Retinal imaging may someday help assess if you`re more likely to develop a stroke, a new research by an Indian origin author has revealed.

Mohammad Kamran Ikram, M.D., Ph.D., lead author of the study and assistant professor in the Singapore Eye Research Institute, the Department of Ophthalmology and Memory Aging and Cognition Centre, at the National University of Singapore, and his team tracked stroke occurrence for an average 13 years in 2,907 patients with high blood pressure who had not previously experienced a stroke.

At baseline, each had photographs taken of the retina, the light-sensitive layer of cells at the back of the eyeball. Damage to the retinal blood vessels attributed to hypertension evident on the photographs was scored as none, mild or moderate/severe.

During the follow-up, 146 participants experienced a stroke caused by a blood clot and 15 by bleeding in the brain.

Researchers adjusted for several stroke risk factors such as age, sex, race, cholesterol levels, blood sugar, body mass index, smoking and blood pressure readings.

They found the risk of stroke was 35 percent higher in those with mild hypertensive retinopathy and 137 percent higher in those with moderate or severe hypertensive retinopathy.

Even in patients on medication and achieving good blood pressure control, the risk of a blood clot was 96 percent higher in those with mild hypertensive retinopathy and 198 percent higher in those with moderate or severe hypertensive retinopathy.

The study is published in the American Heart Association journal.

Using advanced gene technology, Australian scientists along with a US team have claimed to have found new genes and genetic mutation that causes severe childhood epilepsies.

Lead researcher Sam Berkovic, Director of the Epilepsy Research Centre at the University of Melbourne and Melbourne`s Austin Hospital, said, as well as providing a pathway to treating epilepsy the research provides answers to patients and families who previously had little or no idea where epilepsy had come from.

"Parents often have a belief that they`ve done something wrong that caused this disease," Berkovic said.

"Not knowing why has been one of the most frustrating things. We`ve never really had the answer. Now we do. This also stops the need for further searching and refines the treatments," he said.

A key aspect of the research has been the ability to sequence the entire human genome, Berkovic said adding "Until now we`ve had these complex patients and we didn`t know what was going on. Now all the genes are known and the jigsaw can be completed," he said.

By using the latest genetic techniques to sequence and analyse DNA of 4,000 epilepsy patients and their relatives, the study known called Epi4Ks shared DNA sequences and patient information among dozens of research institutions.

The researchers compared the exomes, or the complete sets of genes, of 264 children with the sequences of their parents who do not have epilepsy.

Differences in the sequences of parents and children were analysed to identify potential disease-causing mutations.

The study`s other joint leader Dr David Goldstein, the Director of the Human Genome Variation Centre at Duke University Medical Centre in the US, said his team`s work identified an unusually large number of disease-causing mutations and provided a wealth of new information.

"We are now headed toward a future where we can find out why people have this disease and tailor the treatment of it. It establishes a clear path to the genetic explanation of epilepsy," Dr Goldstein said.

Children born with genetic birth defects like Down`s syndrome are at an increased risk of developing childhood cancer, says a study.

Scientists have said that children born with non-chromosomal birth defects have a two-fold higher risk of cancer before age 15, compared to children born without birth defects.
However, cancer risk varies by the specific type of birth defect, and is not significantly increased in many of the more common birth defects, Science Daily reported citing the study published in July in PLOS ONE.

Birth defects are an increasing health concern worldwide, and in 2010 the World Health Organisation identified birth defect prevention and care as a global priority.

"There is a large body of evidence for increased cancer risk in children with Down`s syndrome, a genetic birth defect caused by the presence of an extra copy of chromosome 21," says Lorenzo Botto, professor of paediatrics at the University of Utah School of Medicine and an author of the study.

"However, studies to date have provided inconsistent findings on cancer risk in children with structural birth defects that are not caused by chromosome abnormalities."

Children born through Caesarean section are at greater risk of allergies because they have a less diverse gut microbiota, according to a new study.

Researchers from Sweden and Scotland followed gut microbiota development in 24 children up to the age of two in the Swedish provinces of Ostergotland and Smaland.

Nine were delivered through Caesarean and 15 delivered naturally, through vaginal birth.

The study used a type of molecular biology analysis, which gives a broad overview of the varieties of bacteria present in the intestines.

Children delivered by Caesarean section had a less diverse gut microbiota during their first two years of life than those born vaginally.

