Taking Care of Young Teeth

Healthy teeth and a healthy mouth give children more than just a beautiful smile. A healthy mouth supports overall health, and it can help children perform better in school. But far too many children have preventable oral health problems far too young. 

Tooth decay affects more than 25 percent of American children 2 to 5 years old, and half of children 12 to 15 years old -- that's more than any other chronic infectious disease, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Left untreated, tooth decay causes pain and infection, which can lead to problems in eating, speaking, playing, and even learning. 

There is plenty that parents and caregivers can do to help prevent tooth decay and other oral diseases.

The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) says that children should have their first visit to a pediatric dentist no later than their first birthday. The first tooth usually comes in between 6 and 12 months of age -- schedule an appointment and get started on good oral health care from the beginning. The AAPD says that, in one study, children that saw a dentist before their first birthday had dental costs that were 40 percent lower in the first five years than costs for children who had not seen a dentist by their first birthday. 

Establish Good Habits - Kids need help establishing good dental care habits. Make sure they brush twice a day, floss every day, follow a healthy diet and visit the dentist every six months for checkups and cleanings.

   

• Using a soft-bristled brush, kids should brush for at least two minutes. Some power toothbrushes have a built-in timer. Before teeth appear, clean baby's gums twice a day with a soft cloth or baby toothbrush and water.

•  Parents should floss young children's teeth once a day, until they can do a good job themselves, at least until age 7 or 8.

• Make sure they eat foods with vitamin C, which helps gum tissue stay

          healthy and calcium, for strong teeth.

       

   

Be Alert - Watch for signs of oral health problems. Talk to your dentist if you see warning signs such as:

   

• Changes in performance at school -- listening, concentrating and

           learning.

• n  Sucking on cheeks or lips.

• Reluctance to smile

• Problems chewing foods.

• Problems sleeping.

• Aching teeth or gums.

Now, kill the weeds without pesticides

London: Good news for gardeners and environmentalists alike. Scientists have unveiled a gadget that could kill weeds in a jiffy without requiring noxious pesticides.

But the darker side is it require a 2,500-volt charge. The concentrated energy penetrates weed's vascular systems, boiling the water in the plant cells and breaking down the cell walls.

Weeds wilt immediately in a cloud of steam like overcooked vegetables, then dry out and within days disintegrate into the soil.

The device can annihilate garden invaders such as nettles, bindweed and dandelions, and even obliterate the dreaded Japanese knot-weed. But if used on a human, the current would stop the heart by raising the body temperature to 284F (140C), the Daily Mail reports.

Electrical engineer Mike Diprose, who invented the zapper, believes it will revolutionise gardening and curb the use of potentially dangerous chemical sprays.

'It could clear overgrown plots in hours and tackle weeds more than six feet high,' says Diprose, 64. He has been testing it at his house in Calver, Derbyshire, with a warning: Danger of Death: High Voltage.

The zapper is a square blue box, similar in size to a vacuum cleaner mounted on a trolley. Leading from the box is a cable attached to a long plastic probe with a handle and a 3in metal spike on the end.

However, the apparatus is so dangerous that use by amateur gardeners has been ruled out. Instead, he proposes a scheme to license and train operators who could be called out by householders to exterminate weeds. "It would be lethal in the wrong hands, like a shotgun," said Diprose.

Salt-resistant rice to hit the market soon

London: If the efforts put in by the agricultural scientists in Japan bear fruits, farmers across the globe can sow rice on the less futile and salty fields. Efforts are on to develop salt-resistant rice variety after a huge tsunami last year hit paddy fields in Japan leaving behind a salty sludge.

Farmlands that accumulate salt have lower crop yields, which can threaten food supply, as rice happens to be the staple of billions of people worldwide.

'The beauty of the new method (called MutMap) is its simplicity,' said Sophien Kamoun, professor and head of the Sainsbury Lab on Norwich Reserch Park, who co-authored the study which was reported in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

'By working with cultivars favoured by farmers and already adapted to local conditions, the MutMap method will enable plant scientists and breeders to develop new crop varieties in nearer a year rather than five to 10 years,' added Kamoun.

The new method can also improve rice productivity worldwide. Even otherwise, much of the crop is often grown on land that is prone to high levels of salinity.

The new technique also takes advantage of the speed at which sequencing can now be done to screen plant mutants for valuable traits, according to a Norwich and Iwate Research Centre statement.

