Washington, April 11 : Johns Hopkins researchers say that several factors may explain why a stay in an intensive care unit (ICU) leads many patients to report depression after they go home, including a high level of organ failure and being given relatively high doses of a benzodiazepine sedative.

"The hope is that as we learn more about the effect of variations in ICU care, we''ll be able to predict which patients are most susceptible to depression, prevent some depression by changing ICU practices, and make sure patients receive adequate mental health monitoring after discharge," says Dr. O. Joseph Bienvenu, an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Washington, Apr 11: Researchers from Portland State University have developed what they call a ‘double whammy’ drug that not only kills malaria parasite but also reverses resistance to other drugs.

The drug called acridone derivative has been developed by Jane Kelly and colleagues, and it contains a chemical, which prevents the malaria parasite getting rid of a toxic by-product of feeding on red blood cells.

By combining the new drug with existing ones such as chloroquine and quinine, it inhibits the genetic defence mechanism thus allowing them to do their job.

When the parasite enters the body it attacks red blood cells and take away the haemoglobin, from which they take amino acids as their food.

Washington, April 11 : A randomised controlled trial has shown that omega-3 fatty acids given as part of an oral nutritional supplement helps preserve muscle mass in patients undergoing surgery for oesopahageal cancer, a procedure normally associated with significant weight loss and quality of life issues.

Omega 3 fats are essential fats found naturally in oily fish, with highest concentrations in salmon, herring, mackerel, and sardines.

London, April 10 : If experts are to be believed, it is possible to teach partially sighted and registered blind people to read and see faces using the undamaged parts of their eyes.

Macular Disease Society experts point out that the central vision is lost in cases like age-related macular degeneration, but peripheral vision remains intact.

They say that such patients can be taught to exploit the peripheral vision.

London, Apr 10 : Osteoporosis drug, if taken once annually, is better at increasing the strength of brittle bones than a daily dose of the same, says a new study.

The researchers, led by Prof David M Reid, from the University of Aberdeen, found that bone density increased faster in patients injected with zoledronic acid—which has been hailed as a breakthrough in treatment of the condition.

But over fifty percent of women stop taking the drugs within a year partly because the medication needs to be taken after fasting for 30 minutes and can cause side effects.

Washington, April 10 : Researchers at the University of Minnesota have found that more and more women, diagnosed with the earliest stage of breast cancer, are choosing to have both breasts surgically removed.

Dr. Todd Tuttle, an associate professor of Oncologic Surgery, has observed that the rate of contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM) surgery among U. S. women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) increased by 188 percent between 1998 and 2005.