Surgeons are taught from textbooks which conveniently color-code the types of tissues, but that's not what it looks like in real life -- until now. At TEDMED Quyen Nguyen demonstrates how a molecular marker can make tumors light up in neon green, showing surgeons exactly where to cut.
Quyen Nguyen uses molecular probes that make tumors -- and just the tumors -- glow, as an extraordinary aid to surgeons. Full bio »
Varicose veins? Cold sores? The answer's easy peasy, lemon squeezy
Sunshine yellow, eye-wateringly tangy and smelling like a summer in Italy . . . no wonder most people like lemons.
Now, in a new book, a former GP proclaims lemons are nothing short of a
Lemons can help with an array of ailments such as cold sores, weight gain, gallstones, urine infection, indigestion, muscle pain and constipation
Lemon contains a compound, limonene, which has antiviral properties. It is found mainly in the peel, but also in the juice. Lemon oil can also help by excluding air from a sore.
ACTION: Apply lemon juice to a cold sore several times a day, using a clean cotton pad each time, or add a drop of lemon oil to two teaspoons of sweet almond oil and apply this to the cold sore.
Lemons contain pectin, a natural fibre and gelling agent, which mops up fat stored by the body, and reduces absorption; researchers in Texas also found that pectin helps you feel full.
Lemon acids and pectin can slow the absorption of sugar after a meal. So cooking with lemon juice or sprinkling it on food can prevent low blood-sugar dips, which can trigger hunger pangs and overeating.
The vitamin C in lemons also helps us to produce carnitine — an amino acid that helps our body burn fat.
Studies at Arizona State University found that volunteers with adequate vitamin C burned 30 per cent more fat during exercise than those with low levels. In a separate study of obese women trying to lose weight, those who took vitamin C lost twice as much.
ACTION: Include the zest and juice of a lemon in your daily diet.
Most gallstones are made up of cholesterol, formed when the liver or gall- bladder do not successfully expel it. A lack of stomach acid (as caused by ageing, stress, or medications such as antacids or acid-suppressants) discourages gallbladder contractions.
Acidic foods such as lemon juice before a meal can mimic stomach acid, and encourage the gallbladder to contract and expel small stones.
Lemons are also rich in anti-oxidants, which studies have found to discourage gallstones.
ACTION: If you have stones, take one tablespoon each of lemon juice and olive oil an hour before breakfast each day.
Wasp stings irritate because they are alkaline, so lemon acids may help. They may also ease irritation from mosquito and gnat bites.
ACTION: Apply a cotton pad soaked in lemon juice, and repeat if necessary.
If infection is making your urinary tract inflamed and sore, overly acidic urine — for example, from an unhealthy diet — will worsen the pain. The urine’s normal pH (acid–alkaline balance) varies from 4.5 to 9, the ideal perhaps being 5.8 to 6.8. Surprisingly, the metabolism of lemon juice in the body has a mildly alkalising effect that can help restore your urine to its normal state.
ACTION: Consume the juice of half a lemon two or three times a day, neat or sprinkled on food.
Potassium in lemons helps to regulate body fluids, and their magnesium relaxes arteries. They also contain flavonoids — nutrients known to promote healthy vessels. Lemons also add flavour to foods, so can be used as a healthy alternative to salt.
One small lemon’s vitamin C can boost levels of nitric oxide, a gas which sends a signal to the body to relax and widen blood vessels.
Finally, lemon juice resembles some hypertension medications known as ACE-inhibitors — it inhibits the production in the kidneys of the hormone angiotensin, which is known to raise blood pressure by constricting blood vessels.
ACTION: Include the zest and juice of a lemon in your daily diet.
Lemons can act as a venous tonic as they have strengthening, tightening and anti-inflammatory effects on vein walls.
ACTION: Massage your legs with a mixture of two drops of lemon, two of lavender and three of cypress essential oils in two tablespoons of sweet almond or other carrier oil.
Lemon juice makes fried food more digestible because its acids emulsify fats so that they don’t lie on the stomach.
Lemon juice and pulp from the fruit is broken down in the body to make potassium carbonate, which helps reduce stomach acid.
And limonene, the major component of lemon oil which is found in lemon peel, may help to prevent heartburn. It’s thought to coat the gullet lining, protecting it from acid. A U.S. study of 19 adults found that taking 1,000mg of limonene every day or other day relieved heartburn and acid reflux.
ACTION: Drink one tablespoon of lemon juice in a glass of warm water.
Lemon essential oil is an expectorant — this is a type of ingredient often used in cough medicines which encourage the airways to expel mucus.
A five-year study of 63,257 people in Singapore found that a diet high in fruit fibre discouraged chronic coughs. Researchers suggested that flavonoids — which have antioxidant properties — may protect the lungs from inflammation and tissue damage.
