Dabs and digits
October 31, 2008 on 1:22 pm | In Click | Comments Off How biometrics are catching onAward for surgical imaging system
October 31, 2008 on 11:18 am | In Uncategorized | Comments Off A new imaging programme which could help transform the treatment of facial surgery scoops an award.Antioxidants reduce the toxic effects of lead
October 31, 2008 on 11:12 am | In Uncategorized | Comments OffA research study carried out by the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) proves that administering natural antioxidants can reduce the effects of lead poisoning in animals during the gestation and lactation periods. The study suggests that it could also be effective in humans.
In this study, published in the magazine Food and Chemical Toxicology, the researchers aimed to prove that since the principal toxicity mechanism of lead poisoning is that it creates free radicals that lead to cellular destruction; administrating natural antioxidants could reverse this process and re-establish the organism's lost balance. The results of the study are preliminary but they could be the beginning of a possible therapeutic treatment to cure the disease.
In order to prove their theory, the researchers carried out an experiment using gestating mice that were separated in to four different groups with different additives in their drinking water. The control group was only subjected to purified water, the drinking water for the second group was contaminated with lead, the drinking water for the third group was also contaminated with lead, but the mice were also treated with antioxidants (zinc, vitamins A,C, E and B6) and the fourth group was just treated with the antioxidants and uncontaminated water.
The research stemmed from the belief that the main cause of the toxicity of lead is the oxidative stress, an imbalance between the antioxidants and the free radicals present in an organism, leading to an excess of free radicals and a consequent destruction of tissues. The results have concluded that such alterations, measured by evaluating various biochemical changes in the brain of the baby mice, diminish in subjects subjected to lead and treated with antioxidants, almost reaching the levels of the control group. The symptoms of lead poisoning were also drastically reduced, reinforcing the theory that administering antioxidants could be a very effective therapy.
Lead poisoning also known as "saturnism" for its violent and demented character that is associated with the god Saturn has been identified at least before the fifth century before Christ. The most common symptoms range from anaemia to irritability, with headaches, motor impairment or weight loss in between. The damages are greater the younger the affected subject, since their organs are at the early stages of development, and they are particularly harsh in subjects below 3 years of age. During gestation, lead can penetrate through the placenta easily and accumulate in the tissues of the embryo, including the brain, which can cause permanent damage such as developmental delay, learning difficulties, hearing problems, diminished memory or aggressiveness. In Europe, the disease occurs in humans mainly as an occupational hazard, and in animals, as a direct consequence of eating hunting pellets. Nevertheless, in other countries, the disease is widely present. For example, the Dominican Republic is home to one of the cities most contaminated by this metal, or the United States, where it is estimated that up to 3% of children are chronically exposed to lead.
The study, carried out by the researchers M? Teresa Antonio Garc?and Elvira Mass?nzález from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, used low doses of lead of a similar size to what could normally be assimilated through food or by contact with the environment and has concluded that the treatment with antioxidants is effective. Hopefully these results will provide beneficial treatments for humans in the future.
24-hour drinking linked to shift in hospital attendance patterns
October 31, 2008 on 11:06 am | In Uncategorized | Comments OffSince the UK's move to 24-hour drinking, a large city centre hospital in Birmingham has seen an increase in drink-related attendances between the hours of 3am and 6am.
A new study, published in the open access journal BMC Public Health, shows no significant decrease in alcohol-related attendances after 24-hour drinking was introduced but a significant shift in the time of attendances.
Andrew Durnford and Tommy Perkins co-led a team of researchers from the University of Birmingham who investigated the effects of the Licensing Act 2003 on Emergency Department admissions to an inner city hospital. Durnford said, "Interestingly, since 24-hour drinking, significantly more alcohol-related attendances were observed in the early hours of the morning and a significantly smaller proportion in the earlier evening. This trend was seen for weekdays and weekends".
He added, "Our findings suggest that although the Act has not affected the number of alcohol-related attendances at the Emergency Department or the day of presentation; it is associated with a shift in the time of attendances into the early hours of the morning. This may reflect a change in drinking patterns".
