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October 10, 2017

Safe House For Many Disease Causing Viruses – Human Semen

When researchers was carried out on Zika virus, it was found that the virus finds its way through the man’s semen and stays there safely for a long time, over a few months. This led to a further study about other viruses with the ability to find their way to the man’s semen and staying there safely.

The research was carried out at the oxford university and it was discovered that there were a minimum of 27 different viruses with and ability to get into the blood and the semen as per the existing reports of scientific literature of ‘viremic’ viruses. The research also highlighted that the spread of the viruses in the semen is apparently even more than assumed.

The list of viruses not only includes lesser known ones but lots of popular ones too like HIV, Hepatitis C, Ebola, herpes, chikungunya, chickenpox and the less known ones like simian foamy, rift valley fever to name a few.
Though research is just at the preliminary stage as only the list of the viruses that have the ability to use a man’s semen as a safe house stay are known but more details like how long can they actually stay there, in what concentrations and how able they are in triggering or fueling he disease is yet to be studied.

Additionally, it is yet to be known whether these viruses have the ability to infect the sperms. This holds grave importance because it can lead to mutating the sperm DNA and passing the same to the next generation further increasing cancer risk in that generation as well. Additionally, many of us might not be aware that testes are known to be immune to any invasions by the body’s immune system. They are also therefore called immuno-logically privileged.

These findings might just raise questions on the considerations around treatments developed for viral diseases and their effects on the virus located across the body included the male reproductive tract.

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September 27, 2017

Lower Back Pain vs Kidney Pain – The Difference

Many of us fail to figure out the difference when we experience pain particularly when its either kidney or lower back pain. So, to begin get down to the definition of lower back pain and kidney pain.

It’s called lower back pain when it occurs anywhere from the buttocks upto the lower back. While kidney pain is said to occur between the hips or flanks and the ribs. At times you may experience it in the upper abdominal region as well. Well, this is the basic difference in back pain and kidney pain but otherwise also there are many other difference that can help you figure out which kind of pain you are suffering from. Here’s a sneak peek into a few other differences between kidney pain and lower back pain.

Kidney Pain
Kidney pain is the result of a kidney infection or a kidney stone usually. Kidney infection can cause mild pain but kidney stone pain is very severe in nature and often compared to labor pain.

Causes
The causes of kidney pain include kidney infection and kidney stones as mentioned before besides the pain could also be a result of renal infarction, kidney cancer and glomerulonephritis.

Lower Back Pain
Lower back pain is further divided as acute pain and chronic pain. While acute pain lasts for around 4 to 12 weeks, chronic back pain can easily last over 12 weeks. Also known as lumbago it affects people of all age groups.

Causes
Lower back pain is a result of muscle sprain, spasm or tear leading to disc bulge or herniation, spinal stenosis, osteoporosis or sciatica. It could also be due to vertebral body, pedicle fracture or fracture of lamina. It can be caused due to Paravertebral muscle spasm or metastatic vertebral cancer.

Pain Management
Kidney Pain – Kidney pain treatment depends of its causes and usually involves use of antibiotics and medications if its infection but in case of kidney stones if that does not work a laser surgery or a minimally invasive surgery could be carried out.

Back Pain – For relief against lower back pain issues treatment could include suitable therapies like heat and cold, physical and massage therapies to name a few. In case with complications based on the diagnosis surgical procedures might be advised.

Well, its always advisable to visit your doctor if you suffer from back pain in order to figure out the root cause of the problem, be it kidney or lower back.

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September 11, 2017

Artificial Limbs That Respond To Thoughts – A Reality That Costs A Fortune

Over the years, scientists have been working on prosthetic limbs that can respond to human thoughts. These projects have been heavily funded by many organizations and defense agencies across the world. A significant development in the direction has now led to the creation of the first ever prosthetic limb that responds to human thoughts much like a real limb.

Earlier, there was news about creation of prosthetic limbs that respond to thoughts but their movement was quite limited and hence, people in need either abandoned them or never preferred to use them. But, as per the doctor of Imperial college London, the new approach which shifts their focus from the muscles to the nervous system has helped them create a limb that responds to thoughts effectively.

According to him, their technology helps them detect and decode the signals clearly. The experiments and testing have been carried out with amputee volunteers and after physiotherapy they have been able to make more extensive movements.

Today, a lot of research scientists are already working and testing bionic arms. There is already and alternative of using brain implants available. But, the benefit of using the nerve from the spine is the compatibility factor, making it usable with existing prosthetic arms that too wire free linking from the brain, as per the researchers at Imperial College of London.

