Light-activated drug to help control diabetes
Scientists have come out with a special drug for Type 2 diabetes that has been triggered on by blue light, thus paves the way to reducing the ill-effects and side-effects of diabetes medication.
The drug would have less effect and may turn inactive under normal circumstances and conditions.
But the patient can very well switch it on using blue LEDs that is attached to the skin.
A very small spark of light would be required to penetrate deep into the skin in order to change the shape of the drug and finally turns it on.
When the light goes off, the change becomes reversible and again the drug switches off.
Diabetes drugs that promotes the release of insulin from the body(in pancreas) can in many a times cause side effects because of the actions on organs such as brain and heart.
Some can also stimulate too much insulin release, causing blood sugar levels to drop too low," explained David Hodson from the Imperial College London.
They demonstrated that the prototype drug, known as JB253, stimulates insulin release from pancreatic cells in the lab when exposed to blue light.
"In principle, this type of therapy may allow better control over blood sugar levels because it can be switched on for a short time when required after a meal. It should also reduce complications by targeting drug activity to where it's needed in the pancreas," Hodson informed."So far, we have created a molecule that has the desired effect on human pancreatic cells in the lab. Our ultimate goal is to make this therapy available to patients soon," he noted.
40 percent of Indian kids dont have healthy BMI: Study
A very recent countrywide study has shown that about 40 percent fail to have a proper healthy Body Mass Index (BMI) and also warned that these children are moving towards a frightening and very unhealthy future. The study also emphasized on the fact that children in the country are lagging when it comes to accessing their fitness parameters.
The study for the academic year 2013-14 covered 1,15,559 children in the age group of 7 to 17 years in 287 schools across 85 cities from 23 states. A comparative study between boys and girls show that girls score lower than boys in all fitness parameters such as anaerobic capacity, flexibility, upper body strength and abdominal strength indicating that they are still short on overall fitness.
However, in case of BMI, 65 percent of girls have healthy scores when compared to 59 percent of boys.
Children in all five regions of the country were deemed more or less equally unfit with unhealthy BMI scores of 37 percent (Central), 54 percent (East), 37 percent (North), 38 percent (South) and 36 percent (West), said the study by EduSports, physical education and school sports enterprise. It said that non-metros score higher than metros in terms of BMI levels and fitness parameters.
Children in non-metros demonstrated better flexibility (75 percent in non-metros and 70 percent in metros), had good upper body strength (64 percent in non-metros and 61 percent in metros) and a marginal overall BMI score (61 percent in non-metros and 60 percent metros).
Physical activity and sports should be be made an indispensable part of every academic curriculum for an overall development of the child.
Divorce can lead to high blood pressure
A very recent study has suggested that divorce related sleep problems are responsible for causing health related problems. People struggle with getting their life going again after undergoing a separation or divorce.
In the initial few months after a separation, sleep problems are probably pretty normal and this is an adjustment process that people can typically cope with well.
"But sleep problems that persist for an extended period may mean that you are potentially becoming depressed, leaving you susceptible to health problems," said David Sbarra, an associate professor of psychology at University of Arizona, US.
Those who are under pressure and experience such sleep problems after passing through a divorce stand suffer from more than just dark circles around the eyes.
They might also be at risk for potentially harmful increases in blood pressure, a new study finds.
A growing body of research links divorce to significant negative health effects and even early death, yet few studies have looked at why that connection may exist.
Divorce-related sleep troubles may be partly to blame, suggest the authors of a new study to be published in a forthcoming issue of the journal Health Psychology.
Excess protein during brain development may cause schizophrenia
A new study has revealed that excess protein during brain development may trigger schizophrenia later in life. According to new Rutgers research, a gene associated with schizophrenia plays a role in brain development and may help to explain the biological process of the disease.
The researchers said that too much protein expressed by the NOS1AP gene, which has been associated with schizophrenia , causes abnormalities in brain structure and faulty connections between nerve cells that prevent them from communicating properly. Bonnie Firestein, professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, said that their research indicates that an overabundance of a protein in the NOS1AP gene resulted in the dendrites-tree-like structures that allow cells to talk to each other and are essential to the functioning of the nervous system-being stunted in the developing brains of rats.
It was also found that too much of the NOS1AP protein in brain cells didn't allow them to branch out and kept them deep within the neocortex, the portion of the brain responsible for higher functioning skills, such as spatial reasoning, conscious thought, motor commands, language development and sensory perception.
Firestein said that when the brain develops, it sets up a system of the right type of connectivity to make sure that communication can occur and they saw that the nerve cells didn't move to the correct locations and didn't have dendrites that branch out to make the connections that were needed. The study was published in Biological Psychiatry.
Unethical medical trials in France
The oral trial was being conducted by a private laboratory in the north-western city of Rennes, Marisol Touraine said. The trial has been suspended and the firm is recalling the volunteers. It is unclear how many people are involved.
Media reports that the drug is a cannabis-based painkiller have been denied by the health ministry. The Paris prosecutor's office said an investigation had been opened. The drug was taken in a licensed laboratory, the ministry said in a statement (in French).The study was a Phase I clinical trial, in which healthy volunteers take the medication to evaluate the safety of its use, the ministry said.
Phase I tests for safety
A small number of people, sometimes healthy, and sometimes with a medical condition, are given a tiny dose of the drug under careful supervision, not to test if the drug works, but in order to check for any side effects
Phase II
Sees the drug given to people who have a medical condition to see if it does indeed help them
Phase III
Trials are only for medicines or devices that have already passed the first two stages, and involve them being compared to existing treatments or a placebo. The trials often last a year or more, involving several thousand patients
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