Jan
31
One of the main ways to stay disease-free is to watch what you eat and control one’s weight. People who are very overweight are more prone to illness and disease. In cases of obese people, one method used to control the amount of food they intake, is to go for gastric bypass surgery.
Gastric bypass surgery or bariatric surgery is a procedure performed only as one of the last resorts for morbidly obese people who face real health complications. These people are those classified as having a body mass index of 40 or more. Having a gastric bypass in these situations could keep these patients free of disease and have life-extending benefits.
A gastric bypass entails having an operation to direct the path of food in the digestive system from the esophagus straight to the small intestines therefore bypassing the stomach. Hence, the term gastric bypass. Gastric bypass is one of several forms of bariatric surgery, which work by either preventing food from entering the stomach or diverting it past the stomach, thereby reducing food intake and absorption.
A study on gastric bypass surgery was led by researchers at the University of Cincinnati. It concluded that the benefits of this form of weight-loss surgery far outweigh the risks for most people who are morbidly obese. Data was collected on more than 23,000 people who underwent bariatric surgery. The study compared that data to the immediate risk of death from the procedure and the years of life expectancy added by having the surgery.
The results of the study indicated that a 42-year-old woman with a BMI of 45 would gain three years of life expectancy through gastric bypass and that a 44-year-old man with the same BMI would gain 2.6 years of life.
Dec
31
Pomegranates Juice Helps Fight Cancer
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The humble pomegranate looks weird and tastes funny. However, eating pomegranates may actually slow down the worsening of breast cancer, according to a new research in U.S. Pomegranate juice is known to have anti-inflammatory effects and has high amounts of anti-oxidants.
The research paper that has been published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research, showed that an ingredient in the fruit may help to slow the growing pace of breast cancer tumors.
Researchers in the City of Hope Cancer Research and Treatment Center in Duarte, California, found that ellagitannins in pomegranate inhibit an enzyme which helps the body make oestrogen, a hormone which fuels most breast cancers.
Medicines with aromatase inhibitors are used for post-menopausal women who have got breast cancer. The ingredient in pomegranate has the same effect as these drugs.
“We were surprised by our findings,” said Dr. Shiuan Chan, one of the researchers. However, the researchers did not recommend people start eating the fruit as a replacement for the medicines. Chan said, “They are not as potent as the real drugs.”
This latest discovery regarding pomegranates comes after earlier claims by other U.S. scientists that drinking an eight ounce glass of pomegranate juice every day may slow the growth of prostate cancer and even prevent men from dying of the disease.
The research team said substances known as polyphenols or other ingredients in the fruit juice may be able to fight prostate cancer, but exactly how is unclear.
Nov
30
Kangaroo Cream To Fight Cancer
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When summer approaches, the spotlight among the health-conscious usually turns to skin cancer-related issues. The answer in the fight to preventing the disease could be hopping around the country of Australia. Researchers believe that finding out how kangaroos repair their DNA could be the key to preventing skin cancer.
Melbourne University researchers Dr Linda Feketeova and Dr Uta Wille have teamed up with Austrian scientists from the University of Innsbruck to find ways to reduce skin cancer-related cases.
They are doing research on how a DNA repair enzyme found in kangaroos and many other organisms but not in humans, is able to repair the DNA damage that is linked to skin cancer. Now that would be great if they could develop a miracle cream full of these enzymes that could repair skin damage.
“As summer approaches, excessive exposure to the sun’s harmful UV light will see more than 400,000 Australians diagnosed with skin cancer,” Dr Feketeova said.
“Other research teams have proposed a ‘dream cream’ containing the DNA repair enzyme which you could slap on your skin after a day in the sun.
“We are now examining whether this would be feasible by looking at the chemistry behind the (kangaroo) DNA system.”
Oct
31
Jaw Bone Created From Stem Cells
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Scientists have created part of the jaw joint in the lab using human adult stem cells. They say it is the first time a complex, anatomically-sized bone has been accurately created in this way. It is hoped the technique could be used not only to treat disorders of the specific joint, but more widely to correct problems with other bones too. The bone which has been created in the lab is known as the temporomandibular joint (TMJ).
Problems with the joint can be the result of birth defects, arthritis or injury. Although they are widespread, treatment can be difficult. The joint has a complex structure which makes it difficult to repair by using grafts from bones elsewhere in the body.
