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Jan 14
India records no polio case for third straight year
Not just this, Indians have another reason to smile as the World Health Organisation (WHO) is all set to officially certify India as a polio-free nation after the last of random samples picked up would be tested.

For the record, India reported its last case of polio on January 13 last year, from Kolkata in West Bengal.

Further, there has been a constant drop recorded in polio endemic states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar with zero case recorded in the year 2011 in both the states.

Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said on January 6, "For the last two years we have been a polio free country. If by January 13, there are no polio cases in the country, then we will be declared polio free".

Jan 14
German scientists create artificial bone marrow
In a step that would change the treatment of leukaemia in coming days, German scientists have developed artificial bone marrow that may be used to make hematopoietic stem cells.

The porous structure, developed by the Scientists at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart, and Tubingen University, has essential properties of bone marrow that allows stem cells to multiply.

Researchers said this might help in treating leukaemia in a few years.

Blood cells, such as erythrocytes or immune cells, are continuously replaced by new ones supplied by haematopoietic stem cells located in a specialised niche of the bone marrow.

Hematopoietic stem cells can be used for the treatment of blood diseases, such as leukaemia. The affected cells of the patient are replaced by healthy hematopoietic stem cells of an eligible donor.

However, not every leukaemia patient can be treated in this way, as the number of appropriate transplants is not sufficient.

This problem might be solved by the reproduction of haematopoietic stem cells. So far, this has been impossible, as these cells retain their stem cell properties in their natural environment only, i.e. in their niche of the bone marrow. The properties are modified outside of this niche.

Therefore, stem cell reproduction requires an environment similar to the stem cell niche in the bone marrow.

The team, headed by Dr. Cornelia Lee-Thedieck, artificially reproduced major properties of natural bone marrow at the laboratory.

Researchers created a porous structure simulating the sponge-like structure of the bone in the area of the blood-forming bone marrow with the help of synthetic polymers. They added protein building blocks similar to those existing in the matrix of the bone marrow for the cells to anchor.

They also inserted other cell types from the stem cell niche into the structure in order to ensure substance exchange.

Researchers then introduced haematopoietic stem cells isolated from cord blood into this artificial bone marrow. Subsequent breeding of the cells took several days.

Analyses with various methods revealed that the cells really reproduce in the newly developed artificial bone marrow. Compared to standard cell cultivation methods, more stem cells retain their specific properties in the artificial bone marrow.

Scientists can now use the newly developed artificial bone marrow that has major properties of natural bone marrow to study the interactions between materials and stem cells in detail at the laboratory. This will help in finding out how the behaviour of stem cells can be influenced and controlled by synthetic materials.

Jan 13
New breakthrough brings malaria drugs closer to reality
An Indian origin researcher has found that a form of malaria, which is common in India, Southeast Asia and South America, attacks human red blood cells by clamping down on the cells with a pair of proteins.

New study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis provides details that will help scientists design better vaccines and drug treatments for the strain, Plasmodium vivax.

"More people live at risk of infection by this strain of malaria than any other," senior author Niraj Tolia, PhD, assistant professor of molecular microbiology and of biochemistry and molecular biophysics, said.

"We now are using what we have learned to create vaccines tailored to stop the infectious process by preventing the parasite from attaching to red blood cells," the researcher said.

Earlier studies had suggested that one P. vivax protein binds to one protein on the surface of red blood cells . Tolia's new study reveals that the binding is a two-step process that involves two copies of a parasite protein coming together like tongs around two copies of a host protein.

Tolia also found evidence that people with immunity to P. vivax have developed naturally occurring antibodies that attach to a key part of the parasite's binding protein, preventing infection.

The study was published in PLOS Pathogens.

Jan 13
Chinese provinces report five new bird flu cases
The Chinese provinces of Fujian, Guangdong and Zhejiang Friday reported five fresh human cases of H7N9 bird flu, including one death.

The five new cases included two in Zhejiang, two in Guangdong and one in Fujian, according to the health and family planning commissions in the three provinces, Xinhua reported.

The patient who died in Fujian was confirmed early Friday to have been infected with the virus, and died in the hospital the same morning.

The two cases in Zhejiang, a 79-year-old woman and a 30-year-old man, were both in critical condition.

Two mild cases, a 42-year-old woman and a 59-year-old woman, were also reported on Friday in Guangdong, where a total of 12 cases have been confirmed since last August.

Human cases of the bird flu virus have also been reported in the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Guangdong so far this year.

Jan 11
New test can predict early onset of heart attacks
Early onset of heart attacks can now be predicted with the development of a new technique, according to a study.