'Until now, plant breeding has not been able to take advantage of the genomics revolution,' said Ryohei Terauchi, professor at Iwate Biotechnology Research Centre, Japan, who led the study.

'MutMap overcomes one of the greatest limitations, which has been the time it takes to identify genetic markers for desirable traits,' Terauchi added. 

Tablet computers cause postural problems

London: The use of tablet computers such as the Apple iPad cause postural problems, which can be improved by placing them higher to avoid low gaze angles.

'Compared to typical desktop computing scenarios, the use of media tablet computers may be more of a concern for the development of neck and shoulder discomfort,' said lead investigator Jack T. Dennerlein, from Harvard School of Public Health, and Brigham and Women's Hospital.

A group of experienced tablet users completed a set of simulated tasks with two media tablets, an Apple iPad2 and a Motorola Xoom. Each tablet had a proprietary case that could be adjusted to prop up or tilt the tablet computer, reports the 'Work: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment, and Rehabilitation'.

During the experiment, users completed simple computer tasks such as Internet browsing and reading, game playing, email reading and responding, and movie watching.

Head and neck postures and gaze angle and distance were measured using an infrared three-dimensional motion analysis system, according to Harvard statement.

The findings suggest that tablet users should place the tablet higher, on a table rather than the lap, to avoid low gaze angles, and use a case that provides steeper viewing angles.

'Our results will be useful for updating ergonomic computing standards and guidelines for tablet computers,' said Dennerlein.

Source: http://newshopper.sulekha.com/tablet-computers-cause-postural-problems_news_1395634.htm

For healthier heart, eat fried food!

Foodies can  rejoice now as a new study by the researchers of  Autonomous University of Madrid suggests that consuming foods fried in olive or sunflower oils will not increase the  risk of heart disease or premature death.


The finding seems counter-intuitive since risk factors for heart disease like obesity and high blood pressure and cholesterol have been associated with diets high in fried foods. But the research linking fried food directly with heart disease has been inconsistent to date, so researchers from the University looked more closely at the connection.

The study’s authors surveyed nearly 41,000 adults between the ages of 29 to 69, asking about their health and eating habits. None of the participants had heart disease at the beginning of the study. Participants were split into four groups according to how much fried food they ate and then monitored for heart disease for 11 years.

People in the lowest consumption group ate about 1.6 ounces of fried food a day. Those in the highest intake group ate 8.8 ounces a day. On average, people consumed just under 5 ounces of fried food a day, which accounted for about 7% of all the food they ate. The participants reported eating foods that were fried in various ways, including deep-fried, pan, battered, crumbed or sautéed.

According to the study published in the BMJ on Tuesday, there were 606 heart-related events and 1,134 deaths during the study follow-up period. When the researchers compared heart disease and death rates to the participants’ diets, they found no link regardless of how much fried food people ate.

This doesn’t mean you should up your French fry consumption. The study was conducted in Spain, where people mostly use heart-healthy olive and sunflower oils in their cooking, both at home and at restaurants. Unlike in the U.S., the study participants were eating fried foods in the context of a healthier Mediterranean diet. And as the study authors noted further, “consumption of fried foods in Spain is not a proxy for fast food intake.” While the Spanish tend not to eat fried snacks that are high in salt and trans fats, in the U.S, these foods make up a significant part of our diet.

 “Frying with mainly olive oil or sunflower oil is not associated with a higher risk of coronary heart disease,” the authors concluded, but “frying with other types of fats may still be harmful.”

US law makes 'condom' must for shooting porn stars

London: A new law requiring porn stars to wear condoms during film shoots in Los Angeles is all set to become effective in the US city in the next few weeks, a media report here said.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Tuesday signed an ordinance into law requiring male actors in pornographic videos to wear condoms. The ordinance was passed by the City Council last week.

Having been approved by the city's mayor, the law will be effective in the next six weeks, the Daily Mail reported.

According to officials with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which lobbied for years for such a law, they would now turn their attention to getting a similar condom requirement adopted elsewhere.

Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which had pursued for the measure for six years, said: "The city of Los Angeles has done the right thing. They've done the right thing for the performers."

Its adoption is crucial in protecting adult film actors from HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, said Weinstein, adding that his group's next move will be to get Los Angeles county to adopt a similar measure for its unincorporated areas.

But critics claim the regulation jeopardises the industry's long-term future in the nation's porn capital as many firms have threatened to abandon the area.