The latest study used human stem cells taken from bone marrow. These were seeded into a tissue scaffold, formed into the precise shape of the human jaw bone by using digital images from a patient. The cells were then cultured using a specially-designed bioreactor which was able to infuse the growing tissue with exactly the level of nutrients found during natural bone development.
Lead researcher Dr Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic said: “The availability of personalised bone grafts engineered from the patient’s own stem cells would revolutionise the way we currently treat these defects.”
Dr Vunjak-Novakovic said the new technique could also be applied to other bones in the head and neck, including skull bones and cheek bones, which are similarly difficult to graft. The option to engineer anatomically pieces of human bone in this way could potentially transform the ability to carry out reconstruction work, for instance following serious injury or cancer treatment.
She said: “We thought the jawbone would be the most rigorous test of our technique; if you can make this, you can make any shape.”
She stressed that the joint created in the lab was bone only, and did not include other tissue, such as cartilage. However, the Columbia team is working on a new method for engineering hybrid grafts including bone and cartilage. Another major challenge for scientists will be to find a way to engineer bone with a blood supply that can be easily connected to the blood supply of the host.
Professor Anthony Hollander, a tissue engineering expert from the University of Bristol who helped produce an artificial windpipe last year, said there was still a lot of work to be done before the new bone could be used on patients. But he said: “One of the major problems facing scientists in this field is how to engineer a piece of bone with the right dimensions – that is critical for some of these bone defects.
“This is a lovely piece of tissue engineering which has produced bone with a high degree of accuracy in terms of shape.”
Sep
30
Cervical Cancer Vaccine Withdrawn
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Health officials in Scotland have withdrawn a batch of a cervical cancer vaccine after the death of a 14-year-old schoolgirl. Natalie Morton was taken to hospital hours after being given a Cervarix jab.
Scotland’s chief pharmaceutical officer has written to all boards today instructing them to quarantine this particular batch. While investigations into this tragic death are taking place, I guess the sensible step was to take this batch of vaccine off the shelves.
Post-mortem tests were being carried out yesterday to see if there was any connection between Cervarix and Natalie’s death on Monday. It followed her being given the jab at the Blue Coat Church of England School in Coventry.
According to an eyewitness, Natalie appeared to fall asleep sitting on some steps and then just toppled over in front of the other girls. She went into cardiac arrest and there was panic as the teachers called for an ambulance and the area was shut off while they tried to save her. Cancer charity officials yesterday defended the drug which is a vaccine that can, potentially, reduce by 70 per cent the chances of being diagnosed with cervical cancers.
Despite this incident, well over one million doses of the cervical cancer vaccine have been given and it has a good safety profile so it makes sense that the vaccination programme continues. It saves hundreds of lives a year. Around 3000 women a year are diagnosed with cervical cancer in the UK and 1000 a year die from the disease.
Aug
4
Pneumonic Plague Deaths in China
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Another person has died in Ziketan, China from the contagious Pneumonic plague. The latest victim was a 64 year-old neighbour of the first 2 people who died from the disease. The situation has become so grim that Chinese officials have cordonned off the area. The town of Ziketan in the Qinghai province has checkpoints set up around it. No one is allowed to enter or leave the township of 10,000 people. Meanwhile, medical staff are disinfecting the area. Known carriers of the plague such as rats and insects are being eradicated.
Map of Ziketan in China
Local health authorities have advised people with a cough or fever and who have visited the town since July to seek medical treatment. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), pneumonic plague is the most virulent and least common form of plague. Pneumonic plague is a bacteria that attacks the lungs and can spread between people or from animals to people. Initial symptoms of pneumonic plague include fever, headache and shortness of breath. It has the ability to kill within 24 hours.
This plague is caused by the same bacteria that occurs in Bubonic plague, the Black Death that killed an estimated 25 million people in Europe during the Middle Ages. While Bubonic plague is usually transmitted by flea bites and can be treated with antibiotics, pneumonic plague is easier to contract and has a very high fatality rate if left patients are left untreated.
I certainly hope China is doing their best to contain this outbreak. There are 10,000 people at risk within the town of Ziketan and potentially millions more could be affected should it spread throughout China and beyond.
Jul
31
Drinking Milk Reduces Chances of Stroke
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According to the latest studies by Queensland’s Institute of Medical Research, children who drink a lot of milk and eat cheese are less likely to die from strokes later in life.
Apparently diets that are rich in calcium, which include dairy foods, can cut the chance of dying from stroke by as much as 60 per cent, they claim.
