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New discovery may ‘impact treatment of autoimmune diseases’

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Scientists have found a way of “dictating” cell fate to ensure controlled production of helper and regulatory T cells.

A new study has found a way of manipulating the differentiation of T cells in the immune system so as to strike a balance between pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cells. This discovery may have implications for treating autoimmune diseases and some types of cancer.

Autoimmune diseases are triggered when our immune system misidentifies healthy cells as foreign bodies and decides to attack them. In this process, certain cells called “T cells,” which are found in the immune system, are involved.

T cells are of different types and have distinct functions, but their main role is to mediate immune reactions in the body. Some T cells are pro-inflammatory, promoting an immune response, while others are immunosuppressive, regulating the “aggressiveness” of this response.

Autoimmune diseases, as well as some types of cancer such as colorectal cancer and lung cancer, are mediated by certain T cell imbalances in the immune system. These imbalances lead either to anomalous inflammations, or to a lack of reaction, wherein the body is unable to identify pathogens.

Recently, much research has been conducted into a particular type of T cells called “T helper 17” (Th17) cells. Studies have found that Th17 cells can be unstable, thus sustaining autoimmune diseases and mediating some cancers.

A new study led by Dr. Sheng Ding, from the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco, CA, discovered a way of changing cell fate to determine differentiation either into Th17 cells, which are pro-inflammatory, or into regulatory T cells, which are immunosuppressive.

The researchers published their findings in the journal Nature.

“Our findings could have a significant impact on the treatment of autoimmune diseases, as well as on stem cell and immuno-oncology therapies,” says Dr. Ding.

Chemical compound key to cell manipulation
In this study, experiments were conducted both in vitro (using cell cultures) and in vivo (using mice) to test the effect of a chemical compound called “(aminooxy)acetic acid” (AOA).

The researchers found that AOA is key in “telling” a progenitor cell to specialize into either Th17 or regulatory T cells. This allows for the formation of strategies to help promote cellular balance within the immune system.

Dr. Ding and his colleagues explain that this discovery can have wider implications for cancer and autoimmune disease treatments.

Determining differentiation into regulatory T cells rather than Th17 in the case of autoimmune diseases, for instance, could inhibit the exacerbated inflammatory effect caused by the helper cells.

The researchers are also eager to investigate any potential benefits this strategy might bring to stem cell-driven therapy; regulatory T cells can sometimes be used to prevent the system from rejecting organ transplants.

Dr. Ding and his colleagues now suggest that production of regulatory T cells might also be used to promote immune tolerance of cell transplants. They have also expressed their hope that the same strategy might prove effective – albeit indirectly – in cancer therapy.

“Our work could also contribute to ongoing efforts in immuno-oncology and the treatment of cancer. This type of therapy doesn’t target the cancer directly, but rather works on activating the immune system so it can recognize cancer cells and attack them.” – First author Dr. Tao Xu, Gladstone Institutes

While there is still some way to go in understanding how AOA might best be utilized to make treatments more effective, the researchers suggest that this is the first step in regaining control of faulty immune system mechanisms.


Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318824.php

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At last, first cancer ‘living drug’ gets go-ahead

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The US has approved the first treatment to redesign a patient’s own immune system so it attacks cancer.
The regulator – the US Food and Drug Administration – said its decision was a “historic” moment and medicine was now “entering a new frontier”.


The company Novartis is charging $475,000 (£367,000) for the “living drug” therapy, which leaves 83% of people free of a type of blood cancer.
Doctors in the UK said the announcement was an exciting step forward.
The living drug is tailor-made to each patient, unlike conventional therapies such as surgery or chemotherapy.It is called CAR-T and is made by extracting white blood cells from the patient’s blood.

The cells are then genetically reprogrammed to seek out and kill cancer.
The cancer-killers are then put back inside the patient and once they find their target they multiply.
‘Enormously exciting’
Dr Scott Gottlieb, from the FDA, said: “We’re entering a new frontier in medical innovation with the ability to reprogram a patient’s own cells to attack a deadly cancer.
“New technologies such as gene and cell therapies hold out the potential to transform medicine and create an inflection point in our ability to treat and even cure many intractable illnesses.”
The therapy, which will be marketed as Kymriah, works against acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
Most patients respond to normal therapy and Kymriah has been approved for when those treatments fail.

