption,” Cohen wrote in the April 3 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Source: CBS news