Month: February 2014

Carmat artificial heart patient in satisfactory condition

A patient with terminal heart failure is in “satisfactory condition” two months after becoming the first person to be fitted with Carmat’s artificial heart which is designed to beat for several years, his hospital said.

The 76-year-old man is eating normally, no longer needs constant respiratory assistance and is able to walk a little further every day thanks to physical therapy, the Georges Pompidou European Hospital in Paris said in a statement on Tuesday.

“The Carmat bioprosthesis continues to function satisfactorily, without any anti-clotting treatment since January 10,” said the hospital, where the implant surgery was performed on December 18 and where the patient is being treated.

It praised the patient’s “exemplary courage, sense of humour and family support” for playing a role in his recovery.

Heart-assistance devices have been used for decades as a temporary solution for patients awaiting transplants, but Carmat’s product is designed to replace the real heart over the long term, mimicking nature using biological materials and sensors.

It aims to extend life for thousands of patients who die each year while awaiting a donor, while reducing the side-effects that can be associated with transplants, such as blood clots and rejection.

Three more patients in France are due to be fitted with Carmat’s device. The people selected in this first series of clinical studies suffer from terminal heart failure – when the sick heart can no longer pump enough blood to sustain the body – and would otherwise have only a few days or weeks to live.

Success will be judged on whether the patients survive with the implant for at least a month. If deemed safe, the device will then be fitted into about 20 lower-risk patients.

A spokeswoman for Carmat declined to say when the other three patients in the first round of tests would be fitted with its artificial heart.

The company estimates around 100,000 patients in the United States and Europe could benefit from its artificial heart, a market worth more than 16 billion euros ($22 billion)

Chief Executive Marcello Conviti told Reuters in November that Carmat hoped to finish human trials of the heart by the end of 2014 and to obtain approval to market them in the European Union by early 2015.

Among its competitors for artificial heart implants are privately-held SynCardia Systems and Abiomed, both of the United States.

Source: Diabetes Support

Number of test-tube babies born in U.S. hits record percentage

More test-tube babies were born in the United States in 2012 than ever before, and they constituted a higher percentage of total births than at any time since the technology was introduced in the 1980s, according to a report released on Monday.

The annual report was from the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART), an organization of medical professionals.

SART’s 379 member clinics, which represent more than 90 percent of the infertility clinics in the country, reported that in 2012 they performed 165,172 procedures involving in vitro fertilization (IVF), in which an egg from the mother-to-be or a donor is fertilized in a lab dish. They resulted in the birth of 61,740 babies.

That was about 2,000 more IVF babies than in 2011. With about 3.9 million babies born in the United States in 2012, the IVF newborns accounted for just over 1.5 percent of the total, more than ever before.

The growing percentage reflects, in part, the increasing average age at which women give birth for the first time, since fertility problems become more common as people age. The average age of first-time mothers is now about 26 years; it was 21.4 years in 1970.

Although the rising number of test-tube babies suggests that the technology has become mainstream, critics of IVF point out that the numbers, particularly the success rates, mask wide disparities.

“It’s important for people to understand that women over 35 have the highest percentage of failures,” said Miriam Zoll, author of the 2013 book “Cracked Open: Liberty, Fertility and the Pursuit of High Tech Babies.”

Earlier data from SART showed that the percentage of attempts that result in live births is 10 times higher in women under 35 than in women over 42. And in the older women fewer than half the IVF pregnancies result in a live birth.

Zoll added, “these treatments have consistently failed two-thirds of the time since 1978,” when the first test tube baby was born, in England.

After years in which IVF physicians were criticized for transferring multiple embryos to increase the odds of pregnancy – because that sometimes resulted in the birth of triplets and even higher multiples, often with dangerously low birthweights and other health risks – infertility clinics transferred fewer embryos per cycle in 2012 than 2011. As a result, the number of twin and triplet births were both down.

Source: Reuters

Apple, Lime and Chia Smoothie

The pale green color of this smoothie. Granny Smith and lime make a great marriage and the yogurt and chia seeds make the sweet and tart smoothie substantial enough to get me through the morning.

Total time: About 3 minutes

1 organic Granny Smith or Pippin apple, cored and cut in chunks

1 teaspoon lime zest

1 tablespoon honey or agave nectar

1 teaspoon chia seeds

1 tablespoon lime juice

1 cup plain low-fat yogurt

1 or 2 ice cubes

Place all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Yield: Serves 1

Advance preparation: This is best when freshly made.

Nutritional information per serving: 335 calories; 5 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 1 gram monounsaturated fat; 15 milligrams cholesterol; 63 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams dietary fiber; 175 milligrams sodium (does not include salt to taste); 14 grams protein

Source: The New York Times

Saliva Test Predicts Risk of Severe Depression in Boys

High levels of stress hormone cortisol led to much greater likelihood of clinical depression diagnosis

If your teenage son is showing mild signs of depression, an experimental saliva test could determine if he’s at a risk for severe depression later in life.