Dr Stephan Grupp, who treated the first child with CAR-T at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said the new approach was “enormously exciting”.
“We’ve never seen anything like this before,” he added.
That first patient had been near to death, but has now been cancer-free for more than five years.
Out of 63 patients treated with CAR-T therapy, 83% were in complete remission within three months and long-term data is still being collected.

However, the therapy is not without risks.
It can cause potentially life-threatening cytokine release syndrome from the rapid proliferation of the CAR-T cells in the body. This can be controlled with drugs.
New era
But the potential of CAR-T technology goes beyond one type of cancer.
Dr David Maloney, medical director of cellular immunotherapy at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, said the FDA’s decision was a “milestone”.
He added: “We believe this is just the first of what will soon be many new immunotherapy-based treatments for a variety of cancers.

CAR-T technology has shown most promise against different blood-based cancers.
However, it has struggled against “solid tumours” such as lung cancer or melanoma.
Dr Prakash Satwani, a paediatric oncologist at Columbia University Medical, said: “The results haven’t been that great when you compare it with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, but I’m sure the technology will get better in the near future.”
Boosting the immune system is already a cornerstone of modern cancer treatment.
A range of drugs that “take the brakes off” the immune system to allow it to attack cancer more freely have already been adopted around the world.

CAR-T technology, which goes a step further and redesigns the immune system, is at a much earlier stage. Prof Peter Johnson, the chief clinician at the charity Cancer Research UK, said: “The first genetically modified cell therapy to be approved by the FDA is an exciting step forward.
“We still have a lot to learn about how to use it safely and who might benefit from it, so it is important to recognise this is just a first step.”

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/health-41094990

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Researchers discover MRI can measure kidney scarring and predict future kidney function

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Researchers from St. Michael’s Hospital have made what are believed to be two world first discoveries: an MRI can measure kidney damage and can predict future kidney function within one year while avoiding needle biopsies.

The researchers used a specific magnetic resonance imaging test called an elastogram to measure kidney scarring in 17 people who had kidney transplants, according to the study published online in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

An elastogram maps the stiffness of tissue using MRI to determine the presence of scarring, according to Dr. Anish Kirpalani, the study’s lead author, a radiologist and a scientist in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s.

Scarring is a major cause of kidney transplant failure.

“Healthy kidney is soft, whereas scar tissue is stiffer,” said Dr. Darren Yuen, a transplant nephrologist and scientist in the Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science of St. Michael’s.

“We needed a way to measure how soft or stiff your kidney is without actually going inside the body. Using the MRI elastogram, we were able to measure kidney stiffness, which gave us an indication of how much scarring there was.”

Scarring is irreversible and can cause progressive kidney injury that can eventually lead to kidney failure. Diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney transplant rejection all cause scarring.

Needle biopsy is the current “gold standard” way to assess kidney scarring. A long needle is inserted into the kidney and a sample about the size of a mechanical pencil tip is removed. The procedure requires pain medications, can be associated with bleeding and requires a day off of work, according to the authors.

The study found that the MRI results were not only comparable to the results of a kidney biopsy, but the test was able to detect a high variability in the amount and location of scarring throughout the entire organ.

“The MRI allowed us to get a full picture of the kidney, whereas with a biopsy we would only see a tiny piece,” said Dr. Kirpalani.

“We were able to tell that in some parts of the kidney it’s very stiff, and in others, it’s not stiff at all, which is information we couldn’t get from a biopsy.”

The researchers also found that kidney stiffness predicted how well the kidney would be working one year after the MRI. They found that those with higher levels of stiffness in their kidneys had a greater loss of kidney function, while those with softer kidneys did not.

This shows that MRI can accurately predict future kidney function, according to the authors, which may be particularly helpful for kidney transplant patients.

