Month: December 2013

Bangalore hospital treats paralyzed patients with stem cell therapy

In what could signal a leap forward in the treatment of spinal cord injuries, the Bangalore Institute of Regenerative Medicine at Live 100 Hospital claims to have successfully used stem cell therapy to restore feeling to people paralysed by injuries, accidents or natural causes.

According to the hospital, its doctors have been treating paralysed below the neck patients using the concept of regenerative medicine and stem cell therapy for quite some time before making the results public. The patients who benefited by the treatment walk out of the hospital using a crutch or walker, with some showing “tremendous improvement”.

Balakrishan Baldev, 42, had been bedridden for the last ten years on account of damaged spine and wrong treatment. The first patient to be benefitted by the stem cell therapy, his eyes glistened with tears as he walked again after he underwent the surgery of spinal cord in May this year and has gained 95 per cent sensation. The development raises the possibility that spinal injury victims could walk again.

Dr H N Nagaraj, chairman and managing director, Live 100 Hospital, told India Medical Times, “The concept of regenerative medicine was started by me way back in 2002 in a laboratory environment until 2010. We started treating patients in 2010 and approximately 40-42 patients have undergone stem cell surgery since then. The results have been satisfactory and few have recovered to a great extent. While it might take less time for some, for others the healing and regeneration could take a long time.”

“As the spine injuries lead to acute loss of spinal cord vascularity and damage spinal cord, we identify and treat them using great precautions that repair the patients’ spinal cords and encourage the cords to heal,” he said.

“The hospital receives patients from different parts of the country and the world. People from Pakistan, Mexico and Yemen have been pouring in for the treatment. The conception that the treatment is expensive is not entirely true. As the treatment gives you focused therapy, a patient does not spend his money on wrong and unnecessary treatments hence every penny spent is worth the results he get. But still, at our hospital, we do take into account the income factor of the patient and do give subsidy to the needy. Our objective is to help everybody,” he added.

The therapy has also given a new lease of life to Khalid Abdullah, a 40-year-old soldier from Yemen who underwent a surgery of the spinal cord at the hospital after a bullet hit him four years ago. Before choosing India, he had visited several countries for the treatment. Paralysed waist down, he partly regained sensation in the legs after the surgery.

“Two levels of his spinal cord were crushed, a part of the spinal cord was removed in the surgery as it was damaged. He underwent stem cell treatment six months ago and has regained sensation in his lower limbs,” Dr Nagaraj said.

“My future plan is evolve the stem cell therapy and regenerative medicine in a fully functional department and involve some of the finest doctors in the field. We want to use stem cell for the treatment of other diseases too like diabetes etc. We want to make a strong team of doctors that would also include a neuro psychiatrist as the patients affected by trauma are generally disturbed and have a tendency to go into depression,” Dr Nagaraj said.

Several breakthrough researches in this area have corroborated that stem cells can develop into replacement cells for damaged organs or body parts. Unravelling the potential that stem cells hold, an answer to several diseases that are at present incurable could be discovered.

source: Twikle

FDA approves new treatment for hepatitis C virus

New drug is part of a revolution in treatment for a virus widespread among Baby Boomers, experts say.A new medication for chronic hepatitis C that can be paired with other drugs to make treatment of the liver-damaging disease faster, easier and more effective got approval from the Food and Drug Administration Friday.

The new medication, called sofosbuvir and made by Gilead Sciences Inc., is part of a “revolution in treatment,” says Douglas Dieterich, a specialist in liver disease at Mt. Sinai Hospital, New York. Dieterich is a consultant to Gilead and other drug companies.

“The upshot is that over the next year to the next 18 months there will be a series of medications approved that will vastly simplify the treatment of hepatitis C for nearly everyone and increase the cure rate beyond 90%,” says David Thomas, a liver specialist at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore. Thomas says he has no current financial ties to drug makers.