Researchers from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research and Bristol University went back to a 1930s study into the diets of mainly working-class families in Britain.
The researchers tracked 4374 of the children some 65 years later on in life and checked their history of strokes against the calcium content of their diets as recorded in the original study.
Those people with the highest calcium intakes as children had the lowest risk of dying from stroke.
Jun
30
Apple’s Steve Jobs Liver Transplant
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It’s great to hear the good news about Apple CEO Steve Jobs returning early from medical leave after 6 months away from Apple headquarters. Steve Jobs had been away since January to recover from illness and it has been revealed he has received in liver transplant during that time.
If I were him, I would resume duties on a part-time basis. No point getting stressed out and tired. It could have undesirable effects especially on a transplant patient.
Steve Jobs had earlier health problems in 2004 when he announced to staff that he had pancreatic cancer. Tumours of the pancreas have historically presented a grim outlook for patients. However, due to a special diet and a surgical operation known as the Whipple Procedure, he managed to have the tumour removed and he beat the disease.
While doctors have made a positive prognosis about the health of Steve Jobs since the liver transplant, rumours still continue to spread about his future health. Some shareholders are very critical on Apple’s policy of non-disclosure. They believe such a key figure who affects the value of Apple should present his health concerns in a public manner. Anyway it’s good to see Steve Jobs back.
May
30
Stem Cells To Cure Sight Loss
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Australian scientists have discovered that coating a common contact lens with stem cells could help restore a person’s sight. Medical researchers at the University of New South Wales used the technique to treat the damaged corneas of three patients. All experienced vision improvement within weeks of this groundbreaking procedure.
Stem cells were harvested from the eyes of each patient and then cultured inside a contact lens, which was then stuck onto a damaged cornea in a “transplant” of regenerative cells.
“The procedure is totally simple and cheap,” said the university’s Dr Nick Di Girolamo. “Unlike other techniques, there’s no suturing, there is no major operation, all that’s involved is harvesting a minute amount – less than a millimetre – of tissue from the ocular surface.”
The lens stayed on for 10 days allowing stem cells to change their form, colonise and repair the cornea. Two of the patients involved in the trial had suffered extensive corneal damage to one eye, caused by multiple surgeries to remove cancerous growths. Dr Girolamo said that in these cases the stem cells were taken from their healthy eye – but the third patient posed an additional challenge because of a congenital disorder which affected both eyes.
“We took them from another part of the eye altogether – the conjunctiva which also harbours stem cells,” Dr Di Girolamo said. “The stem cells were able to change from the conjunctival phenotype to a corneal phenotype after we put them onto the cornea … that’s the beauty of stem cells.”
The procedure could be replicated in third would countries by a surgeon with a laboratory for cell culture, Dr Di Girolamo said. It offered hope to people with a range of blinding eye conditions, he said, and there was also the possibility of adapting the technique to repair skin which behaved in a similar way to the eye.
The stem cell procedure was considered non-controversial, said former Deputy Chair of the Lockhart Committee on human cloning and embryo research Professor Loane Skene.
“Provided that patients are told the new procedure is experimental … and they then consent to have it, this use of a patient’s own stem cells is no more ethically contentious than a skin transplant,” Prof Skene said.
Apr
19
Music Soothes Heart Disease
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If the latest research is correct, people with heart problems should seriously consider a daily session of listening to their favourite mellow songs. By tuning into their iPod or favourite CDs, hospital patients with coronary heart disease were able to reduce their heart rates, breathing rates and blood pressure according to a Temple University review of 23 previous studies.
This research was published in the latest issue of The Cochrane Library. It concluded that the soothing effects were greatest when heart disease patients chose their own tunes. Patients had their pulse rates decrease by more beats per minute when they made their own song selections compared to those patients who listened to music selected by researchers. I guess that makes sense.
“So we do know from clinical experience that if people select music they like, and the music has sedative qualities such as slow tempo, predictable harmonies and absence of sudden changes, they will be better able to relax to the music,” researcher Joke Bradt, assistant director of the Arts and Quality of Life Research Center at Temple University, said in a news release issued by the college.
The review looked into past studies on how music affected 1,461 patients with coronary heart disease. That patients were observed either during a cardiac procedure or within two days of hospitalization. In all the studies, the music used had slow tempos, and in some cases, a music therapist was employed to help with the song selections.