“When we’re looking at a transplanted kidney, we’re dealing with a precious resource–these patients have waited a long time for a transplant, and have been on dialysis, which is a difficult and painful process,” said Dr. Kirpalani.

“Scarring is a big problem for transplant patients, and with MRI we may be able to better guide how kidney transplant patients are treated early on to improve their long-term outcomes.”

MRIs would not replace biopsies, said Dr. Yuen, but rather act as an additional test to give a more comprehensive understanding of kidney health.

“Clinicians are hesitant to send patients for a test that has risks such as internal bleeding unless a diagnosis can’t be made without it,” he said. “With this new MRI test, doctors can gather valuable information in the many patients for whom the risks of a biopsy are too high.”

He also emphasized that this new MRI test may help facilitate the testing of new anti-scarring treatments.

“There are currently no anti-scarring drugs on the market, in part because it is hard to rationalize doing multiple kidney biopsies as part of a pharmaceutical trial,” said Dr. Yuen.

“By providing a needle-free way to measure kidney scarring, we may create more opportunities for this crucial research into finding an effective anti-scarring treatment.”

The study was conducted in the hospital’s MRI research centre, which houses MRI equipment dedicated specifically to clinical research.

“The unique MRI research centre that we have created, including elastography equipment, is focused on research that will directly impact patient care, allowing us to do this important study in people with transplant kidneys,” said Dr. Kirpalani.

Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/319278.php

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Prostate Cancer – Most common among males in India

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Prostate cancer is a cancer of the small, walnut-shaped gland near the urinary bladder in men, that produces seminal fluid, nourishes and transports the sperm. Located in front of the rectum and just below the bladder, where the urine is stored, the prostate also surrounds the urethra, the canal through which urine passes out of the body. Older men, usually in the sixth decade of their life, are at a higher risk of this disease.Symptoms

At the early stages of this cancer, most men will not experience any symptoms. Some men, however, will experience the following symptoms that might indicate the presence of prostate cancer:

  • Frequent urination, especially at night
  • Difficulty in starting urination or holding back urine
  • Weak or interrupted flow of urine
  • Painful or burning urination
  • Difficulty in having an erection
  • Painful ejaculation
  • Blood in urine or semen
  • Frequent pain or stiffness in the lower back, hip or upper thigh

Causes

The exact cause of prostate cancer is under investigation. However, increasing age and high testosterone are known risk factors.Diagnosis

Since the above mentioned symptoms can potentially indicate the presence of other diseases or disorders, men who experience any of these symptoms should undergo a thorough check-up to determine the underlying cause of the symptoms.

  • A blood test for a protein known as Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA)
  • An ultrasound examination through the rectum is suggested, usually after the doctor has examined the prostate through the rectum (Digital Rectal Examination – DRE)

Treatment

The prostate cancer treatment options depend on several factors, such as:

  • How fast the cancer is growing
  • How much it has spread
  • The overall health
  • The benefits and the potential side effects of the treatment

Immediate treatment may not be necessary
For men diagnosed with a very early stage of prostate cancer, treatment may not be necessary right away. Some men may never need treatment. Instead, doctors sometimes recommend active surveillance.

In active surveillance, regular follow-up blood tests, rectal exams and possibly biopsies may be performed to monitor progression of your cancer. If tests show that cancer is progressing, then the doctor recommends surgery or radiation.

Active surveillance carries a risk that the cancer may grow and spread between checkups, making it less likely to be cured.

Radiation therapy
Radiation therapy uses high-powered energy to kill cancer cells. Prostate cancer radiation therapy can be delivered in two ways:

External beam radiation: During external beam radiation therapy, the patient lies on a table while a machine moves around the body, directing high-powered energy beams to the cancer. The patient undergoes external beam radiation treatments five days a week for several weeks. External beam radiation uses x-rays or protons to deliver the radiation.

