Month: March 2014

New drug may stop heart attack without side effects

Scientists claim they are a step closer to developing a new drug to stop heart attack in its tracks and reduce the damage caused, without any side effects.

Researchers from the the Monash University in Australia offer new hope to thousands of people who experience heart attacks and heart failure – one of the major causes of death worldwide.

They showed new insights into a specific protein belonging to the family of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs).

After successfully combining two molecules, they say they are a step closer to creating a brand new class of drug that is more targeted and could possess minimal side effects.

GPCRs play a role in virtually every biological process and most diseases, including, cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes, neuropsychiatric disorder, inflammation and cancer, researchers said.

Almost half of all current medications available use GPCRs to achieve their therapeutic effect.

Current GPCR drugs work either by fully activating or completely blocking receptors, treating the protein like a simple “on-off” switch.

The new research discovered alternative recognition sites on GPCRs that can be targeted by drugs to fine-tune the behaviour of the protein, basically converting the “on-off” switch into a “dimmer switch”.

“Correct dosage has been a serious challenge in clinical trials for A1 receptor drugs. The consequences are serious; a dosage that is too high can stop the heart from beating. Too low, and the drug fails to prevent cell damage. Getting this balance right has been a big problem,” said researcher Peter Scammells.

The study focused on finding new ways to activate the protein, to achieve the beneficial effects (protection) without the side effects (slowing the heart), researchers said.

The study was published in the journal PNAS.

Source: Times of India

Pioneering 3D printing reshapes patient’s face in Wales

A survivor of a serious motorbike accident has had pioneering surgery to reconstruct his face using a series of 3D printed parts. Stephen Power, from Cardiff, is thought to be one of the first trauma patients in the world to have 3D printing used at every stage of the procedure.

Doctors at Morriston Hospital, Swansea, had to break his cheekbones again before rebuilding his face. Mr Power said the operation had been “life-changing”. The UK has become one of the world’s pioneers in using 3D technology in surgery, with advances also being made by teams in London and Newcastle.

While printed implants have previously been used to help correct congenital conditions, this operation used custom-printed models, guides, plates and implants to repair impact injuries months after they were sustained.

Despite wearing a crash helmet Mr Power, 29, suffered multiple trauma injuries in the accident in 2012, which left him in hospital for four months. “I broke both cheekbones, top jaw, my nose and fractured my skull,” he said.

“I can’t remember the accident – I remember five minutes before and then waking up in the hospital a few months later.” In order to try to restore the symmetry of his face, the surgical team used CT scans to create and print a symmetrical 3D model of Mr Power’s skull, followed by cutting guides and plates printed to match.

Maxillofacial surgeon Adrian Sugar says the 3D printing took away the guesswork that can be problematic in reconstructive work.

“I think it’s incomparable – the results are in a different league from anything we’ve done before,” he said. “What this does is it allows us to be much more precise. Everybody now is starting to think in this way – guesswork is not good enough.”

The procedure took eight hours to complete, with the team first having to refracture the cheekbones with the cutting guides before remodelling the face.

‘Life changing’
A medical-grade titanium implant, printed in Belgium, was then used to hold the bones in their new shape.

Looking at the results of the surgery, Mr Power says he feels transformed – with his face now much closer in shape to how it was before the accident.

“It is totally life-changing,” he said. “I could see the difference straightaway the day I woke up from the surgery.” Having used a hat and glasses to mask his injuries before the operation, Mr Power has said he already feels more confident.

“I’m hoping I won’t have to disguise myself – I won’t have to hide away,” he said. “I’ll be able to do day-to-day things, go and see people, walk in the street, even go to any public areas.”

The project was the work of the Centre for Applied Reconstructive Technologies in Surgery (Cartis), which is a collaboration between the team in Swansea and scientists at Cardiff Metropolitan University.

Design engineer Sean Peel has said the latest advance should encourage greater use of 3D printing in the NHS. “It tends to be used for individual really complicated cases as it stands, in quite a convoluted, long-winded design process,” he said.

“The next victory will be to get this process and technique used more widely as the costs fall and as the design tools improve.” Mr Power’s operation is currently being featured in an exhibition at the Science Museum in London, called 3D Printing: The Future.

Source: BBC news

Rwanda: Chinese Medical Team Arrives

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A twelve -member Chinese medical team has arrived in the country as part of the medical assistance that the Peoples’ Republic has been giving to Rwanda since 1982.

The new team will be deployed at Kibungo Hospital in the Eastern Province.

During the welcome dinner hosted by the Chinese Embassy, Minister of Health Dr Richard Sezibera commended the existing bilateral relations between Rwanda and China that has ensured cooperation in health and other sectors.