More than 3 million people in the USA are infected with the hepatitis C virus, the nation’s leading cause of liver cancer and liver transplants. Most have no symptoms until their livers start to fail, causing jaundice, fatigue and other problems. Up until now, standard three-drug treatments have taken 24 to 48 weeks and required self-injections of interferon, an immune therapy that can cause difficult-to-tolerate flu-like symptoms and mood swings.

Sofosbuvir, which has the brand name Sovaldi, will be the first treatment that some patients will be able to take for just 12 weeks with just one additional drug and no interferon. The FDA approved the no-interferon combination for patients with two strains of the virus, known as genotypes 2 and 3. For most patients with a more common strain, genotype 1, sofosbuvir is approved to be taken with interferon and an older drug called ribavirin. Some patients still will have to be treated for 24 weeks.

None of the regimens are 100% effective. But in one study, 89% of genotype 1 patients who took the three-drug version were cured in 12 weeks, compared with 75% cured in longer-lasting available regimens, says Ira Jacobson, a liver specialist at Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, who has led drug studies for Gilead.

Sofosbuvir does not add any obvious side effects to those already associated with the drugs it is paired with, he says. So patients taking it with ribavirin may experience fatigue and insomnia and those who also take interferon will have additional side effects, but for a shorter time than in the past, he says

The wholesale cost for a one-month supply of Solvadi will be $28,000, Gilead said in a press release.

Therapies will continue to evolve. For example, some doctors may decide, based on recent studies, to treat some type 1 patients with an interferon-free cocktail of sofosbuvir and another antiviral medication called simeprevir, Dieterich says. FDA approved simeprevir, made by Janssen Therapeutics, in late November, but has not approved the two drugs in combination. Such “off-label” use is legal, but it’s not clear insurers will pay for it, Thomas says.

Doctors also may put off treating some patients with milder illnesses until additional combinations, including one-pill versions, are approved. That’s the “holy grail” of treatment, Jacobson says.

Two medical groups, the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease and the Infectious Diseases Society of America, will publish new online treatment guidelines in January to help doctors make decisions in the rapidly evolving field, Thomas says. He is co-chairing the guideline committee.

Hepatitis C is one of several viruses that can cause liver damage. Vaccines can prevent hepatitis A and B but not C. The virus infects about 16,000 people a year and 75% to 80% develop chronic infections, according to federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most then develop chronic liver disease and up to 5% die of cancer or cirrhosis.

The virus spreads through blood, most often through shared drug needles, accidental needle sticks and birth. But transmission through sex and through unsanitary tattooing and piercing is possible, CDC says. Because the infection is most common in Baby Boomers, CDC recommends that everyone born between 1945 and 1965 be tested for it

The availability of safe, effective treatment makes it more urgent for people to get tested, Thomas says. Many picked up the virus through youthful drug use, medical mishaps or sex many decades ago and half of those who are infected don’t know it, he says. “We want to find the people who have it so we can give them the treatments and help them.”

More are likely to choose and stick with quicker, easier therapies, Dieterich says. “One of my patients told me that taking interferon was like 48 weeks of having PMS with a cold,” he says. Dieterich says he once had hepatitis C, caused by a needle-stick, and suffered through many months of interferon treatment for it in the late 1990s. It worked, he says, but “it was bad.”

Source: USA today

Tango therapy treats mental illness in Argentina

You can hear the “All of us are crazy for tango” program before you can see it: Just follow the orchestra’s plaintive chords through the labyrinthine passageways of the Hospital BordaThere, in a dance hall deep inside the public hospital where mentally ill men have been treated for 150 years, both patients and visitors discover how much they have in common in dance classes open to all. The program’s name, playing off a common expression for mental illness, reflects the enthusiasm of both patients and visitors for Argentina’s national dance.
Psychiatrist Silvana Perl runs the classes held every other Wednesday, including their annual tango festival this week.

She says therapy happens when hospitalized men dance with visiting women: It makes them part of a powerful social and cultural current that runs through Buenos Aires, and gives both dancers the shared human contact that is essential to community.

“To dance, it’s necessary to include the other, which requires coming out of your little world,” Perl explains. “Then comes the hug … the whole world is now fascinated with hugging, which is a form of communication. And ‘communication’ comes from what we have in common. This is something that we have in common, this hug of the tango.”

