Lifeforce will reportedly draw 480-millilitre of blood from a healthy individual interested in this service. The white blood cells will be extracted from this sample to be stored at 196 degree Celsius temperature.
Del DelaRonde, co-founder of the company in Newport, UK, said that the stored sample would contain a complete range of white blood cells of an individual, which can be later generated when necessary. The process of regeneration will be conducted by exposing the stored sample to natural growth stimulators like interleukin-2.
The newly generated white blood cells can be then re-infused to a person’s body to render extra strength to the immune system and help it in fighting a fatal disease. The process would be similar to ‘adoptive therapies’ conducted on cancer patients.
According to Del DelaRonde, as quoted in New Science -
Whole new armies of white blood cells could be grown in the lab and re-infused into the patient. In the case of HIV, which progressively destroys immune cells, the process could be repeated perhaps once a year, by multiplying up and re-storing fractions of the samples
However, the system has one drawback. It might not be possible to regenerate all types of white blood cells. Some types of white blood cell, such as macrophages, have been seen as not to survive freezing conditions.
The cost of this service would be 88 dollars initially and a monthly fees of 25 dollars.
The service seems promising from the point of view that it is apparently creating a ‘back-up’ for the immune system of a human body, providing extra support to the body in time of need.
How would it be if the viruses causing HIV and hepatitis C could be zapped out from the blood stream of an infected patient? No, this is no another Hollywood creation of medical wizard, but efforts of a team of scientists, who knows no word synonym to ‘impossible.’
A team of researchers have come up with a new challenge with the use of lasers. Yes, they have meticulously used ‘laser’ to blast viruses out of blood!
The new innovative technique uses a low-power laser beam with a pulse lasting just fractions of a second to rid isolated blood of dangerous pathogens – it eventually brings challenges in disinfecting blood for transfusions, and perhaps HIV and hepatitis C s well.
Blood transfusion always leaves the one receiving it with the risk of developing the infection, as the prevailing techniques, which use UV irradiation and radioisotopes, can leave a trail of blood components mutated or damaged, or both.
Johns Hopkins University student Shaw-Wei David Tsen says,
Our laser repeatedly sends a rapid pulse of light and then relaxes, allowing the solution surrounding the virus to cool off. This significantly reduces heat damage to normal blood components.
I had to repeat the experiment several times to convince myself that the laser worked this well.
So, once proved successful, the new laser technique can eventually replace the ultrasound techniques by penetrating energy-absorbing water surrounding the viruses, followed by vibrating the pathogen directly.
Science Daily — In some ways, certain tumors resemble bee colonies, says pathologist Tan Ince. Each cancer cell in the tumor plays a specific role, and just a fraction of the cells serve as "queens," possessing the unique ability to maintain themselves in an unspecialized state and seed new tumors. These cells can also divide and produce the "worker" cells that form the bulk of the tumor.
Pathologist Tan Ince transformed normal cells into these cancerous ones (whose membranes are stained green). The transformed cells retain their sheet-forming capabilities, resembling the tumor cells found in many patients. They also possess enormous potential to create and spread tumors. As many as one in ten is a cancer stem cell. (Credit: Tan Ince)
These "queens" are cancer stem cells. Now the lab of Whitehead Member Robert Weinberg has created such cells in a Petri dish by isolating and transforming a particular population of cells from human breast tissue. After being injected with just 100 of these transformed cells, mice developed tumors that metastasized (spread to distant tissues).
"The operational definition of a cancer stem cell is the ability to initiate a tumor, so these are cancer stem cells," declares Weinberg, who is also an MIT professor of biology.
Ince didn't set out to engineer these potent cells. As a post-doctoral researcher in the Weinberg lab and gynecologic pathologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital, he was simply trying to create breast cancer models that look like real human tumors under the microscope and behave like those seen in many patients.
In more than 90 percent of human breast tumors, cancer cells resemble those lining our body's cavities. A trained pathologist can spot the similarities under a microscope. But the cancer cells previously engineered from normal breast cells for laboratory studies looked different. Ince suspected that researchers were transforming the wrong type of cells.
Now an independent investigator at Brigham and Women's Hospital and an instructor at Harvard Medical School, Ince developed a recipe for a new chemically defined culture medium and managed to grow a different type of human breast cell that ordinarily dies in culture. He transformed it into a cancer cell by inserting specific genes through a standard procedure.
The engineered cells proved to be extremely powerful. When Ince injected more than 100,000 of them into a mouse with a compromised immune system, it quickly developed massive, deadly tumors. In initial experiments, a few tissue slices revealed a primary tumor structure that resembled that of cancer patients with metastases.
That prompted Ince to wonder whether the cancer cells he created would metastasize if the mouse lived longer. He repeated the experiment in other mice, reducing the number of cells in the injection to as few as 100 in hopes of slowing tumor growth. The cancer cells continued to seed tumors and those tumors metastasized. In sharp contrast, scientists must inject about 1 million cells to get a tumor when working with the cancer cell lines routinely used in the laboratory.
"In the process of making a model that reflects a tumor type common in patients, I created tumor-initiating cells," Ince explains. "That was a complete surprise."
"This work could provide a boon to researchers who study these elusive cancer stem cells by offering a bountiful source of them," maintains Weinberg. "Labs can easily grow the newly created cells for use in experiments."
The study, which appears in Cancer Cell on August 13, also offers clues about the trajectory of cancer cells. A normal cell is thought to evolve progressively toward a malignant state through a series of genetic mutations. The early alterations confer uncontrolled growth, while later alterations enable the cell to migrate and invade other tissues. Over the past decades, considerable effort has gone into discovering these tumor-initiating and metastasis-initiating genetic alterations.
