Artificial Pancreas Shows Promise in Diabetes Test

Artificial Pancreas

A portable artificial pancreas built with a modified iPhone successfully regulated blood sugar levels in a trial with people who have Type 1 diabetes, researchers reported Sunday.

Type 1 diabetes, which usually starts in childhood or young adulthood, is a chronic condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin, the hormone that lowers blood sugar levels. Insulin works in conjunction with glucagon, a hormone that raises blood sugar. Together, they keep blood sugar in a healthy range.

Currently about one-third of people with Type 1 diabetes rely on insulin pumps to regulate blood sugar. They eliminate the need for injections and can be programmed to mimic the natural release of insulin by dispensing small doses regularly.

But these pumps do not automatically adjust to the patient’s variable insulin needs, and they do not dispense glucagon. The new device, described in a report in The New England Journal of Medicine, dispenses both hormones, and it does so with little intervention from the patient.

“The data address some of the most difficult problems in diabetes management,” said Dr. Kevan Herold, director of the Yale Diabetes Center, who was not involved in the study. “I’d say that the effects are quite significant and noteworthy.”

Dr. Fredric E. Wondisford, director of the diabetes institute at Johns Hopkins, also found the results encouraging. “To me, it’s a clear advance,” he said. But he cautioned that the effectiveness and practicality of the device had still not been tested in large numbers of patients over long periods of time. He also raised the issue of cost and insurance coverage.

Treatment of Type 1 diabetes is complicated. Patients not using pumps need two or more insulin injections a day, and all have to monitor blood sugar several times a day by pricking their skin and testing their blood.

Maintaining safe blood sugar levels requires precise adjustments, especially to prevent hypoglycemia, or extremely low blood sugar. Hypoglycemia can occur quickly, without the patient’s awareness, and can be a life-threatening emergency.

For patients with adequate treatment, elevated blood sugar is usually not an emergency, but can cause vascular damage over time that can lead to eye problems and amputations.

The artificial pancreas is the latest version of a device that researchers have been refining for several years. The system consists of an iPhone 4S with an attached glucose monitoring device, two pumps, and reservoirs for insulin and glucagon.

A sensor implanted under the skin on one side of the patient’s abdomen measures the glucose in the fluid between the cells, which corresponds closely to blood glucose levels. The sensor delivers the reading to the smartphone, and the phone’s software calculates a dose of insulin and glucagon every five minutes.

The medicine is then pumped through thin tubes to two tiny infusion points embedded just under the skin on the other side of the patient’s abdomen.

The phone also has an app with which a patient can enter information immediately before eating, indicating whether the meal is breakfast, lunch or dinner, and whether the carbohydrate content will be small, large or typical. The device then calculates and dispenses the proper dosages.

Continue reading the main storyContinue reading the main storyContinue reading the main story
The device still requires a finger stick twice a day to get an accurate blood reading, which the patient enters into the phone.

The developers tested the device over five days in two groups of patients, 20 adults and 32 adolescents, comparing the results with readings obtained with conventional insulin pumps that the participants were using.

The adults in the trial each had the constant attention of a nurse, and they lived in a hotel for the five-day study. Most of the time they were free to travel around and pursue normal activities.

The adolescents, 16 boys and 16 girls, lived under supervision in a summer camp for youths with diabetes.

“We need to do a true home-use study, give people the device and send them home,” said the lead author, Dr. Steven J. Russell, an assistant professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. “Let them do whatever it is they’re going to do without supervision.”

Several authors of the new report have received payments from medical device companies and hold patents on blood sugar monitoring technology.

The artificial pancreas performed better than the conventional pump on several measures. Among the adolescents, the average number of interventions for hypoglycemia was 0.8 a day with the experimental pump, compared with 1.6 a day with the insulin pumps. Among adults, the device significantly reduced the amount of time that glucose levels fell too low.

And the artificial pancreas worked well at calculating mealtime doses without the patient having to use (often inaccurate) estimates and correct a too high or too low reading after eating.