Particularly clear was the low diversity among the group Bacteroidetes that, according to earlier observations of the research groups, are particularly linked to protection against allergies.

Thus, these children may run greater risk of developing allergies, but diabetes and irritable bowel syndrome are also more common among children born by Caesarean.

"Sometimes Caesarean sections are necessary. But it is important that both expectant mothers and doctors are aware that such a delivery may affect the child`s health," said Maria Jenmalm, professor of Experimental Allergology at Linkoping University in Sweden and one of the authors of the study.

With natural birth the child is exposed to bacteria in the mother`s birth canal, a good start to the formation of the child`s own gut microbiota.

For those who entered the world through an incision in their mother`s belly, different measures need to be developed, researchers said.

"It might not be so good to have six months of only breast feeding. Earlier exposure to ordinary solid food may stimulate a higher diversity of the gut microbiota," Jenmalm said.

Besides a greater diversity in their intestinal flora, children delivered vaginally in the study also had higher blood plasma levels of substances linked to Th1 cells, a kind of "chief cells" in the immune system, which can inhibit allergic immune responses.

The study was published in the journal Gut.

An experimental malaria vaccine proved highly effective in a small, early-stage clinical trial in people, raising hope in the global effort to combat the deadly disease, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday in the journal Science.

"This was something that everybody said was not possible. And here it is," Navy Captain Judith Epstein, one of the researchers, said in a telephone interview.

"We`re in the first stages now of really being able to have a completely effective vaccine," said Epstein, who said hopes to see licensing of the vaccine within three to five years.

Malaria, commonly spread by mosquitoes, infected 219 million people in 2010 and killed an estimated 660,000, according to estimates by the World Health Organization. That translates into one child in Africa dying every minute.

"It`s an important proof of concept," Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said of the clinical trial held from October 2011 to October 2012.

Fauci said the test results were the most promising yet of any experimental vaccine. The vaccine was produced by privately held Sanaria Inc of Maryland.

Fauci resisted calling the trial a breakthrough. He said the test only involved a small number of people and that it was not yet clear how long the vaccine`s protection against malaria would last.

The study involved 57 healthy participants aged 18 to 45 who had never had malaria. Of these, 40 got the vaccine and 17 did not.

"There are several more steps before you can feel comfortable that you have something that might be ready for prime time," he told Reuters. "So we`re really not there yet, but it`s encouraging to see these very favorable results."

The vaccine, known as PfSPZ, is made from live but weakened parasites of the species Plasmodium falciparum, the most deadly of the malaria-causing parasites.

MANUFACTURING FEAT

To test for safety, those in the vaccine group were split into two groups who received two to six doses of the intravenous vaccine at increasing dose levels. They were followed closely for a week, and the team saw no severe side effects.

To test for effectiveness, the team exposed each study participant - those who got the vaccine and those who didn`t - to bites from five malaria infected mosquitoes.

After a week, volunteers were checked for infection, and those who were infected were treated for malaria. The team found that those who got the higher doses of the vaccine were far less likely to develop malaria that those who got lower doses or were not vaccinated.

In the study, only three of 15 participants who received higher dosages of the vaccine became infected, compared to 16 of 17 participants in the lower dosage group who became infected. Among the 12 participants who were not vaccinated, 11 became infected after exposure to infected mosquitoes.

Manufacturing the vaccine was itself an achievement. The company that produced it, Sanaria of Rockville, Maryland, was able to expose sterile mosquitoes to the malaria-infected blood, irradiate them to weaken the parasites that cause the disease and then - and this is the hard part - dissect the tiny insects to extract those parasites. Only then could they make the vaccine.

"The speed with which they were able to get enough material surprised me," Fauci said. "I thought they would never be able to do it. And they did it - and they did it very quickly and in a large amount."

The current vaccine is delivered intravenously and not through injections, which could be impractical for use in a widespread vaccination program.

"Now we`ve got to figure out a way to deliver it in a way that`s practical for mass vaccination programs," Fauci said.

Scientists from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and the Naval Medical Research Center participated in the study, which also holds out hope for finally shielding U.S. military personnel stationed in areas with the disease.

A statement from the Navy said malaria was responsible for "a greater loss of manpower than enemy fire in all conflicts occurring in tropical regions during the 20th century."