The new study suggests, however, that some normal cells are more prone to become tumor-initiating cells and have a higher metastatic potential when they become cancer cells than other normal cells. The culture medium Ince created favors the growth of the human breast cells with high tumor-making and metastatic potential while the standard culture medium favors cells with low tumor-making potential. Although the two types are only slightly different, the cells behave completely differently after acquiring the same mutations.
Ince confirmed this behavioral difference by taking a single human breast tissue sample, splitting it in two and growing the cells in the two culture mediums, which select for different cells. Next, he transformed the two populations with the same tumor-initiating genes, injected them in mice and watched the result. The cells that were grown in the new culture medium were 10,000 times more potent as tumor initiators and were the only ones able to metastasize. Thus genes that were previously thought to only initiate tumors initiated metastasis, which is the main cause of cancer mortality in the clinic.
"Tan has demonstrated that a critical determinant of eventual metastasis is the identity of the normal cell type that preexists in the breast and becomes the object of mutation and selection," Weinberg says.
This research is funded by the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.
By Julie J. Rehmeyer
To get people to cooperate in a venture, make participation voluntary. That's the advice from researchers whose recent study offers a solution to one of the oldest problems in game theory: How can cooperation develop if individuals can do better for themselves by cheating?
In a community garden, for example, the lazy gardener who does nothing may reap as big a share of the produce as the hardest worker.
Such antisocial behavior is reduced if cheaters face consequences. An industrious gardener may deny the slacker his share of the harvest, for example. But that raises another issue. Gardeners who pitch in but don't punish freeloaders may get just as much produce as those who punish, without the risk and trouble of punishing someone.
Short-term self-interest seems to encourage an individual either to cheat or to cooperate but not to punish. In the long run, however, everyone is better off if most people both cooperate and punish. Then cheaters don't profit, the burden of punishing is light, and many people reap the benefits of cooperation. The challenge is at the beginning: How can collective ventures get started if people can't rely on one another to cooperate?
Karl Sigmund of the University of Vienna and his colleagues have now shown that if participation in a joint venture is voluntary rather than mandatory, the odds are higher that individuals will benefit by cooperating. They published their findings in the June 29 Science.
Sigmund and his team created a computer simulation in which computer "agents" act as individuals trying to maximize their profits. Each agent begins with a pot of money and then receives a small fixed income at each step of the game.
Agents may either participate in a risky cooperative venture or sit out. At each round, every agent that participates contributes a set amount to a common pool. The program then adds up the total, increases it by a certain percentage, and splits the money equally among the participants. The catch is that the simulation also allows agents to "cheat" by contributing nothing yet still receive a share of the pool. Another agent may punish the cheaters by forcing them to pay a fine to the computer. However, the agent imposing the fine incurs some expense in doing so.
At the beginning of the game, the researchers randomly assign each agent to be a cheater, a punisher, a cooperator who doesn't punish, or a non-participant. At each new round, the computer again assigns each agent a role. The general strategy is for each agent either to continue with its previous strategy or to imitate others who are faring better, but occasionally the computer will give an agent a randomly chosen new strategy.
Over time, the researchers discovered, cheating becomes more and more prevalent and ruins the investment for everyone. Nearly all the agents stop participating.
But from this state of near-total non-participation, a few agents will occasionally begin to cooperate simultaneously, with no freeloaders. These groups start making more money than everyone else, and their success leads the non-participants to imitate their strategy. The small groups grow, producing a large group of punishers or a large group of non-punishing cooperators.
Big groups of non-punishing cooperators are an easy target for cheaters. One agent randomly tries cheating and makes a load of cash, and then other agents imitate the strategy, soon making it unprofitable for anyone to cooperate. But if the group consists primarily of punishers, an agent who tries cheating loses money to numerous fines, which discourages others from cheating. Groups with plenty of punishers therefore tend to be very stable and long-lasting, because they produce plenty of cooperators.
If participation were mandatory, the state of near-total non-participation could never occur, so even if a small group of cooperators arose, it wouldn't have enough influence to make cooperation the norm. The only way cooperation could evolve in that case would be for nearly all the participants to simultaneously begin to cooperate. That, however, is very unlikely.
Sigmund says the study offers insight into the early evolution of cooperation. He is skeptical, though, that game theory can lead to new strategies with powerful applications. He chuckles at claims made during the 1950s that game theory could be used to win the Cold War. "What is most important," he says, "is that this gives you insight into some elements of human behavior."
Viva gel, an experimental sex lubricant currently being tried on women as a contraceptive, which has been designed by Australian researchers, and is also thought to help block the viruses responsible for AIDS and genital herpes. Laboratory tests done on animals showed that the microbicide gel has the power to inactivate these viruses.
Dr. Jeremy Paull, the lead researcher from Melbourne-based pharmaceutical company known as Starpharma in a conference at the International AIDS society in Sydney said that the gel can be used by heterosexual men when applied directly to them before sex. If the gel truly works, it would be of significance around the world, especially in the sub-Saharan African nations where heterosexuals are basically responsible for the rising number of HIV cases.
As per Paull, the microbicide gel contains a molecule, known as ‘dendrimer’ which prevents the viruses from infecting healthy cells by binding itself to them. The tests on the lab animals show that it has a success rate of 85 and 100% for both the viruses. Now, the concern is that will the gel be safe for human application. The first study that has already been conducted reveals that it is safe for healthy men.
Dr.Paull also said, “The prevention of herpes indication, given the level of the epidemic in the developed world, perhaps gives us a different angle.” Dr.Roberta, of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who chaired the conference session said, “I believe it may be unique in terms of development for two different indications, both genital herpes and HIV.” If the results come out positive, it will certainly be a breakthrough which will hopefully bring down the number of people suffering from the epidemic known as AIDS.
Gene Therapy: A Major Breakthrough in Cancer Treatment!
According to the Researchers at National Cancer Institute, gene therapy proved to be successful for treatment of cancer due to the introduction of genes into human body.