Much more work needs to be done before the device can be marketed, Dr. Russell said. The senior author, Edward R. Damiano, an associate professor of biomechanical engineering at Boston University, has a 15-year-old son with Type 1 diabetes. He said he was determined to get the new device working and approved in time for his son to go off to college carrying one.

Source: nytimes

6 Snack Habits for Healthy Weight Loss

6 Snack Habits

Snacks, finger foods, tapas, amuse-bouche—however you term them, there’s something endlessly satisfying about munching on little hand-held bites of heaven. Problem is, America’s favorite snacks aren’t little; nor are they heavenly.

In fact, a recent study in the journal Hepatology found that 27 percent of kids’ diets come from high-fat, high-sugar snacks, and the frequent grazing is directly linked to belly fat accumulation. Fortunately, there’s also research to suggest we can snack smartly—and slim down.

Here are seven tips that will help you Eat It to Beat It! Snack-tastic!

Watch the clock

Having a bite to hold you over til lunch is common practice, but a study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that mid-morning snackers tended to snack more throughout the day than afternoon snackers, resulting in hindered weight-loss efforts.

Afternoon snacking was associated with a slightly higher intake of fiber and fruits and vegetables.

Color code your snacks

A recent study suggests you can avoid a mindless binge by adding visual traffic lights to your snack.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University gave one set of students a bowl of uniform yellow chips, while another group had their regular snack layered with differently colored chips. Students who had their snack segmented ate 50 percent less than those with a uniform bowl.

Muscle up your munchies

Make sure your snack contains protein, which requires more energy to burn than carbs or fats and thus keeps you fuller longer.

But don’t take it from me: In a study in the journal Appetite, researchers from the University of Missouri compared the satiety effects of high-, moderate-, and low-protein yogurts on 24- to 28-year-old women, and found Greek yogurt, with the highest protein content, to have the greatest effect.

Swap hands

Want to snack less without going snackless? Try the left-handed diet (or right-handed…)

A study printed in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin found moviegoers grabbed for less popcorn when doing so with their non-dominant hand.

I tested the hypothesis myself earlier this year with the ABC World News team and came to the same conclusion: Eating with your non-dominant hand makes you think about what you’re doing, and may help you eat less.

Use smaller bowls

Grabbing handfuls from the bag is never a good idea, but munching from a punch bowl won’t do much for weight loss either.

Research in The FASEB Journal suggests that overeating may be associated with the size of our serveware. Participants who were given larger bowls, served and ate 16 percent more than those given smaller bowls. Not only that, the big-bowlers underestimated just how much they were eating by 7 percent!

Take advantage of the visual illusion with belly-friendly bowls or ramekins.

Source: yahoo news

Startup Launches ‘First Wearable Health Record’ for Google Glass

technology-startup-launches-first-wearable-health-record-google-glass-1402641836

Google Inc’s futuristic eyeglasses are finding their way into hospitals and clinics throughout the United States.

To meet the growing demand for Google Glass from physicians, Drchrono, a Mountain View, Calif., based electronic medical record company has developed a new application for the device it claims is the first “wearable health record.”

Sign up for top Technology news delivered direct to your inbox.

Doctors who register for the Drchrono app for Glass can use it to record a consultation or surgery with the patient’s permission. Videos, photos and notes are stored in the patient’s electronic medical record or in Box, a cloud-based storage and collaboration service and can be shared with the patient on request.

Dr. Bill J. Metaxas, a podiatrist based in San Francisco, warned fellow physicians to take precautions before using Glass, such as obtaining patient consent and “locking down security settings.” He also said Glass is no more or less secure than tablet devices such as the iPad, which are routinely used in clinical practices.

Metaxas, who uses Glass in the operating room and in patient consultations, said 99 percent of his patients agree to the gadget, but it is still early days and most of his fellow physicians have yet to adopt the technology. It is primarily used by the “bleeding edge” minority, he added.

Still, Box spokeswoman and former Google Health employee Missy Krasner said she is aware of at least 20 venture-backed startups catering to this niche of physicians. The majority of these Glass apps, including Augmedix and Pristine, are complying with federal regulation that protects privacy, known as HIPAA.