Tango teacher Laura Segade says she and her friends joke that the only difference between the dancers is that some are “crazy on the inside” of the hospital and others are “crazy on the outside.”

source: Cbs news

Georgetown hospital receives US$10,000 donation of urology equipment

Members of the visiting Caribbean Medical Mission on Tuesday presented medical equipment to the Urology Clinic of the Georgetown Public Hospital valued around US$10,000 to 15,000.

The team is a part of the Organisation for Health Advancement for Guyana/ Caribbean. Dr Winston Mc Grill, a member of the team (residing in New Jersey) told Guyana Times that the gesture was initiated through good relationships he shared with friends in Guyana.
Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) Chief Executive Officer Michael Khan said the donation was timely, and noted that Dr Mc Grill will be conducting surgery with the Guyana team today.

Dr Chris Prashad of the Urology Clinic said the hospital needed new equipment since the old ones have deteriorated, pointing out that the fight is on to battle cervical and prostate disease.

Dr Mc Grill said this is his first visit to Guyana but will not be his last as the tour was worthwhile and visibly appreciated by those seen and treated. He further noted that there is much more to be done and his mission will continue.

During the simple presentation ceremony, questions were raised about prostate cancer, more specifically if it is true that men are reluctant to do checkups because they are ridiculed by their womenfolk.

Dr Prashad, who responded, said this is not so since women often urge their husbands, fathers or other male relative to take necessary actions as the need arises.

Though there is no data on men suffering from prostate cancer, Dr Mc Grill said the number of African men affected has been on the increase.

Source: Guyana Times

Artist carves stunning portraits in Oreo frosting

We’ve all been taught not to play with our food, but for Massachusetts artist Judith Klausner playing with food is a craft.

Since 2010, Klausner has been creating works of art from items like Oreo cookies and Chex cereal for her “From Scratch” series on expertly altered food stuffs.

The series includes embroideries made on toast, portraits carved in Oreo frosting, wallpaper painted with condiments, cross-stitching in Chex cereal and stained glass made from gummies.

“This nostalgia for the culinary past—before packaged foods and high-fructose corn syrup—fails to take into consideration just how much time it takes to make three full meals a day from scratch,” Klausner writes on her blog. “Today, as we come to realize that something has been lost in the mechanization of everything around us, there is a return to the idea that making something from its most basic parts has great value.”

Source: Fox news

HIV virus returns in two cured patients: US doctor

Two patients previously thought to be ‘cured’ of HIV after undergoing bone marrow transplants are now seeing the return of the virus in their blood, a US doctor has revealed.

Timothy Henrich, a physician-researcher at the Boston Brigham and Women’s Hospital, believed the re-emergence of the virus demonstrates that HIV reservoirs, latent cells carrying the virus, “is deeper and more persistent” than scientists had realised.

“The return of detectable levels of HIV in our patients is disappointing, but scientifically significant,” Henrich told Xinhua in a statement through e-mail.

“Through this research, we have discovered …that our current standards of probing for HIV may not be sufficient to inform us if long-term HIV remission is possible if anti-retroviral therapy is stopped,” he said.

The two HIV-positive patients, who do not want to be identified, received bone marrow transplants as part of treatment for Hodgkin’ s lymphoma, a cancer of the blood, one in 2008, the other in 2010.

HIV became undetectable in both patients approximately eight months after transplant. This year, during spring, they agreed to cease anti-retroviral therapy to test whether the transplant had eliminated the virus from their bodies.

In July, the researchers announced that the two have shown no signs of HIV after they were off anti-retroviral therapy for 15 weeks and seven weeks, respectively.

But in August, the researchers detected HIV in one of the patients, who then resumed taking medication. The other opted to stay off the medicine but last month, after 32 weeks with no HIV detected, signs of the virus re-emerged and the patient also resumed anti-retroviral therapy.

According to researchers, the virus is now suppressing as expected and they are both currently in good health.