The research suggests that 24-hour drinking has not reduced the burden of alcohol attendances to emergency departments and has simply shifted the problem later into the night. According to the authors, "For the NHS, this suggests 24-hour drinking has not lessened the workload. Furthermore, this shift to increased attendances in the early hours will have implications for night-time service provision in the NHS and the Police".
The Licensing Act 2003 allowed longer and more flexible opening hours for pubs, clubs and other licensed premises. Durnford and his colleagues investigated the alcohol-related attendances to the Emergency Department over a week in January 2005 (before the Act was implemented) and during the same week in January 2006 (after licensing hours were changed). In the period between the Act's implementation and the start of the study, 37% of licensed premises in Birmingham had successfully applied to extend their opening hours. However, the authors do point out that "Some venues may not have changed their opening hours immediately and attitudes towards alcohol may take more time to adapt to the new environment".
Malaria falls significantly in the Gambia in last 5 years - raises possibility of elimination in other parts of Africa
October 31, 2008 on 11:03 am | In Uncategorized | Comments OffThe incidence of malaria has fallen significantly in The Gambia in the last 5 years, according to a study carried out by experts there with support from scientists based in London.
The findings from the study, which was funded by the UK Medical Research Council, appear in today's Lancet, and raise the possibility of eliminating malaria as a public health problem in parts of Africa.
Malaria is a major cause of illness and death in Africa, including The Gambia. Investigations into ways of controlling malaria have been underway in The Gambia for more than 50 years and, since 2003, efforts to deliver malaria interventions to pregnant women and children under 5 - including intermittent preventive treatment, the use of insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs) and indoor residual spraying - have been stepped up considerably.
The authors sought to investigate the changes that have occurred in The Gambia over the past nine years, their potential causes, and public health significance. They analysed original records in order to establish the numbers and proportions of malaria inpatients, deaths and blood-slide examinations at one hospital over nine years (January 1999-December 2007) and at four health facilities in three different administrative regions over seven years (January 2001-December 2007). They obtained additional data from single sites for haemoglobin concentrations in paediatric admissions and for the age distribution of malaria admissions.
At each of the four sites with complete slide examination records, they found that the proportions of malaria-positive slides had decreased by 82%, 85%, 73% and 50% respectively between 2003 and 2007. Meanwhile, during the same period at the three sites with complete admission records, the proportions of malaria admissions fell by 74%, 69% and 27%. Proportions of deaths attributed to malaria in two hospitals fell by more than 90%.
The team also recorded a substantial shift in the average age of children who were admitted to one hospital with malaria after 2004, with far fewer under 5s being admitted after that year. The average age until 2004 was similar to that recorded ten years previously, so the finding of a trend towards older ages of malaria cases was new. A more substantial decrease of malaria admissions in younger children is likely to be largely due to increased use of ITNs, since this intervention is targeted at children under 5, but it may also reflect a situation in which children are taking longer to acquire immunity.
The team considered possible reasons for the decrease of malaria in The Gambia. Changes in rainfall cause some fluctuations in malaria from year to year, but could not account for the progressive reduction recorded since 2003, while socio-economic changes, improvements in communications and access to education may also have helped, although these factors tend to have a more gradual impact rather than the rapid changes reported at the different sites. A change in chemotherapy is likely to have played a substantial role - until 2004, chloroquine alone was mainly used but as parasite resistance to this drug had increased to high levels, the first-line treatment of choice became sulphadoxine plus pyrimethamine (SP) combined with chloroquine, from early 2005 onwards. SP has prophylactic as well as curative properties which may have been important.
The most substantial change in measures to prevent malaria has been the increase of coverage of ITNs, which thanks to well-publicised initiatives from the Global Fund, UNICEF and WHO increased threefold between 2000 and 2006 (49% of under 5s in The Gambia are now reported to be sleeping under ITNs - the highest reported coverage in Africa).
David Conway, of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, who is based at the Medical Research Council Laboratories in Banjul in The Gambia, is one of the study's authors. He comments: 'These findings support the proposal that increased investment in malaria interventions in Africa can have a major effect on reducing morbidity and mortality from the disease. We need to consider the possibility of future elimination of malaria from some areas in Africa, but we also emphasise the importance of continuous surveillance, and there is no room for complacency with this disease'.
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