Treatment

As recent scares with the avian and swine flu have so vividly reminded us, influenza can involve a lot more than just feeling lousy and throwing up. In fact, according to the World Health Organization, 250,000 to 500,000 people die annually from the virus. We should be glad to hear, therefore, that researchers believe they are closing in on a cure for the flu. Scientists at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have discovered a component of the virus that may hold the secret to keeping it from being able to self-replicate. Read More

There are quite a few bits of “future tech” in the various Star Trek series that are a little hard to believe, and the device their medics use for treating cuts is definitely one of them... they just shine the gizmo on a wound, and it instantly heals up. C’mon, that could never work! Or could it? The US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) is now developing technology that could treat airmen’s battlefield injuries with - you guessed it - light. What’s next, replicator-made Klingon food? Read More

Scientists at Spain’s University of Granada have created artificial skin with the resistance, firmness and elasticity of real skin. It is the first time artificial skin has been created from fibrin-agarose biomaterial. Fibrin is a protein involved in the clotting of the blood, while agarose is a sugar obtained from seaweed, commonly used to create gels in laboratories. The new material could be used in the treatment of skin problems, and could also replace test animals in dermatological labs. Read More

For some reason, and nobody knows exactly why, the healing process for open wounds can be sped up by applying suction to them under a tightly-sealed bandage. The negative pressure this creates has been benefiting patients for decades but because mechanical pumps are expensive and they need a constant electricity supply the technology is not readily available, often where it is needed most – in the developing world. A newly developed basic negative pressure pump that doesn’t require electricity, is cheap to manufacture, lightweight to transport and can be left in place for days could change that. Read More

Cancer is a disease whose treatments are notoriously indiscriminate and nonspecific. Researchers have been searching for a highly targeted medical treatment that attacks cancer cells but leaves healthy tissue alone. A team of scientists at Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) is working on gold nanocages that, when injected, selectively accumulate in tumors. When the tumors are later bathed in laser light, the surrounding tissue is barely warmed, but the nanocages convert light to heat, killing the malignant cells. Read More

An artificial pancreas system being developed by scientists at Cambridge in the UK could help safely manage type 1 diabetes in children.The artificial pancreas combines a commercially available continuous glucose monitor and an insulin pump, and uses a sophisticated algorithm which calculates the correct amount of insulin to deliver based on real-time glucose readings. Read More

The medical profession has experienced much difficulty and frustration in detecting and treating ovarian cancer, but researchers at the Yale School of Medicine, Connecticut, believe they have made a major breakthrough. They say eliminating cancer stem cells (CSCs) within a tumor could hold the key to successful treatments. Read More

If you’re more than partial to an evening of World of Warcraft or Call or Duty, best keep track of how many hours you’re wiling away in front of the screen. Gaming addiction is a peculiarly modern phenomena suggested by some as being just as serious as alcohol, drugs and gambling, and there are examples of gamers making themselves seriously ill, or in some rare cases, dying through malnutrition or dehydration. Following the opening of Britain’s first computer rehab clinic, Paul Lester takes a closer look at the issues surrounding gaming addiction to see if things are really as serious as they seem and if dedicated treatment is necessary. Read More

In today’s environment of advanced medical treatments where high success rates are achieved in amazingly delicate operations that until recently weren’t thought possible, a staggering 70 percent of people with severe burns still die from related infections. It is hoped that a revolutionary new wound dressing developed at Tel Aviv University (TAU) could cut that number dramatically. Read More