Another example is that of a thought controlled prosthetic being developed at the John Hopkins University, USA. It is being tested on a 50 plus amputee who lost his limbs in an electrical accident as a teenager. It is yet to be clinically tested and find a place in the market. The limbs are called Modular Prosthetic Limbs or MPL and the customer socket inside brain can pick up brain signals that control the arms. Thus, just by thinking the amputee is able to move the limb or limbs. To do the same, the amputee had to undergo a surgery for remapping the remaining nerves of his/her missing arms so that the brain could send signals to the prosthetic. As per the chief engineer at John Hopkins, with the remapping growing deeper, the working will better because of the over 100 sensors fitted in the arm. Another advantage of MPL being its modular design. This design helps in creating prosthetic limbs customized as per individual requirements.

Having said that, as on day MPL costs a bomb, as much as a Maserati car to be precise. Well, scientists are yet to work on a budget prosthetic, affordable to people in need. experts at John Hopkins are also working on creating caps that send signals about brain activity to the robotic arm. As for the market availability, they do hope to make the MPL available to the consumers within a few years.

August 31, 2017

Microscopic Robots To Replace Doctors Sooner or Later?

Microscopic robots may seem a new phrase but we all are aware of nanotechnology, the word at least if not more. Now, nanometer is equal to one billionth of a meter and is smallest of the scales. It is apparently the size we consider for atoms and cells inside the body. We all know are body is made of millions of cells and atoms but when it comes to treatment, it happens on a greater scale. Cells or atoms are not even visible through the naked eye. So, nanotechnology works at the cellular level thus matching the levels at which our body cells or atoms work. Though, its not perfected as yet, we’ve certainly come out with a lot of solutions based on nanotechnology and are probably heading northward in the arena.

In layman’s language using nanotechnology, we can shrink the medical tools used for treating or intervention in the human body to the size of cells or atoms present inside. Using the right size tool will help intricate interventions with simplicity. Surgeries with complexities and involving heavy blood loss can be done away with using such a technology. There is a lot of scope to this technology, as per the researchers and experts in the field. Be it targeted drug treatment to treating critical illnesses like cancers, where nano scalpels are presently being used for damage repair of individual cells.

Furthermore, there is a possibility of improved biological sensors as well as disease diagnosis in the times to come. Just imagine subatomic robots just like a miniature army of soldiers getting into your body and fighting against the ailment to cure you off, that too without any major blood filled surgeries or incisions.

One of the examples on which researchers are presently working in some part of the world is ‘drug agnostic’. Consider a reservoir miniature in nature filled with a drug that needs to be delivered to a certain part of the body. All this needs to be done in a sustained linear way without using pumps, valves or any electrically powered tool. Its works through the nano channel delivery system (NDS). On the basis of the size of the drug molecules, the nano channel membranes are tailored and implanted below the skin. It then moves through the membranes into the patients body. As per the researchers, presently, the nano channel size is a barrier to its movement and lower the size to 2.5 nano meters would definitely help overcome the snag and also help control the drug delivery speed. Looking at the potential of this project a multi-million dollar grant has been already approved for the same.

Well, the use of microscopic robots for treatment is just at its infancy stage and a lot needs to be worked on yet, but positively it would take less than a decade to see it reach the operation theatres of hospitals and that’s definitely a good sign.

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August 7, 2017

Heartburn Meds Could Lead to Death

Taking medications or tablets is a routine exercise we follow when we suffer from heart burn. The meds are usually available over the counter without prescription and hence we have almost taken it for granted that as they are available over the counter, they are generally safe. One such med that is popular oversees, not as much in India is the proton pump inhibitor or PPI and here is some bad news involving it.

A recent study has proved that people taking proton pump inhibitors have a greater risk of dying compared to the non consumers of the drug. The risk also includes dangerous bacterial infections and kidney disease under its possibility list of PPI consumption. The risk is associated with people taking PPI’s for a longer duration of time. Another heartburn medication that is prescribed by doctors in the USA includes H2b blocker. The comparison study between PPI and H2B blocker consumers revealed a startling result about the risk of dying within the next 5 years being 25% more in PPI consumers than H2 blockers. Also, with people who have been already taking the drug across 2 years, the risk increases upto 50% compared to the H2 blockers.

Though, it is not totally proved and the reasons behind the same are being studied further. Also, the study has covered only whites of the elderly age group and not the youngsters, so whether it affects the youngsters in the similar manner is yet not known.

Experts also stated that many a times doctors do prescribe the medication for a certain period of time only but patients take them up on a regular basis without consult or reassessment. Hence, it is advisable that people who have been prescribed theses medication for a certain duration do their reassessment at periodic intervals. It might just happen that the doctor after monitoring you, simply takes you off the PPI’s.

Well, the crux – it is advisable to avoid taking PPI medications for a longer duration of time and particularly not decide on continuing the medication or using it without prescription on your own. Doctor consult is a must before you continue taking medications like PPI.

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