Now cure for diabetes and heart ailment in cow's milk

Palampur (Himachal Pradesh): Indian scientists have claimed to have found a protein in cow's milk that can battle an array of diseases like  heart ailment, diabetes and autism.

'The milk of the 'Pahari' cow breed in India's Himachal Pradesh state in North India contains A2 Beta-casein protein in good quantity and it is good for health,' Mandeep Sharma, head of the Veterinary Microbiology and Immunology Department of the Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University here. 

Milky medicine: A cow from Himachal Pradesh

Sharma said that in 97 percent cases, it was seen that the cows produced A2 Beta-casein that plays a protective role against heart diseases, autism and diabetes.

He said the milk of the exotic Holstein and Jersey breeds do not contain this component and instead have an alternative A1 allele that has been associated with these diseases.

'A1 allele is not at all present or negligible in the milk of the local cows,' he told IANS. The department has conducted a study on 43 hill cows.

The project, sanctioned by the National Agriculture Development Scheme, is studying immunological and immunogenetic profiling of hill cattle for their disease-resistance potential.

Studies revealed that hill cattle are highly adaptogenic and have better innate and adaptive immune responses to fight infectious diseases like tuberculosis, foot-and-mouth and brucellosis.

Sharma said studies have also established that native cow urine has antimicrobial properties.

'When urine was processed and added in very minute quantities to an antimicrobial agent, it was able to enhance the antimicrobial activity of that agent by 20-25 percent,' the scientist said.

According to him, the farmers in the state were preferring domesticated hybrid varieties rather than the native ones due to high milk yields.

'Now, in certain pockets in the interiors of the state, people are domesticating the 'Pahari' cows,' he said.

The short statured 'Pahari' cattle are highly adaptable to the hilly terrain, are disease resistant and thrive on even poor pastures.

Source: http://newshopper.sulekha.com/hill-cow-s-milk-can-prevent-heart-disease_news_1394631.htm

Delhi doctors perform first ankle replacement surgery

New Delhi: A ray of hope for millions of arthritis patients in India, a private hospital in Delhi has performed a unique, first time in India, ankle replacement surgery to cure rheumatoid arthritis - a condition causing joint inflammation.


Popularly known as Scandinavian Total Ankle Replacement (STAR), the hospital is the first in India to conduct the surgery, which has been prevalent in the West for nearly three years.

“STAR implant is a new un-cemented technique for ankle replacement. It uses new instrumentation, where it promises quick recovery and is even better for young patients who suffer joint injury due to accidents," SKS Marya, chairman and chief surgeon, Max Insititute of Orthopedic and Joint Replacement, told IANS. 

"Patients can completely recover in three months. In case of patients between 25-40 years of age, the recovery time will be between 6-7 weeks. Till recently, we have had techniques that required cemented instrumentation. STAR implants will offer better mobility than other conventional techniques to patients," Marya added.

Patients of arthritis had only options like 'joint fusion surgery' and 'clean up of joints' to relieve them of ankle pain. STAR costs around Rs 200,000 with a durability of around 15 years. Patients are usually advised not to squat after the operation.

What is rheumatoid arthritis?

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, systemic inflammatory disorder that may affect many tissues and organs, but principally attacks flexible (synovial) joints. The process produces an inflammatory response of the capsule around the joints (synovium) secondary to swelling (hyperplasia) of synovial cells, excess synovial fluid, and the development of fibrous tissue (pannus) in the synovium. The pathology of the disease process often leads to the destruction of articular cartilage and ankylosis of the joints.
About 1% of the world's population is afflicted by rheumatoid arthritis, women three times more often than men. Onset is most frequent between the ages of 40 and 50, but people of any age can be affected. It can be a disabling and painful condition, which can lead to substantial loss of functioning and mobility if not adequately treated.

Rheumatoid arthritis in India

According to data available, nearly seven million people in India suffer from rheumatoid arthritis that initially affects the small joints. Due to lack of awareness and proper treatment available, the condition affects the mobility of the person.

Tribals in Idukki pop pills to stop menstruation

Marayoor (Kerala): Tribal Adivasi women and girls in three villages of Kerala's Idukki district have been taking oral contraceptive pills for different purpose, not to get menstruated. They have been popping contraceptive pills to avoid the inconvenience of those few days, say people from the area.

