Scientific data in various fields of human endeavor. Interesting user friendly presentation of articles in sciences both recent and in the distant past
LONDON (UPI) — People with macular degeneration are being taught again to read using the undamaged parts of their eyes, says a vision specialist in Britain.
Macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness, causes central vision to be lost but peripheral vision to remain intact.
A program developed by Britain’s Macular Disease Society teaches people to regain basic skills they thought they had lost for good, said Tom Bremridge, a spokesman for the society.
People with macular degeneration can be taught to fill in vision gaps by looking above, below or to one side of it, Bremridge told the BBC in a story published Friday.
Instead of moving the eyes from left to right to read a sentence, the patient keeps his eyes still and moves the text so that each word is moved into the area of best vision, he said.
HEALTHY EYES
“We have 86 volunteer trainers, all with central vision loss themselves, who have trained more than 310 people in their own communities and our waiting list of nearly 1,200 people grows every day,” Bremridge said to the BBC.
Copyright 2009 by United Press International
Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 15th APRIL 2009
LONDON, Ontario , — A Canadian researcher has grown new blood vessels using bone marrow stem cells.
David Hess of The University of Western Ontario in London drew human bone marrow and simultaneously isolated three different types of stem cells that co-ordinate together to form new blood vessels.
These cells — pro-angiogenic stem cells — were purified to remove inflammatory or contaminated cells and injected into the circulation of mice with one of their leg arteries. The stem cells honed into the area of ischemia — inadequate blood supply — and induced blood vessel repair.
“We can select the right stem cells from the patient’s own bone marrow and put them back in the area of ischemia to allow these cells to coordinate the formation of new blood vessels.” Hess said in a statement. “These principles could be applied not only to ischemic limbs but to aid in the formation of new blood vessels in ischemic tissue anywhere in the body, as an example after a stroke or heart attack.”
A clinical trial involving 21 patients with end-stage peripheral artery disease is currently underway in Houston USA. The study was published in the journal Blood.
Copyright 2009 by United Press International
Sourced and publ;ished 15th April 2009 by Henry Sapiecha
BOSTON (USA) — A man injured severly in a fall has undergone the second partial face transplant performed in the United States, says a spokesman from a Boston hospital.
Eight surgeons, led by Dr. Bohdan Pomahac at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, performed the transplant Thursday during 17 hours of intense surgery, The Boston Herald reported Friday.
The surgeons replaced the man’s nose, hard palate, upper lip, facial skin, muscles that animate the face and the nerves that power them and provide sensation, the hospital statement said.
The surgery was made possible through organ donation from the New England Organ Bank, the hospital said, adding that the patient’s identity was being kept private.
FACE SURGERY
The first face transplant in the United States was performed in December at Ohio’s Cleveland Clinic on a woman who had suffered severe facial trauma. The woman was able to breathe through her nose, smell, eat solid foods and drink from a cup once the surgery was completed, her doctors said.
Copyright 2009 by United Press International
Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 15th April 2009
For people whose eyes are bigger than their stomachs, a big meal with lots of different tastes usually satisfies. But some foods do not go with others. When the mix is wrong, people will not be able to assimilate the nutrients in the food. Sometimes there are risks of more serious side effects.
Crabs and persimmons are a well-known example. When the two are eaten together, they cause diarrhea.
Li Hongyan, a senior nutritionist from Shanghai Tongmai Food Co Ltd, suggests that when mixing different foods, people have to look out for those that might result in bad reactions.
When bean curd and spinach are eaten at the same time, they affect absorption of calcium and may lead to blockages in the abdomen. Spinach contains oxalic acid, which can react with the calcium in bean curd in the intestines and form insoluble precipitates of calcium oxalate. The foods taken together affect the absorption of calcium.
Bean curd and green onion
The combination of bean curd and green onions may affect the absorption of calcium. Bean curd contains plenty of nutrition like protein and calcium. But green onions contain a great deal of oxalic acid. When calcium meets oxalic acid, the calcium oxalate they form destroys calcium. If one eats bean curd mixed with green onions over a long time, it can lead to a lack of calcium causing spasms, osteomalacia and fractures.
Milk and chocolate
sexy chocolate
Believe it or not, milk and chocolate do not match. While milk is rich in protein and calcium, chocolate contains oxalic acid. Eaten together, the calcium from milk and the oxalic acid of chocolate can combine and form insoluble calcium oxalate, which is not only indigestible but also can cause diarrhea.
Milk and pomelo
The protein in milk can react with the fruit acids in pomelos and make one’s stomach feel bloated. The acid can also over-stimulate the stomach and cause diarrhea.