Brachytherapy: Brachytherapy involves placing many rice-sized radioactive seeds in the prostate tissue. The radioactive seeds deliver a low dose of radiation over a long period of time. The doctor implants the radioactive seeds in the prostate using a needle guided by ultrasound images. The implanted seeds eventually stop giving off radiation and don’t need to be removed.

Hormone therapy
Hormone therapy is treatment to stop the body from producing the male hormone testosterone. Prostate cancer cells rely on testosterone to help them grow. Cutting off the supply of hormones may cause cancer cells to die or to grow more slowly. Hormone therapy options include:

  • Medications that stop the body from producing testosterone
  • Medications that block testosterone from reaching cancer cells
  • Surgery to remove the testicles (orchiectomy)

Hormone therapy is used in men with advanced prostate cancer to shrink the cancer and slow the growth of tumours. In men with early-stage prostate cancer, hormone therapy may be used to shrink tumours before radiation therapy. This can make it more likely that radiation therapy will be successful.

Hormone therapy is sometimes used after surgery or radiation therapy to slow the growth of any cancer cells left behind.

Surgery to remove the prostate
Surgery for prostate cancer involves removing the prostate gland, some surrounding tissue and a few lymph nodes. Ways the radical prostatectomy procedure can be performed include:

  • Using a robot to assist with surgery
  • Making an incision in your abdomen
  • Making an incision between your anus and scrotum
  • Laparoscopic prostatectomy

Freezing prostate tissue
Cryosurgery or cryoablation involves freezing tissue to kill cancer cells. During cryosurgery for prostate cancer, small needles are inserted in the prostate using ultrasound images as guidance. A very cold gas is placed in the needles, which causes the surrounding tissue to freeze. A second gas is then placed in the needles to reheat the tissue. The cycles of freezing and thawing kill the cancer cells and some surrounding healthy tissue.

Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy uses drugs to kill rapidly growing cells, including cancer cells. Chemotherapy can be administered through a vein in your arm, in pill form or both.

Chemotherapy may be a treatment option for men with prostate cancer that has spread to distant areas of their bodies. Chemotherapy may also be an option for cancers that don’t respond to hormone therapy.

Multiple new chemotherapy drugs have recently been approved for treatment of progressive, metastatic prostate cancer.

Immunotherapy
A form of immunotherapy has been developed to treat advanced, recurrent prostate cancer. This treatment takes some of the patient’s own immune cells, genetically engineers them to fight prostate cancer, and then injects the cells back into the patient’s body through a vein. Some men do respond to this therapy with some improvement in their cancer, but the treatment is very expensive and requires multiple visits.

Management
Depending on the stage of the disease, hormonal therapy, surgery and/or radiation therapy are initiated. Some patients may require chemotherapy at a later stage.

Specialists:

Dr Belliappa – Radiation Oncology (View Profile)

Dr Jagannath Dixit – Surgical Oncology (View Profile)

Dr Kumaraswamy – Radiation Oncology (View Profile)

Dr Mahesh Bandemegal – Surgical Oncology (View Profile)

Dr Nalini Rao – Radiation Oncology (View Profile)

Dr Radheshyam Naik – Bone Marrow Transplantation (View Profile)

Dr Ram Alwa – Radiation Oncology (View Profile)

Dr Ramesh Billimagga – Radiation Oncology (View Profile)

Dr Ravi B Diwakar – Medical Oncology (View Profile)

Dr S Bhattacharjee – Radiation Oncology (View Profile)

Dr Shekhar Patil – Medical Oncology (View Profile)

Dr Sridhar P S – Radiation Oncology (View Profile)

Dr Vijay Agarwal – Medical Oncology (View Profile)

Dr Vinayak Maka – Medical Oncology(View Profile) 

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Blue Whale Game: Fortis Healthcare Launches 24×7 Helpline

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The helpline offers to be medium through which people can freely open up to trained mental health care professionals and avail immediate help. The helpline is also available for family members who notice sudden negative behavioural changes among the young in the family.

Fortis Healthcare on Thursday launched a 24×7 helpline to provide psychological support to teenagers increasingly getting trapped in the macabre online game Blue Whale Challenge.