The patients affected from skin cancer melanoma are treated with immune system cells (T-lymphotyces) to be taken from patient’s blood engineered to attack their tumours.
With the efforts of Surgeon Steven A Rosenberg, possible ways to manipulate human immune system were founded to fight cancer resulting in successful treatment on two patient suffering from skin cancer melanoma.
Surgeons take lymphocytes from the blood and inserted into them genes for a receptor having the ability of selecting a protein on melanoma cells called MART-1, allowing the lymphocyte to stick into a tumor cell and thereby killing it.
Chronic Kidney Disease: The World Has a Serious Challenge Ahead
Today the world is celebrating World Kidney Day. However, the situation remains quite bleak for many countries like India where according to an estimate, every year about 1.5 lakh new cases of chronic kidney disease (CKD) tumble out, giving a jarring note.
Kidney is an integral organ of our body and any problem in it is bound to play havoc with our health perhaps that is the reason why some medical experts have named chronic kidney disease (CKD) as ‘diseases multiplier’. However, India is not the only country where CKD is playing havoc but several other countries are also wriggling under the juggernaut of CKD or chronic kidney disease. Among such countries, the contribution of developing countries is comparatively higher. Following facts provide us with deeper information of CKD situation:–
1. According to an estimate, there are about 500 million people all round the globe with some kind of chronic kidney disease.
2. Out of these patients, about 1.5 million people are alive through peritoneal dialysis or transplantation.
3. The global cost for dialysis and transplantation over the next decade is most likely to surpass $1 trillion.
4. By the next decade, global figure of patients with CKD is more likely to double.
5. Inflammatory diseases of the kidney, infections, obstruction in the urinary tract and inherited disorders like polycystic kidney disease have, especially been held responsible for this much of rise of in CKD in the world.
6. 85 percent of the patients with CKD dwell in the developing countries.
7. In China, the economy will lose US$558 billion over the next decade due to effects on death and disability attributable to chronic cardiovascular and renal disease.
After going through these smoldering facts, it becomes quite clear that the world has a serious challenge ahead. Today we make vows to uproot horrific diseases like HIV/AIDS, Polio, Bird-flu, etc., etc. but somewhere it seems that amid the vociferation of such vows CKD fails to have its share of attention, which is quite a deplorable issue.
I strongly believe that along with other burning health issues we should also carve out a concrete strategy against CKD, otherwise the dream of a healthy world would never come true.
A tumor paint developed by researchers at Seattle Children’s Hospital Research Institute and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center will help surgeons see where a tumor begins and ends more precisely by illuminating the cancerous cells. The study, published in the July 15, 2007 issue of Cancer Research, shows that the tumor paint can help surgeons distinguish between cancer cells and normal brain tissue in the operating room. The paint is a scorpion-derived peptide called chlorotoxin that is linked to the molecular beacon Cy5.5.Until now there has been no way to allow surgeons to see tumors “live” during surgery.
Chlorotoxin:Cy5.5 is a fluorescent molecular beacon that emits photons in the near infrared spectrum. This illumination gives surgeons a better chance of removing all of the cancerous cells during surgery without injuring surrounding healthy tissue. This is particularly significant in the brain, where approximately 80% of malignant cancers recur at the edges of the surgical site. Current technology, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can distinguish tumors from healthy tissue only if more than 1 million cancer cells are present. But Cy5.5 can identify tumors with as few as 2000 cancer cells, making it 500 times more sensitive than MRI.
"My greatest hope is that tumor paint will fundamentally improve cancer therapy,” said James M. Olson, MD, PhD, of Seattle Children’s Hospital and The Hutchison Center who is the senior author of the study. “By allowing surgeons to see cancer that would be undetectable by other means, we can give our patients better outcomes.”
Olson led the team that included neurosurgeons, engineers and biologists. The bioconjugate, Chlorotoxin:Cy5.5 which, when injected, emits a near-infrared light, was created in his laboratory at the Hutchinson Center. In mouse models, the team demonstrated that they could light up brain tumors as small as 1 millimeter in diameter without lighting up the surrounding normal brain tissue. In a prostate cancer model, as few as 200 cancer cells traveling in a mouse lymph channel could be detected.
Chlorotoxin:Cy5.5 is applicable to many cancers, but is especially helpful to surgeons operating on brain tumors. Not only would it reveal whether they’d left behind any bits of tumor, it would also help them avoid removing normal tissue. Chlorotoxin:Cy5.5 activates within hours and it begins binding to cancer cells within minutes. The Chlorotoxin:Cy5.5 signal lasts for 14 days, illuminating cancer cells. Contrast agents currently in use only last for a few minutes.
“I feel fortunate to be working with gifted scientists to bring this revolutionary imaging technique from the laboratory to the bedside,” said Richard Ellenbogen, MD, Pediatric Neurosurgeon, Seattle Children's Hospital and co-investigator on the study. “This development has the potential to save lives and make brain tumor resection safer.”
Surgery remains a primary form of cancer therapy. Despite advances in surgical tools, surgeons currently rely on color, texture or blood supply to differentiate tumor from normal tissue, a distinction that is often subtle and imperfect. The limitations of this method contribute to cancer growth or patient mortality that is potentially preventable. The tumor painting technique combines a visual guide for the surgeon with the potential for significant improvement in accuracy and safety.
Tumor painting has been successfully tested in mice and the pilot safety trials are complete. Olson and his team are preparing the necessary toxicity studies before seeking approval from the Food and Drug Administration to begin clinical trials. Chlorotoxin:Cy5.5 could be used in operating rooms in as little as 18 months. All clinical studies will have consenting adult participants.