Many people like having a sandwich with yogurt. However, ham and bacon in sandwiches, when taken with yogurt, could cause cancer. To extend the preservation of meat products, producers add nitrate to prevent decay and botulinus. But when nitrate meets organic acid, it can turn into nitrosamine, a carcinogen.
Soy milk contains nutrition including vegetable proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. If drunk by itself, it is very nourishing. However, if taken together with eggs, it can reduce the activity of protease, which helps the body assimilate protein. Eggs are, of course, very rich in protein.
Category 2: Meat
Mutton and vinegar
mix and match
Mutton is a “hot” food, while vinegar is “warm” and like alcohol. When the two are cooked together, they can over-activate yang energy and the circulation. According to Compendium of Materia Medica, a book on Chinese herbal medicine, eating mutton and vinegar at the same time harms the heart.
Mutton and watermelon
Watermelon is a “cold” food. When taken together with mutton, the “heat,” the nourishing effect of the mutton will be dramatically decreased. For those who suffer from asthenia of the spleen, it can harm their energy and upset the spleen and stomach.
Beef and chestnut
chestnuts
Beef and chestnuts are good for the stomach. However, chestnuts contains vitamin C, which can react with microelements in the beef and lessen the chestnuts’ nutrition. The combination is not good for digestion and can cause dyspepsia.
Category 3: Seafood
Crab and tea
Some people might get used to drinking tea after eating crabs, thinking that it is good for the digestion. On the contrary it can cause indigestion. Gastric juices are diluted after drinking tea while eating crabs, and this not only disturbs assimilation but also reduces the ability of the gastric juices to sterilize. On the other hand, tea has as much tannic acid as persimmons.
Shrimp and vitamin C
If someone eats shrimps and also takes a lot of vitamin C on the same day, he or she is taking a serious risk. Shrimps contain a compound which reacts with vitamin C becoming the poison arsenic.
Catergory 4: Vegetable
White radish and carrot
The ferment in carrot can destroy the vitamin C in the white radish. To get the best nutrition, it is better to eat them separately.
Persimmon and sweet potato
Having persimmon and sweet potato at the same time can cause blockages in the stomach. The sugar in the sweet potato gets fermented in the stomach, which increases stomach acid. Together they could even cause a gastric hemorrhage or gastric ulcers.
so confused
Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 30th March 2009
Feeling sad and blue? Mung beans, lobster, turkey, asparagus, sunflower seeds, cottage cheese, pineapple, tofu, spinach and bananas could lift your spirits.
FRESH FRUIT AND VEG
A diet high in tryptophan – an amino acid converted by the body into the feel-good chemical serotonin – can improve mood and wellbeing, pediatrician and natural health expert Caroline Longmore said.
The body cannot produce tryptophan so unless we get enough through our diets, we may suffer a deficiency, leading to low serotonin levels which are associated with mood disorders, anxiety, cravings and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
“Following a diet which contains foods rich in naturally occurring serotonin will improve your mood, leaving you energised and in a state of harmony and wellbeing,” Dr Longmore said.
Mental health experts say while the theory behind tryptophans for improving mood is solid, its use by depressed patients has a chequered history in Australia.
MACADAMIA NUTS
Gordon Parker, from the Black Dog Institute, said tryptophan supplements were widely used before the 1990s but after a number of patients suffered serious side effects from a contaminated batch, they were temporarily taken off the market.
Professor Parker said while some patients strongly believed such supplements were beneficial, scientific evidence was lacking.
“I would say it’s something that can be useful for some people but the quality control varies enormously,” he said.
In her ebook The Serotonin Secret, Dr Longmore claims the best way to get optimum tryptophan levels is through a carefully devised eating plan. She rates dozens of foods for their levels of tryptophan.
Written with Australian-trained medical scientist and naturopath Katrin Hempel, the book has 50 recipes designed to solve serotonin imbalance without drugs. The concept works on the same principle as selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs), such as popular antidepressant Prozac.
Britain’s Food and Mood Project recommends eating chicken, sardines, turkey, salmon, fresh tuna, nuts and seeds to boost serotonin levels.
DR FEEL GOOD
But Associate Professor Michael Baigent, clinical adviser to Beyondblue, said there was only low-level evidence to suggest tryptophans have a medical effect.
LEIDEN, Netherlands (UPI) — Dutch scientists say they have created a synthetic version of Vernix caseosa, a protective substance that covers fetuses and newborn babies.
Leiden University Professor Joke Bouwstra said Vernix caseosa aids in the growth of skin both before and after birth, providing “waterproofing” in utero that allows the skin to grow in wet conditions and then, after birth, hydrating and cleansing the skin and even healing when applied to ulcers.