In a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, researchers examined the saliva of 1,800 teens between ages 12 and 19, and tracked the teens’ depression symptoms and mental illness diagnoses for up to three years later.

The test’s results were most pronounced for boys. Boys with mild symptoms of depression and high levels of cortisol–a stress hormone–were 14 times more likely to have a clinical depression diagnosis later on, compared with teens with lower levels of the hormone. For girls, high levels of cortisol put them at a four times greater risk for major depression later on.

Source: TIME

Prostate’s Early Growth May Reveal Cures for Later Illnesses

Dr. David Samadi is the chairman of urology and chief of robotic surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City and is a board-certified urologist and oncologist specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of urologic diseases, kidney cancer, bladder cancer and prostate cancer. Samadi also specializes in many advanced, minimally invasive treatments for prostate cancer; is one of the few urologic surgeons in the United States trained in oncology, open-, laparoscopic- and robotic-surgery; and was the first surgeon in the nation to successfully perform a robotic surgery redo. He contributed this article to Live Science’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

For a surgeon who has successfully treated prostate cancer in many thousands of men by removing their prostate gland, the idea that science might one day be able to regenerate this gland using stem cells is a foreign one — and yet highly intriguing. But this advancement is just one of many potential treatments for prostate cancer or benign prostate enlargement that may eventually arise from important new research on the cellular building blocks of prostate gland development.

In a study published Feb. 11 in the journal Stem Cell Reports, scientists from the University of York in England detailed their discovery of a “signaling pathway,” a set of signals that tell proteins inside stem cells how to evolve into prostate tissue cells called basal cells and luminal cells. The researchers learned there are 80 genes involved in this process, and that the main signals responsible for activating prostate development are retinoic acid and male sex hormones — the balance of which are disrupted in prostate cancer.

Source: live science

 

New layer of cornea discovered by Indian doctor Harminder Dua

A new layer in the human cornea was discovered by the Indian doctor Harminder Dua at The University of Nottingham in 2014. It plays a vital role in the structure of the tissue that controls the flow of fluid from the eye.

The research was published in a paper in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.
The new finding could shed new light on glaucoma. The new layer named as Dua’s Layer is just 15 microns thick but incredibly tough. Comprised of thin plates of collagen, it sits at the back of the cornea between the corneal stroma and Descemet’s membrane.

It makes an important contribution to the sieve-like meshwork, the trabecular meshwork (TM), in the periphery of the cornea.

The TM is a wedge-shaped band of tissue that extends along the circumference of the angle of the anterior chamber of the eye.

It is made of beams of collagen wrapped in a basement membrane to which trabecular cells and endothelial cells attach. The beams branch out randomly to form a ‘meshwork’.
Scientists had previously believed the cornea to be comprised of five layers – from front to back— the corneal epithelium, Bowman’s layer, the corneal stroma, Descemet’s membrane and the corneal endothelium.

Pressure within the eye is maintained by the balance of aqueous fluid production by eye tissue called the ciliary body and drainage principally through the TM to the canal of Schlemm, a circular channel in the angle of the eye.

Defective drainage through the TM is an important cause of glaucoma, a condition that leads to raised pressure in the eye that can permanently affect sight. Around 1 to 2% of the world’s population yearly have chronic glaucoma and globally around 45 million people have open angle glaucoma which can permanently damage the optic nerve – 10% of whom are blind.

It is hoped the discovery will offer new clues on why the drainage system malfunctions in the eyes of some people, leading to high pressure.
Glaucoma is a devastating disease caused by defective drainage of fluid from the eye. Glaucoma is the second largest leading cause of blindness of world.

Source: Zee News

 

New ‘painless’ treatment to repair teeth

A novel “regenerative” technique to repair infected teeth – claimed to be painless and cheaper than the traditional root canal treatment – has been developed by doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi, says IANS.

Termed as “SealBio”, the technique uses body’s own stem cells and eliminates the need for cumbersome root canal fillings.

Developed by doctors Naseem Shah and Ajay Logani at the Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, it has obtained an Australian patent, while an application with the US Patents office is under process.

Root canal treatment demands rigorous training, clinical skills and several cumbersome sittings with dentist. It involves thorough cleaning and shaping followed by filling of the entire root canal with one of several sealer cements.

The AIIMS technique is claimed to be the first that dispenses with the need for root canal filling. Instead of filling the root canal with artificial materials that may pose bio-compatibility problems, it makes use of regenerative potential of stem cells and growth factors available at the root of the teeth. Stem cells act as a repair system for the body capable of replenishing adult tissues.

In case of this technique, the stem cells at the root of the decayed teeth are stimulated to induce regeneration and deposition of a natural tissue barrier (seal) to fill up the root canal in just one sitting.