The helpline — 8376804102 — is available for anyone who is directly undergoing undue mental stress and anxiety as a participant in the challenge.


The Blue Whale Challenge, reportedly created by a former convict in Russia, is said to psychologically provoke players to indulge in daring, self-destructive tasks for 50 days before finally taking the “winning” step of killing themselves — and each task must be filmed and shared as “proof”.
The helpline is also available for family members who notice sudden negative behavioural changes among the young in the family.
“We have been receiving calls both from teenagers as well as concerned parents. This helpline is geared towards intervening in times of crises as well as imparting psycho-education to help individuals and families cope with the situation,” Samir Parikh, Director, (Department of Mental Health and Behavioural Sciences) at Fortis Healthcare, said in a statement on Thursday.

The helpline offers to be medium through which people can freely open up to trained mental health care professionals and avail immediate help.
According to media reports, over six cases across India have been suspected to be linked to the deadly game.

While taking measures to curb the deadly game, the government recently directed internet majors — Google, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Microsoft and Yahoo — to erase links pertaining to the Blue Whale Challenge.
“Instances of children committing suicide while Blue Whale Challenge have been reported in India… You are hereby requested to ensure that any such link of this deadly game in its own name or similar game is immediately removed from your platform,” the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology stated.

Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/health/blue-whale-game-fortis-launches-24×7-helpline-4834386/

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Is it safe to get vaccines when you’re pregnant ?

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Certain vaccines are actually recommended during pregnancy: the Tdap vaccine (tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis), which helps protect against whooping cough, as well as the flu shot.

You can get the flu shot during any trimester or before pregnancy, depending on whether it’s flu season when you’re expecting. Experts generally recommend that pregnant women get the Tdap between the 27- and 36-week marks.
Any friends and family members who will spend time around your newborn should get these vaccines, too.

Then there are the vaccines you definitely should not get if you’re pregnant. Types made with live strains of a virus could potentially transmit the virus to the baby.

The MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine is a live-virus vaccine; women are advised to wait at least a month after receiving it before getting pregnant. Same goes for the varicella vaccine (for chicken pox).
Many women received these vaccines as children, but your doctor will want to make sure you’re immune by doing a pre-pregnancy blood test.

Rubella, for example, can cause serious birth defects if a pregnant woman gets infected—so it’s important to make sure you’re up-to-date on all vaccinations before you try to conceive.

Source: http://www.health.com/pregnancy/vaccines-pregnancy

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Coming Soon: Pill To Ward Off Diabetes & Heart Disease

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If what some scientists are saying is true, preventing both heart disease and diabetes could be as simple as popping a single pill.
Soon, preventing both heart disease and diabetes could be as simple as popping a single pill, if predictions by a team of scientists prove true.

A large analysis of genetic data found that both the conditions, which are the leading causes of death and illness across the world, are linked by the same genes. The team led by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania first looked into what causes Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and then clarified how T2D and coronary heart disease (CHD) are linked.

Examining genome sequence information for more than 250,000 people, the researchers first uncovered 16 new diabetes genetic risk factors and one new CHD genetic risk factor; hence providing novel insights about the mechanisms of the two diseases.

They then showed that most of the sites on the genome known to be associated with higher diabetes risk are also associated with higher CHD risk. For eight of these sites, the researchers were able to identify a specific gene variant that influences risk for both diseases. The shared genetic risk factors affect biological pathways including immunity, cell proliferation, and heart development.

The findings add to the basic scientific understanding of both these major diseases and point to potential targets for future drugs. “Identifying these gene variants linked to both type 2 diabetes and CHD risk in principle opens up opportunities to lower the risk of both outcomes with a single drug,” said co-senior author Danish Saleheen. “From a drug development perspective, it would make sense to focus on those pathways that are most strongly linked to both diseases,” Saleheen said.

The researchers found evidence that, on the whole, the genetic link between the diseases appears to work in one direction, so that risk genes for type 2 diabetes are much more likely to be associated with higher CHD risk than the other way around. Additionally, there could be some pathways where pharmacological lowering of one disease increases the risk of the other.