Olson and his team believe that Chlorotoxin:Cy5.5 has the potential to be used in the future as a non-invasive screening tool for early detection of skin, cervical, esophageal, colon and lung cancers. It is also useful in identifying positive lymph nodes which could mean a significant advancement for breast, prostate and testicular cancers.
UK goes ’smoke free’ from today with the ban that restricts smokers to fag in workspace and any other enclosed public place.The ban has been basically forwarded to protect passive smokers. Also, the ban can make people lessen up or give up smoking. Moreover, if the ban succeeds in its noble cause, it is good news for everyone and also for their sex life. Yes, if you remember smoking can give way to many sexual problems.
Smoking is bad for health and we all know that, but most of us don’t seem to care. Smoking has many bad effects on our physical health. It harms the lungs and also constricts blood flow. It is also a cause for late reactions and loss of patience. Apart from these physical and mental problems, fagging is particularly dangerous for men as it causes them difficulty in getting and maintaining an erection. If smoked for a long time it can also give rise to impotence or erectile dysfunction in men. For women who are pregnant smoking can lead to many dysfunctions in the baby and also cause a ‘dead birth.’ It also weakens our senses, especially taste and smell, which are an indispensable part of a good sex life.
These are enough reasons for you to quit smoking and if you still need more, keep on reading. No one likes yellow teeth, bad breath and smoke smell coming from the fingers and this is what smoking basically leaves you with. These things can as well put off your partner in the bed. Overall, smokers lead an unhealthy lifestyle which also makes them socially less acceptable. They also ignore food and have a bad, irregular diet system that results in poor health. Those who don’t fag lead better lifestyles, eat healthy diets and in turn also have better and enjoyable sex. You can always ask a friend or a family member to help you quit smoking and if you have a good will power, you alone are enough. You can also contact counselors or log on to the various websites, whose alone aim is to help people quit smoking. Gosmokefree and Quit are two of such websites.
As the French philosopher, Albert Schweitzer said, “Every patient carries her or his own doctor inside”, I hope you do too. Best of luck for your efforts to quit this deadly sin!
According to a top prosecutor from Panama, since July 2006 about 94 people in the region have died due to consumption of medicines tainted with diethylene glycol and some 293 more deaths are still under investigation. The prosecutor, Dimas Guevara has claimed that in spite of the fact that the tainted medicine has been cleared off the market in October, deaths continue.
The officials have confirmed 51 deaths due to the tainted medicine and it is quite clear that the number has been increasing. The chemical, diethylene glycol, commonly used in antifreeze was found to be present in medicines like antihistamine tablets, calamine lotion, cough syrup and rash ointment. These medicines were manufactured in a government laboratory in Panama itself.
However, the investigations revealed that the chemical came from a Chinese company, which sold it to a Spanish company labeled as a 99.5% pure glycerin. The company in turn sold it to Panama’s Medicom SA that sold it to the laboratory. For conducting the investigation, officials also had to dig up the corpses of victims who had died last year. Later, the tests confirmed that they were killed by the contaminated medicines.
In connection with the deaths, three Medicom executives are facing charges for crimes against public health. Well, China badly needs to improve its image.
Seetha, a 25 year old, was married to Ram and lived with his parents in a rural village in India. She was not from a wealthy family and her parents promised her in laws to give her dowry later. Days became months and months became years. Her in laws were restless about the fact that dowry was late and they ill-treated her. Even her husband did not have a say. One day, she was murdered. She had paid the dowry with her life.
This is not a rare incident in India, but they are not publicised. Dowry is a payment made to a woman’s in-laws upon her engagement or marriage as a gift to her new family. It is a common thing to exceed dowries to the family’s annual income. According to official crime statistics in India, 6,822 women were killed in 2002 because of such violence. Small community studies have also indicated that dowry demands have played an important role in women being burned to death and in deaths of women labelled as suicides.
Dowry murder is just one example where traditions serve badly for women. According to the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) report these violations include female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM), dowry murder, so-called “honour killings,” and early marriage. They lead to death, disabilities, and physical and psychological dysfunction for millions of women annually. These victims are found mainly in the Africa, South Asian and the Middle East.
Film makers like Deepa Mehtha have attempted to break the conspiracy of silence by exposing this social malady in their works. In her Oscar nominate film ‘Water’, one gets a glimpse of the widows who were kept apart for the sake of the traditions. The main character in the film Chuyiya, a seven-year-old widow, tells the whole world about the tragedy of early marriage system in India.
Women in these societies are frustrated by the lack of progress made in tackling these social ills.
"It is a pity that no proper action is taken to stop violations," said Meera from India.
Many people in the West are unaware of the scale of the problem. Those who had heard about these abuses labelled them as the extreme cases, but pointed out that women in US and Europe are not immune to discrimination in the name of tradition.
“These are extreme examples,” Andrea from USA said. “Many people do not realize that even certain Western traditions hurt women. For example, I do not intend on changing my last name when I get married. If you research the origin of this tradition, you will be shocked at the misogyny. I love my last name; it represents my amazing family and all their struggles. Some say, well don't you want your family to be united? Of course, in Italy, women don't change their last name; does that mean their family is not a unit?”
The traditionalists are offering stiff resistance to bringing about social change that would lead to the making the situation better. Women continue to be harassed, exploited, and murdered, all in the name of tradition.
US House Oversight and Foreign Affairs Committees today asked Bush administration to explain the failure of US-funded "abstinence and be faithful" HIV prevention programs for youth.
Oversight Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman, Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos, and Congresswoman Barbara Lee wrote to US Global AIDS Coordinator Mark Dybul to ask how his office will respond to a recent evaluation which found that the US$15 billion dollar programs failed to serve the needs of young people who are or may become sexually active.
Independent evaluators found that most programs lacked adequate information about partner reduction, fidelity, condom use, and cross-generational and transactional sex.
