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Stem cells from embryo sac could heal damaged hearts

May 29, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Washington, May 29 (IANS) Stem cells obtained from a new non-controversial source – the amniotic membrane discarded as medical waste after childbirth – can heal damaged hearts and form heart muscle cells, results of preliminary lab tests indicate.

Investigators in Japan used the membrane – the inner lining of the sac in which an embryo develops – to obtain stem cells called human amniotic membrane-derived mesenchymal (undifferentiated) cells (hAMCs).

‘The amniotic membrane is medical waste that could be collected and used after delivery,’ said Shunichiro Miyoshi, study co-author and assistant professor in cardiology at the Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo.

In lab studies, the hAMCs transformed into heart muscle cells improved function of rat hearts 34 percent to 39 percent, when injected two weeks after a heart attack, while untreated hearts continued to decline in function.

They decreased the scarred area of damaged rat hearts 13 percent to 18 percent when injected after a heart attack.

The cells also survived for more than four weeks in the rat heart without being rejected by the recipient’s immune system, even without immunosuppressive medication.

The ability of hAMCs to convert into heart muscle cells was far greater than that from mesenchymal cells derived from bone marrow or fat, Miyoshi said.

That the implanted cells were not rejected is likely because the amniotic sac is a barrier between a woman and her developing foetus. To help prevent either of their immune systems from attacking the other as foreign tissue, the amniotic membrane between them does not produce the proteins that immune systems use to identify foreign tissue.

This means the usual tissue-type matching (HLA typing) needed prior to transplantation would not be needed if hAMCs were used. Drugs to suppress the immune system also might not be needed after transplant.

The findings also suggest that hAMCs can differentiate into cells of various organs, said a release of the American Heart Association (AHA).

Much work, however, remains to be done before testing hAMCs in humans, said the researchers, who are repeating their experiments in larger animals and working to boost the number of heart cells generated by the hAMCs.

The investigators ‘are to be congratulated for their careful work that has brought forward a cell type that may offer the real potential for off-the-shelf cardiac myocyte [muscle cell]-based therapy,’ wrote Marc S. Penn, and Maritza E. Mayorga of the Cleveland Clinic, in Circulation Research, which published these findings.

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Nirupama Pathak”s clothes to undergo forensic tests in Ranchi

May 11, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Ranchi, May 11 (ANI): The clothes of Delhi-based journalist Nirupama Pathak, who was found dead in mysterious circumstances at her home in Jharkhand”s Koderma District on April 29, have been sent for forensic tests to Ranchi.

Meanwhile, Nirupama”s boyfriend Priyabhanshu Ranjan”s family has demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into her death.

On May 9, Ranjan”s parents claimed to have mobile proof that could nail the complicity of Nirupama”s parents in what they say is murder.

In a startling claim, Ranjan”s father said he had Nirupama”s last SMS in which she said that she had been locked inside a bathroom and was not being allowed to go out.

He also said that a similar message had come from his son, who was in Delhi.

The revelation came after Koderma Police served notices to three doctors who had performed a post mortem on Nirupama.

The court directed the police to file a First Information Report (FIR) against Ranjan, following charges levelled by Nirupama”s arrested mother Subha Pathak.

Nirupama”s mother has described her daughter” death as a suicide case.

However, the post-mortem report revealed that Pathak died due to asphyxia as a result of smothering. A 10 to 12 week-old foetus was also found during the autopsy. (ANI)

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Fat infants of fat moms may signal future obesity risk

May 5, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Washington, May 5 (ANI): A new research has revealed that more babies are being born with more body fat at the same time when body mass index (BMI) has increased among pregnant women.

Researchers from Children”s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in Kansas City, Mo., analysed data from 1990 to 2005 and looked at more than 74,000 births.

They found that the ponderal index, a measurement of newborn body fat composition, correlated with the mother”s BMI and also increased over the study period. Babies with a higher ponderal index tend to have more body fat.

“Health care providers need to pay closer attention to the body mass index of women before they get pregnant, and equal attention to how much weight they gain during the pregnancy,” said lead author Felix Okah, professor of paediatrics and director, Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship Program, Children”s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics.