A team of researchers from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have been able to identify patients at high risk of a heart attack by identifying specific cells as markers in the bloodstream.

Diseased plaques build up on the walls of blood vessels, rupture and cause inflammation in the arteries. This can obstruct the flow of blood through the arteries and cause a heart attack. During this process, the circulating endothelial cells (CECs) are also released into the bloodstream. The researchers were able to identify these cells and has been successful in distinguishing patients undergoing treatment for a recent heart attack with a healthy control group.

"The goal of this paper was to establish evidence that these circulating endothelial cells can be detected reliably in patients following a heart attack and do not exist in healthy controls-which we have achieved," said Associate Professor Peter Kuhn, who led the study. "Our results were so significant relative to the healthy controls that the obvious next step is to assess the usefulness of the test in identifying patients during the early stages of a heart attack."

The results were so significant relative to the healthy control group, that the obvious next step is to assess the usefulness of the test in identifying patients during the early stages of a heart attack, said the study published in the journal Physical Biology.

The researchers believe the technique can now be tested on patients who exhibit symptoms but are yet to experience a heart attack.

Jan 11
Bone marrow stem cells could defeat drug-resistant tuberculosis
Patients with potentially fatal "superbug" forms of tuberculosis (TB) could in future be treated using stem cells taken from their own bone marrow, according to the results of an early-stage trial of the technique.

The finding, made by British and Swedish scientists, could pave the way for the development of a new treatment for the estimated 450,000 people worldwide who have multi drug-resistant (MDR) or extensively drug-resistant (XDR) TB.

In a study in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal on Thursday, researchers said more than half of 30 drug-resistant TB patients treated with a transfusion of their own bone marrow stem cells were cured of the disease after six months.

"The results ... show that the current challenges and difficulties of treating MDR-TB are not insurmountable, and they bring a unique opportunity with a fresh solution to treat hundreds of thousands of people who die unnecessarily," said TB expert Alimuddin Zumla at University College London, who co-led the study.

TB, which infects the lungs and can spread from one person to another through coughing and sneezing, is often falsely thought of as a disease of the past.

In recent years, drug-resistant strains of the disease have spread around the world, batting off standard antibiotic drug treatments.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that in Eastern Europe, Asia and South Africa 450,000 people have MDR-TB, and around half of these will fail to respond to existing treatments.

TB bacteria trigger an inflammatory response in immune cells and surrounding lung tissue that can cause immune dysfunction and tissue damage.

Bone-marrow stem cells are known to migrate to areas of lung injury and inflammation and repair damaged tissue. Since they also modify the body's immune response and could boost the clearance of TB bacteria, Zumla and his colleague, Markus Maeurer from Stockholm's Karolinska University Hospital, wanted to test them in patients with the disease.

In a phase 1 trial, 30 patients with either MDR or XDR TB aged between 21 and 65 who were receiving standard TB antibiotic treatment were also given an infusion of around 10 million of their own stem cells.

The cells were obtained from the patient's own bone marrow, then grown into large numbers in the laboratory before being re-transfused into the same patient, the researchers explained.

During six months of follow-up, the researchers found that the infusion treatment was generally safe and well tolerated, with no serious side effects recorded. The most common non-serious side effects were high cholesterol levels, nausea, low white blood cell counts and diarrhea.

Although a phase 1 trial is primarily designed only to test a treatment's safety, the scientists said further analyses of the results showed that 16 patients treated with stem cells were deemed cured at 18 months compared with only five of 30 TB patients not treated with stem cells.

Maeurer stressed that further trials with more patients and longer follow-up were needed to better establish how safe and effective the stem cell treatment was.

But if future tests were successful, he said, it could become a viable extra new treatment for patients with MDR-TB who do not respond to conventional drug treatment or those with severe lung damage.

Jan 08
Parents' attitude linked to kids' chronic pain
Adolescents whose parents suffer from chronic pain may be more likely to develop ongoing pain too - especially if the parent tends to 'catastrophize' pain, according to new research.

"Children are careful observers of everything that we do as parents, and how we respond to our pain and to their pain is no different," said Anna Wilson, a psychologist at Oregon Health & Science University who led the study.

Sometimes acting worried or repeatedly asking how a child is feeling can lead them to worry that the problem they are having is serious, even if it isn't, Wilson said.

"Unfortunately, we know from many research studies that this (misplaced) worry tends to make pain worse," she said.

In the study, 178 kids between the ages of 11 and 14 were recruited through their schools. They filled out questionnaires asking about ongoing physical issues such as backaches, stomach pain and headaches, as well as how much the pain interfered with their everyday lives. The adolescents' parents answered similar questions about their own pain.