Most programs did not contain age-appropriate content, especially for older youth, and failed to refer participants appropriately to more comprehensive programs, the evaluators reported.
The USAID funded study showed that while sex with adult men is a significant factor in HIV risk for adolescent girls, contributing to higher rates of infection among girls than boys the same age, few of the curricula had specific skill-based lessons to deal with issues of gender inequality, including cross-generational and commercial sex.
"Incorporating focused lessons on important gender-based issues, including cross-generational and transactional sex, is likely to be more effective than only promoting abstinence and ignoring issues of power imbalance that put youth at risk of coercive and unwanted sex," the evaluators pointed out.
Waxman, Lantos and Lee asked Dybul to describe how you plan to respond to the findings and recommendations of this report as they relate to the needs of sexually active youth.
Menorrhagia is a medical term used with excessive bleeding in females during their menstrual periods. But many of us do not understand the term and ignore the condition. You can be experiencing menorrhagia if your periods are longer or equal to one week. Another way to know is to notice if you need to change your tampon or pads at an interval of less then one or two hours. If so, you might be suffering through it. Here is the list of five very common reasons which cause menorrhagia or heavy menstrual bleeding:
• The most common cause of menorrhagia is hormonal imbalance.
• At the onset of menstrual cycle and several years before menopause, the hormonal levels oscillate. This also causes excessive bleeding. However, these imbalances can be treated with pills and medicines.
• Uterine fibroid tumors, which are usually benign (non-cancerous) tumors, occur in the uterus of women during their thirties or forties. They also cause excessive bleeding when present. While the causes of uterine fibroid tumors are unclear, there dependence on estrogen is apparent. These tumors can be treated by surgeries. Also, non-surgical pharmacological treatments like GnRH agonists, oral contraceptives, androgens, RU486 (the abortion pill) are available.
• Occurrence of cervical polyps is another common factor. These are minute, delicate growths that occur in either the mucosal surface of the cervix or the endocervical canal. These are usually caused due to an infection and sometimes also associated to increased estrogen levels or congestion of the blood vessels located in the cervical area. Antibiotics and a treatment can easily cure these.
• Another non-cancerous growth called endometrial polyps that usually occur in and along the lining of the uterus. These are also associated with excess of estrogen. Hysteroscopy and D&C treatments can cure this condition.
Open Source Health Care Alliance (OSHCA) is a non-profit organization whose objective is to promote the use of Open Source Software in the health care industry. The organization guides the health sector in taking advantage of the various benefits of using Open Source Software. It has worldwide patronage from people who recommend Open Source Software Concepts in Health Care.
According to its secretary, Joseph D. Dal Molin, the proprietary software systems in health-care make it difficult to share medical information and integrate systems. He said:
“To provide quality health-care services, health-care providers need to share information whenever they require. In a closed environment, the interfacing issue between disparate systems has been an obstacle for communication and information sharing.”
He added that the proprietary software model will not suit the health sector as health-care systems are unpredictable and hence require flexible and cost effective Open source software solutions, so that the health care industry need not depend on a single vendor. Molin believes that using open source software will help easy transfer of technology across people and that Open Source software is best way to share various medical-related information.
In major breakthrough, researchers from the University of Dana-Farber Institute, at Harvard University in Massachusetts, have found a protein called; p53 that they believe could help protect against skin cancer along with tanning your skin.
Actually, protein p53 is activated when the sun’s ultraviolet rays damage DNA. As a result, alpha-MSH (a hormone that makes the pigment melanin) is produced, which assists in the tanning of skin.
I see this finding as a significant one because it raises hope of better treatment for patients with melanoma skin cancer, the fastest-increasing form of cancer in the world. Moreover, it provides researchers with a strong base upon which they may find way to tan skin without the use of the Sun or artificially made products.
t is easy to pop vitamin-pills to get the nutrients we need while ignoring the incredible package nature provides us in the form of fruits. Try to include fruits in your everyday diet as they are a wonderful source of nutrients. It is nature’s way of providing you a great defense for fighting diseases.
Today, let’s check out what Apricots have in store for us.
These lovely, yummy orange colored Apricots are rich with vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, fiber, potassium and antioxidants; Apricots also make it to the top ten beta-carotene sources.
Fights cancer: Dried apricots are an excellent source of lycopene, the cartenoid that fights prostrate and breast cancer. The beta-carotene in the apricots reduces the risk of stomach and intestinal cancers. Health experts suggest having about 30 dried apricots a day should help you get these benefits.
Good for heart: Since apricots are rich in potassium, it helps control the blood pressure and thereby preventing heart diseases. The fiber content helps reduce cholesterol and the chances of clogging your arteries.
Great for vision: In a data reported in the Archives of Opthamology, it was found that three or more servings of this fruit actually reduces the risk of age-related macular degeneration (ARMD), the primary causeof vision loss in older adults. This means apricots are good for your eyes.
Secret to long life: If you enjoy life and are looking to hit the century mark, then apricots must be a part of a regular diet. Since they fight all age -related diseases like memory loss, high blood pressure, heart diseases, ARMD, cancer and cholesterol, and Alzheimer’s disease, you are naturally healthy and are sure to celebrate your 100th birthday.
Eat them fresh or dried; toss them in your salad or your deserts. Eat them anyway and reap in the benefits!
Efforts of health experts to bring down the number of patients with dementia may face severe setback with England fast heading to be the fattest nation on the planet.
Experts estimate that if obesity goes on soaring like this, then around 2.5 million Britons would be suffering from dementia or other brain distorting diseases by 2051 because several studies have linked middle-age obesity to dementia in later life. Actually, obesity stirs up higher blood pressure and cholesterol and both these things are known to increase the chances of dementia by interrupting the blood supply to the brain. Confirming this fact, further Neil Hunt, chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Society, said:
It was now unarguable that blood pressure, cholesterol levels and other factors associated with an increased risk of heart disease played an important role in the onset of dementia.