ACTION: To soothe a cough, drink homemade lemonade, or put two tablespoons of cracked linseeds — another known expectorant — and half a lemon, sliced, into a pint of water, simmer for 20 minutes, then strain and sweeten with honey.
Alternatively, put two drops each of lemon essential oil, eucalyptus oil and tea-tree oil into a bowl of just-boiled water; put a towel over your head and inhale the vapour.
Psoriasis refers to patches of thick, flaking skin, often on the knees, elbows, scalp or elsewhere. It sounds unlikely but citric acid in lemon juice can ease dryness and flaking — it helps the skin retain water and encourages the exfoliation of dead skin cells.
In addition, the juice of a lemon contains psoralens, a natural chemical found in many plants which is highly sensitive to the sun’s UVA rays and reacts on the skin’s cells.
Many dermatologists prescribe psoralens orally or to be applied to the skin, combined with UVA therapy for psoriasis.
ACTION: Smooth lemon juice over psoriasis patches several times a day, then expose them to sunlight for a few minutes a day, increasing the time over several weeks.
Lemons are rich in pectin, a type of fibre which forms a gel in the bowel that encourages easier bowel movements. Another fibre in lemons is cellulose, which attracts water. This makes stools bulkier and softer and reduces their transit time.
ACTION: Include the zest and juice of a lemon in your daily diet.
Pain and stiffness experienced after exercise respond to anti-inflammatories such as nobiletin in lemon oil.
ACTION: Put one teaspoon of lemon oil in your bathwater or add three drops of lemon oil and a few drops of ginger oil (an analgesic and local circulation booster) to three tablespoons of sweet almond or other carrier oil, and massage the muscles with the mixture.
Extracted from The Miracle Of Lemons, by Dr Penny Stanway, published by Duncan Baird on February 3 at £6.99.
© Dr Penny Stanway 2011. To order a copy (p&p free), call 0845 155 0720 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 0845 155 0720 end_of_the_skype_highlighting.
By Jenny Hope
Last updated at 4:41 AM on 26th January 2011
From The Mail Online
A common weed could help cure skin cancers, claim researchers.
The sap from a plant known as petty spurge or milkweed - found by roadsides and in woodland - can 'kill' certain types of cancer cells when applied to the skin.
It works on non-melanoma skin cancers, which affect hundreds of thousands of Britons each year.
Milkweed miracle: You can find this weed invading gardens beds across the UK, but it has great cancer-fighting properties
They are triggered by sun damage and, although not usually fatal, can be disfiguring without treatment.
The plant has been used for centuries as a traditional folk medicine to treat conditions such as warts, asthma and several types of cancer.
But for the first time a team of scientists in Australia has carried out a clinical study of sap from Euphorbia peplus, which is related to Euphorbia plants grown in gardens in the UK.
The study of 36 patients with a total of 48 non-melanoma lesions included basal cell carcinomas (BCC), squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) and intraepidermal carcinomas (IEC), a growth of cancerous cells confined to the outer layer of the skin.
Patients had failed to respond to conventional treatment including surgery, or they refused or were unsuitable for surgery because of their age.
The patients were treated once a day for three consecutive days by an oncologist using a cotton bud to apply enough of the E.peplus sap to cover the surface of each lesion.
The initial results were impressive, says findings to be released this week in the British Journal of Dermatology.
After only one month 41 of the 48 cancers had completely gone.
Patients who had some of the lesions remaining were offered a second course of treatment.
After an average of 15 months following treatment, two thirds of the 48 skin cancer lesions were still showing a complete response.
Of the three types of skin cancer tested, the final outcome was a 75 per cent complete response for IEC lesions, 57 per cent for BCC and 50 per cent for SCC lesions.
Side-effects were low, with 43 per cent of patients in no pain as a result of the treatment and only 14 per cent reporting moderate pain, and only one patient encountered severe short-term pain.
Latin name: Euphorbia peplus
Occurrence: Petty spurge is a small, branched annual, plentiful in gardens and arable fields.
It is native and common throughout the UK, in any kind of soil. The plant exudes a milky sap when damaged, which is a severe irritant if applied to the skin.
Biology: Petty spurge flowers from April to November. The seed number per plant ranges from 260 to 1,200.
Petty spurge may be found in fruit for eight months of the year. Seedlings emerge throughout the year except for in winter but the main flush is from April to May. Most seed germinates within a year of shedding.
Just a few seedlings emerge in the following 5 years. Germination occurs at 5 to 10 mm depth in soil.
Persistence and Spread: Seed recovered from house demolitions and archaeological digs and dated at 20, 25, 30 and 100 years old has been reported to germinate.
Source: www.gardenorganic.org.uk
In all cases of successful treatment the skin was left with a good cosmetic appearance.
The researchers, from a number of medical institutions in Brisbane, attribute the benefit to the active ingredient ingenol mebutate which has been shown to destroy tumour cells.