“Adult diseases like obesity may have their foundation during the foetal period, so efforts to safeguard the health of the foetus could translate to future adult health for these newborns,” Okah added.

The findings were presented at the Paediatric Academic Societies annual meeting. (ANI)

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Foetal short-term memory starts functioning at 30 weeks

July 16, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 16 (ANI): The short-term memory of a foetus begins functioning at 30 weeks, say researchers in the Netherlands.

The study, conducted by researchers at Maastricht University Medical Centre and the University Medical Centre St. Radboud, offers insights into foetal development and may help address and prevent abnormalities.

The researchers studied about 100 healthy pregnant Dutch women and their foetuses, measuring changes in how the foetus responds to repeated stimulation.

After receiving a number of stimuli, the foetus no longer responds to the stimulus as observed by ultrasonography and the stimulus is then accepted as “safe.” This change in response is called “habituation.”

In a second session, the foetus “remembers” the stimulus and the number of stimuli needed for the foetus to habituate is then much smaller.

Based on their research, the researchers found the presence of foetal short-term memory of 10 minutes at 30 weeks.

They determined this because a significantly lower number of stimuli was needed to reach habituation in a second session, which was performed 10 minutes after the first session.

They also found that 34-week-old foetuses could store information and retrieve it four weeks later.

Foetuses were tested at 30, 32, 34, and 36 weeks, and again at 38 weeks. The 34- and 36-week-old foetuses habituated much faster than the 38-week-old foetuses that had not been tested before.

This implies that these foetuses have a memory of at least 4 weeks-the interval between the test at 34 weeks and that at 38 weeks.

“A better understanding of the normal development of the foetal central nervous system will lead to more insight into abnormalities, allowing prevention or extra care in the first years of life and, as a consequence, fewer problems in later life,” the authors said.

The study has been published in the July/August 2009 issue of the journal Child Development. (ANI)

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Meet the Aussie lamb born with five legs and six feet

June 27, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Melbourne, Jun 27 (ANI): A lamb born with five legs and six feet on a New South Wales property, southwest of Sydney, has left many surprised.

According to the Macarthur Chronicle, Neil Falk, who found the peculiar looking lamb on his Tahmoor property shortly after its birth on June 14, says that this is the second time in his life that he has come across such an abnormality.

The lamb has four normal fully functioning legs, and an extra leg with two feet growing out of the back of its head.

“I went to a show years ago where we had to pay to get in and they had a sheep with five legs,” the Daily Telegraph quoted him as saying.

“Everyone said the leg was sewn on or something but this one certainly isn’t,” he said.

Despite the additional limb, Falk said that the lamb was running around healthily and showing no signs of distress.

A spokeswoman for the Sydney University veterinary facilities at Cobbitty said that the lamb’s condition was extremely rare.

“There’s lots of things that can cause the abnormality like genetics or toxins which impair the development of different stages of the foetus,” she said.

“We don’t see it very often but when we do see it it can sometimes be because of something the animal ate,” she added.

Falk, who does not know what to do with the new lamb, said if it had been unwell he would have put it down but he was happy to keep it around while it remained healthy. (ANI)

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It’s official: Men, not women, are the weaker sex

May 27, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, May 27 (ANI): Scientists have finally put an end to the age-old battle of the sexes, by claiming that men are the weaker sex.

Professor Marek Glezerman, a gender-based medicine expert, examined 66,000 births at Israel’s Rabin Medical Centre between 1995 and 2006, and concluded that baby boys are more at risk of complications in the womb and more likely to have difficult deliveries, reports The Daily Express.

And the gender gap remains when they grow up, as men are more vulnerable to infections and less able to withstand disease than women, research suggests.

In the study, which has been presented to the Israel Society for Gender Based Medicine, Glezerman found that pregnancies with a male foetus were more often complicated and carried greater risk of difficult or premature delivery.

He said: “Men are known to have a shorter life span, are more susceptible to infections and have less chance of withstanding disease than women.

“In short, men are the weaker sex.”

Glezerman said: “Males are also associated with higher risk in the neonatal period after birth and are more likely to expose themselves to risky behaviour later in life.”

