Extra oxygen a big help with retinal detachment

Oxygen therapy, even when delayed, has been shown to be effective to help animals with retinal detachment, so it will probably work in humans as well, say scientists at University of California, Santa Barbara's Neuroscience Research Institute.

Working with another researcher from University College London, UCSB scientists have learned that "glial" cells, which are the supporting cells of the central nervous system (CNS), are critical to the detachment and reattachment process. These cells are known to surround the neurons in the CNS, hold them in place, insulate them from each other and get rid of dead ones. Pretty powerful little items. And it seems they are the same cells found in the brain and spinal cord which means this research may have far-reaching implications.

Administering extra oxygen seems to reduce cell death and prevent nerve cell remodeling, which may lead to faster recovery after reattachment surgery.

Get active as you age--or risk losing mental function

Activity seems to be very closely related to how well you maintain your mental functioning as you age, says a study reported in today's Neurology, the journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Based on a 10-year study of 290 participants, all men between the ages of 70 and 90 in 1990.

Activity of all kinds counts--walking, biking, hobbies, gardening, odd jobs and playing sports--so you don't have to become a marathon runner to get the benefits of physical activity. Will be interesting to see if they can replicate the results when they decide to put together a similar study that includes women...

Scotch pine bark extract may help fight arthritis

The highly purified extract may be useful one day to relieve high blood pressure, asthma, heart disease and skin cancer, according to an article about to be published in the Dec. 29 print issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a peer-reviewed publication of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.

Phenolics, plant chemicals long known to have good effects on health, exist in lots of plant sources and have anti-inflammatory properties that include dramatically inhibiting the production of both nitric oxide and prostaglandin, excesses of which contribute to arthritis, pain and circulatory problems. This study doesn't include tests on humans, but results are promising.

Encouraging at least to find that the Rainforest isn't the only place we can count on Mother Nature to give us plant help with our medicines...

Merry Christmas - Only in America!

GREETINGS

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.

We also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2005, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make Canada great (not to imply that Canada is necessarily greater than any other country) and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith, or sexual preference of the wishee.

By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms: This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher.

This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year, or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

........................................................

And to all a restful-but-not drug-induced, containing-just-the-right-mix-of-REM-and-non-REM-repose evening.

: )

ATTENTION: low-income seniors apply NOW for drug card

Until December 31, low-income seniors have a unique opportunity to save DOUBLE money on prescription drugs.

The Greater Cleveland Access to Benefits Coalition, made up of several area agencies on aging, is working with Channel 3 in the Cleveland/Northeast Ohio region to help low-income Medicare beneficiaries get registered for this $600 prescription drug credit to low-income seniors.

BUT if you apply for the card by December 31, 2004 you may get $1200 of benefits ($600 for 2004 and $600 for 2005). After June 2005, benefit amounts will decrease.

Other goals of the GCABC include:

• Educate, screen, and provide assistance with applications for the Medicare Prescription Drug Discount Card program and other drug discount programs to 3060 low-income Medicare beneficiaries through 153 educational and enrollment sessions in various locations in a six county area in Northeast Ohio.

• Train 225 health care and senior service providers to provide individualized assistance to low-income seniors with screening and applications for this and other drug discount programs.

• Provide individualized assistance to 450 low-income seniors including persons in nursing facilities and homebound beneficiaries.

If you know a senior who could use this help, call RSVP (one of the agencies in GCABC) at 216.391.9500. For more information, visit RSVP's website.

Get it here! 2004 Harvard medical news compiled

Newswise: "For the first time, Harvard Health Publications has compiled some of its most compelling medical stories of the year into a single volume, The Year in Medicine 2004. The report provides information and analysis on the latest research trends, diagnostic tests, treatments, and the things that can extend life and improve those added years."

Ought to make fascinating reading. $27.90 for the printed report (including shipping), $24.95 for an electronic PDF, or both for $37.90. For more information or to order, visit Harvard's site or call 1-877-649-9457.

Site for non-scientific eyes: nothing new under the sun

Stumbled on this site while researching a medical issue. Seems more helpful than some of the other sites created to help people diagnose their own illnesses--an increasingly common practice for 'Net-savvy civilians. Having learned about the role of inflammation in asthma while writing a white paper for the Cleveland Clinic, I was intrigued by this page that talks about the growing belief on the part of medical professionals that inflammation caused by germs and infections seems to play a prominent role in an increasing number of chronic health problems such as allergies, asthma, and arthritis, as well as in diseases such as cancer, diabetes, kidney disease and even infertility.

"Long after one recovers from the microbe's initial insult, viruses, bacteria and other germs silently chew away at the body's tissues and organs, causing insidious, permanent damage... The American Heart Association clearly recognizes inflammation as causative in atherosclerosis (fatty plaque deposits in the arteries).