British experts said further studies were needed and people should not try this at home as the weed sap can be harmful to the eyes and should not be eaten.
More than 76,500 people are diagnosed with non-melanoma skin cancer in the UK each year, with 90 per cent caused by ultraviolet light exposure.
Lesions usually appear on the areas most exposed to the sun, such as the head, neck, ears, and back of the hands.
Kimberley Carter of the British Association of Dermatologists said: 'This is a very small test group so it will be interesting to see what larger studies and the development of the active ingredient in E. peplus sap will reveal.
'Whilst it would not provide an alternative to surgery for the more invasive skin cancers or melanoma, in the future it might become a useful addition to the treatments available to patients for superficial, non-melanoma skin cancers.
'Any advances that could lead to new therapies for patients where surgery is not an option are definitely worth investigating.
'It is also very important to note that this is definitely not a treatment people should be trying out at home.
'Exposure of the sap to mucous producing surfaces, such as the eyes, results in extreme inflammation and can lead to hospitalisation.
'The concentration of the active ingredients in the sap also varies between different plants, with high doses able to cause very severe and excessive inflammatory responses.'
You may literally have to add it to your to-do list, but scheduling
a good night's sleep could be one of the smartest health priorities you
set. It's not just daytime drowsiness you risk when shortchanging
yourself on your seven to eight hours. Possible health consequences of
getting too little or poor sleep can involve the cardiovascular,
endocrine, immune and nervous systems. In addition to letting life get
in the way of good sleep, between 50 and 70 million Americans suffer
from a chronic sleep disorder—insomnia or sleep apnea, say—that affects daily functioning and impinges on health. Consider the research:
1) Less may mean more. For people who sleep under seven hours a night, the fewer zzzz's they get, the more obese
they tend to be, according to a 2006 Institute of Medicine (IOM)
report. This may relate to the discovery that insufficient sleep
appears to tip hunger hormones out of whack. Leptin, which suppresses
appetite, is lowered; ghrelin, which stimulates appetite, gets a boost.
2)
You're more apt to make bad food choices. A study published in the
October 15, 2008 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found
that people with obstructive sleep apnea or other severely disordered
breathing while asleep ate a diet higher in cholesterol, protein, total
fat, and total saturated fat. Women were especially affected.
3) Diabetes
and impaired glucose tolerance, its precursor, may become more likely.
A 2005 study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that
people getting five or fewer hours of sleep each night were 2.5 times
more likely to be diabetic, while those with six hours or fewer were
1.7 times more likely.
4) The ticker is put at risk. A 2003 study found that heart attacks were 45 percent more likely in women who slept for five or fewer hours per night than in those who got more.
5)
Blood pressure may increase. Obstructive sleep apnea, for example, has
been associated with chronically elevated daytime blood pressure, and
the more severe the disorder, the more significant the hypertension, suggests the 2006 IOM report. Obesity plays a role in both disorders, so losing weight can ease associated health risks.
6)
Auto accidents rise. As stated in a 2007 report in the New England
Journal of Medicine, nearly 20 percent of serious car crash injuries
involve a sleepy driver—and that's independent of alcohol use.
7) Balance is off. Older folks who have trouble getting to sleep, who wake up at night, or are drowsy during the day could be 2 to 4.5 times more likely to sustain a fall, found a 2007 study in the Journal of Gerontology.
8)
You may be more prone to depression. Adults who chronically operate on
fumes report more mental distress, depression, and alcohol use.
Adolescents suffer, too: One survey of high school students found
similarly high rates of these issues. Middle schoolers, too, report
more symptoms of depression and lower self-esteem.
9) Kids may
suffer more behavior problems. Research from an April issue of the
Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine found that children who
are plagued by insomnia, short duration of sleeping, or disordered
breathing with obesity, for example, are more likely to have behavioral
issues like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Clinical trial results revealed exclusively to ITV News show for the first time on this scale, that changing diet and lifestyle after cancer has been diagnosed, can significantly improve a patient's outcome.
The trial, centred at Addenbrooke's Hospital in
After a year of improving their diet and increasing exercise, nearly 40 per cent of them no longer required the expected surgery or radiotherapy.
Several studies show that eating certain foods may reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer, reduce the likelihood of prostate cancer coming back after treatment, or help slow down progression of the disease.
In recent years, the British diet has included less fruit and vegetables and more saturated fats and meat products. These changes may increase the risk of men developing prostate cancer over many years.
By
Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 10:38 AM on 29th October 2008
Grapes helped lower blood pressure and improve heart function in lab
rats fed an otherwise salty diet, U.S. researchers have said.
The findings, published in the Journal of Gerontology: Biological Sciences, may help people with high blood pressure, they said.