As a result - the practice begins from the time girls start menstruating - many have stopped conceiving in the villages of Marayoor, Vattavada and Kanthaloor, say activists. Idukki is around 300 km from state capital Thiruvananthapuram.


I said he was shocked to hear about this phenomenon and, upon inquiring into it, found it to be true.


'According to Adivasi customs, on the days of menstruation the women have to stay away from their homes and remain for at least three days at a separate place called Valapurai. Since the facilities at these Valapurai are not good, they have found an easy way out - popping a pill and not menstruating,'Idukki Lok Sabha member P.T. Thomas told IANS.


Helping the women not to menstruate is Mala-D, an oral contraceptive pill produced by the central public sector Hindustan Latex Limited.


Shops in these three villages have apparently been making a killing selling Mala-D and that too at an exorbitant price.


According to the traditions of these Adivasis, at least for three days during the menstruation period they have to stay in the Valapurai and during those days they are not supposed to see the face of any men.

Around 29 percent of the population in these three villages are Adivasis - approximately 2,000 in each - mostly belonging to the Muthuvan tribes. They are engaged in farming activities.


Pankajam, a health worker at Marayoor Health Centre, said it is absolutely correct that these women take oral contraceptives to avoid menstruation.


'We do conduct health camps, conduct stage shows to educate them about why they should stop this. But one problem is that with the Tamil Nadu border quite close to these villages, if they don't get the contraceptive from shops here, then there are agents who supply it from there,' said Pankajam.

Thomas said: 'It was only last week that I opened two Valapurai under the Kanthaloor village council. We used funds from the National Rural Health Mission. I have also spoken to the drugs controller to see that immediate steps are taken to see that they raid shops selling the contraceptive. We have also begun a serious awareness campaign among the Adivasis to see that they desist from taking this oral contraceptive.'

Junk food doesn't lead to weight gain in kids: Study

Washington: Weight gain has nothing to do with candy, soda, chips and other junk food, at least for middle school students, say researchers in the US who admit to being surprised by the result.


"We were really surprised by that result and, in fact, we held back from publishing our study for roughly two years because we kept looking for a connection that just wasn't there," said Jennifer Van Hook, professor of sociology and demography at Pennsylvania State University who led the study.


This despite the fact that the number of obese children in the US may have tripled between the early 1970s and the late 2000s.


The study relies on data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999, through the spring of eighth grade (the 1998-1999 through 2006-2007 schools years), the journal Sociology of Education reports.


Van Hook and her co-author Claire E. Altman, sociology and demography doctoral student at Pennsylvania, used a sub-sample of 19,450 children who attended school in the same county in both fifth and eighth grades (the 2003-2004 and the 2006-2007 school years), according to a Pennsylvania statement.


The authors found that 59.2 percent of fifth graders and 86.3 percent of eighth graders in their study attended schools that sold junk food.


But, while there was a significant increase in the percentage of students who attended schools that sold junk food between fifth and eighth grades, there was no rise in the percentage of students who were overweight or obese.


In fact, despite the increased availability of junk food, the percentage of students who were overweight or obese actually decreased from fifth grade to eighth grade, from 39.1 percent to 35.4 percent.

Now lose your weight with ‘DNA’ diet

At a time when physicians and health experts wooing the general public with various weight reduction programmes to earn quick bucks, scientist have unveiled a personalised ‘DNA’ diet which can reduce a person’s weight up to 12 pounds in four months.

The Nordiska diet, developed with the help of experts at Newcastle University, is based on the premise that genetic testing can determine the right food and exercise regime for your body type.

Thought to be the first genetic-based diet available in the UK, it is being sold online at 99 pounds for the gene test alone, and in a 159-pound package including three months of follow-up advice from dietitians.
A trial on 7,700 people in Denmark saw nine out of ten lose weight, with some losing up to 26lb (12kg) in four months.

Dieters are asked to complete a questionnaire and send a DNA swab of their mouth in for laboratory analysis.

The diet’s creator, cell biologist Dr Carolyn Horrocks, said her firm, myGenomics, examines the swab for eight variants of seven genes. These genes relate to how quickly an individual metabolises fat and carbohydrate, appetite control and muscle activity.

A 30-page personalised report assigns the individual one of four types of diet: low in fat; low in carbohydrate; low glycaemic; or healthy balanced.
This is combined with a type of exercise: endurance or high-intensity.
All dieters are recommended three meals and three snacks a day, to a total of 1,300 to 1,800 calories.