If it's true that infections cause chronic inflammation which causes health problems and disease, it just backs up the idea that our health is pretty much a crap-shoot anyway, so do the best you can with your lifestyle choices and stay as healthy as you can until something gets you.

Which is, except for those who believe they can achieve immortality by some combination of practices, basically what we knew about our health already. Amazing, isn't it, how circular the path to knowledge often turns out to be?

Bioscience Fever: Arizona the latest to catch it. Where to now?

Arizona has been a bit slow, but now its own special organization, the Flinn Foundation, is pushing for bioscience development. It says more than "1.3 million square feet of bioscience labs and offices were constructed in the Valley, Tucson and Flagstaff in the past year." Public and private groups across the state are jumping in with both feet; and the Greater Phoenix Economic Council is working directly with 14 bioscience companies to get them to locate in the area.

As promising as the bioscience industry is, I'm beginning to wonder if there isn't a limit to how much economic development it can promote. Not every major city can become a major center of bioscience activity. Not every university and every hospital in major cities can become a center of excellence in research and education. There just aren't that many professors and practitioners of bioscience to go around. Everybody wants to jump on the money-making bandwagon, but the fact is, we're going to need a lot more young people interested in studying bioscience to get anywhere near fulfilling all this promise.

So what do we need to do? We need to write about what bioscience is doing, what it may be able to do. We need to write about the industry in a way that kids who weren't already predisposed to study science will get turned on. Will be willing to work extra hard to get into fields that require profound discipline and serious dedication.

Are we doing this? Forty years ago Russia and the U.S. were fighting neck and neck to be masters of space. The cry way back then was that not enough U.S. kids were going into science. What's changed? The latest report says nothing--the U.S. has a severe shortage of young people studying science and engineering.

In the rush to bioscience as economic savior (the number of jobs requiring science and engineering skills is growing at 5% annually--as opposed to 1% for other types of jobs), many cities and regions may be chasing rainbows that have only empty pots at their ends.

Motivation to inspire young people to study science. Money to educate them into the workplace. These are the big challenges ahead.

"Blowing in the wind" means danger with bioengineered crops

The risk of contaminating human edibles from drug-producing crops is very real, according to a panel of experts who agree with a group called Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). They've issued a report that says current controls to prevent potential migration of seeds and other bits from bioengineered crops are inadequate.

Evidence is clear that it's nearly impossible to isolate crops genetically; a 2002 experiment with pig vaccine in corn resulted in contaminated crops having to be burned. Panel members agree with the UCS that the goverment ought to ban growing such crops outdoors.

As our ability to manipulate nature grows, so does our responsibility. Just as with atomic and nuclear weapons, with biogenetic engineering we hold in our hands the power of life and death over untold numbers of the earth's population. A Google search on "ethics bioengineering" yields 10 pages of results--many coming from various university websites.

It's good to make sure we educate our bioengineers about ethics while they're in school. But who's minding the ethics when they get out into corporate America and the bottom line is chasing them? Here's a golden opportunity for business leaders to step forward and offer by word and by example the guidance that people need. Maybe we could start by introducing our leaders to the Union of Concerned Scientists. I hope they send out a newsletter to every corporate officer in every company around the world.

Because with this kind of power, it only takes one guy who refuses to adhere to the code of ethics to change the course of mankind.

Pure thought energy creating physical movement

It's happening--thoughts controlling physical events. Quantum physicists have been telling us for decades now that thoughts have the same energy that movement has. And now biomedical engineers and neuroscientists are proving it by harnessing brain waves to guide a computer cursor's path--and thus direct the actions of physical matter.

Using brain waves (instead of electrodes implanted in the brain) is far less invasive and yet is yielding surprisingly good control. The special cap patients wear uses sensors to detect electroencephalographic (EEG) signals put out by neurons. The patient has to undergo some training to learn how to get specific brain areas to fire, but it can be done in a few months.

Religion and spirituality have known the power of thoughts for centuries. Since science is now acknowledging it--and proving it--can miracles be far behind?

Speaking of health care costs...

The cost of healthcare is on the minds of many today, as the U.S. government begins encouraging employers (and sole entrepreneurs) to use Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) as a means to cutting costs. The plans offer a tax-free savings account in which you deposit up to the amount of the deductible in your high-deductible health plan and can use it to pay your health bills (incurred under your high-deductible health plan).

Read more here about the newest twist that Medical Mutual is pushing--HSA-Plus plans that let you lower your premiums by upping your deductible--to as high as $5000.

"Given the amazing discoveries that science is making every day that lead to longer lives that need more medicines, more treatments, etc., what possible way is there for the cost of health care to go down?" I posed that question to the head of Cleveland's University Hospital systems during a recent panel discussion on that topic. His answer: The cost of healthcare will go down when people have to start paying for it themselves.