'These
findings support our theory that something within the grapes themselves
has a direct impact on cardiovascular risk, beyond the simple blood
pressure-lowering impact that we already know can come from a diet rich
in fruits and vegetables,' said Mitchell Seymour of the
Cardioprotection Research Laboratory at the University of Michigan.
The research showed that rats on a high-salt diet had less cardiovascular risk when they ate grape powder
In
a study sponsored in part by California grape producers, Seymour and
colleagues examined the effects of ordinary grapes on rats that develop
high blood pressure when fed a salty diet.
Some of the rats
ate a diet containing a powder from red, green and purple table grapes
and a high-salt diet. Others were fed the grape powder and a low-salt
diet. The powder, which contained the same nutrients in fresh grapes,
allowed the scientists to measure the rats' intake carefully.
After
18 weeks, the rats that ate the grape-enriched diet had lower blood
pressure, better heart function, reduced inflammation throughout their
bodies, and fewer signs of heart muscle damage than rats that ate a
salty diet but no grapes.
'The inevitable downhill sequence to
hypertension and heart failure was changed by the addition of grape
powder to a high-salt diet,' Dr. Steven Bolling of the University of
Michigan, who heads up the lab, said in a statement.
Bolling
said he thinks flavonoids, beneficial chemicals found in grapes, green
tea, cocoa and and tomatoes, could be having an effect on blood
pressure. Flavonoids have been shown in other studies to have
heart-health benefits.
Food producers are keen to show the
health benefits of their products. Studies sponsored by chocolate
makers, almond and walnut producers have shown various heart benefits,
including reducing inflammation in blood vessels and lowering the risk
of heart attacks and stroke.
Grape powder comprised about
three percent of the rats' diet. For humans, that would be about nine
servings of grapes a day. One serving is about 15 grapes.
The
California Table Grape Commission provided financial support for the
study and supplied the grape powder. Other sponsors included the
National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, part of the National
Institutes of Health.
High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, can lead to heart attack, heart failure, stroke and kidney failure.
By
Fiona Macrae
Scientists now understand the secrets of cancer enzyme telomerase
A
major breakthrough in cancer research could lead to the creation of
'one-size-fits-all' drugs capable of tackling almost all forms of the
disease.
Scientists have unravelled the secrets of an enzyme called telomerase that makes cancer cells immortal.
This allows them to multiply uncontrollably and cause disease.
The landmark discovery paves the way for the creation of drugs that block the enzyme, stopping tumour growth.
With
telomerase at work in almost all human cancers, such a drug or family
of drugs could have a major impact in the treatment of the disease
which affects almost 300,000 Britons a year and kills someone every
four minutes.
Liz Baker, of charity Cancer Research UK, said: 'This is a crucial part of the puzzle in understanding how telomerase works.
'Fundamental
research like this may help scientists to design drugs that block
telomerase and could potentially be used to treat a wide range of
cancers.'
The implications of the US research do not end there,
with new anti-ageing treatments or better drugs for age-related
diseases also possibly on the cards, the journal Nature reports.
The researchers from the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, have deciphered the structure of a key part of telomerase.
In
healthy cells, the enzyme is all but switched off, and the cells
multiply a set number of times before dying - a key part of the ageing
process.
But in up to 90 per cent of cancers, the enzyme is activated, allowing runaway cell division and tumour growth.
Solving
the compound's structure will allow scientists to design drugs that
deactivate the enzyme and so halt the disease in its tracks.
The
targeting of cancerous cells should mean such medicines would be free
of the side-effects such as the pain, nausea and hair loss associated
with conventional treatments.
Previous attempts to make telomerase-blocking drugs have been thwarted by lack of knowledge about the enzyme.
Study leader Dr Emmanuel Skordalakes described the breakthrough as 'extremely exciting'.
'Telomerase
is an ideal target for chemotherapy because it is active in almost all
human tumours, but inactive in most normal cells,' he said.
'That means a drug that deactivates telomerase would likely work against all cancers, with few side effects.'
Unravelling the mysteries of telomerase could also pave the way for therapies that combat ageing and age-related diseases.
Switching on telomerase in a controlled, safe way, could theoretically produce younger, healthier and longer living tissue.
The
researchers concluded: 'Because telomerase has a critical role in both
cancer and ageing, these findings could potentially assist our efforts
to identify and develop inhibitors and/or activators of this enzyme for
the treatment of cancer and ageing, respectively.'
But the
enzyme's structure is complex and any drugs that are designed will have
to go through many years of laboratory, animal and human testing before
they reach the pharmacy shelves.
Red grapes are more than just the source for the world’s
finest wine - the fruits themselves are a wonder cure against heart
attacks, according to new research.
And while a glass of wine is
a recognised part of a healthy Mediterranean-style diet, it seems the
bits of the grape thrown away to make the tipple could be even
healthier.