To develop the service, Drchrono worked closely with Box, one of its early investors, and the Google Glass team.

Google Glass was intended for the consumer mass market, but it has been criticized by some for its geeky appearance.But many industry professionals immediately saw value in the hands-free gadget.
Source: nbc news

First MERS case confirmed in Bangladesh

The+Middle+East+respiratory+syndrome+01

Bangladesh has confirmed the first case of the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS) after a man returned from the US via Abu Dhabi was found afflicted with it.

Mahmudur Rahman, director of Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control & Research (IEDCR), said Sunday that the man was recuperating in a hospital, bdnews24.com reported.

“We have notified it to the WHO,” he said.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause a range of illnesses in humans, from the common cold to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

The virus was first identified in 2012 in Saudi Arabia and has remained a global concern since then.

It has spread to 22 countries, including Bangladesh, from the Middle East.

So far, the WHO recorded 699 cases of MERS with a mortality rate of 30 percent.

Source: business standard

Laughing gas for childbirth: The new way to have a pain-free labor?

laughing gas

You may have used nitrous oxide, aka laughing gas, to cope with painful dental procedures, but what you may not know is that laughing gas is now being used to help women cope with labor pain.

In the U.S., laughing gas for labor pain was common practice years ago.Now, more women than ever are exploring their options and making informed choices about childbirth, the pain-relief option is seeing a resurgence— more hospitals and birth centers are making it available to their patients.

But is it safe? And will it really make labor pain-free? Find out the answers to these questions and more.

Why laughing gas?
Nitrous oxide for labor pain was common practice in the U.S. in the 1930s, but as other options like twilight sleep, general anesthesia and later, IV narcotics and epidural became available, nitrous oxide fell out of favor.

Today, in countries like Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom., nitrous oxide is common practice, with up to 80 percent of women using it.

“The interest in it has really caught fire,” said Dr. Michelle Collins, a certified nurse-midwife and director of the nurse-midwifery program at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing in Nashville, Tenn. “Women are demanding more options and if there are safe options, they want them available to them.”

Nearly 30 hospitals and birthing centers in the U.S. currently offer or will soon offer nitrous oxide and every day more are calling to get information about it, Collins said.

Laughing gas is a 50-50 mix of nitrous oxide and oxygen that women inhale the through a mouthpiece. Yet unlike in the dental office where it’s administered continuously, the woman decides when and how often to use the odorless gas.

“It’s considered a fairly weak anesthetic,” said Dr. William Camann, director of obstetric anesthesia at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Mass. “Nitrous makes you a little drowsy and takes the edge off things.”

Here’s how it works: At the start of a contraction, you breathe in the gas so at the peak of the contraction, you get the most pain relief. Nitrous wears off within a few breaths of when you stop inhaling, so the effects end with the contraction and is completely eliminated from the body, Camann said.

“The pain relief that women feel is variable,” said Collins said. She noted that some women report that nitrous was all they needed, while others say it simply took the edge off. For some, it doesn’t help at all.

Although nitrous oxide is a drug, it’s a viable option– even for women who want to have a natural birth.

“It can help her get through a contraction in a different way and distance herself from the contraction,” said Jenna LoGiudice, a certified nurse midwife and assistant professor at Fairfield University’s School of Nursing. “It’s not necessarily a pain relief method but it’s helping the woman decrease her anxiety and mentally get through a contraction.”

What are the benefits?
Unlike IV drugs or an epidural, you can stop it at anytime. Plus, it doesn’t slow or halt labor, meaning it doesn’t increase your risk for other interventions, including a C-section, LoGiudice said.

Nitrous oxide can also be used at any time during labor, even later on in the process when an epidural isn’t always an option.

Approximately 35 to 40 percent of women who use nitrous oxide also get an epidural. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean the gas didn’t work. Rather, it can help women delay getting the epidural as their labor progresses and allow the baby to move down further, Collins said.

At Vanderbilt, nitrous oxide is also used when woman are anxious about getting an IV or an epidural, or for painful procedures like the manual removal of the placenta or repair to the perineum after delivery.