Keeping this fact in mind, it could be said that situation is bound to go from worse to worst, as an estimate states that in the coming few years, about 14 million of the British individuals, from the youngest to the oldest are likely to turn obese by 2010.
This would be a further blow to Britain’s health machinery, as already there are around 700,000 people with Alzheimer’s disease with number of people with dementia likely to touch 1.5 million marks in the next 40 years.
This would be a further blow to Britain’s health machinery, as already there are around 700,000 people with Alzheimer’s disease with number of people with dementia likely to touch 1.5 million marks in the next 40 years. If we look at this situation in wider aspect, then we could say that dementia situation is likely to take a serious turn around the globe in the coming years, which already costs around $315 billion worldwide annually with total number of people with dementia soars up to more than 29 million.
This is quite a serious issue, which needs to be addressed earnestly because threat of dementia is not the only one that swells with rise in obesity but many other problems like diabetes, cardiovascular disease and even cancer also get aggravated due to this.
Researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center have discovered the first inherited gene mutation that increases the risk for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.
Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), a cancer of the lymphocytes, is the most common type of leukaemia. It is a blood and bone-marrow disease and mainly affects people over 60. And it occurs more often in men than women.
The study revealed that the inherited mutation greatly reduces the gene’s protective activity. Furthermore, a second kind of change occurs later that turns the gene off altogether, leading to leukaemia. This latter alteration is a chemical change called DNA methylation and it is not inherited. Healthy cells use this process to silence unneeded genes. But abnormal DNA methylation can turn off genes that control cell growth, and that lead to tumour growth.
John C. Byrd, professor of internal medicine and a CLL specialist, said
“Our findings identify for the first time a gene that appears to be associated with hereditary CLL,”
“They also show the importance of the gene in the pathogenesis of CLL, and direct us to target this gene with therapies that might re-activate it.”
Researchers examined a family in which the father, four sons, a grandson, and a distant female relative developed this form of leukaemia. The mutation was identified in a gene called DAPK1. DAPK1 or death-associated protein kinase 1 is a tumour suppressor which helps trigger the death of cells before they become cancerous.
Albert de la Chapelle, professor of molecular virology, immunology and medical genetics and a researcher with the Ohio State human cancer genetics program, said
“This inherited change is remarkably subtle. It does not shut down the gene, but just lowers its expression somewhat. Recently, many cancer geneticists have come to believe that such subtle changes are common causes of cancer, and this is one of the first, strong examples of that principle,”
The findings could help identify people at risk for chronic leukaemia, but they also may provide new insights into the process of natural cell death. They may even lead to new strategies for treating the disease. The findings also provide evidence that some genes might contribute to cancer even when they are not silenced entirely.
The researchers new information to support the theory that a long, that smokers are less likely to develop Parkinson's disease them than people who do not eat tobacco.
apparent protective properties of tobacco degenerative nerve disease a number of years, but the report submitted by the Faculty of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, says that recent research seems to confirm this.
The review also found that the peculiar effect probably applies not only to cigarettes but also to pipe tobacco and cigars, and perhaps to chewing tobacco. Moreover, the protective effect persists for those who have stopped smoking a few years ago.
What would such a preventive effect, scientists do not fully understand, said the report, published in the journal Archives of Neurology. Research carried out on animals, make two assumptions.
One is that the carbon monoxide or other components of tobacco smoke is a sort of protection to support the survival of brain neurons that produce dopamine, which allows muscles to move correctly. It noted a lack of dopamine in the development of Parkinson's disease.
Secondly, cigarettes can somehow prevent the emission of toxic substances that affect neurological function.
While there are a number of earlier studies, they have too few patients to be conclusive, said in the statement. That is why specialists at the University of California, examined 11 studies conducted between 1960 and 2004 to more than 11,800 people, 2,816 of whom suffered from Parkinson's disease.
"Our analysis confirmed previous reports of the inverse relationship between smoking and Parkinson's disease", says the opinion.
According to the Commercial biotechnology, the Japanese scientists from the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research at Kyoto fish out of a substance which can be used as a potential source of cosmetics and nutritional supplements.
In recent years, the number of fish in the oceans is rapidly increasing due to warming waters, along the coasts of artificial plants and irrational approaches to fishing.
There are even cases of "monsters", reaching nearly two metres in length and weighing up to 20 kg. Japanese scientists decided to use the huge amount of fish that are removed from the bays, which accumulates in the form of tailings.
Researchers identified five types of fish glikoprotein (protein, carbohydrate molecules connected to), dubbed "kvimutsin." The contents of the substances in the bodies of fish pretty high-0,02-0,1% of wet weight. The water forms a mucous kvimutsin gel.
Authors believe that by kvimutsina can create a variety of compounds for medical use (to replace secret mucous membranes) and cosmetics (a moisturizing funds), as well as food additives : dispersal, and gelatinous emulgiruyuschih agents.
Doctors have given a new ray of hope to the children suffering from cancer, as a new research will allow young girls undergoing cancer treatment in preserving their fertility.
Nearly all cancers are treated initially with chemotherapy that involves aggressive intake of anticancer drugs. The cancer cured by chemotherapy at such a young stage cures around 70 and 90 percent of patients but the aggressive chemotherapy often leaves the children sterile.
But now scientists have been successful in extracting, maturing and then preserving the eggs from girls as young as five in an attempt to allow the children with cancer to become parents when they grow up.
However some experts believed that the eggs in the follicles of young girls before they attain puberty were too immature to be extracted.
But later an Israeli team led by Ariel Revel have discovered that eggs from girls with cancer, those aged between five and 10 years could be extracted which could be cultured in a dish to make them viable.