Researchers made a cocktail extracted from the most
fibre-rich parts of the grape such as the skin and seeds which are the
waste byproduct in vineyards.
Tests on human volunteers found the
extract was extremely rich in both fibre and antioxidants which reduce
the risks of cardiovascular disease - the world’s biggest killer.
Most
other superfoods for the heart, like the plant extract psyllium or
healthy oats for instance, are usually good for either fibre or
antioxidants rather than both together.
But the tests at Madrid
University using a concoction called Grape Antioxidant Dietary Fibre
(GADF) was high in both potentially lifesaving ingredients.
Over
a 16 week period, adding the extract to the volunteers’ regular
diet ‘significantly’ reduced their ‘Lipid
Profile’ - the range of tests to determine a patient’s risk
of heart disease.
This included reducing blood pressure by up to
five per cent and cholesterol by up to 14 per cent among the
volunteers, said the research.
A Mediterranean-style diet
including components like red wine, olive oil and tomatoes has long
been considered healthier than other Western diets rich in deep fried
and fast food.
The research suggests the grape extract would make such a diet
up to 50 per cent even more effective in reducing the risks of heart
attacks.
Cardiovascular disease is the biggest cause of death in
the Western World accounting for up to 50 per cent of all natural
mortalities.
The extract, if turned into a health supplement,
could be particularly useful for those who suffer from high blood
pressure or high cholesterol, said the researchers.
The results
are published in the journal Nutrition today/Wed after 34 non-smoking
adults were tested with the GADF extract over 16 weeks.
While
that was going on, a further nine students from the university who were
not given the extract were also monitored so they could be compared to
the first group.
Those given GADF saw ‘significantly
reduced total cholesterol’, particularly LDL, the type known as
‘bad cholesterol’ which can lead to heart problems in later
life.
The reduction in both cholesterol and blood pressure was
much bigger than the effects caused by other high fibre products on the
market, they said.
Researcher Jara Perez Jimenez said: ‘GADF showed significant reducing effects in lipid profile and blood pressure.
‘The
effects appear to be higher than the ones caused by other dietary
fibres, such as oat fibre or psyllium, probably due to the combined
effect of dietary fibre and antioxidants.’
Thousands of Britons limp as a result of a dropped
foot caused by conditions such as stroke or head injuries. Brandon
Chambers, 38, a painter from Bristol, has benefited from a new implant.
He tells CAROL DAVIS about his experience, and his surgeon explains the procedure.
THE PATIENT
Making great strides: Brandon Chambers had
difficulty walking after a brain hemorrhage, but a new implant now
allows him to walk properly
A dropped foot doesn't sound very serious, but it's
extremely debilitating - I was only 22 when I developed it in my left
foot, and since then I haven't been able to walk without enormous
effort. I had to stop constantly to rest and would often trip over,
especially when I was tired.
It started when I woke up one
Sunday with an excruciating headache; I tried to sit up but collapsed,
so my flatmate called an ambulance.
I woke up ten days
later in hospital, paralysed down the left side of my body. I was told
a blood vessel in my brain had burst and had damaged the part that
controls movement (luckily my cognitive abilities weren't affected).
After
months of physiotherapy, I went home - in a wheelchair. It was five
months before I could walk again, and even then, because the muscles in
the ankle were still weak, my left foot dropped so my toes trailed on
the floor.
I had to wear a brace from below the knee to the
tip of my toes to keep my foot in a semi-raised position, so I wouldn't
trip over it.
But I still had to make a real effort to lift
my leg higher than normal to clear my foot, which was very tiring. The
brace was also heavy and caused painful calluses.
At the
time, I'd been a nursing assistant in A&E, but had to give that up.
Over the next decade or so I had regular check ups, then two years ago
my consultant mentioned a new technique, functional electrical
stimulation.
He explained electrodes could be stuck on the
leg just above the calf bone. A sensor pad connected by wires would
also be placed in my shoe under the heel of the foot.
Whenever
my heel started to rise off the ground, an electrical signal would be
sent to the leg and prompt the muscles to lift the front of the foot
before I put it down again.
The electrodes would be fired from a
control box - the size of a pack of playing cards - kept in my pocket;
the wires ran from here down the inside of my trousers.
I
was referred to Salisbury District Hospital. Six months later I was
given the two electrode patches. It was extraordinary to see my foot
move again after ten years.
I could feel tingling every
time the electrodes fired, and walking was so much easier. But I
developed eczema where the patches touched my skin, so it was hard to
use them for longer than a few days at a time.
Then my
physio suggested a permanent implant. The Stimustep implant was exactly
the same as the external electrodes, but would be implanted in the leg,
so it wouldn't affect my skin.
I was referred to plastic
surgeon John Hobby, who performed the operation. I had a general
anaesthetic for the one-hour operation.