What you should know.
About 10 percent of women who use nitrous oxide will experience nausea and vomiting and other common complaints such as feeling lightheaded, dizzy or extreme drowsiness. After many hours of labor, some women also report feeling tired, but just like nausea, it’s hard to tell if it’s due to the nitrous or labor itself, Collins said.

Nitrous oxide doesn’t affect the baby’s heart rate or breathing, and studies show that babies whose mothers used it had similar Apgar scores to those who used other pain relief methods or none at all, according to a recent review in the journal Anesthesia and Analgesia. Yet the same report showed that more research using stronger studies is needed.

What’s more, it’s unclear if there are long-term effects on things like development or IQ, as researchers have yet to look at these areas.

The bottom line: Nitrous oxide may help to decrease your anxiety and pain and make for a better birth experience, but it’s important to arm yourself with information and make the best choice for you and your family. Ultimately, it’s about giving women choices to have the birth they envision.

“It’s empowering women to have control of their labor and their pain relief,” LoGiudice said. “They want to feel in control, as they should be.”

Source: fox news

Pear – juicy and sweet fruit

Pear1

Pear – juicy and sweet fruit

There are thousands of species of this fruit, and each is distinguished by color, shape, flavor and size.You can eat it fresh , or cook it and juice from pear is especially tasty. Pear is a rich source of vitamins C and K , copper and fiber .

Vitamin C is well known fighter against free radicals and copper eliminates superoxide radicals, while the fibers acts preventive against colorectal Cancer. Most fiber is in the bark of the Pear and its best not to peal it.

pear

  • 170 grams of pear contains:
  • -3,98 grams of fiber ,
  • -6.64 mg of vitamin C ,
  • -0.19 mg of copper,
  • -7.47 mg vitamin K ,
  • -and it has only 97.94 calories .

Pear is an ideal choice for persons that adopted modern lifestyle, and they has been exposed to stress, dynamic and fast life , exhaustion and loss of the reserves of energy .

pear2Why pears ?

Pear is natural and quick source of energy .

They contain substantial quantities of monosaccharides : fructose and glucose , as well as levulose – the sweetest natural sugar .

Pear contains vitamins of group B , who assist the body easier to deal with Stress .

They feed the nervous system and participate in the process of getting energy from carbohydrates

  • 100 g of pear contain:
  • -0.3 g protein ,
  • -0.4 g fat ,
  • -9.5 g carbohydrates ,
  • -2.8 g of vegetable fibers
  • -and 5 mg of vitamin C.

Contains large amounts of calcium and iron , and they are recommended as compulsory fruit, for women over 40 years, as prevention of osteoporosis .Pears are also a good source of vitamin C , copper , potassium and fibers.

Vitamin C and Copper.
Pear is a good source of vitamin C and copper, nutrients which have strong antioxidant effect and destroys harmful free radicals in the body.

Therefore, pears are natural protectors against many ailments, including malignant diseases.Vitamin C, by itself its an antioxidant, and copper is a necessary component of the superoxide dismutase (SOD), one of the strongest organic antioxidant enzymes.

Fibers.
Fresh Pear is an extraordinary source of fiber , especially pectin. Pear with a mass of 166 g insures 6g of fiber , of which about 40 % is pectin .

Fibers are necessary element in healthy diet and helps regulate of the level of sugar and cholesterol in the blood and they allow normal function of the intestines and their regular discharge .

The food rich in fiber helps in the prevention of colorectal cancer, and in seducing the serum cholesterol level. Precisely due to the high content of fiber , pear is an important part of the everyday diet.

pear3

Potassium.
Pears are an extraordinary source of potassium . A pear with medium size contains 210 mg of potassium .

Potassium participates in the regulation of the heart rhythm in muscle contraction in the transfer of nerve impulses and in the metabolism of proteins and carbohydrates .

Regulates the work in blood system and participates in the construction of the bone and teeth.