“Rwanda commends the outgoing team for the high-level professional techniques and dedication in providing medical services to Rwandans,” Sezibera told the medics.

The new delegation is made up of medical specialists in different fields and they came equipped with medical supplies and other facilities that they will use while on assignment here.

The same dinner also honoured the departing Chinese medical team that has finished its two year term in the country.

Sezibera noted that the Chinese medics’ expertise would contribute to the improvement of health sector in the country.

“This cooperation has ensured cross cultural learning and knowledge-sharing that goes on to improve services offered to patients,” Sezibera said.

The head of the outgoing team, Fang Xuejun praised the government of Rwanda for the support it has rendered to his team during their stay in the country.

According to Xuejun, the team diagnosed and treated 30,000 patients and performed over 3,000 operations.

The Charge d’Affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Kigali, Li Yigang, hailed the outgoing team for its success and urged the new team to build on present achievements of the China-Rwanda health cooperation.

Yiyang stressed the need for continued efforts to improve health and assured his country’s dedication in assisting Rwanda achieve its goals.

Source: All Africa

Surprise: Doc says iPads may be OK for babies

A doctor who helped write guidelines discouraging media use by babies and toddlers says he’s had second thoughts about the iPad and other devices.

Dr. Dimitri A. Christakis, a Seattle pediatrician who studies the effect of media on children, now says that kids younger than 2 may actually benefit from 30 minutes to 60 minutes a day of screen time — as long as it’s interactive, not passive.

“I believe that the judicious use of interactive media is acceptable for children younger than the age of 2 years,” he wrote in an opinion piece this week in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

It’s a somewhat surprising position for the researcher who admits he’s developed a reputation as the “anti-TV guy,” especially when it comes to the youngest viewers. He co-authored the American Academy of Pediatrics 2011 guidelines that frown on media use by kids younger than 2.

In the new piece, however, Christakis notes that the guidelines, updates of 1999 recommendations, were written before the 2010 debut of Apple’s iPad and the slew of tablets and devices that followed.

“The statement was drafted with no knowledge that such a device would ever exist,” wrote Christakis, director of the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children’s Research Institute.

“Now, 3 years later, we still know surprisingly little about how iPads and other interactive media technologies affect children’s cognition — research is simply unable to keep up with the pace of technological advances —and these devices are increasingly popular.”

Even without hard data, however, Christakis said he has concluded that interactive iPad and device apps that engage a baby may be as mentally stimulating as old-fashioned toys such as blocks or even a See ‘N’ Say, which allows kids to develop a sense of accomplishment by matching animal images and sounds.

They’re all very different than passive television viewing, which is known to have detrimental effects on cognition, or videos or DVDs aimed at babies, which can be overstimulating and potentially harmful, Christakis said.

That’s a view echoed by Elizabeth R. Sowell, a neuropsychologist at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. She told TODAY that guidelines based on TV viewing aren’t comparable to those for interactive screen time on devices used by babies and toddlers.

“The brain is developing so rapidly during that period of time and interactive challenges, whether it’s blocks or playing games on the iPad, that’s really going to wire the brain differently than passive viewing,” said Sowell, who is also principal investigator at The Saban Research Institute of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Both Christakis and Sowell cautioned that parents need to closely monitor their babies’ screen time. Just as there have been problems with too much internet use in older kids and teens, there’s the danger of “compulsive use of iPads” among the youngest users.

And, iPad or other device use should never interfere with the full range of social, physical and other activities that babies need to develop, Christakis added.

“I do hope parents will take to heart that they should put some limits on it,” he said. “This is not just to allow their child to play willy-nilly for hours and hours.”

Source: Today

Man dies of heart attack caused by … nail biting

It’s a good thing you listened to your mom when she told you not to bite your nails: The bad habit ended up costing one UK man his life.

John Gardener, a 40-year-old amateur football referee, bit his fingernails so badly that they bled—leading to an infection that turned septic and caused a fatal heart attack,

Gardener may have become immune to the pain after years of nail-biting; his doctor says the man’s fingernails were “always in poor condition and … often bleeding,” and he’d lost nearly all feeling in them.

The habit had only gotten worse in recent years, as he also suffered from anxiety and depression. He was admitted to the hospital in September with septicemia, and was initially treated just with antibiotics because he didn’t want to lose his finger, but eight days later, doctors were forced to amputate the tip.

Even so, he died two weeks after being admitted, despite showing signs of improvement and no fever. His surgeon says Gardener’s death was “upsetting and shocking.” His mother insists, “there could’ve been more done to help him.” The family is taking action against the hospital

Gardener, who was also diabetic, had previously had his lower right leg amputated due to leg ulcers.

Source: Fox news

New drug can lower salt intake without any dietary changes

Sodium: An important dietary element that the body needs to function. But too much of the chemical can potentially be deadly.