The implant itself,
which is the size of a £2 coin, consists of a tiny generator
attached to two minuscule electrodes; this was put under my skin, 15cm
below my left knee.
Two weeks later, a control box was strapped to my calf, which sends a signal to fire the electrodes.
Cables linked the control box to a sensor in my shoe, and the electrodes fired when the pressure pad detected my heel lifting.
I can control the intensity the nerves are stimulated: too little and my foot won't lift - too much and I'd have an odd gait.
The control box needs charging every few days, so I plug it into the mains overnight like a mobile phone.
The implant may need replacing in 20 years or so. But I can finally walk normally again and have no problems with eczema.
I've just been on holiday with my partner Selina to Barcelona and I was able to walk for hours. It's changed my life.
THE SURGEON
Mr John Hobby is consultant plastic surgeon at Salisbury District Hospital.
He says... Around
25,000 people in Britain a year develop a dropped foot. This is because
the area of the brain that sends signals to limbs has been damaged -
through stroke, head injury or other conditions.
In
patients with dropped foot, the signals to lift their foot when they
take a step are either not being generated or not getting through.
So
their foot drags and they can trip over it. Patients with some movement
are offered physiotherapy to re-educate the body and teach them to
cope.
They can also wear a splint that keeps their foot in
a half-raised position, around 45 degrees, so their toes don't trail
and walking is easier.
As the nerve and muscle systems are
often still intact in the foot, it is still possible to signal to the
foot to lift and turn when the patient takes a step.
We've
treated around 2,500 patients with patches - surface stimulation -
including those who've recently developed a dropped foot, and those who
may have had it for many years.
While the patches work
well, they can be difficult to apply; they have to be stuck in a
specific place - 1cm out and they don't work. They can also send an
unpleasant tingling when the electrodes fire through the skin, causing
skin irritation.
But we can now also implant a stimulator under the skin. It works the same way as the electrodes, without the skin irritation.
To
place the implant we make a 6cm incision, below the knee. We isolate
the common peroneal nerve, which runs down the leg and has two branches
- a deep branch that transmits the signals to lift the foot, and a
superficial branch, which mainly sends signals to turn it.
Then
we make a small incision in the protective cover of the nerve and
attach two electrodes - one to the deep branch, the other to the
superficial branch - securing them with stitches.
The
electrodes are then connected, via flexible silicon leads, to the
generator bit of the implant. We check the electrodes are working
properly then close up the incision with deep stitches and dress it.
We
see the patient two weeks later to check the wound is healing properly.
This is when the patient is given the control box that is strapped
around the calf and connected by cables to a pressure pad in the shoe.
The patient can then adjust the stimulation intensity themselves.
I was delighted to hear that Brandon's implant works well and wish him many years of useful movement.
• The operation costs £6,400 privately, and a similar cost to the NHS.
Two balloons implanted into the bladder in as little as ten minutes may be a new solution for stress incontinence.
Research
shows that seven out of 10 women were helped by the therapy, which is
designed to increase pressure around the bladder neck.
After
six months, nearly 70 per cent of the women implanted with the
devices - for whom all other treatments had failed
- were dry with no leakages. Read the story online
'When I first began falling, people
thought I was drunk,' says Ray, 56. 'Even my wife thought I had been
drinking. She kept asking if I'd "had a few" on the quiet, but I
honestly hadn't. I didn't know why I kept falling. Now, fortunately,
everyone who knows me is aware I fall because I'm ill.'
Until
recently, Ray, who lives in Ilford, Essex, ran a building business,
employed more than 20 staff and drove a three-litre Jaguar. 'Now I just
watch TV all day,' he says. 'It's all I can do.'
A drug used to lower blood pressure could prevent or delay thousands of Alzheimer's cases, US research has suggested.
People taking angiotensin receptor blockers were up to 40% less likely
to develop dementia than those taking other blood pressure drugs.
And patients already suffering from dementia were less likely to get worse.
The number of people in the UK with dementia is expected to soar to 1.7 million over the next two decades.
This study highlights that it is becoming increasingly important to investigate blood pressure lowering drugs as a potential treatment for dementia Professor Clive Ballard Alzheimer's Society |
This could mean an enormous extra burden for families and the taxpayer,
but the Boston University School of Medicine research, presented at a
conference in Chicago, suggests there could be ways to prevent it.
High blood pressure over long periods can lead to
damaged blood vessels, and is known to increase the risk of not only
strokes and heart disease, but dementia as well.
Some types of dementia are directly related to the
condition of the arteries supplying the brain, but blood pressure is
also thought to play a role in Alzheimer's disease, which is linked to
the appearance of protein deposits in brain tissue.
However, the reasons for this are not clear.
Symptom delay
The research looked at records of approximately six million people treated for high blood pressure between 2001 and 2006.
Those who took angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) were less likely,
over that period, to be diagnosed with dementia compared with those on
other blood pressure medication such as ACE inhibitors.