Boys may take more chances as the result of peer pressure, and testosterone in their bloodstream could also lead to more dangerous behaviour, he claimed.

“Men become soldiers, construction workers, and work as firefighters. They take on these risks quite naturally to protect their society, and they’re trained to do this without question,” he said. (ANI)

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Plumber gives birth to embryonic remains of twin

May 9, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, May 9 (ANI): A Brit plumber, who has given birth to the embryonic remains of his twin, recalls the agony he went through when his stomach ruptured as the lumpy mass forced its way out.

Former fire fighter Gavin Hyatt, of Witney, Oxfordshire, had been carrying the embryo inside his abdomen since he was born 30 years ago.

And when the pain was accompanied with bleeding from his belly button he hurried into his GP’s surgery, who in turn compared the incident to the movie Alien.

“It was like something from Alien. I didn’t believe Gavin when he said something was coming out of his belly button until I saw him,” the Sun quoted stunned GP Dr. Joe Santos as saying.

“This is incredibly rare. Gavin’s weight has changed recently so that is why it might have pushed through. But otherwise he is fit and well and happy that he has his little friend,” he said.

As per medics, the growth was a parasitic twin, and the 4cm foetus then became embedded in Hyatt’s tissue and stayed in his stomach for the next 30 years.

“Four hospital doctors had previously examined me and were all puzzled by the lump,” Hyatt said.

“Some thought it was a cyst, others an in-grown hair.

“Then one said it could be my undeveloped identical twin that I absorbed at a very early stage. I feel absolutely fine now but it has not sunk in yet that I could have had a twin brother.

“I have him in a jar at home and I call him little Gav. I haven’t told many people. I feel like a bit of a freak,” he added. (ANI)

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Singapore mass food poisoning kills second woman

April 8, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Singapore – A second woman died Wednesday after a food-poisoning outbreak hit Singapore last week, a radio report said.

Norani Kassim, 59, who was admitted to hospital Saturday, died after lapsing into a coma, hospital officials told the local 938LIVE station.

Aminah Samijo, 57, died Monday while another woman lost her 2-month-old foetus after suffering food poisoning by eating a salad at a food stall.

News reports said 137 people had suffered food poisoning after eating the salad of meat and deep-fried vegetables called India rojak from a popular hawker stall last week.

The government has initiated an investigation of the stall operators while the entire market where it was located has been closed for cleaning.

It was the worst mass food-poisoning case in Singapore since 2007 when bakery operator Prima Deli was implicated in a case in which more than 150 people fell sick. (dpa)

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Second Singapore woman in coma after food poisoning

April 7, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Singapore – A second Singapore woman has gone into a coma after suffering acute food poisoning a day after the first victim’s death, media reports said Tuesday.

Noraini Kasim, 59, is in a coma at a local hospital after having eaten from a local food stall last week.

Comatose Aminah Samijo, 57, died Monday in hospital, and Rosiah Samat, 38, lost her 2-month-old foetus in a miscarriage caused by a serious bout of diarrhea and bleeding brought on after eating the same food.

News reports said more than 110 people have been treated at Singapore’s six main hospitals for food poisoning after eating at the stall, but it was not known how many more had sought treatment at private clinics and medical centres.

The Straits Times quoted doctors as saying that deaths from food poisoning were rare.

Police have classified Aminah’s case as one of unnatural death and are investigating. The highly popular food stall is also under investigation

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: deaths, diarrhea, doctors, First Victim, foetus, food news, food stall, hospitals, kasim, local food, local hospital, miscarriage, news reports, noraini, private clinics, samat, Singapore Food, Singapore Woman, Straits Times, Unnatural Death

Men, not women, are the weaker sex

April 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr 1 (ANI): While women are often considered the weaker sex, a Tel Aviv University study has offered scientific evidence to show that it’s the other way round.

The study has shown that male baby comes with a bigger package of associated risks than his female counterparts.

In a study of 66,000 births, Prof. Marek Glezerman, chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, along with Dr. Yariv Yogev and Dr. Nir Melamed, found that while girls were at a higher risk for restricted growth in utero and for breech presentation at birth, risks associated with boy foetuses were more abundant.

