Early diagnosis of a heart attack may now be possible using only a few drops of saliva and a new nano-bio-chip, a multi-institutional team led by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin reported at a recent meeting of the American Association for Dental Research.
The nano-bio-chip assay could some day be used to analyze a patient's saliva on board an ambulance, at the dentist's office or at a neighborhood drugstore, helping save lives and prevent damage from cardiac disease. The device is the size of a credit card and can produce results in as little as 15 minutes.
"Many heart attack victims, especially women, experience nonspecific symptoms and secure medical help too late after permanent damage to the cardiac tissue has occurred," says John T. McDevitt, principal investigator and designer of the nano-bio-chip. "Our tests promise to dramatically improve the accuracy and speed of cardiac diagnosis."
Health & Wellness
It turns out the golden years really are golden.
Eye-opening new research finds the happiest Americans are the oldest, and older adults are more socially active than the stereotype of the lonely senior suggests. The two go hand-in-hand: Being social can help keep away the blues.
"The good news is that with age comes happiness," said study author Yang Yang, a University of Chicago sociologist. "Life gets better in one's perception as one ages."
Eye-opening new research finds the happiest Americans are the oldest, and older adults are more socially active than the stereotype of the lonely senior suggests. The two go hand-in-hand: Being social can help keep away the blues.
"The good news is that with age comes happiness," said study author Yang Yang, a University of Chicago sociologist. "Life gets better in one's perception as one ages."
In the 30 years since Louise Brown became the first test- tube baby, fertility treatment has come so far that it now accounts for one UK birth in 100. Yet there are still patients for whom it can do little. Men who make no sperm, and women with no eggs, must rely on adoption, donor conception or surrogacy if they want to start a family. That situation, however, may soon change because of advances in stem cell research. Sperm grown from embryonic stem cells have already been used to produce mouse pups, and scientists are trying to use similar techniques to make human reproductive cells, or gametes. This week, the Hinxton group - a panel of stem cell experts - predicted that success could be as little as five years away.
Geneva - A cholera outbreak in Kenya has killed 67 people so far this year, while a fungus has wiped out up to 20 percent of the country's annual rice production, United Nations agencies said on Friday.
Nearly 1,300 cases of cholera, a virulent water-borne disease, have been reported in the east African country since January, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.
Nearly 1,300 cases of cholera, a virulent water-borne disease, have been reported in the east African country since January, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.
There may be new hope for people struggling with obesity.
It's called VBLOC therapy and it works by stopping the impulse to overeat by blocking the vagal nerves. Those nerves communicate feelings of hunger and fullness from the brain to the stomach.
With the new approach, doctors insert a VBLOC device just beneath the skin. It's a receiver. Electrodes are hooked up to the vagal nerves. And the patient wears a belt that transmits electronic impulses to confuse or block the nerves' signals. The desired result - pangs of hunger are reduced, and patients eat less.
It's called VBLOC therapy and it works by stopping the impulse to overeat by blocking the vagal nerves. Those nerves communicate feelings of hunger and fullness from the brain to the stomach.
With the new approach, doctors insert a VBLOC device just beneath the skin. It's a receiver. Electrodes are hooked up to the vagal nerves. And the patient wears a belt that transmits electronic impulses to confuse or block the nerves' signals. The desired result - pangs of hunger are reduced, and patients eat less.
Comment: This seems to be yet another attempt to acclimatise us to being 'chipped'. Is this really such a good idea?
Brenda Talavera was pretty matter-of-fact when her doctor suggested that they implant a stimulator the size of a small cell phone inside her brain.
"If it was going to make me better, do it," the Seattle woman said while standing in her living room filled with hockey memorabilia. "If it didn't work, they could remove it."
"If it was going to make me better, do it," the Seattle woman said while standing in her living room filled with hockey memorabilia. "If it didn't work, they could remove it."
|
| ©Andy Rogers / P-I |
| Brenda Talavera uses a tethered wand to collect information about her epileptic seizures that's stored on the device implanted in her brain. She then uses a computer to transmit the data to her doctor. Talavera is part of a clinical trial at Swedish that is testing the effectiveness of the Responsive Neurostimulator System, which detects abnormal electrical activity in the brain and then delivers electrical stimulation. |
|
| ©David McNew/Getty Images |
| Nalgene brand water bottles had used bisphenol-a, which some studies in animals linked to hormonal changes. |
Nalgene, the brand that popularized water bottles made from hard, clear and nearly unbreakable polycarbonate, will stop using the plastic because of growing concern over one of its ingredients.
The decision by Nalgene Outdoor Products, a unit of Thermo Fisher Scientific, based in Rochester, came after reports that the Canadian government would declare the chemical bisphenol-a, or BPA, toxic. Some animal studies have linked the chemical to changes in the hormonal system.
|
| ©KNP |
| Alex Lenkei could hear bones cracking but felt nothing |
A hypnotist stunned medics by snubbing anaesthetic and sending himself into a trance before undergoing surgery.
Mind-bender Alex Lenkei, who could hear the cracking of bones as the surgeon sawed at his hand but felt nothing, is thought to be the first person in the world to perform the feat.
A Washington Psychotherapist Suggests How to Tell . . . and How to Treat the Symptoms
You may not realize it, but a great number of people suffer from EDD.
No, you're not reading a misprint of ADD or ED. The acronym stands for empathy deficit disorder.
You may not realize it, but a great number of people suffer from EDD.
No, you're not reading a misprint of ADD or ED. The acronym stands for empathy deficit disorder.
Comment: The article certainly reads like an apology for psychopathy by assuming that all individuals who lack empathy are suffering from EDD. The examples he gives, people in positions of authority or power, sound like psychopaths, not people suffering from a "disorder".
The question that comes to mind, however, is to what extent there could be such a disorder as a result of the control of society by psychopaths. When one is raised in a place such as the US where all the standards are set by deviants, where the idea of individual material success is hammered into everyone from birth, where all the criteria for success have to do with wealth, position, material goods, and where clawing your colleague to get to the top is encouraged, it may well be that many people get what little spark of empathy they might have driven out of them at a young age.
The Canadian government is said to be ready to declare as toxic a chemical widely used in plastics for baby bottles, beverage and food containers as well as linings in food cans.
Comment: Cholera outbreaks have been recently reported also in Vietnam, Congo and Iraq.