Source: Business Standard

6 tips for eating healthy during Menopause

Menopause is a frightening word for women. This transition is a consequence of biological aging and accompanying signs and effects that can occur during the menopause years can significantly disrupt their daily activities and sense of well-being. The most common symptoms include hot flushes, sweating, insomnia, anxiety, impairment of memory and fatigue. Long term consequences can include a decline in libido, osteoporosis, heart disease, even dementia – all linked to reduced oestrogen levels. During menopause, many women experience increased anxiety and stress. During such time, only good nutrition and effective handling of stress can reduce certain conditions that may develop during and after menopause.

So eat your way to a happier and healthier menopause. Here’s how:

Eat foods that are high in phytoestrogens: During menopause, a woman’s estrogen production considerably decreases, so eating foods that are high in phytoestrogens, like soy products and flaxseeds, can act like estrogen. Drinking soymilk, eating soybeans, tempeh, and roasted soy nuts might help. You can also go for Flaxseeds as they contain lignans, another type of phytoestrogens that may help with hot flashes.

Calcium is a must: According to a report,it is recommended that women over age 50 should consume 1,200 mg of calcium per day. Calcium will increase your bone density and prevent osteoporosis. So include yogurts, cheese, broccoli, salmon in your diet and drink milk regularly.

Include carbohydrates in your diet: Eating carbohydrates can release tryptophan that helps produce serotonin, a neurotransmitter in the brain that calms and relaxes people. Go for turkey, milk, eggs and fish. You can also try out cherries as it has melatonin which gives you a good night’s sleep.

Go for Vitamin-B: B-vitamins are known to stabilize moods, generate calmness and improve metabolism. Whole, unprocessed foods like lean meat and poultry, liver, whole grains and lentils are all rich in B vitamins. Other foods that have vitamin B are spinach, Brussels sprouts, kale, asparagus and beets.

Have legumes, nuts and seeds: The nutrients and the oils in nuts and seeds may help prevent dry skin and normalise hormone levels. Foods such as pumpkin, sunflower, almonds contain these essential nutrients.

Switch to a fibre rich diet: Due to the fluctuating hormones, the digestive system slows down, so bloating becomes a common problem. Foods that can get rid of the bloat are asparagus, celery, watermelon, and berries. A diet that is high in fibre, such as lentils, legumes, fruits and whole cereals, pasta, rice, fresh fruits, and vegetables can improve digestion and decrease bloating.

Source: Zee News

9 Evidence-Based Medicinal Properties of Oranges

Orange is one such food-medicine marvel, containing a broad range of compounds increasingly being recognized to be essential for human health. We consider it a sweet treat, its juice a refreshing beverage, but do we ever really reflect on its medicinal properties? GreenMedInfo.com has indexed no less than 37 distinct health benefits its use may confer, all of which can be explored on our Orange Medicinal Properties research page. What follows are some of its most well-established therapeutic applications, divided into three parts: the juice, the peel and the aroma:

The Juice of the Orange
Many of us mistakenly look to orange juice today as a dangerous source of highly concentrated fructose – simple “carbs” – without recognizing its profound medicinal properties. We sometimes think we can get the vitamin C activity oranges contain through the semi-synthetic ‘nutrient’ ascorbic acid, without realizing that an orange embodies (as do all whole foods) a complex orchestra of chemistries, the handiwork of millions of years of evolution, which is to say a process of intelligent biological design. The ‘monochemical nutrient’ – ascorbic acid – is merely a shadow of the vitamin C activity that is carried and expressed through only living foods. The orange, after all, looks like a miniature sun, is formed as a condensation of energy and information from sunlight, and therefore is capable of storing and after being eaten irradiating us with life-giving packets of information-dense gene-regulating nutrition, by a mechanism that will never be fully reducible to or intelligible by the chemical skeleton we know of as ascorbic acid.