The scientists also found that diabetes-linked gene variants tend to differ in their apparent effects on CHD risk, depending on their mechanisms. Variants that increase the chance of obesity or high blood pressure, for example, appear to boost CHD risk more strongly than variants that alter insulin or glucose levels.
The dual-effect risk loci also include the region covering the gene FABP4, which is already being investigated for its potential as a diabetes and heart-disease drug target. In mouse studies, inhibition of this gene’s protein has been shown to have anti-atherosclerotic, i.e., helps fight thickening and hardening with fat on the inside of arteries and anti-diabetic effects.

Saleheen, co-senior author Benjamin F. Voight and their colleagues now plan further investigations of the dual-risk genes uncovered in the study. The researchers also hope to learn more about the biology of the newly discovered dual-risk genes by studying people who have mutations in those genes, Saleheen said. The study is published in Nature Genetics.


Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/health/miracle-cure-pill-to-ward-off-diabetes-heart-disease-could-soon-be-reality/story-jt5M8MrJWIQLhwhmQ27pNO.html

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Natural protein may help to prevent blindness

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Researchers have found that a naturally occurring protein helps to protect the retina against glaucoma.


Scientists may be on the brink of a new strategy to prevent blindness, after discovering a naturally occurring protein that protects the eye from one of the leading causes: glaucoma.
Glaucoma is an umbrella term for a number of diseases that damage the optic nerve, which is the cluster of nerve fibers that links the retina – the light-sensitive tissue that lines the back of the eye – to the brain.

Optic nerve damage disrupts the transmission of visual signals to the brain, which can result in vision loss and blindness.

Glaucoma is most commonly caused by a buildup of eye pressure, which can damage the optic nerve. However, the precise mechanisms by which optic nerve damage occurs have been unclear, but researchers from Macquarie University in Australia may have shed some light.

The team found that a protein called neuroserpin plays a key role in retinal health, but that this protein is inactivated in glaucoma. They suggest that their findings may lead to much-needed strategies to prevent and treat the disease.

Lead study author Dr. Vivek Gupta, of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Macquarie University, and colleagues recently published their results in the journal Scientific Reports.

Neuroserpin and glaucoma

Neuroserpin is already established as a protein that blocks the activity of an enzyme called plasmin, protecting neurons, or nerve cells, against plasmin-induced damage.

For their study, Dr. Gupta and colleagues set out to determine how neuroserpin and plasmin are affected by glaucoma.

The researchers came to their findings by analyzing retinal cells derived from humans with and without glaucoma, as well as retinas from rat models of the disease.

The analysis revealed that neuroserpin is deactivated in response to oxidative stress, which can be triggered by environmental factors such as air pollution.

Oxidative stress is an imbalance between the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) – which are molecules that can damage cell structures – and the body’s ability to offset their harmful effects.

Interestingly, the researchers found that neuroserpin was inactive in retinal cells from glaucoma patients and in the retinas of glaucoma rat models, which prevented the protein from inhibiting plasmin activity.

“Over a long period of time,” explains Dr. Gupta, “increased enzyme activity gradually digests the eye tissue and promotes cell death causing the adverse effects associated with glaucoma.”

‘Breakthrough findings’

It is estimated that glaucoma affects around 2.2 million adults aged 40 and older in the United States, and it is one of the country’s leading causes of vision loss and blindness.

There is currently no cure for glaucoma, but there are treatments that can help to slow progression of the disease if it is detected early enough.

Dr. Gupta and team hope that their findings will open the door to new strategies that could help to prevent or treat glaucoma.

“Ophthalmologists and vision scientists have always wondered what damages the optic nerve in the back of the eyes, which is widely observed in glaucoma,” notes study co-author Dr. Mehdi Mirzaei, of the Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences at Macquarie University.

“The breakthrough findings of this study,” he adds, “help us understand the disease mechanism and answer a key question that has eluded scientists for several years.”