Good point. And that's exactly where the HSA concept is taking us in the U.S. In countries that have nationalized medicine, people don't pay--but they run into the kind of freaky situation in this BBC NEWS report. A woman who suddently starts having epileptic seizures--a certain sign that you should get medical help immediately--calls for an appointment and is told she faces 56-week wait

The fact is, it looks like people are going to be paying for their own healthcare more and more, no matter what system is in effect. Sometimes they'll pay with money and sometimes with their health--or their lives.

This is how it used to be, folks. But now that we have all these miraculous cures, maybe there'll be nobody who'll take us up on 'em. Or maybe...we'll just have to start taking alternative medicine a lot more seriously.

"Life" = chemistry + physics + ?

The guy who sequenced the human genome is at it again. Now he's created a virus (which doesn't have its own metabolism or genetic material) from over-the-counter chemicals and is hot in pursuit of creating a bacterium--or at least the genome for one.

Vitalism is the name given to "the curiously persistent idea that there is something more to biology than mere physics and chemistry." Well, where do you stand on that one? If you've studied quantum physics, it seems almost impossible not to believe that something else is going on. Or else how do we explain the mysteriously instantaneous equal and opposite reactions that occur in pairs of subatomic particles across unlimited amounts of space? How do you explain the fact that we look like solid bodies, but we're made up mostly of empty space? How do you explain poetry? And laughter? Or even the miraculous actions of stem cells, for that matter?

Some physicists believe we've reached the end of our ability to explain anything else. Others say piffle, we can always delve deeper. Whichever position you take, I like to think of the quote from some famous person (just who, escapes me) to the effect that, "If we ever get to completely understand this world, chances are high that we're not in it anymoreand have moved into some completely other world."

Makes sense to me.

Drinking water counteracts low blood pressure

How delightful to find that something as simple as drinking 2 glasses of water may help people with certain conditions raise their blood pressure and thus not feel lightheaded when they stand up.

The research, published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, was done with a very small sample (14 patients with 2 different conditions--pure autonomic failure (PAF) and multiple system atrophy (MSA), a neurodegenerative disease), but the results were uniformly positive across the sample.

Delightful, I say, because it's another small victory for natural healing over chemical intervention. No patient already taking multiple medications is anxious to add another one to the mix. Using water as a healing substance is still controversial, and most western physicians into the alternative medicine category.

Low blood pressure that causes faintness can keep people from driving and, when it's serious, even from working. Low BP is only one symptom of the two conditions, both of which are classed as movement disorders--a group that includes Parkinson's, Tourette's Syndrome, Huntington's Disease, and more. Read more about movement disorders at WeMove.org.

Google provides search just for research

Google's just introduced an online location for researchers to contribute serious content and search what others have contributed. Wow, a public place to share scholarly literature such as peer-reviewed papers, thesis, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports. How cool is that?

Because I help clients optimize their websites for search engines, I sometimes get fascinating news bytes from my subscription to Search Engine News. This new service looks like it might prove useful for the scientific community. Instead of having to wade through search results that might relate to your query, you'll be looking at results that come only from scientific materials.

Check it out at scholar.google.com. And if you want to talk to them about contributing something, read about it here or just go ahead and email them: scholar-publisher@google.com

Chinese fetal stem cell use commands attention

In a small, quiet hospital in Beijing, China, a doctor injects cultivated nasal stem cells from aborted Chinese fetuses and brings near-miraculous improvements in hundreds of people with conditions U.S. scientists have dubbed hopeless. "Uncontrolled" by western medical standards, "unethical" by U.S. mores, controversial by everybody's assessment, the operations are nevertheless being sought after by sufferers of ALS, Parkinson's, severe spinal injuries and other cases of paralysis. They're of every religious persuasion, and they're coming from all corners of the world.

Improvements--talked about freely over the Internet by those who have experienced them--happen much too quickly to be attributed to regeneration but yet are significant enough that even former foes of abortion are putting aside their moral objections and seeking help.

"Olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) cells do not replace damaged cells," says Dr Huang Hongyun, the man many his patients fall in love with. Instead they act as a catalyst to natural processes in "spinal-cord injuries, ALS, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and conditions caused by strokes."

China is now considered the leader in this type of research. Because worries about ethics are non-issues in China, where the one-child rule has made abortion a fact of daily life, they've been able to conduct experiments that U.S. scientists may be banned from trying for yet decades to come.

But the Texan anti-abortion patient who changed his mind about his ethics now sees it this way--something good coming from something bad. And he says anyone who doesn't see it that way, isn't chained to a wheelchair.

Our world today faces questions no generation has ever had to even consider--let alone find answers for. This calls for extreme care and consideration for each other as we struggle to find solutions that satisfy our frail human desires to relieve suffering and our deep soul needs to know we are doing the right thing.

See a trailer from BBC TV here. Read The Guardian article here.