Hypoallergenic fruit.
Although this was not accompanied by scientific evidence, however pear is considered hypoallergenic fruit, which causes much less allegries compared to other types of fruit.

It is actually because of that reason, pears among the other fruits,are included in baby food.

Source: secretly healthy

Digital addiction a psychiatric disorder: Experts

digital

Obsession with online gaming was the main manifestation in the past but addiction to social media and video downloading are now the trend

Do you find it difficult to leave your smartphone even for a minute or have cravings to check it without any real purpose? Chances are you have become an addict and need professional help. According to psychiatrists, medical authorities worldwide need to formally recognise addiction to internet and digital devices as a disorder.

“Singaporeans spend an average of 38 minutes per session on Facebook, almost twice as long as Americans,” said a latest study by Experian, a global information services company. According to Adrian Wang, a psychiatrist at the Gleneagles Medical Centre in Singapore, digital addiction should now be classified as a psychiatric disorder.

“Patients come for stress anxiety-related problems but their coping mechanism is to go online, go on to social media,” Wang was quoted as saying in a South China Morning Post report. Obsession with online gaming was the main manifestation in the past but addiction to social media and video downloading are now the trend.
In terms of physical symptoms, more people, especially young, are reporting “text neck” or “iNeck” pain. “Many people have their heads lowered and are now using their mobile devices constantly on the go while queuing or even crossing the roads, leading to neck pain,” psychiatrists said.

They define digital addiction by symptoms like inability to control craving, anxiety when separated from a smartphone, loss in productivity in studies or at work and the need to constantly check one’s phone.

Source: gulf news

Indian-Origin Scientist Paves Way For Better Epilepsy Treatments

epilepsy

University of Toronto biologists, including one of Indian origin, have discovered proteins to retune imbalances of neurological disorders like autism, epilepsy and various others like schizophrenia and spectrum disorder.

According to Professor Melanie Woodin, the lead investigator of the study, there is a process known as synapses via which neurons in the brain correspond with other neurons, causing neurons either to excite or inhibit other neurons. He further added that any disproportion among the levels of excitation or inhibition may lead to improper brain function.

A crucial complex of protein has been identified that can regulate the proper correspondence of neurons at cellular level. The major proteins are KCC2 which is essential for inhibitory impulse, whereas the receptor for excitatory transmitter glutamate is GluK2, and Neto 2 protein interface with the other two proteins. All three proteins required for synaptic communication is brought together by this complex.

Vivek Madhavan, lead author of the study, along with other researchers conducted experiments on mice brain and found out that all the three proteins directly interact and control each others’ function.

BLUE NATIVE PAGE proved to be the most successful technique of applying a sensitive gel system for determining native protein complexes in neurons.

As such there is no treatment for epilepsy, and the treatments which are available can only curb its effects. Thus the main focus should be on its prevention.

Source: indian nerve

Get instant relief from a cold with jeera

jeera

With the rains around the corner, colds will soon be a very common occurrence. That is where the common condiment jeera or cumin seeds comes to you rescue. The tiny seed is packed with very potent anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. Apart from that, the components present in jeera also help relax inflamed muscles and strengthens your immune system so it can fight off the infection. Jeera, packed with vitamin A and C helps kill off a cold almost instantly.

Here’s how you can use jeera to help relieve your cold:
Boil a spoonful of jeera in about two cups of water. When it boils you can add some crushed ginger and tulsi leaves for added cold fighting components. Let the ingredients steep. Then, strain and drink this decoction while it is still warm.

Another great remedy is to boil some jeera in water and use the steam from the water for steam inhalation. You can choose to add some clove to the mix. This will help relieve a blocked nose and clear up a cold. Remember to wrap your head and chest with a warm blanket right after this as exposing yourself to cold breeze right after this treatment can lead to congestion in the chest.

Source: The health

Indian doctors come home to medical tourism hub

india medical tourism

One of the multitude of Indian emigrant doctors, Paul Ramesh moved to Britain in the 1990s, keen to get the best surgical training and earn a generous pay packet.

Today he is still treating Westerners ? but in hospital beds back in Chennai, his south Indian hometown in Tamil Nadu state.