“This long-term collaborative study has opened up a completely new line of investigation in glaucoma research that will lead to new treatment avenues for the disease.”
Dr. Vivek Gupta
In future studies, the team plans to investigate whether or not antioxidants – which are molecules that help to prevent cell damage caused by ROS – could be an effective treatment for glaucoma.

Source: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319588.php

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Hope for cancer patients: Ancient Chinese ink could non-invasively treat the disease

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Scientists found that Hu-ink kills cancer cells in a laboratory dish. Under normal conditions, the ink is non-toxic.
The deadly disease cancer often sneaks up on patients. While the cure for cancer is still being researched, scientists claim that a plant-based ink, that has been used by Chinese calligraphers for hundreds of years, could non-invasively kill cancer cells. As cancer cells leave a tumour, they frequently make their way to lymph nodes, which are part of the immune system. In this case, the main treatment option is surgery, but this can result in complications.

Photothermal therapy (PTT) is an emerging non-invasive treatment option in which nanomaterials are injected and accumulate in cancer cells. A laser heats up the nanomaterials, and this heat kills the cells. Many of these nanomaterials are expensive, difficult to make and toxic.

However, a traditional Chinese ink called Hu-Kaiwen (Hu- ink) has similar properties to the nanomaterials used in PTT. For example, they are the same colour, and are both carbon-based and stable in water. The researchers including those from Fudan University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China analysed Hu-ink and found that it consists of nanoparticles and thin layers of carbon. When Hu-ink was heated with a laser, its temperature rose by 55 degrees Celsius, much higher than current nanomaterials.

Under PPT conditions, the Hu-ink killed cancer cells in a laboratory dish, but under normal conditions, the ink was non-toxic. This was also the scenario observed in mice with tumours. The researchers also noted that Hu-ink could act as a probe to locate tumours and metastases because it absorbs near-infrared light, which goes through skin.

Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/health/hope-for-cancer-patients-ancient-chinese-ink-could-non-invasively-treat-the-disease/story-qCg6heFDGWVvHVAz2hvbpK.html

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Things you need to know about Breast Cancer – Dr. Thomas Varughese

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In general, breast cancers could fall into 4 categories based on the presentation:

1. With no external signs but picked up on screening with mammography or ultrasound.They are non palpable,pre clinical.

2. This group present with symptoms mostly a lump in the breast mostly upper outer quadrant,but there is no hard and fast rule.

3. Group is called locally advanced where the swelling has gone beyond an operable stage(over 5 cms or with skin ulcers or tethering or massive lymph nodes ulcerating or not but with no features of dissemination)

4. These are the patients in whom the disease has spread to Liver,Lung,Brain ,Bones,Viscera or any other organs.Hence the signs and symptoms differ.

In general AJCC (American Joint Committee on Cancer) describes it in the following way.
According to the American Cancer Society, any of the following unusual changes in the breast can be a symptom of breast cancer:
– Swelling of all or part of the breast
– Skin irritation or dimpling
– Breast pain
– Nipple pain or the nipple turning inward
– Redness, scaliness, or thickening of the nipple or breast skin
– A nipple discharge other than breast milk
– A lump in the underarm area

These changes also can be signs of less serious conditions that are not cancerous, such as an infection or a cyst. It’s important to get any breast changes checked out promptly by a doctor.
One should practice self examination.All those who are having menstruation should examine breasts during mid cycle and post menopausal women on any fixed day of the month regularly.

Do not ignore warning signs

Many a time it save lives. As a surgical oncologist and re constructive surgeon,and a specialist in breast diseases,and an ardent believer or breast preservation treatment protocols(Cosmetic oncology). I feel over 99% of the times breast preservation is possible without jeopardising oncological benefits,in those whom early detection is done.
Please remember,breast cancer is a younger lady’s problem.

Share this information,it may help another person too.

– Dr. Thomas Varughese
MS, FICS (Onco) FACS
Oncologist & Surgeon (Specialized in Reconstructive Surgery)
Kerala

Contact Dr. Thomas Varughese

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