Orange Juice Improves “Good” Cholesterol: While it is debatable that lowering so-called “LDL” cholesterol is nearly as good for heart health as statin drug manufacturers would like for us to believe, raising “HDL” cholesterol does seem to have real health benefits. This is, however, quite hard to do with diet and nutrition, and impossible through medication. Other than taking high-dose fish oil, few things have been studied to be effective. Except, that is, orange juice. A 2000 study found that the consumption of 750 mL of orange juice a day, over a 4 weeks, improved blood lipid profiles by decreasing the LDL-HDL cholesterol ratio by 16% in patients with elevated cholesterol.

Orange Juice Boosts Bone Health: A 2006 animal study in male rats found that orange juice positively influenced antioxidant status and bone strength.

Orange Juice (mixed with Blackcurrant Juice) Reduces Inflammation: A 2009 study in patients with peripheral artery disease found that orange and blackcurrant juice reduced C-reactive protein (11%) and fibrinogen levels (3%), two concrete measures of systemic inflammation.[3] A 2010 study found that Orange juice neutralizes the proinflammatory effect of a high-fat, high-carbohydrate meal and prevents endotoxin induced toxicity.

Orange Juice Boosts Weight Loss: A 2011 study found that children who regularly drank orange juice consumed an average of 523 calories a day more than children who did not drink orange juice regularly. Yet surprisingly, there was no difference in the weight levels between the orange juice consumers and the non-orange juice consumers.

Orange Juice May Dissolve Kidney Stones: A 2006 study found that orange juice consumption was associated with lower calculated calcium oxalate supersaturation and lower calculated undissociated uric acid, two indices of lowered urinary calcium stone formation.

Orange Juice Extract Suppresses Prostate Proliferation: Despite the fructose content, a 2006 study found a standardized extract of red orange juice inhibited the proliferation of human prostate cells in vitro.

The Peel of the Orange

The peel of the orange contains a broad range of potent, potentially therapeutic compounds. These include pectin and flavonoid

constituents, such as hersperiden, naringin, polymethoxyflavones, quercetin and rutin, various carotenoids, and a major odor constituent known as d-limonene, which makes up 90% of the citrus peel oil content, and is a compound that gets its name from the rind of the lemon, which contains a significant quantity of it. It is listed in the US Code of Federal Regulations as generally recognized as safe (GRAS), and is commonly used as a flavoring agent. D-limonene has been studied to have potent anti-cancer properties, including against metastatic melanoma.

Source; Green med info

Online medical education tool aspires to improve patient interactions in challenging situations

Drexel University College of Medicine has developed an online medical education program to help healthcare professionals hone those skills in simulated interactions with patients and their families.

Although the goal is to improve performance by physicians and other healthcare professionals, it is also designed to help hospitals boost patient satisfaction scores, which impact Medicare reimbursement. This is one trend in healthcare that startups are increasingly addressing.

Dr. Christof Daetwyler of Drexel University College of Medicine will use the $100,000 he received from the University City Science Center QED Proof of Concept award to fund a pilot program with a well-known hospital next year and build a company around the technology.

In an interview with MedCity News, Daetwyler said one of Drexel’s collaboration partners is the Gift of Life donor program in Philadelphia, which licensed the technology.

A prototype of the technology was developed in 2002 at the Technology in Medical Education group at Drexel. It was used as a video conferencing tool to help medical students prep for the Objective Structured Clinical Examinations through simulated patient interactions.

Since then, technology advancements have made it easier to bring the platform online. User interactions with simulated patients are recorded online. Users get structured feedback on performance. They can also access videos that offer examples of best practice. In addition to organ donation and breaking bad news, it also includes modules on how to broach other difficult situations such as smoking cessation.

A separate joint venture between the College of Medicine and the American Academy on Communication in Healthcare, Doc.Com, produced 41 modules to improve communication skills.

The company’s approach also helps address the physician shortage, which is projected to worsen as Obamacare extends healthcare access to millions of people.

Several other health IT companies are taking different approaches to medical training using simulators. Shadow Health and Kognito Interactive have focused on developing patient simulator tools to improve patient and physician communication. SimplySim developed a way to train physicians to properly use a stethoscope and CaseNetwork developed a training tool to reduce readmissions. The idea is to provide more meaningful interactions to improve adherence and so that healthcare professionals better understand their patients’ needs.
Source : Med City News

First full face transplant recipient in U.S.