No foods are forbidden, just restricted, and those with the 159-pound package must fill in weekly food diaries so the company’s dietitians can provide regular feedback.
Dr Horrocks teamed up with Danish GP Carl Brandt on the diet concept after she came up with the idea while researching the risk factors for Type 2 diabetes.

“Each of us has a unique genetic fingerprint which shows why some types of diet work for people and not for others,” the Daily mail quoted her as saying. “I realised genetic variants were being analysed for very technical purposes but they could be used by people in their everyday life to control their weight and help prevent the sort of diseases such as diabetes and heart disease that I was working on.

“If something is right for your body, it will be easier to stick to, less arduous and we have shown you have a greater chance of keeping the weight off,” she said.
She said the approach is intended to produce “slow and steady” weight loss, and is not related to the blood group diet, which has been criticized by experts.

“It’s not a fad diet, all our dietitians and trainers are registered and have a science background,” she added.

The Denmark trial was carried out by Newcastle University and colleagues in Copenhagen on men and women with an average age of 40 who had a BMI of 30 to 35.

New therapy could help beat Hepatitis C virus

Toronto: Scientists have found a way to block the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) and possibly benefit 170 million people worldwide. The breakthrough opens the way for new therapies to treat HCV which targets the liver and is among the leading causes of liver cancer and liver transplant globally. "Our approach would essentially be to block the lifecycle of the virus so that it cannot spread and cause further damage to the liver," says Francois Jean, associate professor of microbiology and immunology, University of British Columbia, who led the study. HCV is spread by blood-to-blood contact and there is no vaccine to prevent it. Current treatments are only moderately effective but come with serious side-effects. "As HCV infects a person, it needs fat droplets in the liver to form new virus particles and ultimately leads to chronic dysfunction of the organ," said Jean. "HCV is constantly mutating, which makes it difficult to develop antiviral therapies that target the virus itself. So we decided to take a new approach," added Jean. Jean and his team developed an inhibitor that decreases the size of host fat droplets in liver cells and stops HCV from "taking residence," multiplying and infecting other cells. According to Jean, this new approach could translate into similar therapies for other related re-emerging viruses that can cause serious and life threatening infections, such as dengue virus. Dengue is endemic in more than 100 countries, with approximately 2.5 billion people at the risk of infection globally. In some countries, dengue has become the leading cause of child mortality, reports IANS.

Latest microscopy reveals inner working of viruses

Washington: Scientists have developed a new technique which uses cutting edge technology to peer inside living viruses, the tiniest among micro-organisms, says a study.

The technique combines cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) -- cutting-edge microscopy with 3D computer imaging -- to image the internals of a virus no bigger than 15 and 200 nanometres. A nanometre is a billionth of a metre.

Cryo-EM by itself does not help visualize internal structures of the micro-organism, because radiation is used to image them. But by tweaking the process with computers, imaging is possible.

"With lower doses of radiation, it is not possible to see inside the organism," said study author Alasdair Steven of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS).

"However, higher doses of radiation damage the virus, destroying the very structures that we would like to view," said Steven, the journal Science reported.

Working with researcher Lindsay Black at the University of Maryland Medical School, Baltimore, Steven and his team were able to turn the problem of radiation damage into an asset, according to a university statement.

They realized that proteins inside the virus are more sensitive to damage than DNA.

"We first used low doses of radiation and recorded images in which the inner structure of the virus was invisible," said Steven.

"Next, we used high doses of radiation, and found that the inner structure could be seen as a cylinder of bubbles," he added.

While the inner structure was damaged, the team was able to superimpose the images, using 3D computer reconstruction.

As a result, they were able to clearly visualize the viral structure. The investigators termed this technique as bubblegram imaging.

Anthrax shot protects simians from lethal infection

Washington: A new vaccine designed as a bacterial capsule confers protection on monkeys against lethal anthrax infection, reveals a study.

Bacterial capsules are commonly used in licensed vaccines for other diseases, including certain types of pneumonia and meningitis.

The study represents the first successful use of a non-toxin shot to protect monkeys from the disease, caused by bacillus anthracis, which is recognized as one of the most serious bioterrorism threats.

Bacillus anthracis produces three main components that allow it to do harm - lethal toxin, oedema toxin, and capsule, the journal VACCINE reported.