On his work related to the research, Ariel said:
No eggs have yet been thawed, so we do not know whether pregnancies will result. But we are encouraged by our results so far, particularly the young ages of the patients from whom we have been able to collect eggs.
Ariel Revel from Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem who carried the research will present complete details of his research at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Lyon, France, this week.
Chinese peasant to death anymore, ferocious dogs to protect her from her beloved puppy. First, he threw a watermelons, and then entered it in hands. A farmer named Gen asking night from a troubled streets in the yard. Going out of the house, he saw another big dog trying to attack his puppy. Attempting to resist, peasants started to roll in the dog by hand popavshiesya watermelons. The evil dog is not unimalsya and tried to pounce on the puppy and its owner.
American scientists have found that certain antidepressants may in older men and women strengthen osteoporosis. The disease is related to the damage of bone tissue, leading to bone fractures and deformities. Drugs known as selective serotonin inhibitors reverse takeover, used to treat depression, delaying or suppressing effect of the protein, which moves serotonin, neyromediator taking part in the processes of sleep and depressive state.
According to the literature, among the causes of infertility, dominated Tube factor, frequency of 35-40%. The defeat of the fallopian tube is usually postponed due to acute and chronic illness appendages.
frequency of infertility in patients with inflammatory diseases of 72-74%. Rising infection in the way genesis inflammation of small pelvis is predominant. With Pathological flora of the vagina and cervical intra-channel interference, such as abortion, diagnostic curettage, a Navy also is a factor provoking inflammatory diseases.
Inflammatory diseases genitals can be caused by a wide range of microorganisms. The most common infection is chlamydia trihomatis and gonokokki Neyssera. In an era of widespread antimicrobial drugs mutations occurring strains of microorganisms, resulting in a major feature of inflammatory process
-in the absence of clear clinical symptoms. Often patients treated only with the sole complaint against infertility, not subjective noting signs of disease. All this makes the early detection of diseases and creates difficulties in the treatment of the patient. Inflammatory processes in a small pelvis lead not only to defeat the fallopian tube, but also to education adhesions, which is the cause of peritoneal form of infertility.
There is a degree of classification of the adhesive process in a small pelvis : 1st degree : a single, thin, bessosudistyh adhesions; anatomical relationships uterus and appendages is not violated. 2nd degree : welding pipe between parent and ovary, welding of kresttsovo-matochnyh
What an alcohol-free beer, champagne, wine, vodka, even? For people who can not drink, do not feel inferior in any company where drink alcohol. But the innocent simulation could face alcoholism.
2c13
The fact is that alcohol dependence is not only making the organism to alcohol, when they need to cool one's coppers to feel more or less.
very strong emotional attachment here (comfort), which occurs when alcohol (ease of communication, lifting sets, care of the problems, etc.).
If people do not drink alcohol because it is "in zavyazke", when he tries to simulate alcohol-free beer or champagne, he immediately felt a desire and the attendant sense Admission alcohol intoxication.
In one second is the overwhelming desire to drink, which people in zavyazke "has been discarded after passing through all the agony of hell.
Do not get to drink champagne and alcohol-free
Researchers from the Australian Medical Center Flinders showed that the deep meditation significantly alter the activity of the brain, helping concentration.
The scientists measured the electrical brain activity of a group of people, meditiruyuschih on Buddhist Technology, which is at various stages of meditation. A reference group was at peace with eyes closed and Men.
The first stage of meditation test, they said, focused on the process of respiration, at the second stop to think logically, the third-lose the ability to spatial orientation and sense of boundaries body, the fourth-feel that their thinking and breathing became a whole, the fifth-felt that their minds expanded to the limits of the universe.
Electroencephalography showed that in deep meditation and meditiruyuschie have different brain activity. The meditiruyuschih starting increased amplitude waves, which is typical of the rest of the state with relaxed muscles and neskontsentrirovannym attention. Also, they have experienced a decline in amplitude delta-voln. But when the next, deeper level of meditation amplitude waves slowly declined, said that the increased attention and the high activity of reasoning.
Dilan Delosanzheles, author of the study, said meditation is a unique state of the brain that increases the activity of thought processes and the ability to concentrate. Meditation can be used to treat people with scattered attention, says scientist.
This year drugs for the treatment of HIV will receive more than 30 thousand Russians. This, as passes AMI-TASS, told journalists Rospotrebnadzora head Gennady Onishchenko. According to the report, so far, the number receiving drugs for this programme have already reached 25,000.
In addition, according to Onishchenko, in the first half of the special anti-virus therapy received 2,600 pregnant women with HIV. Most of the children receiving these drugs patients are born healthy. The distribution of such products to be easier for women introduced by the generic certificates, said the head Rospotrebnadzora.
Now in Russia, more than 386,000 HIV-positive people, including more than 1,300 children born to women patients. Another 16,141 children are registered with is not a diagnosis. First place in the spread of HIV among the federal keeps St. Petersburg, where there are 32,872 registered cases of HIV infection.
Gennady Onishchenko reported to the task of vaccination against certain infectious diseases in the first half of this year. Overall, in 2007, 15 million Russians will be vaccinated against hepatitis B, and 10 million of rubella. It is expected that these measures will help reduce the incidence of hepatitis B in 3 times and rubella 10 times.
The prevention of seasonal influenza disease in the autumn of this year to provide 22 million people, including children attending pre-school, primary school pupils, teachers and the elderl
At Wimbledon tennis tournament, the scandal erupted around injuries black American Serena Williams, which was under the 7th panic room, and continues to fight for the main trophy in the women's single level.
in 1 / 8 finals twice Wimbledon winner in the dramatic struggle pereigrala Slovak Daniela Hantuhovu, a victory many tennis experts called questionable, says TASS.