If they already had dementia in 2001, they were 45%
less likely to go on to develop delirium, be admitted to a nursing
home, or die prematurely.
This evidence suggests that the drugs, which help
prevent the constriction of blood vessels, could not only prevent, or
at least delay, the arrival of dementia symptoms, but also slow down
the progress of the disease.
ARBs are normally prescribed only to patients who cannot tolerate ACE inhibitors.
Professor Clive Ballard, from the Alzheimer's Society, said that full
clinical trials, following a smaller number of patients over a longer
period, were now needed.
"High blood pressure doubles the risk of Alzheimer's
disease and increases risk of stroke - this study highlights that it is
becoming increasingly important to investigate blood pressure lowering
drugs as a potential treatment for dementia.
"These findings will be important in stimulating
further research into the relationship between anti-hypertension drugs
and the development of dementia."
By
Lucy Elkins
Last updated at 9:47 PM on 09th June 2008
Feeling worn out? Having trouble getting out of bed each day?
Finding it hard deciding what to do with your time? Turn up at your
GP's surgery with these symptoms and the chances are you will be
diagnosed with depression.
Two million people in Britain
are taking antidepressants, yet according to a new book, many of these
people aren't mentally ill at all but have been misdiagnosed.
In
Beating Stress, Anxiety And Depression, Professor Jane Plant, a leading
scientist from University College Hospital in London, and Janet
Stephenson, a psychologist at a London hospital, claim the medical
profession's approach to mental illness and depression in particular is
wrong - with medics often mistaking symptoms of a physical condition
for depression.
Many people taking antidepressants have been misdiagnosed, according to a new book
'A
study by an American psychiatrist found that more than 10 per cent of
patients diagnosed with mental illness are actually suffering from an
underlying physical condition, such as a heart murmur or a mineral
deficiency such as calcium or magnesium that causes depression-like
symptoms,' says Professor Plant.
Thyroid problems can also cause depression.
Another
study found that more than 40 per cent of patients diagnosed as
depressed at one medical practice were found to have been taking
medication that causes depression as a side effect.
'Asthma treatments, for example, can cause depression, but some doctors don't know this,' she says.
The
authors also believe that doctors and psychiatrists frequently
prescribe the wrong kinds of drug, which can leave people feeling even
worse than they did without treatment.
'In a recent report from
Bristol University, it was estimated that 40 per cent of mental health
cases in Britain receive the wrong kind of treatment for their
condition,' says Professor Plant.
As the professor's own
experience bears out. For eight years she was wrongly prescribed
benzodiazepine, an antianxiety medication, and ended up needing
hospital treatment.
Problem began in 1993 when she was told
the breast cancer she thought she'd overcome had returned, and she was
given only two months to live.
Within six months she had
beaten the terminal cancer. However, her GP continued to prescribe
tranquillisers. Professor Plant noticed something was wrong a few
months after returning to work.
'I was talking to colleagues
and saw what I thought were electronic worms coming out of their heads.
I instantly thought it must be the fault of the pills I was taking,'
she says.
Her doctor simply gave her a slightly weaker dose.
'I
am an eloquent scientist, but even I did not think to question his
advice,' she says. 'I assumed the drug was no big deal and would just
help with my difficulty in sleeping. I had no idea it could be
mind-altering and cause a serious addiction.'
Indeed, the longer
Professor Plant stayed on the pills, the more she needed - and the
more anxious she became. When she told her doctor, she was taken off
the benzodiazepine and prescribed an antidepressant.
Within days
she was feeling suicidal. Fearing for her safety, her husband called an
ambulance. A hospital psychiatrist realised she was suffering from
benzodiazepine withdrawal. The dose was gradually reduced and she was
also offered counselling.
This problem is far from unique.
'The
Bristol Cancer Help Centre receives almost as many calls from cancer
patients addicted to tranquillisers - which doctors give them to get
over the shock of their illness - as they do about the cancer. It
should not be like this. Psychotherapy or counselling is more effective
than pills for patients like me facing cancer.'
The authors also believe there is too much of a 'one size fits all' approach to treating mental health within the NHS.
'There
are seven different types of anxiety and depression, such as clinical
depression, postnatal depression, panic attacks and generalised anxiety
disorder, and each needs to be treated differently,' says Professor
Plant.
'For example, those with anxiety tend to react well
to cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) as this helps train them to
react and think differently, so they do not feel anxious when they
encounter various situations.
'On the other hand, CBT would
not be so helpful for someone with post-natal depression, for example,
as it is more of a hormonal issue and is best treated by providing the
mother with support and counselling.
'Drugs should be avoided because she might be breastfeeding.
'However,
manic depression, which is triggered by a chemical imbalance in the
brain, can be helped with the right kind of medication, often the mood
stabiliser lithium, to remedy that imbalance.