Both kids and parents also filled out surveys focused on how they coped with the child's pain, such as whether parent or child felt helpless about the condition or blew the pain out of proportion.

About one-fourth of adolescents and two-thirds of parents in the study reported having chronic pain, and parental pain was significantly linked to the likelihood of that parent's child having pain.

Having a parent with pain and having a parent who magnified the significance of pain boosted the risk that a child would also put more emphasis on the pain's importance, the team reports in the Journal of Pediatric Psychology.

The take-home point, according to Wilson, is that the most helpful way to approach ongoing pain in a child - such as repeated headaches or muscle aches - probably differs from the way a parent might act when the child has a short-term illness like stomach flu or a sprained ankle.

For that reason, it can be helpful for parents with chronic pain to seek outside help to pinpoint their own strengths, and to assist their kids in developing healthy ways to cope with pain and discomfort.

"Being a parent is hard; pain just makes it harder," Wilson said.

"If you are a parent who has chronic pain and you are worried about how it might be impacting your child, talk with your own doctor, a pain psychologist or your child's doctor," she said.

Jan 08
Stimulating brain cells can stop binge boozing: Study
Researchers have used the emerging technique of optogenetics, which uses light to stimulate neurons, to change alcohol drinking behaviour in rodents.

First author Caroline E. Bass, PhD, assistant professor of pharmacology and toxicology in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences explained that by stimulating certain dopamine neurons in a precise pattern, resulting in low but prolonged levels of dopamine release, they could prevent rats from binging. The rats just flat out stopped drinking.

In the experiments, rats were trained to drink alcohol in a way that mimics human binge-drinking behaviour.

She said that the rodents continued to avoid alcohol even after the stimulation of neurons ended.

The researchers activated the dopamine neurons through a type of deep brain stimulation, but unlike techniques now used to treat certain neurological disorders, such as severe tremors in Parkinson's disease patients, this new technique, called optogenetics, uses light instead of electricity to stimulate neurons.

Bass explains that electrical stimulation hits all the neurons, but the brain has many different kinds of neurons, with different neurotransmitters and different functions. Optogenetics allows you to stimulate only one type of neuron at a time.

Bass used a virus to introduce a gene encoding a light-responsive protein into the animals' brains. That protein then activated a specific subpopulation of dopamine neurons in the brain's reward system.

The findings have been published in journals Frontiers in Neuroscience.

Jan 07
Brutal cold makes post-vacation depression worse
Ever thought why going to office Monday after a long holiday becomes a daunting task, especially in this bone-chilling cold?

Blame it on seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

The first working day after the holidays can be a depressing time for people coping with a post-holiday letdown and a type of depression triggered by short days called SAD, revealed a new study.

"In New Year, first Monday would be especially blue owing to the added stress of the bone-chilling weather," said psychiatrist Angelos Halaris of Loyola University Medical Centre in Chicago, US.

"For people affected by SAD, energy and mood take a nosedive during the short days of winter. SAD is characterised by depression, exhaustion and lack of interest in people and regular activities and interferes with a person's outlook on life and ability to

function properly," added Halaris.

Environmental stresses, such as extreme cold weather, can help trigger depression in people who already are vulnerable due to SAD, post-holiday blues or other factors, said the study.

Bright light affects brain chemistry in a helpful way and acts as an antidepressant. If you can stand the cold, get outside during the day, even if it is overcast. At home, open the drapes and blinds to let in natural light, the study added.

SAD can be effectively treated with light therapy, antidepressant medication and/or psychotherapy, Halaris said.

So next time when you are back from vacations, soak in enough daylight to overcome post-holiday depression.

Jan 07
Fibre rich diet may ward off asthma
A new study has revealed that eating a diet rich in fibre can protect against allergic asthma by triggering changes in the immune system.

Benjamin Marsland from the University Hospital of Lausanne in Switzerland and colleagues found that levels of dietary fibre, found in fruit and vegetables, can influence the balance of microbes in the gut in ways that make the airways more or less prone to the inflammation seen in allergic airway diseases.

The researchers, who looked at how the immune and inflammatory responses of mice varied with the fibre in their diet, found that when the mice were exposed to an extract of house dust mites, those fed with less fibre had double the number of a specific type of immune cell associated with asthmatic inflammation in their airways, than those on a standard diet.

It was found that mice given additional fibre supplements on top of a standard diet showed a reduction in these immune cells, but only if the supplement was easily fermentable in the gut.

The study was published in Journal Nature Medicine.

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