Given current diet trends, a significant majority of Americans consume too much sodium from their food, contributing to an overall increase in cardiovascular disease and poor kidney function. But soon, a new drug may be able to solve this growing problem – by lowering an individual’s salt absorption without affecting his or her diet.

The medication could potentially help the millions of Americans who suffer from chronic kidney disease (CKD) and hypertension, but who have a hard time adhering to a low-sodium diet.

Developed by researchers at drug manufacturer Ardelyx, the drug, tenapanor, works by blocking a membrane transporter called NH3, which is responsible for most of the reuptake of sodium in the body. By inhibiting this protein, the majority of sodium is prevented from seeping into the bloodstream and instead remains in the gut.

“It’s a small molecule that’s been designed to remain within the gut, acting on this transporter that is expressed in the mucosa in the GI (gastrointestinal) tract,” lead researcher Dominique Charmot, co-founder and chief scientific officer at Ardelyx, told FoxNews.com. “And in doing so, what it does is divert sodium from going into the blood to going into the stool. So that increases sodium in the stool and avoids building up too much sodium in the body.”

According to Charmot, current medications to control sodium include diuretics and antihypertensive drugs, which either increase water excretion or control high blood pressure. However, these drugs require patients to adhere to a diet very low in sodium – a feat that can be difficult given the high prevalence of the chemical in typical American diets. But since tenapanor remains in the gut, the drug can remove the sodium while patients continue to eat their normal diet.

To test the effectiveness of tenapanor, Charmot and lead study author Andrew Spencer, senior director for research and development at Ardelyx, administered the drug to rats that had fractions of their kidneys removed, in order to emulate patients with CKD. They also continued feeding the rats a high-sodium diet to see how it interfered with the drug’s success.

“What we’ve shown in this rat model is it protects against hypertension and hypertrophy (an increase in volume) of the heart; and it protects against further damage of the kidney, which is shown by the presence of protein in the urine,” Charmot said.

Additionally, tenapanor was given to patients with CKD in a phase 1 proof of concept study. After taking the medication, patients showed an increase of sodium in their stools and no presence of the drug was detected in their bloodstreams – proving the drug adhered to its design and function.

Charmot and his team hope that their drug will benefit many in the United States, especially given Americans’ widespread consumption of sodium on a daily basis. The U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommend people should limit their sodium to less than 2,300 milligrams a day, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that the average American eats more than 3,300 milligrams daily. In fact, the CDC found that more than 90 percent of Americans over the age of 2 eat too much sodium.

Experts believe these dietary trends have contributed to the rising incidence of chronic diseases in the United States. The CDC states that 26 million Americans suffer from CKD and approximately 67 million people have high blood pressure – equating to 1 in 3 U.S. citizens.

And the sodium-related health problems don’t simply stop there, according to Charmot.

“A new body of science is emerging which tells us that sodium, independent of blood pressure, is bad. There’s a lot of animal data showing salt can induce scar tissue in the kidneys and in the vasculature – something that’s seen, for example, by the thickness of the arteries.”

Because of sodium’s potential to contribute to so many diseases, the researchers believe tenapanor can help many individuals stay healthy while enjoying a normal dietary routine.

“It’s fair to say that asking patients to maintain a low-sodium diet is very hard to do,” Charmot said. “…Most of the food additives contain sodium; people who eat in restaurants cannot control sodium; plus, food is bland without sodium. Also there’s a risk if you go too low in sodium, you also diminish nutrient composition which is needed for you to thrive. So we believe this drug can help patients comply with a more normal diet.”

The research on tenapanor was published online in the journal Science.

Source: health medicine

Surgery May Be Best for Young Men With Prostate Cancer

Younger men who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer may do well to consider surgery over so-called “watchful waiting,” a new study shows.

The new research,in the New England Journal of Medicine, is unlikely to end the long-running debate in the medical community over if and when surgery to remove the prostate is needed — particularly since the men in the study were diagnosed before the sensitive prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test was widely implemented to detect prostate cancer in its early stages.

The findings are the latest to come out of a 23-year-long, ongoing study comparing radical prostatectomy versus watchful waiting in 695 men who had been diagnosed with localized prostate cancer.

Between 1989 and 1999, researchers randomly assigned these men to either receive prostatectomy or not. The study found that those younger than 65 who underwent surgery to remove their prostates had a 15.8 percent lower risk of dying from prostate cancer than patients who had not had surgery. They also had a 25.5 percent lower risk of dying from any cause, as well as a 15.8 percent lower risk of the disease having spreading to other organs.