BABY PARTS
Bouwstra said the synthetic version of the natural buttery ointment she and colleague Robert Ribmann developed shows the same structure and unique properties as does Vernix caseosa.
As well as helping pre-term babies develop essential protection against temperature changes, dehydration and infection, it is said that their artificial VC could also benefit sufferers of various skin diseases.
Copyright 2009 by United Press International
Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 24th March 2009
NEW YORK (UPI) — U.S. scientists say they’ve identified criteria that, when combined with kidney function measures, could create a risk score system for heart-kidney transplant patients.
Dr. Mark Russo of Columbia University Medical Centre/New York-Presbyterian Hospital, who led the study, said such a risk score could help identify patients who are likely to receive a survival benefit from a combined heart and kidney transplant.
“In the past, patients with end-stage heart failure having concurrent renal disease were not considered candidates for heart transplantation,” the researchers said. “With advances in operative techniques and post operative management, combined heart and kidney transplantation is offered to select patients in this population.”
The researchers analyzed data from the United Network for Organ Sharing involving 19,373 patients who underwent heart transplantation between 1995 and 2005. That included 274 patients who received combined heart and kidney transplants and 19,109 who received heart transplants alone.
heart schematic
They said they found patients appeared less likely to survive following a combined heart and kidney transplant if, before surgery, they had peripheral vascular disease, were over 65, had heart failure that wasn’t caused by blocked or narrowed arteries, were dependent on dialysis or were placed on a ventricular assistance device as a bridge to transplantation.
The study appears in the journal Archives of Surgery. Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 24th March 2009
ROCKVILLE, Md. (UPI) — U.S. government scientists say they’ve developed a successful treatment for dogs suffering from canine muscular dystrophy, paving the way for human testing.
The National Institutes of Health researchers said the technology, known as “exon skipping,” covers up genetic errors by using tailor-made snippets of DNA-like molecules as molecular “patches.”
The scientists said the patches cover up mutant DNA sequences that have a code algarythm for making an important muscle protein. The mutant sequences occur in portions of the gene known as exons, which contain the information needed to make the muscle protein. By covering up the mutant regions, the DNA patches allow the dogs to make an imperfect but functional, version of the protein and significantly improve their muscle functioning.
Researchers also showed the DNA patches could be delivered by injection throughout the entire body in a much larger animal than a mouse, raising the possibility that they might be successfully delivered throughout the body to human muscles as well.
body muscles chart
The study was published on line in the Annals of Neurology.
Copyright 2009 by United Press International
This news arrived on: 03/18/2009
Sourced and Published by Henry Sapiecha 24th March 2009
NEW YORK (UPI) — U.S. researchers say they’re working on ways to duplicate the success of laser eye surgery and hair removal into a workable treatment for the ever common toenail fungus.
An estimated 23 million people in the United States have onychomycosis, a fungal condition that discolors and thickens toenails. Current treatments, which include anti-fungal oral concoctions and topical applications, have relatively low success rates, The New York Times reported recently.
There has been some support with treatments using ‘Potassium Permanganate’ [Condy's Crystals], Salicylic -Benzoic Acid, Tea-tree oil etc.
toe condition cure
However Nomir Medical Technologies in Massachusetts said it has now had success in early testing of a laser, called Noveon, which targets bacterial and fungal infections while preserving healthy tissue.
Preliminary analysis shows 76 percent of patients showed evidence of improvement after the Noveon treatment. A significant drop in fungus levels was seen in 74 percent of patients after two treatments.
The findings were presented at the Council for Nail Disorders 13th Annual Scientific Meeting in San Francisco.
Noveon lasers are currently used for cataract surgery, dental work and hair removal, the newspaper said.
Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 24th March 2009
PALO ALTO, Calif. (UPI) – The results of several clinical trials around the world has suggested heart bypass surgery is better for some patients than angioplasty, a U.S. study said.
Stanford University School of Medicine said data from about 8,000 research subjects show coronary angioplasty may be the better choice for patients with multi-vessel coronary artery disease who have diabetes or who’s ages are over 65.
Angioplasty, however, may be the best choice for patients under age 55.
“Whether you have diabetes really makes a big difference,” lead author Dr. Mark Hlatky of Stanford said in a statement. “Over several years there’s a much lower rate of death with bypass surgery. The patient’s age and fitness were other major factors that affected outcomes, and this was an interesting surprise.”
For patients with diabetes, the five-year mortality rate was 12 percent for those who had bypass surgery compared with 20 percent for those who underwent an angioplasty. For patients older than 65, the mortality rate was 11 percent for those who had bypass compared with 15 percent for those who had angioplasty.
The findings are published online in The Lancet.
Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 24th March 2009