During anthrax infection, the bug invades and grows to high concentrations in the host. The capsule surrounds the bug and prevents it from being ingested and destroyed by the white blood cells, thus allowing anthrax infection to progress.

The toxins are thought to act mainly by damaging the body's natural defence mechanisms. Current human vaccines for anthrax are based on the protective antigen, or PA, component of the anthrax toxins.

Scientists at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) have extensively studied protective antigen (PA), demonstrating that PA alone confers protection in animal challenge studies with both rabbits and monkeys, according to a university statement.

However, according to senior study author Arthur M. Friedlander of USAMRIID, concerns about reliance on a single antigen - as well as the issue of protecting against anthrax strains that may be vaccine resistant - have prompted the search for additional vaccine components.

"This is the first non-toxin anthrax vaccine shown to be protective in monkeys. In addition, this new capsule vaccine is expected to work against possible vaccine-resistant strains of anthrax, as well as in recipients whose immune systems may not respond to protective antigen alone," said Friedlander.

Too much or too little iron bad for brain

Washington: Iron plays a vital role in the development of the brain -- too little can result in cognitive problems, too much promotes degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency worldwide, causing poor cognitive achievement in school-aged children. Now it has been found to affect the brain's physical structure as well.

Paul Thompson, professor of neurology at the University of California Los Angeles, and colleagues measured levels of transferrin, a protein that transports iron throughout the body and brain, in adolescents.

Since both a deficiency and an excess of iron can negatively impact brain function, the body's regulation of iron transport to the brain is crucial, the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports.

When iron levels are low, the liver produces more transferrin for increased iron transport. The researchers wanted to know whether brain structure in healthy adults was also dependent on transferrin levels, according to a California statement.


"We found that healthy brain wiring in adults depended on having good iron levels in your teenage years," said Thompson, member of California's Lab of Neuro Imaging.


"This connection was a lot stronger than we expected, especially as we were looking at people who were young and healthy - none of them would be considered iron-deficient.


"We also found a connection with a gene that explains why this is so. The gene itself seems to affect brain wiring, which was a big surprise," he said.


Thompson's findings are based on MRI scans on 615 healthy young-adult twins and siblings, who had an average age of 23.


By averaging the subjects' transferrin levels, which had been assessed repeatedly - at 12, 14 and 16 years of age - the researchers estimated iron availability to the brain during adolescence, Thompson said.

Grapes can stave off age-related blindness

Washington: Eating grapes seem to slow or help prevent the onset of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a condition affecting millions of elderly people worldwide.

AMD is a progressive eye condition, leading to the deteriohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifration of the centre of the retina, called the macula, a leading cause of blindness in the elderly.

A new study suggests that antioxidant actions of grapes stave off these harmful effects, the journal Free Radical Biology and Medicine reports.

"The protective effect of the grapes in this study was remarkable, offering a benefit for vision at old age even if grapes were consumed only at young age," said principal investigator Silvia Finnemann of biological sciences, Fordham University, New York.

Grapes protected the retina and prevented blindness among mice. While lutein added to the diet was also effective, grapes offererd significantly more protection, according to a Fordham statement.

Finnemann noted that results suggest that age-related vision loss is a result of cumulative, oxidative damage over time. Aging of the retina is tied with increased levels of oxidative damage, and oxidative stress is thought to play a pivotal role in the development of AMD.

Stem cell implants can heal traumatic brain injury

Washington: Implanted stem cells have substantially improved cerebral function in animals with brain trauma, but how they did it has remained a mystery. Now an important part of this puzzle has been pieced together by researchers.

In experiments with both lab rats and an apparatus that enabled them to simulate the impact of trauma on human neurons (brain and nerve cells), researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston identified key mechanisms by which implanted human neural stem cells (developing into neurons) help recovery from traumatic axonal injury.

A significant component of traumatic brain injury, traumatic axonal injury involves damage to axons and dendrites, the filaments that extend out from the bodies of the neurons, the Journal of Neurotrauma reports.

The damage continues after the initial trauma, since the axons and dendrites respond to injury by withdrawing back to the bodies of the neurons, according to a Texas statement.

"Axons and dendrites are the basis of neuron-to-neuron communication, and when they are lost, neuron function is lost," said Ping Wu, professor at UTMBG, who led the study.

"In this study, we found that our stem cell transplantation both prevents further axonal injury and promotes axonal regrowth, through a number of previously unknown molecular mechanisms."
Source: IANS