“Pregnancies with a male foetus are more often complicated. They’re more likely to result in a premature rupture of the embryonic sac and suffer from premature delivery. And those male foetuses which make it to term are more likely to suffer from excessive growth in the uterus, making delivery more difficult and leading to more cesarian section deliveries,” said Glezerman.

Researchers concluded that male foetuses come with ‘a higher association of risks,’ but note that the findings should be viewed in the proper light.

Glezerman said that ‘boys are riskier to an extent’ but pregnancies involving boys should not be classified as ‘high-risk’ for that reason alone.

He said that it’s only one factor for doctors to consider when looking at the whole picture.

“But in general, boys are more vulnerable in their life in utero, and this vulnerability continues to exist throughout their lives,” said Glezerman,.

“Men are known to have a shorter lifespan, are more susceptible to infections, and have less chance of withstanding disease than women. In short, men are the weaker sex,” he added,

Glezerman noted that this new evidence has confirmed the old wives’ tale that boy foetuses are more troublesome in the womb and the delivery room. He also takes the notion one step further.

“This research not only confirms an old wives’ tale, but adds to what we know about the male gender. Males are also associated with higher risk in the neonatal period after birth, and are more likely to expose themselves to risky behaviour later in life,” Glezerman said.

The study has been presented to the Israel Society for Gender Based Medicine. (ANI)

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Now, artificial ‘baby butter’ to accelerate healing

March 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, March 28 (ANI): Researchers at Leiden University in the Netherlands have come up with an artificial version of the buttery coating that protects and nurtures a foetus’ developing skin.

Joke Bouwstra and Robert Rissman say that their artificial “baby butter” may find a use outside the womb, in speeding up wound healing and treating eczema.

Natural vernix caseosa contains a mixture of fatty compounds that waterproof the foetus. It also contains dead cells called corneocytes, which store large amounts of water and ensure that the foetus does not get dehydrated.

The researchers point out that vernix may also act as a barrier to infections, reports New Scientist magazine.

With a view to mimicking the versatile substance, the research team mixed a range of fatty compounds including lanolin, fatty acids, ceramides, and cholesterol with particles made of a water-storing hydrogel.

Bouwstra revealed that upon rubbing the white cream on mice missing a patch of their outer skin, the group observed that the animals healed three times faster their untreated counterparts.

She said that besides aiding wound healing, the cream could also treat eczema, or be loaded with drugs to fight skin infections.

An article on how the researchers made this substance has been published in the International Journal of Pharmaceutics. (ANI)

Filed Under: Health News Tagged With: artificial baby, ceramides, cholesterol, corneocytes, counterparts, dead cells, eczema, fatty acids, fatty compounds, foetus, leiden university, london march, mice, New Scientist magazine, outer skin, particles, skin infections, University In The Netherlands, vernix caseosa, womb

Study sheds light on egg cells’ unique ability to ensure that sperm don’t get too old

March 26, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, March 26 (ANI): While it is thought that men remain fertile throughout life as compared to women, Swedish researchers have now shown that a fertilising sperm can get help from the egg to rejuvenate.

Researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, say that their finding is an important step towards future stem cell therapy.

The researchers highlight the fact that the risk of chromosomal abnormalities in the foetus is highly correlated to the age of the mother, but is nearly independent of the age of the father.

According to them, one possible explanation is that egg cells have a unique ability to reset the age of a sperm.

“We are the first to show that egg cells have the ability to rejuvenate other cells, and this is an important result for future stem cell research,” says Associate Professor Tomas Simonsson, who leads the research group at the Sahlgrenska Academy that has made this discovery.

The ends of the chromosomes called “telomeres”-which are important for the genetic stability of the cell and they act as a DNA clock that measures the age of the cell-become shorter each time a cell divides, due to which the cell stops dividing and dies.

The researchers say that their finding that the egg cell can extend the telomeres of a fertilising sperm cell attains significance for the development of stem cell therapy, which involves replacing the cell nucleus in unfertilised egg with a nucleus from a somatic cell that has come from a patient who needs a stem cell transplantation.

