DIABETES REVERSAL
Expriments in mice treats inflammation related to insulin resistance, as well as autoimmune component of diabetes
Experimental therapy reverses diabetes
CHICAGO
An experimental new combination therapy has reversed type 1 diabetes in mice, thanks in part to a novel focus on combating insulin resistance, which had long been a recognized feature of type 2 diabetes, but has only recently been identified as a component of juvenile or type 1 diabetes.
With this study, which appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, investigators have shown for the first time that treating inflammation related to insulin resistance as well as the autoimmune component of the disease can successfully reverse the disease, if it is caught early enough.
"We believe this is the first study to show inflammation in insulin sensitive tissues plays an important role in this disease," said Terry Strom, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and coauthor of the paper.
In this experiment, investigators treated newly diabetic mice with a cocktail of three substances that prevented the body's own T-cells from destroying the pancreatic cells that produce insulin and also eliminated the inflammation that impaired the ability of tissues in the muscles, fat, and liver to metabolize insulin properly.
The mice were treated for a period of 14 or 28 days, and within five to seven weeks, 95 percent of them had normal blood-sugar levels and were able to control their blood sugar for 300 days. In contrast, the untreated diabetic mice became hypoglycemic and most died within seven weeks even with insulin treatment.
The results suggest any therapy that hopes to arrest the development of diabetes in humans must not only tackle the T-cell disorder, it must also restore insulin responsiveness in tissues affected by an inflammatory disorder. Otherwise, the body's remaining insulin-producing beta cells have to work twice as hard to regulate blood-sugar levels.
"The remnants of the beta cells have to work overtime to try and maintain blood-sugar levels," explained Strom.
Clinical trials of the treatment in humans would begin within 12 months.
Surgery technique gives hope for facial paralysis
WASHINGTON
A new surgical technique combined with physical therapy can help restore movement in patients who have suffered facial paralysis. A technique known as temporalis-tendon transfer showed good results in seven patients, according to the study by medical researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland.
The operation consists of making a three- to four-centimeter incision from the ear into the hairline, near the temple. The surgeon then cuts the temporalis muscle meets the jawbone, and reattaches it to the place where the mouth muscles join together. The tendon that previously connected the temporalis muscle to the jawbone is cut free, stretched horizontally and reconnected to surrounding muscles and deep skin tissue.
Physical therapy begins before the procedure to retrain facial muscles and resumes several days after surgery, according to the study published in the Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery.
The patients reported high levels of satisfaction with the results four months after surgery, particularly in their ability to eat and smile. "Four patients were physician-graded as excellent to superb. The other three patients were rated as having good postoperative results," the study said.
Test to detect early liver cancer invented
BRUSSELS
Belgian researchers announced the development of a simple blood test to detect early-stage and more accurately diagnose liver cancer.
"The new test enables accurate detection of liver cancer in over 50 percent of the cases for which previous diagnostic tests have not been able to provide a definitive answer," said researchers at the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology, who developed the test in collaboration with research centers in Beijing and Shanghai in China.
The new test was developed by examining blood concentrations in Chinese patients with cirrhosis due to hepatitis B. The team found that the levels of two particular sugar groups in blood proteins varied according to the stage of the disease.
"The researchers were able to make the correct diagnosis in 70 percent of the cases," said the institute. That success rate was equal to the strike rate of current testing procedures. When the two techniques are combined the accuracy of diagnosis rises dramatically.
The new technique could therefore allow frequent and noninvasive analysis to be carried out on cirrhosis patients, which would enable scientists to detect liver cancer at an earlier stage.
The researchers are now working on bringing the new test into compliance with clinical practices.
Indian doctors perform first surgical removal of rare heart tumor
BANGALORE, India
Doctors in southern India said they had performed the first known surgical removal of an extremely rare heart tumor that finds no mention in standard medical textbooks. A team of surgeons in Bangalore also reconstructed the heart of the 22-year-old patient, who survived the operation, said N. S. Devananda, consultant cardiovascular surgeon for Wockhardt Hospitals.