“When I came back it was quite exceptional to return. Now it’s the rule,” the 46-year-old told AFP at the city’s Apollo hospital, soon after performing a heart transplant on a woman from the United States.

In Chennai, known as India’s health care capital, medical workers describe a “reverse brain drain” as homegrown doctors return from the U.S. and Europe ? at the same time as the city develops as a top budget destination for medical tourists.

While the number of Indian doctors abroad remains substantial, Apollo staff say their national hospital chain now gets 300 applications annually from those working in Britain alone, encouraged by improved living standards and better medical technology at home.

Traditionally drawn to the West to boost their expertise and earnings, doctors also cited tightening salaries under Britain’s National Health Service and increasingly tough U.S. health care regulations as factors luring them back.

“The trend is reversing,” said M. Balasubramanian, president of the Indian Medical Association in Tamil Nadu.

“More corporate hospitals are coming up, especially in Chennai. Now (doctors) have an opportunity to use their expertise in their own place … and pull the patients from abroad also,” he said.

Inside the Apollo, with a lobby bustling more like a marketplace than a typical hospital, K.P. Kosygan has just carried out a double knee replacement on an elderly Kenyan patient.

The consultant orthopedic surgeon came back from Britain in 2011 and said there was “a regular stream of doctors coming back.”

“Certainly when I left India there were not many joint replacement centers or surgeons in India who could train us,” he said.

Now doctors want to “share our experience we have gained across the globe,” he said ? adding that many were also pulled back to look after aging parents, in a country where family ties are paramount.

As well as treating Indians, Kosygan said he now treats patients “from almost every corner of the world” who are drawn by the cheap costs.

Patients Beyond Borders, a U.S. medical travel resource, says the cost of certain Indian medical procedures can be up to 90 percent lower than in the United States, making it one of the cheapest places for treatment.

While most patients come to India from the Middle East, Africa and other parts of Asia, interest from America is growing, said Patients Beyond Borders CEO Josef Woodman.

“On a heart operation they can save $50,000 to $70,000,” he said.

Among those to make such a saving was Doug Stoda, who traveled to Chennai from the United States for a specialized hip procedure by an Indian surgeon who learned the technique in Britain.

Stoda’s wife Ann said it was a “big deal” for them to travel to India, having never previously been outside North America, but she said they had “a very good experience.”

“We just had to get to the airport in Chennai and they had everything set up,” she told AFP by telephone from their home in Wisconsin.

At Apollo, a dedicated “international patients” area has clocks on the wall showing times in various cities including New York and Tokyo while various translators are present to deal with foreign arrivals, who number about 70,000 a year, the hospital says.

Countrywide, the medical tourism industry is expected to see a more than 20 percent annual growth rate between 2013 and 2015, according to global consultancy firm RNCOS.

Many patients come from countries “where they do really require quality expertise at a more affordable price,” said Anto Sahayaraj, 42, who returned from New Zealand in 2012 to work at the Frontier Lifeline Hospital in Chennai.

Speaking to AFP after performing a heart procedure on a 1-month-old baby from Bahrain, the specialist in pediatric cardiac surgery said foreign patients were encouraged by Indian doctors’ overseas experience.

“They see a lot of Indians in Western countries and they realize that some of us do come back. With us technology comes back, so they have increasing confidence.”

For all India’s advances on the global stage, doctors emphasized ways in which the country’s health care system is still sorely lagging.

N. Ragavan, a consultant uro-oncologist specializing in prostate cancer, returned to India from Britain last year and pointed out the “million-dollar difference” between the two countries.

While Britain enjoys universal health care coverage, many Indians struggle to pay for quality private treatment, while public services are poorly funded and governed.

“Financial affordability is the biggest problem that India faces,” said Ragavan, 41, who hopes the country’s low health insurance cover will grow substantially over the next decade.

He said the benefits of working in one of India’s corporate hospitals include speedy medical investigations and hardly any waiting lists, but the lack of working directives means he is now at the hospital for up to 17-hour days.

Source: korean herald