'The problem is
that confronted with a mental health problem, doctors are often quick
to prescribe a mind-altering pill rather than to think of some other
form of treatment such as therapy.
'This is the way they have been trained, yet often that is not the solution.'
The
authors also suggest that relatives of someone who is suspected of
being mentally ill should press for tests to prevent them from being
given the wrong medication or treatment.
'If a doctor does
prescribe a drug, they should ascertain if the patient has low levels
of neurotransmitters - brain chemicals such as serotonin that help
influence mood - and which one is low, as this can better inform them
which drug to use,' says Professor Plant.
This can be checked by a urine or blood test and is routinely done in private clinics.
The
problem is that most NHS doctors aren't even aware such tests exist.
This leads to a suck-itandsee approach. Doctors randomly try drugs
before they find the right combination that works. But the medical test
approach is controversial.
'The diagnosis of depression is
made from clinical history, not blood tests,' says Graham Archard,
vice-chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners.
This
is not good enough, say Professor Plant and Janet Stephenson. 'A mental
health patient has only a chance of getting the right help. How can
anyone dealing with patients be happy with this?'
•
Beating Stress, Anxiety And Depression by Professor Jane Plant and
Janet Stephenson (Piatkuson, £12.99). © Jane Plant and Janet Stephenson
2008. To order a copy (p&p free), call 
0845 606 4206
.
By
Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 9:33 PM on 02nd June 2008
A tiny pump the size of a tv remote battery has been found to increase blood flow in the heart
A tiny blood pump the size of a battery in a TV remote has been implanted in patients with chronic heart failure.
The
device works with the patient's own heart, and is designed to
supplement the heart's own pumping, increasing blood flow and allowing
the heart to rest and potentially recover.
Implanted with minimal surgery, it is so small it can be placed just under the skin in a pacemaker-like pocket.
Made by U.S.-based Circulite, it is designed to provide long-term circulation support for patients with chronic heart failure.
Its patented micro-pump took eight years to develop.
A small number of patients have so far been implanted with the device.
'Patients
have demonstrated significant clinical improvements,' says Dr Bart
Meyns, chief of cardiac surgery at Gasthuisberg University Hospital,
Belgium, who has been involved in the pump's development.
By
Jo Macfarlane
Last updated at 2:24 AM on 01st June 2008
Hope: Maralyn Braff's condition has stabilised since taking new drug
A new breast cancer drug has been shown to shrink tumours in women with one of the most aggressive forms of the disease.
One
in four given the drug in a clinical trial saw their tumours reduce in
size. A further one in four were told by doctors that their tumours had
got no bigger.
The women, who all had an advanced and
aggressive form of breast cancer, had previously been given Herceptin
but it had failed to slow their disease.
However, when treated with a combination of Herceptin and new drug pertuzumab, some of the growths began to reduce in size.
The findings offer new hope to women with aggressive HER2-positive breast cancer.
Around
10,000 in Britain are diagnosed with the condition every year, which
makes up around 20 to 30 per cent of all breast cancer cases.
Women
are diagnosed as having HER2-positivity if they are found to have large
quantities of a protein known as HER2 on the surface of the tumour
cells.
The diagnosis means the disease will be more aggressive and harder to treat as it will not respond well to chemotherapy.
But
pertuzumab works by preventing the HER2 protein from binding with other
cells, a pairing which is thought to play an important role in the
growth and spread of cancer.
Breast cancer patient Maralyn
Braff, 54, has seen her condition stabilise since taking part in a
trial involving Herceptin and pertuzumab.
The transplant
co-ordinator from Burnage, Manchester, was diagnosed with breast cancer
15 years ago and it spread to her lungs in 2001, despite her having a
double mastectomy.
She said: ‘My original diagnosis was for me
not to live beyond 49, but here I am at 54. I haven’t felt any worse
since it began. If they said standing in the corner on my head would
help I’d do it.
‘It’s a wonderful step forward. Even if in the long term it doesn’t come to a standstill I’m thrilled to bits.’
Experts
hope they could eventually prevent breast cancer from forming in the
first place by giving the drug to high-risk women who test positive for
the HER2 protein. It could also replace the need for damaging
chemotherapy treatments.
The clinical trial results were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in Chicago on Friday.
The
international trial involved 66 patients in the UK, France, Italy,
Spain and Canada who had advanced breast cancer that had spread to
other organs.
One of the study’s authors, Dr David Miles,
medical oncologist at specialist cancer hospital Mount Vernon,
Middlesex, said: ‘While it’s not a big study, what you’re really
looking for is proof of principle.
‘In one quarter of the women we shrunk their tumours and in a further quarter we stabilised their growth.’
The
combination of Herceptin and pertuzumab is not currently licensed in
the UK, but it is hoped it could be available within five years.
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