Prabhu Ram, a plumber, had a primitive neuroectodermal tumor-a potentially deadly cancerous growth-arising from both the upper chambers of the heart, which blocked the flow of blood into the organ and the right lung.
"It is an extremely rare case as such tumors more commonly occur in the brain and the chest walls," Devananda said. "There are very few similar cases reported in medical literature worldwide."
After the tumor, measuring eight-by-10-by-12 centimeters, was removed, doctors rebuilt the upper chambers of the heart with the outer covering of the organ, creating bag-like receptacles to channel blood returning from the lungs into the ventricles, the heart's main pumping chambers.
"His newly constructed heart functions well," said Murali Manohar, a consultant cardiac surgeon at Wockhardt Hospitals.
Lloyd Nazareth, head of the health-care company, said such operations may open up possibilities for patients who have given up hope. "Since this is a rare surgical experience, it may serve as an example to other doctors who may come across a similar situation," he said.
Ram, the patient, had perhaps two days to live when he was operated on, doctors said-but added they could not rule out a return of the tumor.
A good night's sleep with the flip of a switch?
CHICAGO
The flip of a switch could become all it takes to get a good night's sleep.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found a way to stimulate the slow waves typical of deep sleep by sending a harmless magnetic signal through the skulls of sleeping volunteers. They say it could one day be used to help treat insomnia and for power naps where people would get the benefit of a full night's of sleep in just a few hours.
The experimental technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) uses magnetic fields to alter brain activity. It's noninvasive and typically involves an electromagnetic coil that is held near the head. An electric current creates a magnetic impulse or field that travels through the skull, triggering small electrical currents in the brain.
In this experiment, the investigators found that with each burst of magnetism, the brains of the sleeping volunteers immediately produced the big slow waves seen in stage three and four sleep.
"With a single pulse, we were able to induce a wave that looks identical to the waves that the brain makes normally during sleep," said Dr. Giulio Tononi, professor of psychiatry at the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health.
It remains to be seen whether this kind of electronically assisted deep sleep does indeed confer benefits and whether it could enhance a person's performance and memory, Tononi said. Further studies are planned to that end.
The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Scientists develop technology for cheap biosensor
SEOUL
South Korean scientists said Monday they had developed new technology to use transistors in devices for quick diagnosis of diseases such as diabetes.
The biosensor technology was developed by a research team at the state-run Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.
"We proved that transistors can be used not only for computers but also for devices that convert biological responses into electrical signals," team leader Choi Yang-Kyu told AFP.
Biosensors detect biological responses or changes and convert them into an electrical signal that can be read. Currently, they are electrochemical or optical.
"But our technology using existing transistors will open the way for the mass production of cheap but highly efficient biosensors," he said.
"We have developed technology to create a tiny gap on a transistor to fill it with biomolecules, or biologically responsive materials that detect diseases," he said.
He said the new technology could be applied to health care, food quality appraisal, or environmental monitoring.
"I believe a cell phone equipped with a cheap biosensor can be produced in the near future," he said.
One of the most widespread uses of biosensors is by people with diabetes who need to regularly monitor their blood-glucose levels.
Lab tests throw up new path for Parkinson's
PARIS
Finnish doctors say they have identified a new protein that, in rats, rescues brain cells whose death causes Parkinson's disease, the tragic degenerative disorder of the central nervous system.
The new molecule, called conserved dopamine neurotrophic factor (CDNF), prevents the degeneration of cells that produce the key brain chemical dopamine and can even help damaged cells to recover.
Tested on lab rodents engineered to have Parkinson's, CDNF "was at least as efficient" as GDNF (glial-cell-derived neurotrophic factor), which until now has generated the most excitement in this field, they say.
The findings are published in a letter to Nature by a team led by Mart Saarma of the University of Finland.
Parkinson's causes uncontrollable shaking, along with impaired speech and movement. In approximately one third of cases it also results in dementia. The disease affects at least one percent of people over the age of 65.
Dopamine, which helps direct movement, is provided in a part of the brain called the substantia nigra.
Attempts to treat Parkinson's have focused mainly on a pharmaceutical substitute for dopamine or on restoring or protecting dopamine-producing cells.
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