In one anecdote Serena suddenly dropped, so to speak, at home, afraid to zakrichav. Then it all came back to the game, and constantly Have a message that every movement it is an impossible job. Immediately
two former Wimbledon champion, German Michael Shtih and American John Makinroy - suggested that Serena simply mock pain and dry most of the situation, psychologically crushing rivals. Hantuchova seemed not to know how to play against a heavy traumatized American. "
The sisters Serena and Serena Williams expressed outrage at such remarks.
Sony issued a public apology for the bloody virtual deconstruction
Sony Corporation publicly apologized on Friday for a video game in which the bloody skirmishes are taking place within the Anglican Cathedral. But beyond the apology company is not going to go.
Church demanded that Sony has stopped selling all game Resistance : Fall of Rights. " The game is a shoot-out between American soldiers and some newcomers in the building, heavily reminiscent of Manchester Cathedral, located in the northwest of England.
Gigant entertainment industry in its apology, published in the Manchester Evening News newspaper reported that the company met with community and church leaders recognized that the game was mixed emotions. The company representatives believe incident closed and the matter closed.
"When this game we had no intention to offend anyone, but nevertheless, we would like to apologize for inadvertently insult to injury that part of society which could find themselves affected," said President of the European Branch Sony Computer Entertainment David Reeves.
The Manchester Cathedral has no comment on this apology.
Body absorbs chemical easier from food than supplements, researcher says
ST. LOUIS - Most women know that calcium is critical in preventing osteoporosis, the disease of progressive bone loss and fractures that affects millions of Americans.
But which source is better — calcium-rich foods or supplements? A preliminary study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine suggests dietary calcium may be better at protecting bone health.
Though not definitive, the study found that women who get most of their daily calcium from food have healthier bones and higher bone density than women whose calcium comes mainly from supplemental tablets.
That was true even though the supplement-takers had higher average levels of calcium.
Calcium from dietary sources is generally better absorbed than that from supplements, which could help explain the difference, said the study’s lead author, Dr. Reina Armamento-Villareal.
Those getting calcium from foods also had more estrogen in their bodies; the hormone is needed to maintain bone mineral density. Researchers can’t yet explain the food-estrogen connection.
The research is preliminary and offers “a springboard to do something more, a hypothesis to test,” said Armamento-Villareal, a bone specialist and assistant professor in the School of Medicine’s division of bone and mineral diseases. It was published in the May issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Diets meticulously documented
Researchers asked 183 postmenopausal women to meticulously document their diet and their calcium supplement intake for seven days. They tested their bone mineral density and their urine for levels of estrogen.
The women then were divided into three groups: those who got at least 70 percent of their daily calcium from supplements, those who got the same amount from dairy products and other food, and those whose calcium-source percentages fell somewhere in between.
The “diet group” took in the least calcium, an average of 830 milligrams per day. Yet, the group had higher bone density in their spines and hip bones than women in the “supplement group,” who consumed 1,030 milligrams per day.
Women in the “diet plus supplement group” tended to have the highest bone mineral density as well as the highest calcium intake at 1,620 milligrams per day.
An analysis showed that women in the “diet group” and the “diet plus supplement group” had higher levels of estrogen, needed for bone mineral density.
Dr. Robert Recker, who heads osteoporosis research at the Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, noted weaknesses in the study, which he said “is certainly not definitive.”
Those who got calcium from their diet might have also taken in more vitamin D from milk, which would aid in calcium absorption. As for the estrogen connection, they might have eaten plant sources containing more of the hormone, he said.
“Nevertheless it’s not to be ignored,” Recker said. “Observation studies are very good for generating a hypothesis to be tested later in an outright experiment.”
Dairy foods and calcium-fortified orange juice are excellent sources of calcium. Dark green, leafy vegetables also contain it, though it is not as readily absorbed as calcium from dairy, researchers said.
Armamento said she’d like to do a long-term study of teenagers whose bones are still developing to see what, if any, differences might emerge among young women taking calcium from diet versus supplements.
“It’s a lifestyle issue,” she said, noting that some teenagers avoid dairy products.
Extra pounds may impact future infants long after weight loss, study says
NEW YORK - Overweight women are known to have a greater chance of giving birth to a larger-than-normal baby. But new research suggests that these odds stay higher even when a woman loses weight before pregnancy.
In a study of more than 146,000 women who’d each given birth twice, researchers found that those who maintained a normal body weight before each pregnancy had the lowest odds of having an abnormally large newborn.
Not surprisingly, women who were overweight or obese before each pregnancy had higher risks of delivering a large baby.
However, overweight women who lost weight before their second pregnancy did not eliminate their increased odds of having an oversized newborn. This, the study authors speculate, could mean that a woman’s excess pounds have a lasting effect on subsequent pregnancies, even after she’s slimmed down.
Dr. Darios Getahunof the UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, New Jersey, led the study. The findings are published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Abnormally large newborns are at risk of birth trauma, and often necessitate the use of cesarean delivery. Overweight and obese women are more likely than normal-weight women to have a large newborn, particularly if they have gestational diabetes.
Trimming risk
In the current study, Getahun’s team looked at whether weight changes between pregnancies affected these odds. The researchers based their findings on the pre-pregnancy weights of 146,227 women who had their first and second pregnancies between 1989 and 1997.
In general, they found, women who were overweight before both pregnancies were 70 percent more likely than women who maintained a normal weight to have an overly large baby in their second pregnancy. The odds were even higher among women who remained obese over time.
Women who trimmed down to a normal weight before their second pregnancy also trimmed their risk of having a large baby. However, the risk was not on par with that of women who’d been consistently thin, the researchers found.
It’s possible, according to Getahun’s team, that extra weight, even after it’s shed, has a long-term effect on future pregnancies, possibly through effects on mothers’ metabolism.
Ideally, the researchers conclude, women would lower their odds of having an overly large baby by preventing their own excess weight gain in the first place.
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