A December 2010 photo shows Dallas Wiens prior to receiving a full face transplant. Wiens was injured in an electrical accident in Texas in 2008. Before his face transplant, he had surgeries to graft smooth skin over much of his face.

Dallas Wiens, first full face transplant recipient in U.S., grows comfortable in his new skin

‘My entire life is a miracle,’ said Wiens, 28, speaking at a conference of the Radiological Society of North America. Doctors are learning more from Wiens and other facial transplant patients about how the body evolves and adapts following the experimental surgeries.

The nation’s first full face transplant patient Dallas Wiens looks on during a news conference about new research into full facial transplants. Wiens was the first person in the U.S. to receive the surgery, in 2011.
The nation’s first full face transplant patients are growing into their new appearances—literally.

The nation's first full face transplant patient Dallas Wiens looks on during a news conference at McCormick Place in Chicago, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2013. Despite still visible facial scars from the March 2011 surgery, Wiens looks and sounds like a recovered man. Medical imaging shows new blood vessel networks have formed, connecting transplanted skin with the patients' facial tissue, a finding that may help improve future face transplant surgeries, doctors announced Wednesday. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

Medical imaging shows new blood vessel networks have formed, connecting transplanted skin with the patients’ facial tissue, a finding that may help improve future face transplant surgeries, doctors announced Wednesday.

Dallas Wiens, the first U.S. man to get a full face transplant, is a remarkable example of that success. The 28-year-old Fort Worth man attended Wednesday’s annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America with his new wife and golden retriever guide dog. Despite still visible facial scars from the March 2011 surgery, he looks and sounds like a recovered man.
A 2008 family photo shows Dallas Wiens with his daughter Scarlette prior to an electrical accident that disfigured his face.

“My entire life is a miracle,” Wiens said at a news conference.
His face was burned off in a 2008 painting accident at his church. He was on a cherry-picker lift when his head hit a high voltage wire.
After surgery, Wiens lived for two years with no facial features and just a two-inch slit for a mouth, until his transplant at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

A December 2010 photo shows Dallas Wiens prior to receiving a full face transplant. Wiens was injured in an electrical accident in Texas in 2008. Before his face transplant, he had surgeries to graft smooth skin over much of his face.

Dallas Wiens (r.) poses for a photo with his wife Jamie Nash and his guide dog Charlie. Despite still-visible facial scars from the March 2011 surgery, Wiens looks and sounds like a recovered man.Imaging studies on Wiens and two other full face transplants done at Brigham in 2011 show that a network of new blood vessels had formed just a year after the operations. A fourth full face transplant was performed at Brigham earlier this year.
The same thing typically happens with other transplants and it helps ensure their success by boosting blood flow to the donor tissue. But Brigham doctors say this is the first time it has happened with full face transplants.
The finding could eventually shorten the operating time for future face transplants, Brigham radiologist Dr. Frank Rybicki said. The operations can take up to 30 hours and include attaching spaghetti-thin arteries in the patients’ existing tissue to the donor face, but the findings suggest attaching only two facial or neck arteries instead of several is sufficient, he said.

Dr. Samir Mardini, a Mayo Clinic expert in reconstructive transplant surgery, said blood vessel reorganization occurs with other types of tissue transplants — doctors call it “neovascularization” and it helps ensure the tissue’s survival by improving blood flow.

“It’s interesting that they’ve shown it” with face transplants, but it’s not a surprise, Mardini said.
Face transplants, using cadaver donors, are still experimental. Fewer than 30 have been done since the first in 2005, said Dr. Branko Bojovich, a surgeon involved in a 2012 face transplant at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

He called the Boston team’s findings “very reassuring” for surgeons and for future patients.
“We’re assuming that these patients will hopefully go on to live productive and long lives,” Bojovich said.
Wiens’ life before the accident was troubled, and he says he misses nothing about it except possibly his eyesight.

Source: Daily news