In other words, a “biological seal” is achieved at the root canal rather than attempting to seal it with artificial filling materials with all its drawbacks, the doctors say. The root canal is restored to health by gradual build up of tissue by stem cells over a period, extending from a few weeks to some months.

The AIIMS doctors say that this treatment simplifies the whole procedure with minimal use of equipment, less time and cost of treatment.

“Shah has been able to successfully carry out this new procedure in dozens of patients and the 4-5 years follow up results have been very encouraging,” Seyed Hasnain, a professor at the Kusuma School of Biological Sciences of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, told IANS on phone. “In my opinion this is a path breaking innovation, a game changer,” Hasnain said.

He said that the success achieved by AIIMS doctors could trigger research in regenerative techniques in other clinical situations in dental science.

Source: The Free Press

Tips for tackling asthma during pregnancy

Expecting a child is the most exciting and happy phase in a woman’s life, but suffering from an asthma attack is the worst nightmare a pregnant lady can face.

As per National Asthma Education Group for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), asthma is one of the most common diseases that can complicate a pregnancy.

It is advisable for pregnant women to identify the early asthma symptoms as the disease’s effects on pregnant women are appalling, Parents India magazine reported.

If asthma becomes uncontrolled, it can bring about a risk for the mother’s as well as for the baby’s health. This situation can even lead to further complications like oxygen deprivation for the baby, morning sickness, vaginal bleeding, high blood pressure and protein in the urine after 20 weeks of pregnancy (preeclampsia), restricted fetal growth, complicated labor, need for a C-section, premature birth, low birth weight and in extreme cases, the baby’s life might be in jeopardy.

Since the fetus gets its oxygen from the mother’s blood, this condition leads to decreased oxygen in the fetal blood.

Swimming is known to be a particularly good exercise for women suffering from asthma. Using an inhaled bronchodilator ten minutes before you exercise may help you better tolerate your recommended exercise during pregnancy.

It is also advisable for the pregnant women who have asthma to get their condition monitored on a regular basis. A check-up once in three weeks is recommended by expert doctors worldwide.

Source: DNA India

Loneliness ups older adult’s chances of premature death by 14%

A new study has revealed that feeling extreme loneliness can increase an older person’s chances of premature death by 14 percent.

The study by John Cacioppo, professor of psychology at the University of Chicago, and his colleagues shows that the impact of loneliness on premature death is nearly as strong as the impact of disadvantaged socioeconomic status, which they found increases the chances of dying early by 19 percent.

A 2010 meta-analysis showed that loneliness has twice the impact on early death as does obesity, he said.

The researchers looked at dramatic differences in the rate of decline in physical and mental health as people age.
Cacioppo and colleagues have examined the role of satisfying relationships on older people to develop their resilience, the ability to bounce back after adversity and grow from stresses in life.

The consequences to health are dramatic, as feeling isolated from others can disrupt sleep, elevate blood pressure, increase morning rises in the stress hormone cortisol, alter gene expression in immune cells, and increase depression and lower overall subjective well-being.

Cacioppo, one of the nation’s leading experts on loneliness, said older people can avoid the consequences of loneliness by staying in touch with former co-workers, taking part in family traditions, and sharing good times with family and friends – all of which gives older adults a chance to connect others about whom they care and who care about them.

The study was presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual meeting in Chicago.

Source: Yahoo news

 

Research links father’s gene to baby’s birth weight

Research suggests that expression of the father’s genes enhances a baby’s growth.

A father’s genetic code influences the weight of a baby at birth, according to a new study. The study led by the UCL Institute of Child Health (ICH) suggests that genes inherited from the mother and father regulate a baby’s growth at different times during the pregnancy, to ensure a successful birth as well as the mother’s survival.

Low birth weight is a well-known risk factor for Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular problems in later life. One group of growth genes of particular interest are the imprinted genes inherited from one’s parents. If the paternal one is expressed, the maternal one is imprinted (silenced) and vice versa.

The ‘parental conflict hypothesis’ suggests that expression of the father’s genes enhances a baby’s growth, improving the success of the paternal genome to be passed on. In contrast, the mother’s genome limits foetal growth, distributing equal resources to each of her offspring, whilst ensuring her own survival post-birth allowing her to reproduce again.

The study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, looked at the relationship between birth weight and the paternally expressed Insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2) early in gestation, where IGF2 is a key hormone regulating growth in the womb. Professor Gudrun Moore, lead author at the UCL Institute of Child Health, says most of us think of both the mother’s and father’s genes as having an equal influence on birth weight, but this does not appear to be the case.

“Our study suggests that the two parental genomes may be acting at different times during the pregnancy in order to control the baby’s size. Whilst greater foetal growth appears to be promoted by the father’s genes early on, it must still require careful regulation by the mother to ensure a successful birth,” he said. He added that understanding the genetic basis of foetal growth is of critical importance in the prevention and monitoring of small and low weight babies.

Source: The Indian Express