As soon as the cell has divided a few times, it is possible to harvest stem cells, which are then allowed to mature to the cell type that the recipient needs.

“The genetic stability of the transplanted cells has been a serious concern up until now, and it was feared that the lifetime of these cells would depend on the age of the cell nucleus that was transferred. Our results suggest that this is not the case,” says Tomas Simonsson. (ANI)

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Teen-aged girl skates to spread awareness about ‘Save Girl Child’

March 9, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Jamnagar (Gujarat), Mar 8 (ANI): Shital Pandya, a girl aged just 16 years, is skating from Jamnagar in Gujarat to New Delhi, to spread the message of ‘Save the Girl Child’.

In the process, she along with her team of four members, will cover a distance of 5132 kilometres through six States.

As on date, the team with Shital being the centre of attraction has already toured four States.

Interestingly, this adventurous teenager has undertaken many campaigns earlier too. And all these had been in the cause of various social issues such as cancer awareness and community hygiene.

“We are a team of four persons who have undertaken this campaign. This will conclude on May 5. The campaign is spread over six states such as Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat and Maharashtra,” said Shital.

The team reached Jamnagar on the eve of International Women’s Day.

Female foeticide is widespread in India. The practice, which was restricted to few states some years ago, has now spread all over the country.

Girls and women not only face inequity and inequality but also denied the right to be born if their families wish so. In fact many families do not wish their women folk to bear baby daughters.

Boys are traditionally preferred by parents as breadwinners and the other discouraging factor for parents of girl babies is the evil of hefty dowry being paid to the groom at the time of marrying off the daughter.

Despite laws banning tests to determine the sex of an unborn child, the killing of female foetus is common in certain regions of India where a preference for sons runs deep. By Agam Iqbaal (ANI)

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Drinking heavily early in a pregnancy ups premature birth risk

January 21, 2009 By Rajesh Leave a Comment

London, Jan 21 (ANI): Women who drink heavily early in a pregnancy – possibly before they know they are expecting – may be increasing the risk of premature delivery, according to a new study.

For the study, researchers recruited 4,719 Australian women and found almost an 80 percent higher risk for those who drank heavily in the first third of pregnancy, then stopped.

The researchers found no evidence of problems for women who drank low levels throughout pregnancy.

In the study, the strongest link between alcohol use and early birth was for women who drank moderately or heavily – several units of alcohol or more a week – during the first trimester, but then stopped completely for the rest of the pregnancy.

The researchers suggested that it was possible that the sudden cessation of alcohol drinking might provoke inflammation, which could harm the developing foetus in some way, although this idea was not tested during the study.

“The risk of pre-term birth is highest for women who drink heavily or at binge levels,” the BBC quoted Dr Colleen O’Leary, from the University of Western Australia, who led the study, as saying.

“Women should be advised that during pregnancy, drinking alcohol above low levels increases the risk to the baby and that the safest choice is not to drink alcohol during pregnancy,” O’Leary added.

The study is published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. (ANI)

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92yr-old woman pregnant for 60 years since 1948 stuns docs

January 17, 2009 By Rajesh 1 Comment

London, January 17 (ANI): Doctors treating an elderly Chinese woman for stomach ache were stunned when they found that she had been carrying an unborn child for 60 years.

Ninety-two-year-old Huang Yijun, of Huangjiaotan, revealed that her child had died in the womb way back in 1948, and that she did not have it removed because doctors would charge 100 pounds for the job.

“It was a huge sum at the time – more than the whole family earned in several years so I did nothing and ignored it,” the Sun quoted her as saying.

The secret surfaced after Huang hurt her stomach, and went to hospital for a scan.

Dr Liu Anbin, at Qingshen hospital, said: “I couldn’t believe my eyes when I discovered she had a baby in her belly. I’ve been a doctor for more than 40 years and it’s the first time I have seen something like this.”

The doctors are presently carrying out further tests to determine whether Huang would require an operation to remove the baby.

Consultant Xu Xianming, director of the Obstetrics and Gynecology department at the hospital, said: “Normally a dead foetus would decay. It’s very rare that Huang can be so healthy.” (ANI)

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