Health News

Partially sighted people can use undamaged parts of eyes to read and see

Partially sighted people can use undamaged parts of eyes to read and seeLondon, 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.

Annual dose of osteoporosis drug better than daily to boost brittle bones'' strength

Osteoporosis drugLondon, 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.

Women with early-stage breast cancer increasingly having double mastectomies

Women with early-stage breast cancer increasingly having double mastectomiesWashington, 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.

New approach shows promise to treat Type 1 diabetes

New approach shows promise to treat Type 1 diabetesWashington, April 10 : Experiments on mice conducted by American scientists have shown that transplanted pancreatic precursor cells are protected from the immune system when encapsulated in polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE).

The finding, made by researchers from Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) and the University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) School of Medicine, suggests a new approach to treating Type 1 diabetes.

‘Holy grail’ drug may make scars a thing of the past

‘Holy grail’ drug may make scars a thing of the pastLondon, Apr 10 : A new healing drug can reduce scarring after surgery or injury, say UK researchers.

At the site of the wound before and after an incision, the drug, a synthetic cell- signalling agent, is injected under the skin.

To reach the conclusion, researchers conducted three trials of the treatment on groups of volunteers who willingly suffered centimetre-wide puncture wounds in their arms. The incisions were deep enough to penetrate through the skin to underlying muscle, reports The Scotsman.

New test can help assess efficacy of Alzheimer''s drugs

New test can help assess efficacy of Alzheimer''s drugsWashington, Apr 10 : Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed a new test that can assess whether an Alzheimer''s drug could really reduce the production of amyloid beta (A-beta)- one of the possible underlying causes of Alzheimer''s disease in humans.

With the test, called stable isotope-linked kinetics (SILK), the researchers showed that an Alzheimer''s drug given to healthy volunteers reduced A-beta production

The test could speed up the development of new treatments for the disease.

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