“Our results suggest that surgery may be more beneficial to younger men,” said study author Jennifer Rider, assistant professor of epidemiology at the Harvard University School of Public Health. Rider added that the men under 65 who had their prostates removed were also less likely to need radiation or chemotherapy.

The trial, funded by the Swedish Cancer Society and the U.S. National Institutes of Health, is the first of its kind to entail such an extended follow-up.
Urologists not involved with the research said the findings were important, particularly at a time when many men have concerns about the side effects of going under the knife for prostate cancer.

“This study makes a world of a difference,” said Dr. David B. Samadi, chairman of urology at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.
Samadi added that in the years since the study began, the operations to remove the prostate have become more refined.

“Surgery has become much improved,” he said. “ We’ve come a long way.”
“The important finding is that the benefits of surgery have increased over the course of time,” said Dr. Philip Kantoff, director of genitourinary oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

But Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society, said that the results should be interpreted with caution, particularly since the study dealt with men who were not diagnosed using a PSA test – currently the common early detection method used in the U.S.

“That is a very different population from men in the U.S., where PSA screening means most cancers are caught at a much earlier stage,” he said in a statement to ABC News. The concern is that using prostate-removing surgery to treat these very early cancers may not be the best option, as it could mean a drastic surgery to remove a prostate that would never have presented a life-threatening problem.

And Dr. Lee Green, professor of family medicine at the University of Michigan, said more research will be needed before men facing a prostate cancer diagnosis get definite answers to the questions they have.

“It doesn’t prove that radical prostatectomy is better than less radical procedures, and it doesn’t prove that surgery is better than chemotherapy,” Green said. “It just says that surgery is better than doing nothing.”

Source; abc news

5 Toothbrush Hygiene Mistakes You’re Probably Making

Did you know 10 billion microbes live on your toothbrush? Did you know toothbrushes are grosser than toilet seats? There are things we can do to make our toothbrushes, well, less gross. Here’s 5 things, that you’re probably doing wrong.

You keep your toothbrush within 6 feet of the toilet.
this is just gross to think about; fecal matter getting on your toothbrush. It can happen! Prevent it by keeping your toothbrush as far away from the toilet in your bathroom as possible!

store it in a plastic holder.
The little plastic tube many people store their toothbrush in is like a petri dish for bacteria, mold. and fungi to grow! Keep your toothbrush out in the open.

microwave it to “disinfect” it
This does nothing but release the carcinogenic chemicals in the plastic that your toothbrush is made of!

You think toothpaste disinfects your toothbrush
That’s a myth; it doesn’t take care of the bacteria on the brush.

Your toothpaste contains too many chemicals
Sodium laurel sulfate is an emulsifier, and can actually irritate your mouth. Many “crazy” chemicals can actually hurt the health of your mouth, so keep it simple.

Source: Blog

BP reading above normal may up risk of stroke

A new study has found that any blood pressure reading higher than the normal 120/80 mmHg may increase the risk of stroke.

The meta-analysis looked at all of the available research on the risk of developing stroke in people with “prehypertension,” or blood pressure higher than optimal but lower than the threshold to be diagnosed with high blood pressure, which is 140/90 mmHg.

A total of 19 prospective cohort studies with more than 760,000 participants were included in the analysis, and participants were followed for time periods ranging from four to 36 years. From 25 to 54 percent of study participants had pre-high blood pressure.

The analysis found that people with pre-high blood pressure were 66 percent more likely to develop a stroke than people who had normal blood pressure.

The results were the same after researchers adjusted for other factors that could increase the risk of stroke, such as high cholesterol, diabetes and smoking.

The researchers determined that nearly 20 percent of strokes in the study population were due to pre-high blood pressure.

Considering the high proportion of the population who have higher than normal blood pressure, successful treatment of this condition could prevent many strokes and make a major difference in public health, study author Dingli Xu, of Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, China, said.

The study is published in the online issue of journal Neurology®.

Source: Daily news and analysis

New vaginal gel could help protect women against HIV

Researchers have revealed that a new after-sex vagina gel can be used by women to protect themselves against HIV.

According to scientists at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, drugs applied three hours after exposure to the virus could protect female monkeys from a type of HIV, the BBC reported.

that this study would require large clinical trials to test any new treatment and that condoms still remain the best defense against HIV.

Scientists found that the gel protected five out of six monkeys from an animal-human laboratory strain of HIV, when it was applied before or three hours after infection.

Dr Charles Dobard, of the division of HIV/Aids prevention, said that the gel used is a promising after-sex vaginal gel to prevent HIV infection and studies still need to look for the window of opportunity.

Dr Andrew Freedman, reader and consultant in infectious diseases at Cardiff University School of Medicine, said that the gel contained a different class of anti- HIV drug, which attacks the virus at a later stage in infection.

The study is published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Source: Zee news